DEAD Gas pumps

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My partner, a GI who is ready with time on his hands, stopped at a truck stop on an interstate in Kansas on a hunting trip to fill up his diesel vehicle. The trucks were lined up at closed pumps. The clerk said their "y2k test" broke the pumps and didn't know when they would be repaired. The next station was 30 miles away. They made it.

-- Wm McBride (mcbri29@ibm.net), September 24, 1999

Answers

Whether or not it's appropriate or justified, I suspect that every little incident like this creates another dozen GI's. Some of them go home and talk to their extended family members; others go home and simply tell their spouse that it's time to start stockpiling.

Maybe a continuation of little incidents like this will increase the percentage of GI's in the country from 1% to 2% over the next month or so... who knows...

Ed

-- Ed Yourdon (HumptyDumptyY2K@yourdon.com), September 24, 1999.


a taste of things to come?

-- The Count of Meijer Crisco (40@cansof.course), September 24, 1999.

Please stock up on fuel stabilizers such as STABIL and PRI-G and PRI- D. You never know when that last fuel pump will stop. Meanwhile, your stabilized fuel will be in excellent condition when you need it the most. And you WILL need it.

There are those on this forum who suggested that fuel prices would drop after Labor Day. Well, did they? Duh!

Pump before the prices jump!

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), September 24, 1999.


Ed,

Your talking 100% increase in awareness, going from 1 to 2%. I'm goin' back to the store, I can't stand LONG lines!!!

-- unbeliever (sayitaintso@please.web), September 24, 1999.


Wm McBride, Ed, and others... I can believe the dead pump story, and the Y2K testing. I am however wondering how you came to the conclusion that only 1 percent of the population is actually stockpiling any prudent provisions for Y2K?

How can this be? The Red Cross and FEMA, as well as state and local government agencies are strongly hinting that everyone have at least a week's supply of food, water, etc. Is this just your own personal feelings/gut reaction, or is there somekind of documentation out there that will verify this?

If it is evenly remotely true then those that store better stay in the closet so to speak. If word gets out that they have something in their pantry, a hungry angry mob could assemble very quickly.

By the way, I was shopping in Smith's Grocery the other day, (they happen to have an entire section for Y2K folks), and I bought a few dozen cans of assorted veggies, and soups, along with some candles, etc. that Y2K preppers have been getting all along.

I had less than 200 dollars worth of goodies this time, but I could really feel the gawkers. They were obvious with their pointing fingers and hushed comments. The cashier that was ringing up my purchases turned to me and asked me if I was buying so much because I was going hunting. Yeah, yeah, that's right. Hunting provisions.

Maybe Ed's right after all.

-- Roy (Ohmygosh@yerjoshingme.arentyou), September 24, 1999.



Ed, I hope that you are right. Sometimes I feel like I am a spoke in the wheel and the only one turning it. So far there's nothing that has happened here to get people motivated. All I can hope for is that people are silently preparing...like me.

-- bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 24, 1999.

>shopping...asked if you are going hunting

They always ask me if I am going camping or if I have a large family....I always say yes. ;-)

Fortunately noone knows how to ask an open-ended question any more--they always assume the answer fits their prejudices.

-- cgbg jr (cgbg jr@webtv.net), September 24, 1999.


I live 30 miles from the nearest town. Driving to town the other day, I stopped at the gas station and noticed all six pumps were covered with paper bags saying "out of order". I asked the clerk inside and learned that the recent new wiring that was installed somewhere in town by the electric company caused a huge power surge, frying all the electronics and equipment all over town. Not only did the pumps not work, neither did the electronic cash registers. Apparently, many businesses were DOA. Knowing a bit about UPS systems, I asked about this and she pointed out under the counter the UPS system that they had that was supposed to prevent this. I also found out that many other businesses in town were in the same boat, they simply couldn't sell what they couldn't ring up or pump. Lastly, this was DAY FOUR since the new wires were installed and no fix in sight. Literally thousands of dollars in sales were lost already.

This situation got me thinking. If there is any kind of glitch in our power grid this winter (or whenever), this could cause a brownout / blackout and a resulting power surge when the power returns in the system, frying sensitive electronics. I am aware that our power companies are supposed to be able to balance the load, but as the above real life story indicates, sometimes it doesn't always work out that way.

-- Ray (shusters@montanasky.net), September 25, 1999.


And with Taiwan pancaked they can't rush out to buy new electronic widgets, can they.

-- JIT RIP (earlystop@7.6), September 25, 1999.

1972; no, 1943. Then 1892.

-- not even lines (got@bicycle.?), September 25, 1999.


>This situation got me thinking. If there is any kind of glitch in >our power grid this winter (or whenever), this could cause a >brownout / blackout and a resulting power surge when the power >returns in the system, frying sensitive electronics.

They already had this in California. Some woman fell asleep at the wheel or something and hit a pole, knocking out the power to an area. When Edison got it fixed and turned the power back on, the resulting surge fried microwaves, pool pumps, refrigerators, tv's, computers, etc. in the area. Edison's response to the insurance claims? "Tough luck guys, we aren't paying."

And this was just one neighborhood...

-- James Collins (jacollins@thegrid.net), September 25, 1999.


Going to unplug everything from wall on December 30, 1999. Hope that is soon enough.

-- No fries with that (thanks@anyway.NewYears), September 25, 1999.

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