I just read Malcom's response, saying that they are Y2K ready now. How about everyone else? Have the 35 Nukes that were not ready at the last deadline, ready now? Y2K Newswire brings up the point (and I know people have discussed it here as well) that there have been 5 Y2K Deadlines that have passed without the results. Here are some quotes from their latest article (please note, Y2KNewswire is usually a little on the alarmist side, so take some of this with a grain of salt):

September 30, 1999

No politician in recent memory has ever lost an election by overestimating the gullibility of the American public, and Y2K is proving the soundness of this strategy. As of today, the American public has been told Y2K was going to be solved at least five different times, but each time the deadline came and went:

The September 30, 1998 deadline: "All federal agencies will be fully Y2K compliant."

The December 31, 1998 deadline: "All companies and industries will be fully Y2K compliant."

The March 31, 1999 deadline: "Okay, they weren't compliant last September, but we promise to have all mission-critical systems ready by March."

The June 30, 1999 deadline: "Everybody who wasn't done in March will be done by June, we promise!"

The September 30, 1999 deadline: "We'll definitely be Y2K-something by September."

Well, September 30, 1999 is here. We've been fooled five times. And we're still waiting for the country to wake up to the reality of Y2K. We are barely 90 days away and still waiting for things like:

An ounce of national leadership (rather than national denial).

Real proof of Y2K compliance of ANY major industry, company or government agency. To date, zero proof has been made available.

Documentation that proves independent audits have been done.

Sworn testimony by company leaders who will go on the record with their claims of Y2K compliance.

More sworn testimony by company IT personnel who will put their careers on the line and stand behind their Y2K compliance work.

Any major test by any major industry involving more than 5% of that industry's computers. To date, no such test has been conducted.

A real test of the electric grid, not some sham public relations ploy dreamed up by industry advocates who have to cover their political rear ends.

An explanation of how U.S. banks can possibly protect themselves from failed international banks and money centers. Not even the ABA dares touch this one because, frankly, not enough people understand international banking to ask the question (or understand the non-answer).

A sworn, signed promise from President Clinton that he will not declare Martial Law due to Y2K disruptions. To date, he has not offered this assurance.

Real preparedness advice for the American people: let's cut out this three-day snowstorm B.S. People need real contingency plans, not "do-nothing" plans.

A cessation of attacks on those who are preparing. There is a concerted effort -- a conscious plan -- underway, funded by $50 million in taxpayer money paid to a high-profile Washington public relations firm, to label "preparedness" as "extreme." This action is un-American, irresponsible and downright negligent.

Realistic industry contingency plans. Railroads, for example, still cling to the absurd notion that "going back to manual" is actually a workable plan. The FAA maintains the same reasoning. But in both cases, traffic bandwidth would drop dramatically. This is hardly mentioned.

A realistic plan to handle oil shortages when the oil tankers fail, oil exporters fail, and the U.S. finds itself in an oil-scarce recession (or worse). Who gets the remaining oil... other than the military?

Admissions that Y2K will cause fatalities. Six months from now, there will be a Y2K body count, and everybody will act like they didn't know it was possible. C'mon folks, this is a given: traffic light failures will cause traffic accidents, pharmaceutical mix-ups will kill more patients than normal, medical device failures will malfunction. There are going to be casualties from Y2K, and so far, only Y2K Newswire and a few other Y2K gurus are willing to admit it. We need to stop denying this limited bad news and start trying to prevent fatalities.

The admission that international failures will have a serious impact on the United States. Any person who continues to cling to the hopeless logic that major failures overseas won't touch the USA is living in a dangerous self-delusion. Unfortunately, many so-called "economists" fall into this category.

Meanwhile, as we wait for this wish-list to appear, the lies continue.

BUT WE DIDN'T LEARN! Being fooled once or twice is not a big deal if you learn from it. If the American public had been paying attention to reality instead of watching network television, they would have said, "Hey, weren't we promised this before?"

By the third deadline, the public should have been demanding answers. They should have been beating down the doors of industry and government, demanding resignations. And the investigative press (if it still exists in this country) should have been asking tough questions.

But none of them did that. The public sat back to watch the entertainment fed to them by the journalists, and they mutually agreed to call it, "news." Only it wasn't news. It was fiction designed to make everybody feel comfortable. After all, who wants to rock the boat? We should all feel comfortable. We deserve it.

So the third deadline came and went, then the fourth, and now the fifth. And where is the public outcry today? Where is the trample of news reporters demanding proof from industry and government? The public and the press continue to engage in an incestuous, mutual mind-jack. The press says, "We'll keep faking like we're reporting the news as long as you keep faking like you enjoy buying our advertiser's brand-name products."

I believe the URL is at http://206.54.108.130

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Answers

Sean,

www.nrc.gov

This site has all of the schedules for the nukes not Ready. Look under Y2k.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999

Sean,

I concur with what you have said. However, it should also be readily apparent that what we have been witnessing on the part of the public is an "agreement" to accept the best possible face that can be put on this matter. Koskinen has stepped up to satisfy that request, as well as others. In fact, the only people who seem to know what is really happening are those on the Internet, and even a lot of Internet folks don't pay much attention to the details. Then, too, we have a bunch of very vocal Polly posters who appear on all the forums to debunk any bad news, signs, or trends. So we are all along for the ride now, like it or not. It's like a nuclear reaction that is either in control or out of control, but is always just a hair from catastrophy. Hope we don't lose control of our infrastructure due to Y2k, but who knows? Personally, I think it will cause major problems all across the board, for a long time to come.

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1999