Folks:

Sorry about that

http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cfm/6776

Chuck

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

Answers

Chuck and all,

I caution all of you to remember several previous FOAF (friend of a friend) and anonymous "reports" that have been circulated over the past year or so. Many have turned out to be either false, misinterpretations, or outright hoaxes.

Personally, I view the referenced Gary North article with the same skepticism that I view every other anonymous report, good or bad. I do not know who the author is. I do not know who the friends are. I do not know who the CEO is. How can anyone possibly assess credibility in the absence of at least some of this key information? Short answer: you can't.

I'm a cautious guy by nature, particularly when something as wild as this article is placed in circulation. Unless and until someone can provide a lot more "credibility enhancing" source information, my suggestion is to place this one in the recycle folder.

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

About 4 months ago, my sister was in the grocery store, and a man in his late 50's struck up a conversation with her as to what her thoughts were on Y2K. He added that he was part of an "underground network" that involved information on Y2K. The guy even went out to his vehicle, returned and met my sister in the mall area and gave her a copy of Gary North's "remnant review". My sister showed it to me, and I could have died laughing. North was forcasting total breakdown of the banking system, as well as a total loss of communications and power. Yet, he offered a reduced cost on 1 year subscriptions, which of course would go well into 2000. I wonder how he plans on delivering them? Horseback - he must have watched that movie, was it The Mailman with Kevin Costner? Now picture Gary North in the same getup, galloping all over North American distributing his newsletter or whatever. Also, the nice gent who was kind enough to be happily distributing this information is a well-known unemployed drunk (formally worked for an office supply store) in our area. I imagine he ordered the Remnant Review via the internet, as I have yet to see or hear of anyone else receiving one around here. But unlike Gary North, I can confirm my story. At the time, my sister received the newsletter, I sought the assistance of a poster on the MSNBC forum, Anita. I told her the story, and even scanned some of the information from the newsletter so she could read it (mostly for amusement sake). Anita still posts on MSNBC, so I'm sure she'll confirm if you ask. And if that's not good enough, get a copy for yourself! As much as I believe that Y2K could be much worse than a bump in the road, I truly don't agree with the BS that Gary North spits out!

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

Val--

I agree with Rick on this article. None of us have to agree with his personal comments and assessments. But I have to hand it to Gary North; he has an archive of articles covering y2k issues back to the ancient history of our awareness. All on one site, categorized and readily accessable for future reference. For that, My hats' off to him!

-- Anonymous, November 09, 1999

Rick, you said, "Personally I view the...article with the same skepticism that I view every other anonymous report...I do not know who the author is."

Excellent point. Anybody know the anonymous person on this forum calling himself "Factfinder?" Until we know we should view his comments with skepticism. Glad you pointed that out for us, Rick.

-- Anonymous, November 10, 1999

Marcella, Thank you for your post. Because (ahem), somewhere I had dreamed up the notion that 'Factfinder' might be an alter-ego/handle of Rick Cowles'...an obviously mistaken concept. My Nov. 1 post in Spot Checking Our 3,000 Utilities included an appreciative note to "Factfinder (or Rick Cowles?)", an unfortunate error I wish to clear up here. You are Marcella Shaw, I am Jim Young/dumb1, Rick Cowles is Rick Cowles - but Factfinder, well - He/She's not a dumb1, but beyond that...?

-- Anonymous, November 14, 1999

Apparently Roleigh Martin and Victor Porlier have confirmed the identity of this CEO and he is as advertised. However, Roleigh seems to feel this CEO is more to the water systems side than grid.

I received this info via the nhney2k mailing list in which the Friday, Nov. 12, 1999 list message quoted email from both Roleigh and Victor confirming in essense the bone fides of the CEO and that his forecast was accurately portrayed in the GN site.

I dismissed the GN submission immediately because of his bias and the anonymity problem. But with Roleigh Martin and Victor Porlier weighing, I don't know...

Good luck, Brett.

-- Anonymous, November 15, 1999

Mr. CEO is going to be interviewed on Y2K News Radio on Wednesday Dec. 1 at 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm central time.

Jim Lord will be involved, he has admitted that he is Friend #1 from the original article.

http://www.m2ktalk.com is the URL for Y2K News Radio.

The original article was at:

http://www.garynorth.com/y2k/detail_.cfm/6776

This should be interesting...

Later, Jon

-- Anonymous, November 26, 1999

Boy, sometimes it's hard to keep up with this stuff.

Jim Lord posted another article, and said that Mr. CEO had decided to back out of the interview.

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=001rXq

There will still be a show at that time, and Jim Lord will be talking about Mr. CEO's point of view and his credentials.

Sorry for the confusion...

Later, Jon

-- Anonymous, November 26, 1999

Curiouser and curiouser...

-- Anonymous, November 26, 1999