Hi again folks,

The last message I posted was for a RealAudio website and an eye opening report on the last Y2K Symposium in NY. The reporter/speaker was Gordon McDonald (if you haven't accessed it yet, I suggest you do).

I was looking for more info on McDonald and came up with his own audio website, with a plethora of Y2K related talks. The first one listed though, 11/9/99 Y2K with Gordon McDonald, is actually about that conference in NY. It goes into much greater detail (though nowhere near what I'd like to see!) and explanation.

He covers a lot of topics, Electric Utilities, Gas & Oil, Mfg., etc.. As long as the "Christian" slant is not abhorrent to you, it's quite a grabber.

Here is the URL: http://audiocentral.com/y2k/y2kreport/default.html

I'm trying to get independent verification of this conference and it's subject matter. As soon as I do, I'll relay it here.

Funny though, I haven't heard too much "pollyanna" talk about this since I posted it(though some legitimate concerns were brought up). Wonder why?

Jeff

PS: Here is a little info about McDonald (from his own site though)

Gordon McDonald graduated from San Diego State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Behavioral Psychology and a minor in Sociology. For the past five years, Gordon has been a senior research analyst and editor of personal UPDATE news journal with Koinonia House, and regular contributor to various other publications, and its daily radio broadcast, The Missler Report.

-- Anonymous, November 11, 1999

Answers

In case you're interested, here is the URL for the actual conference (and conference holders). This report is for real, folks!

http://www.brainstorm-group.com/Y2K_Events99.html

Jeff

-- Anonymous, November 12, 1999

Jeff, Dont want to let you down. Polly mode ON.

About thirty people showed up at this Y2K funfest, according to one report I saw. Naval War College, Paula Gordon in attendance, that pretty much kills the credibility factor for me, lol.

Now what can distort the conference proceedings even further, is anything associated with McAlvany. ---------- From: http://www.audiocentral.com/rshows/mir/subscribe.html "The McAlvany "Intelligence Alert" offers relevant, topical geopolitical news and Investment Counseling. How is it likely to affect YOU? Subscribe now and find out! This timely information and sound advice cuts through the confusion of modern financial planning.

To receive your FREE bi-weekly McAlvany "Intelligence Alert" simply fill out the form below! My areas of interest are(please select at least one) Y2K Portfolio Counseling Emergency Food Provisioning Precious Metals Retirement Asset Hedging ---------------

Y2K Scam alert ON Credibility = 0. Polly mode OFF.

Regards,

-- Anonymous, November 15, 1999

Factfinder,

I knew you were "lurking" out there somewhere. I'm glad you took the bait:)

First off, allow me to set something straight. I am NOT a "doomer" NOR am I a "polly", only someone interested in a little known, and now apparantly archaic method, of arriving at critical decisions, something called the "TRUTH". I seek it with a vengeance. Neither those who seek to fantasize it with apocolyptic visions nor those who attempt to mollify or restrain it to a point of illogical calm, will prevent me from ferreting it out.

Speaking of such, this is something that has befuddled me. You, FactFinder, are obviously a person with an abundance of education and intelligence, yet here you are avoiding the truth. What gives? Why in heaven would you, so many times, accept the PR reports and press releases from agencies and companies that have nothing to lose in fabricating falsehoods, everything to lose if they do admit any problems of magnitude and are almost totally self-governed? It amazes me that anyone can be so blind without a "hidden agenda". That they would take this on "blind faith" would be incomprehensible to an astute folower of "Fact". I do understand that you, in your own particular industry, may (justified or not) truthfully feel your co. is ready, as well they just may be. But to extrapolate that to all other industries is totally unbelievable. Give that scenario to any good reporter (IF you can find any nowadays!) and he/she would describe that individual as either not that smart or worse, someone with a mission, a hidden agenda. Understand FactFinder, I do not attack your credibility, only your motives.

If a truly neutral person were to assimilate all of the facts, as they now stand, both good and bad, that person would see a definitive shift to the "Oh Oh, Houston, we have a problem!" camp. To not see it would be blinding ones own eyes and those of who were unfortunate enough to listen.

Sorry, really didn't mean to get on a soapbox there but truth is truth, no matter how you try to hide it, whitewash it OR over dramatize it.

By the way, I take umbrage with your classification of Paula Gordon. I have found her to be quite refreshing, forthright and articulate. Yes, she is passionate about her work but anyone who is attempting to help (help is the key word here, NOT mislead) others, should rightly be so.

As far as the McAlvaney "Report" goes, I agree with you. The gentleman seems to be somewhat self-serving. If the messenger arrives in a broken down, lousy sounding car though,it is not a very good reason to totally discount the message itself. In todays' climate of mainstream media avoiding the facts and truth like the plague, it seems only right that someone with a message as this, would seek ANY avenue available to broadcast it, I know I would. I would also pray that the audience was intelligient enough to discern the difference between the vehicle and the message.

Nuff said, I bid you adieu.

Jeff

-- Anonymous, November 16, 1999

Well said Jeff.

Actually, there are a few simple explanations for Factfinder's motivation. However, if I stated them it would simply reinforce some people's impression of me as overly paranoid and conspiratorial. ;-)

Regards,

-- Anonymous, November 16, 1999

Hi Jeff. After a frustrating hour of "net congestion" (ARRGGH!), I was able to listen to the first 30 minutes of Gordon's report.

You said in a previous post on this report that there is discussion of utilities, but I didn't hear much on that. The focus of this conference appeared to be contingency planning (he called it crisis management). The only thing I heard that might apply to utilities was a reference to problems with embedded systems dropping from 7% to 1% based on testing. That figure sounds ok to me, although I would emphasize that the majority of those 1% problems did not result in a failure of the device, only in a non-essential part of it.

Anyway, I just didn't hear much on utilities, and none of the speakers seems to have any extensive experience on that subject. So there's not much to comment on. Perhaps you can give a few quotes from the report?

-- Anonymous, November 16, 1999

Jeff,

You just gotta understand FactFinder. He's not that much out of touch with lots of professionals who make decisions about safety issues. The space shuttle had a whole bunch of engineers who constantly monitored each launch and reviewed the data afterwards. Sure, they knew the O-rings leaked sometimes, but they held didn't they, they didn't blow out did they? That's what the ruling engineers said and they got the nod, until Challenger of course, and then it was whoops, well that was only one bad launch and the data didn't predict it. FactFinder is in that camp of engineers who don't think the problems are going to be more than a little leak, if even that. Take your pick.

-- Anonymous, November 17, 1999