Mr. Imager,

You asked,

"You are a funny lady but don't forget it is welcome to share information so if you are so smart then you can give us your world view (personal or otherwise) on the Y2K situation.

>>>>>>>>Questions are easy, answers aren't.<<<<<<<<

( Brian (imager@home.com), November 14, 1999."

Answers are easy.

However, my panoptic view is based on a different perspective than yours. Furthermore, my answers will be different than yours because my questions are different.

I read at least a dozen reports yesterday. I attempted to winnow the factual information from the opinion. I was looking for specific criteria to base a theoretical framework that I could use to re-evaluate new information as it is presented. I failed due to the paucity of reliable data; most of it is arrived at a-priori rather than quantitatively. Trying to discern the difference between assumptions and trustworthy data proved to be pointless. I found very few sources that were willing to present mathematical data, and, in most of those cases, I suspect their information is grossly biased.

As I read the ENRON report, I couldnt help but think they have placed themselves in a "win-win" position. If I am correct, they, like many companies, can use "fear of the unknown" to position themselves as the "good" guy. Their "plan" dances around "embedded chips" - claims they are in "many applications" but doesn't identify what applications. I suspect because they don't know, PMA dictates that they leave the reader with a sense of foreboding. If "mission critical" chips don't have date related functions? - A smug smile that says, see, we fixed it after Jan 1?

Brother Brian, yesterday was one of the most difficult days of my life - but it was also the most exhilarating and liberating. It was because I believe in reason, observable reality, and cause and effect. My research has confirmed my belief system - I am the Captain - and so are you. Who is John Galt? I cant answer all of your questions; I cannot portend the future. I can only posit what I think the future will be for me..

Life - postY2K - will be substantially different. Not bad, just different. Of course, I can say this because I live in Phoenix, the weather will be beautiful here for the next six months. When summer arrives next year, I will either have air conditioning, or I will miss having ice with my canal water. Either way, Ill be fine.

I am single; Ive never had children, I have no pets, and Ive had my bug-out bag packed for a month. Im the luckiest woman in the world to be in the position Im in. I can build solar ovens, purify water, eat native plants, and make a 6 inch pattern at 50 yards. I suspect my future will be quite different than yours, and most others.

Now, do you have any other questions?or can I get back to work.

-- Laura (LadyLogic@aol.com), November 14, 1999

Answers

South Phoenix?

Which direction will you bug out to, if TSHTF in the Valley? 10, 17, etc...? What if they close down the highways? Backroads in your SUV, good luck. Your bugout bag should already be at your backup location or nearby in storage. You should "vacation" at your backup location for the New Years weekend, see what happens, the head back to Phoenix. May take sometime for things to breakdown, keep your bugout bag at the backup location for a few months. If everything looks safe and sound in June, go get your stuff. Don't get stuck in a metro area after the rollover.

-- Bill (y2khippo@yahoo.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura, it is very late in the game. Most of us have done the research that you are now doing, and reached the conclusions that we have, based on what answers we came up with. In my own case, I re-located from around the Washington, D.C. area to a rural farm in Northwest Arkansas. This is what my answer was.

Unfortunately, you have very little time to work with. It sounds like you are a fast learner, and to a large extent have already set up a bug-out plan. The only thing that I wanted to point out is that, recognizing the limited amount of time that is left, it would be very prudent to go ahead and assume that things like embedded systems will cause major infrastructure failures, and prepare for that, rather than try at this late date to figure out just what the odds are. I can personally attest, based on my own research, that you will find that the experts simply disagree. This is very typical of Y2K issues, and putting into action the saying, "Hope for the best, plan for the worst", has never been more applicable.

Good luck.

47 days.

Y2K CANNOT BE FIXED!

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.~net), November 14, 1999.

...but you don't seem like a happy person. Even a person preparing for a 10 can be happy and have friends. You can have all the material items possible but what is life really worth if you don't have one friend - even an animal - to share it with? I suspect my friends in my immediate somewhat rural neighborhood will change as Y2k progresses and those who prepared stay and those who didn't leave. I look forward to linking up with those people and forming a community where things like bartering, growing food, hunting, and riding bikes may become important again. Laura, I feel sorry for you and would not want to change places with you for all the world.

-- Psychotic (y2k@doom&gloom.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura, Brian has been a tireless and valuable contributor to this forum for many, many months. His words to you were tongue-in-cheek and meant to encourage you to share your reactions. You asked questions, you were given sources containing the answers, and your take would be interesting to all of us.

Those of us who have read scores of reports over the last few years now have an "inbuilt radar" for discerning truth from spin and fiction. Some of us may not be able to quantify our discernment in academic terms, but "we know it when we see it."

We will all look forward to your individual take on the reports you are now reading, so that we might add additional perspective to our store of knowledge.

-- Regular (here@TB.2000), November 14, 1999.

Laura,

Um, Ayn Rand never had kids either...in her comic-book universe (which I loved when I was sixteen), the only weaklings are morally corrupt adults. There is no such thing as old people, or babies, or illness.

Lots of uplifting rhetoric though.

I've been spending this fall practicing my humility skills. I think they'll be useful soon. Comes recommended.

-- silver ion (dagnyt@ggartismybuddy.too), November 14, 1999.

Laura,

I've been wrestling with this issue for a year and a half now, and I think Jack's comment was dead-on.

And welcome to the forum. It's nice to see a new, intelligent mind try to grasp this thing. I look forward to more input from you. Good luck.

-- eve (123@4567.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura

Thank you for your quick answer and yes you can go back to work. Of course the challanges are the same for all of us in looking at Y2K.

I treat it like a big puzzle and there are bits of information to be mined.

I will be getting a streamlined thread going so searches through the disclosures will be a bit easier.

Good luck in your search and remember grace under pressure :o)

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 14, 1999.

Lets see if'n this works.... Jacks Da Man!!!!

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan@Yahoo.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura,

tried to email you - rejected;

mine is real

like to drop you a short note...

thanks,

Perry

-- Perry Arnett (pjarnett@pdqnet.net), November 14, 1999.

second try:

Laura,

email me please, tried twice, reject notes twice...

email is real

thanks,

Perry

-- Perry Arnett (pjarnett@pdqnet.net), November 14, 1999.

Brian,

I apologize for an imbecilic question - I know you are busy researching - but I'd like to keep up. What does:

>>>I will be getting a streamlined thread going so searches through the disclosures will be a bit easier.<<<

mean? How do I find the thread?

-- Laura (LadyLogic@aol.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura

I haven't posted it yet. There is no one definitive SEC resource that does what I want so one has to flip between the sites. So I am going to list the URLs and instructions on how to find what you want. Might do it tonight.

Last night while pokeing around I found something interesting.

14 billion $$$ revenue last year

Natural Gas Clearinghouse

Find a Y2K disclosure for them. I sort of can't. The natural gas industry is really interesting. Chevron bought them out yet it is hard to tell where one corp. stops and another starts. Its like a global spider web.

Big weirdness.

You might find that I am not to formal, more of a folksy Canadian style :o) We don't take things to serious. Unless it is hockey then every comment has meaning.

Will let you know when the SEC stuff is posted.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 14, 1999.

Thanks Brian,

Can I repay your kindess? Can I look up some URL's or read some reports for you after the 17th?

-- Laura (LadyLogic@aol.com), November 14, 1999.

Laura

Don't get all wishy washy, just throw money :o)

Well I got around to it (after escaping the chat room, go gang!), here is the thread so folks can search for the SEC filings better.

 SEC SEARCH THREAD, best sites to search for 10 - Q filings

-- Brian (imager@home.com), November 15, 1999.

Silver Ion:

Re Rand:

She merely used novels and characters as a means of presenting her philosophy. Get a grip.

And I read Hamlet at sixteen. Isn't being exposed to the great classics for the first time at an early age a wonderful experience? And it's good to look back on it. Assuming you're past sixteen now.

-- eve (123@4567.com), November 15, 1999.