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

Rick, the thread above quotes you in the San Hose Mercury News...please tell us you were misquoted, theres quite a bit of nonsense there...

Regards,

-- Anonymous, December 05, 1999

Answers

I think the only quote that was close to accurate was the one about worrying that your microwave oven would fail. ;-)

The quotes attributed to me are not even close to the discussion that I had with the reporter. I'll be calling him tomorrow.

This is what happens when a reporter with absolutely no technical background writes a story on a technical topic. And this is why I've done very few interviews over the past year. I shoulda known better.

-- Anonymous, December 05, 1999

I had no doubt there was much misquoting and stated such both at TB2000 and debunkers. As usual, this is an example of quality y2k reporting. I know your views quite well, and have agreed with you that the higher level systems are most at risk, including the plant monitoring computer systems you cite. I could see some of your views were murdered in the article, but haven't any idea how they came up with the embedded chips in the "reactor"....could they have mistaken this for the reactor building, some areas which aren't accessed normally except during shutdowns? Who knows...anyway, THAT one was quite amusing.

Regards,

-- Anonymous, December 05, 1999

I re-read the article again over at TB2000 (I guess I need to get over there more...), and posted the following response:

There's only two quotes attributed to me that are even close to accurate. The first is the one about microwave ovens. The rest of the article is pretty much unrecognizeable as anything that I discussed with Mr. Wilson. The crux of our conversation was about testing, and how difficult it is to do end-to-end testing in a complex control system.

The most egregious error made by the reporters was the following:

Cowles said sectors like utilities are likely to be harder hit because they rely on many embedded processors exchanging information, and some of those processors simply can't be tested. Some processors are inaccessible because they are sitting inside a nuclear reactor or 600 feet underwater on an oil rig. In other cases, no one knows the equipment has date-sensitive processors except long-vanished engineers.

This particular paragraph rankles me. The reporter totally misrepresented what I actually said to him in a summary first sentence. Then, to add insult to injury, he added the last two sentences to the above paragraph himself. This crap simply wasn't a quote from me. But the way the paragraph was written, it sure sounds like it was from me, huh? And it makes me look like an idiot to anyone who knows better (as I hope that most of you do).

This is what happens when you have a reporter without a clue about technical issues writing about techincal issues. Jeez, I can't wait until all of this is over, one way or the other.

(Maci

-- Anonymous, December 05, 1999

Let me take this moment to openly thank Rick Cowles for providing a venue to confirm or refute what appears in the traditional media. I have had the fortune to converse with Rick on a number of occasions regarding quotes attributed to him in the press and have found them most lacking in accuracy.

The opportunity we as ordinary citizens have to consult the source directly has been and will continue to be invaluable in the coming days and weeks. I, for one, possess only a limited knowledge of the electrical industry and have found both Rick Cowles and Dick Mills commentary a bedrock of rational discernment.

I would be remiss in not including others on this forum who have been constructive as well. Thanks again.

-- Anonymous, December 05, 1999

Rick,

This is why I do not speak to the media. I have misquoted several times. One time the local paper quoted me as saying that I had a product, which I normally sell, that I would give away to veterans. Holy Toledo !!!!!!!!!!

I realize that your schedule is hectic but is there anyway you could backtrack and give us the interview with the truth "embedded" in it? What was really covered and what were your answers?

Thanks

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Sorry about the problems Rick,

But far worse is the intimation that VCR's, microwaves, and computers are really the focus of the y2k problem.

How often have I heard " I have a MAC, so I don't need to worry about y2k" or "I checked my PC and it is y2k OK, so I don't have to worry"

Rather than just worrying about the mis-quotes, I would worry about the general focus and thrust of such poorly thought out and written articles.

Rick, when you go after this idiot, please try to enlighten him to the real problems, and not just his simplistic mis-quotes.

-- Anonymous, December 06, 1999

Everyone should recognize that the San Jose Mercury News is in business to sell newspapers, and Y2K is nothing more to them than another topic that can be used to sell newspapers. The writer of this article is not being evaluated by management for his ability to accurately condense complex technology issues into a more compact and understandable form, he is being judged by how effective his articles are in selling newspapers. So if weaving a collection of Y2K sound bites into an article sells more papers, that is what the reporter will do, regardless of what kinds of facts he has at his disposal, or even how well he himself understands the underlying issues.

-- Anonymous, December 07, 1999