Date: Sun Dec 26 1999 18:21

fisherman (startrek) ID#341279:

Copyright ) 1999 fisherman/Kitco Inc. All rights reserved

One of the sickest things emerging in our society is the blending of fiction and non fiction via television and movies. There is a buick ad where the guy tells us to buy a buick if we're worried about y2k because it has automatic lights and a good heater. On star trek last night one of the main characters chided people who are worried about y2k ( she apparently had gone into the past and checked, and everything turns out ok ) . So not only do we have the whore press and politicians downplaying the possible problems ( in order to protect us ) , we have fictional tv shows and car commercials giving advice on how we should react to real world events. If this thing does turn out to be bad, and I don't have an opinion one way or the other ( except that it MIGHT be a nightmare ) , then our public is going to get the shock of a life time. If the 33 trillion dollars that us banks have strung out in derivitaves start caving in because the velocity of money slows down a little, suddenly we are all going to live in a REAL world, not a virtual one. The average Joe will have no bloody idea what is happening, and will probably go absolutely bughouse.

If its true that the fed and other crb's have artifically stabilized and held down the price of gold, think of the incredible moral hazard they have created. All though history the price of gold has been an indicator of inflation ( money creation ) and political uncertainty. This market signal my have been short circuited by our all knowing government, setting us all up for a terrible fall. Then again, maybe all will be just fine.

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Then again - NOT [Andy]

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), December 27, 1999

Answers

My vote (FWIW)....NOT

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), December 27, 1999.

Yep, the Captain's ancestor Shannon declared that Y2K had "not turned off one lightbulb".

I thought that a bit overstated, to say the least! Not even Kosky & company believe that!

Jolly - who likes, but doesn't really respect ST anymore.

-- Jollyprez (jolly@prez.com), December 27, 1999.

I have several relatives, no names mentioned, who live in a dream world, and when the real world crumbles beneath our feet, they will become baskit cases because they have (in my little world), fortunes in stocks, hidden assets and bank accounts. They live in a world that is not touched by reality at all. I have not even tried but one time to reach them. I do not appreciate a slap in the face, and that is what I more or less got for my trouble. Let them fall, I don't think it will effect me if they do. If the bank world dissentigrates, it will effect me next to nothing, because that is just about my financial worth, "next to nothing." I do not live in the stocks, bonds and high bank acount world, my small pittance is doled out to me in pinches, as the establishment sees fit.

-- Notforlong (Fsur439@aol.com), December 27, 1999.

Anyone gave a link for the Apple superbowl y2k Ad?

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), December 27, 1999.

Andy...total agreement. The media is a whore for the bankers. To the newbies, that's the Federalistas, the civilian owners of your finances that your gutless congress suports out of fear. Nothing to do with the government - except ownership. We have had a trio of these leeches bite the big one as of late, though....hmmmm. Y2K is not a bug, it is bad coding. Is it ALL fixed? Think about it. Bear arms, or wear chains. See you, maybe, on the other side.

-- Willy (Wonka@thechocolatefactory.com), December 27, 1999.

CNN just showed the dude with the underground bunker for 500 people , bless his heart! He burried a bunch of buses, Even has a decontamination tank. Anyone get a location on that bunker? He says it's vacant, he has no takers... Road Trip Gang!

-- Hokie (nn@va.com), December 27, 1999.

Good Plan Hokie!!! I'll bring da beer!!!

-- Billy Boy (Rakkasan101st@Aol.com), December 27, 1999.

I got an e-mail from a former reporter and newscaster in response to one of my recent articles. (He worked for AP for a while.) In turn, I asked him what he thought of mainstream media. He began his reply with, "Mainstream news is a whorehouse...."

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), December 27, 1999.

Bruce Beach lives north of Toronto. His email is survival@webpal.org

-- gary elliott (gelliott@real.on.ca), December 27, 1999.

So "ST:Voyager" says Y2K was/will be a BITR, eh? Glad I gained back some time every week when I stopped watching it. The whole ST series of shows has lost a lot of energy in the writing in the past few years. Word is that "Galaxy Quest" does a nice job of capturing the lunacy of the ST phenomenon (and fandom) without overdoing it.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), December 27, 1999.

I wonder what Gene Roddenberry would have thought of one of his offspring being used as a collective schill for THE POWERS THAT BE? Spinning in his grave I'll bet. The whole ST phenom has grown increasingly stale since he left us. Sad.

John Ludi, former Trekker.

-- Ludi (ludi@rollin.com), December 27, 1999.

The most disappointing media spin so far for me was an episode of Seventh Heaven which aired a couple weeks ago. It's a family drama, dad plays a minister, lots of kids, family values and moralizing.

The youngest daughter heard from the boy down the street about potential millenium problems, and she decides she has to learn how to cook on a barbecue cuz stoves may not work. The fire almost getes out of control (she's using wads of paper instead of coal briquets) cuz alzheimer grandad (separate subplot) fails to keep watch on the barbecue.

Minister hauls daughter aside to talk with her and let her know that she will be PUNISHED unless she learns THE LESSON, which is not to believe everything you see on a tv or hear on a radio or learn from a computer. Then he marches off to tell the boy's parents about the nonsense their boy is circulating. Turns out the boy's parents are major GIs and tell the minister about their preps. (No unusual preps for those of us planning to shelter-in-place.) The minister grabs his daughter's hand and marches back home without saying anything more to the parents, shaking his head in disbelief.

This depressed me as much as anything I have seen on tv or radio to date about y2k. The thought that taking precautions to protect one's self and one's family is an immoral activity requiring punishment of a little girl was just too much.

Wonder if they'll have the balls to show this episode again if things do turn nasty.

And I see that my local PBS station is rebroadcasting Cringely's absurd Year of Disconnect on New Year's Evil.

-- Brooks (brooksbie@hotmail.com), December 27, 1999.