And what will that next thing be?

Please allow me to re-introduce myself. I haven't been around on this forum much lately, and there seem to be quite a few new "faces" around here!

I was the news editor of Sanger and Shannon's Review of Y2K News Reports, and I was quite active on this forum in 1998 and early 1999. It was through this forum, in fact, that I was "introduced" to Sanger's Review, and to many issues that are not directly Y2K-related, but which I have subsequently become interested in.

Shortly after the date rollover, for a variety of reasons, some personal, I decided to quit the Y2K-reporting game. However, I enjoyed the work that I was doing, and decided to pursue the same kind of work, though from a different angle.

Late last year, I started getting involved with a group of kind and talented individuals on a small organic farm in northern New Jersey. (I live in New York City.) They've decided that they want to build a website to promote the products that they produce, as well as the workshop space in their main building. Along with that, they want to build and foster Intentional Community, as well as a healthy appreciation for nature. I decided to join them in this project!

We are in the process of building two new websites, Nature's Friends, which will (shortly) include a full line of herbal and other products from the farm and our network of artists and friends. We are building a web-based store, which will include on-line ordering.

An associated website, Nature's News will offer a "Sanger's Style" daily summary of mainstream and alternative news articles "pertaining to the interaction between the human and natural communities." We may have avoided damage from the Y2K problem, but I believe that environmental, population and similar problems are coming sharply into focus as the next "big thing" that human civilization will need to deal with, if we are to avoid a clash between people and nature. In the long run, people are bound to lose in that clash, and I believe that awareness of various problems around the globe may lead individuals to re-think their relationship with nature. We have choices, afterall, and I personally am choosing to pursue a "lower-impact" lifestyle.

Since I received so much help, support and friendship from people on this forum, I wanted to come here first to announce this new project, which I am very excited about! So please, check out these two new "sister" websites, join the mailing list, say hello, don't hesitate to offer any ideas, suggestions or feedback, and be sure to bookmark them for future reference!

Cheers!

-- pshannon (pshannon@sangersreview.com), February 04, 2000

Answers

Thank you Pat, I was just wondering how your new project was coming along. Will drop by the website for a visit. You did a good job on Y2K issues. Good luck with the transition.

-- Normally (Oxsys@aol.com), February 04, 2000.

Nice to see you again, Patrick. Enjoy your new life! Sounds good ...
This Forum will feel like home away from home with the eccentric relatives ;^)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), February 04, 2000.

No offense, I'm glad you're working on something you find rewarding, but, as you can probably see from the posts in this forum, Y2K is hardly a "bust." There's a lot happening now and more problems piling up all the time. Y2K is far from over.

-- (Steve887@cirstin.org), February 04, 2000.

Good to hear from you, Patrick! Good luck on your new endeavors, and please.....don't be a stranger!

-- Wilferd (WilferdW@aol.com), February 04, 2000.

Spam alert

[Troll Alert: DNS now: 209.183.86.175 maps to ... ip209-183-86-175.ts.indy.net -- Sysop]

-- (RNader@welcome.wagon), February 04, 2000.

Pat, your posts were always most helpful to me, and I thank you for them. How lovely that you are part of building an intentional community. I would love to be part of one in my area, and hope that one might grow in No VA. It will be a pleasant website to visit. I wish you and your friends every success. Perhaps you can share via your site how you folks got your endeavor underway, etc., for those who would like to follow suit elsewhere.

-- Elaine Seavey (Gods1sheep@aol.com), February 04, 2000.

"Since I received so much help, support and friendship from people on this forum, I wanted to come here first to announce this new project, which I am very excited about!"

Well isn't that just special...Tell ya what, Pat. When the "problems" settle down to a dull roar, as opposed to getting worse which they seem to be now, I'll be glad to check out your sites. You've done good work in the past. As for Y2K being a "bust"...I didn't think you were that gullible.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), February 04, 2000.

Steve and Don,

I live in New York City. A year ago, I was imagining the possibility that:

- Bridge and tunnels into the city would be closed the day before New Year's, and Nat. Guard troops would be blocking access.

- A banking holiday would be declared before New Year's because people had sucked all the cash out of the system.

- Power outages due to Y2K would affect 1 billion people around the globe.

- At least one major terrorist incident, and/or one opportunistic war (China/Taiwan? India/Pakistan?) would begin around New Years.

- At least one major financial institution would not open its doors after New Year's.

- The DJIA would be below 8,000, if not lower after New Year's and probably lower than that.

- Problems of heating and/or water and sanitation would affect 1 billion people around the globe.

I could go on. I started working on the Y2K website to track the news so that I would be a few steps ahead of the crowd, and understand things as they came up.

In "real life," the only Y2K problem that I've experienced is that my friend Keri keeps sending me mail dated 1980 from her old PC with Win95, that she did nothing to remediate. (She hasn't noticed any other problems.) I know as well as anyone that there are problems out there, but frankly, if I hadn't followed the issue as closely as I did, I wouldn't know or care about them. The average person has been completely unaffected by Y2K.

Seriously, if this isn't "largely a bust," what would you guys call it?

-- pshannon (pshannon@sangersreview.com), February 04, 2000.

Mr Pshannon,

I wouldn't try to rustle up business on this site by pretending that Y2K was anything but an ongoing catastrophe ready to strike REAL SOON NOW. Anything less will alienate most of the die-hard posters here.

But say, speaking of dot.coms, when is NATURE'S FRIENDS having its IPO, and is it too late for me to sell all my possessions and get in on the ground floor of a dot.com? [g]

-- I'mSo (lame@prepped.com), February 04, 2000.

SPAM.

SPAM.

SPAM.

SPAM.

[Troll Alert: DNS now: 216.34.244.46 maps to ... draco.anonymizer.com -- Sysop]

-- spamwatch (spam@pol.ice), February 05, 2000.

Good grief!

Patrick is NOT a spammer, and has a long-time respected posting history here, and as a Y2K editor at Sangers.

Thanks for the update on your new ventures pshannon, and I, for one, am signing up for what I know will be an excellent e-mail news alert.

Y2K lessons we're learning?... "natural works." And sustainability is the next growth industry.

*Grin*

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), February 05, 2000.

He's advertising his wares. In violation of your terms.

Double standard noted, press release in progress...

-- spamcop (i@tell.the.truth), February 05, 2000.

Re-think our "relationship with nature"?!? Choose a "lower-impact" lifestyle?!? What are you, one of those tree-huggin' liberal socialist bedwetters!?!?!?!

-- alan (foo@bar.com), February 06, 2000.

"What are you, one of those tree-huggin' liberal socialist bedwetters!?!?!?!"

That's very funny! You got all of the buzzwords in there. I was wondering when someone was going to ask that.

No, I'm not a tree-hugger (they don't hug back). I do, however, think that trees are important, and not just as "raw material" for desks and matches and guitars. They are the lungs of the world. Gotta have healthy lungs. As a resource, if treated properly, they are replaceable.

I'm not a liberal. I do not like statism. Nanny government sickens me. I want it to go away. The only way that is going to happen is for individuals to inform and educate themselves, and be responsible for their society. That's what I tried to do, in a very small way, with the Y2K site, and I hope to continue along similar lines, in a small way, with the naturesnews site.

Socialist? I don't like state socialism. I think it's a dangerous path, and can only lead to a horrible outcome. However, I think that a little "socialism" as a free choice among individuals can be a fine thing. Is a nuclear or extended family a "socialist" unit? Can this be extended to a "village" of like-minded people?

Betwetter? I'm pretty sure the last time I wet my bed was when I was around three years old, maybe four. I really don't remember.

Point is, I think that people can be concerned about the environment without being "tree-huggin' liberal socialist bedwetters," just as there were people who were concerned about Y2K who were not "right-wing fundamentalist gun-nut whackos." Why does everything need to be polarized into "sides," huh?

-- pshannon (pshannon@naturesnews.org), February 06, 2000.

pshannon:

Good answer!! Best of luck to you!!

-- jeanne (jeanne@hurry.now), February 06, 2000.