From a December 9th interview:

Sanders: How does y2k look to you with three weeks to go?

Jim Lord: You have to look at two different aspects of it, the technical and the economic. By "technical" I mean computer failures that affect infrastructure. Even though there is a tremendous concerted effort to convince us that the electrical grid is not in any danger, I continue to get solid information from the insiders that there is a good deal more risk there than the government is telling us aboutThe Navy utility survey, a major story that broke here a few months back, is a good example of that. I absolutely proved that they were lying to us about y2k with that story. Without question they have information about the utilities and about the rest of the infrastructure that they are not telling us. That's one aspect.

Another story that broke just recently arose from the two days I spent with the C.E.O. of one of the world's largest Y2K remediation companies. This gentleman and his company have done Y2K embedded systems remediation for major utilities, water systems, and electric systems all over the world, not just in the U.S.

This is what I would consider one of the two or three or four most technically qualified embedded systems experts in the world. He tells me that if we escape Y2K by losing only 40-60% of the power in the U.S. for two to three weeks, he would consider that a home run.

Sanders: And that's the best case scenario?

Lord: Yes, the best case. For two to three weeks half the power in the country falls out. I spent two days with this gentleman, and he is an honorable man. He is a paragon of virtue.

Sanders: Anybody who has studied Y2K soon concludes that if the grid stays up, we're all right, but if the grid goes down, there is no telling what will happen.

Lord: Combining his revelation with my judgment does not guarantee there will be massive computer problems. His is only one person's opinion, but a person of the highest character, the highest integrity and unmatched technical credentials. From that kind of information from insiders I conclude that we ought to be concerned about a great deal more than the government and the big trade associations are telling us about.

I would love not to be concerned. If you can discount Y2K electricity problems, then you start to believe that we could probably handle Y2K. On the other hand, the kind of electrical problems that this gentleman outlines foretell a real catastrophe.

Sanders: Two to three weeks of a 40-60% outage would be an unrelieved disaster. Those kind of outages in Minneapolis, Detroit

Lord: .New York City

Sanders: Not to mention Montreal, Toronto, and so on, would mean millions of deaths.

Lord: We couldn't respond to that like we responded to major ice storms in the northeast in the past three or four years. With that happening over such a widespread area, we could not marshal resources from outside. There would be too much of it to handle.

The above was taken from Sanders newletter, "The Moneychanger". If you're good I'll take the time to type what Lord and Sanders said about the banks.

It's not too late to buy a kerosene heater, water, and food. Lord and Sanders are cool heads. Disbelieve this at your own risk.

Ah, the illustrious Jim Lord. As an added bonus, we have him captured here alluding none other than "Mr. CEO" himself!

In honour of the ludicrous predictions of doomers, let us begin at the bottom of this post with the sentence: "Disbelieve this at your own risk." How droll. And original. The fear of the unknown (to some). I would imagine after attempting to cause such panic and actually having some of the media listen to them, most doomers are suffering symptomatic withdrawals. But wait, there's more:

My personal favourite lines in the entire interview are when Jim Lord states of Mr. CEO: "He tells me that if we escape Y2K by losing only 40-60% of the power in the U.S. for two to three weeks, he would consider that a home run;" and "His is only one person's opinion, but a person of the highest character, the highest integrity and unmatched technical credentials." "Unmatched technical credentials..." now I've heard that somewhere - recently, even...

As for keeping his identity a mystery, well, one cannot blame Mr. CEO, now can one? After all, people will likely listen to him in the future, since he didn't reveal his doomer tendencies to the larger audience - running about like Chicken Little (no offense, CL) claiming that the sky was falling. Mr. CEO was wise to hide his identity, in my never humble opinion, in stark contrast to Mr. Ed Yourdon and others. Anyone know if Ed is working much these days?

And, in retrospect, I suppose we came in a bit under that 40-60% power failure home run, now didn't we?

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), May 10, 2000

Answers

ROFL, I love these little tidbits of doom from the past Andy, thanks. Lord was one of my favorite doomers, since he was funny in his cluelessness. He did have a lot of admirers, too:

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

But I wasn't one of them of course:

"Y2K Pentagon Papers" - "Secret Papers" Back ONLINE - NAVFAC Master Utilities Y2K Preparedness Status Spreadsheet Explained

The NAVFAC Diaries - (Links and humor)

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), May 10, 2000.

What I mostly like about Lord Jim is his sideburns. Very sexy....mmm hmmm. *wink*

Stimulated Regards,
Andy Boy

-- Andy Boy (andyboy666@hotmale.com), May 10, 2000.

Ooops, silly, silly me.

I forgot to turn off my precious teal.

*SMOOOOOCH*

Apologetic Regards,
Andy Boy

-- Andy Boy (andyboy666@hotmale.com), May 11, 2000.

AR,

If it is so HORRIBLE to be wrong, how bad a sin is it to GLOAT?

An honest mistake is an honest mistake. (which is what I firmly believe, most doomers were honestly mistaken) But a bragart is making a conscious choice to be a jerk, enjoy.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), May 11, 2000.

Unk:

I know what you're saying - I've been getting a little cross myself with some of the gloating I've seen and this from a confirmed polly. OTOH, Jim Lord is another case entirely. He was either lying consistenly from the start with his whole "Mr. CEO" crap or he is really quite mentally ill. He was certainly one of the few who preached utter doom from beginning to end and one I have zero respect for.

-- Jim Cooke (JJCooke@yahoo.com), May 11, 2000.

You can see an old Washington Post article about Jim Lord and the 'Pentagon Papers' here.

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

-- What the first (official@reaction.was), May 11, 2000.

Scratch what I just said there. That was the second official reaction. The first is here.

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

-- What the first (official@reaction.was), May 11, 2000.

My favorite Jim Lord groupies were the twits from Cascadia...

Jim Lord has always had our support and admiration. We valued his writings. When we saw him speak in Seattle, we were very impressed with his solid delivery, personableness, total grasp of the facts, willingsness to explain to audiences large and small, and his obvious honesty. We posted our findings on this Forum. This man demands respect by his very demeanor and bearing. Some people's character is immediately evident, and Jim Lord's is that of a true patriot.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), December 02, 1999.

...and the mouth breather that called itself "Will continue not thinking"...

Thank you Jim. You have been more valuable and credible to our cause than may ever be properly acknowleded. You are a gentleman and a patriot and these two aspects of character are completly foreign to far too many Americans who are void of ethics and honor. Best of luck to you and Mrs. as well as all other big and little Lords!

-- Will continue (farming@home.com), December 02, 1999.

-- Y2K Pro (y2kpro1@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000.