Predisposition to memetic themes - likely becuase "the world is so unfair..."

No degree.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000

Answers

And, lest Sysyman think I am "singling him out" or whines about being "picked on," the same can be said of Helter, Yourdom, and lots of other appropriately ashamed doomers posting under new aliases.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

That's good, now can you explain the reasons why you are retarded?

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

There was never a reason to prepare.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

See this thread started by Sysman.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=003HP6

Forming a command center to quickly respond to problems during the date rollover is wise planning. Here's what to keep in mind

By Rick Saia

06/28/99 Mary Livens is working hard to make New Year's Eve as boring as possible. Livens, year 2000 project leader at Medical Mutual of Ohio in Cleveland, is helping assemble a Y2K command center that can react quickly to any disruptions that might occur at the date rollover.

Many corporations are apparently doing the same. A survey of Fortune 500 firms released last month by Cap Gemini America LLC in New York found 85% of the companies surveyed plan to build Y2K command centers or crisis-management centers  up from 40% just five months earlier.

"Companies are demonstrating their sense of caution by placing greater emphasis on managing possible year 2000 risks," says Jim Woodward, a vice president at Cap Gemini.

The risks are many. Aside from problems related to unremediated software and hardware, organizations must be prepared for losses of power, telecommunications and water, as well as the possibility that their suppliers' or customers' unfixed code could infect their systems during data transmissions.

Forming a command center takes months of planning, especially because you're assembling a team of people that will have to be on alert status for no more than a few weeks.

"We're taking a very structured approach" to building Medical Mutual's command center, Livens says. Part of that is determining what will need prompt attention should there be a malfunction at any of the insurer's 16 locations throughout Ohio.

In the event of a system crash or another severe problem, she says, the command center team  made up of key managers and technicians  would be contacted via beepers, and gather in a designated room with several backup phone lines and attack the problem. There will be a list of contacts for each office with all possible ways of reaching them in the event something goes awry, such as a loss of power, she adds.

There are three, key components to a command center, Livens says. First, you must answer the question, How are you going to get in touch with people who need to make decisions? Next, she says, you need a top leader or decision-maker onboard. Finally, a scribe must be present to document problems and solutions so "you don't have to reinvent the wheel" if something similar happens in the future, Livens says.

Laura R. Adams, year 2000 project manager at a national managed health care firm, advises that when you're forming a Y2K command center, get input from all of the key players  such as business-unit directors, vice presidents and senior executives  and keep them informed of changes to the plan as it comes together.

Also, build a command center structure tailored to the potential disasters your company could face. Then, she says, consider the worst- case scenarios and ask, "Is there anything that can be done right now, in advance?"

Howard A. Rubin, an information technology researcher and chairman of the computer sciences department at Hunter College in New York, says a company should provide primary and backup communications links to key external organizations, such as regulatory agencies and public services, that are critical to operations. Rubin also advises that the command center plan be implemented early, tested often and revised continuously.

The bottom line is to know your industry, your business and its processes and systems, says Walter Taylor, vice president of airline operations systems and year 2000 at Delta Air Lines. Establish a set of "guiding principles" such as "Safety will remain a priority" or "We won't inconvenience a customer," he says.

Prepared for Disaster

Some companies  particularly in the airline and health care industries  already have procedures in place for dealing with unforeseen factors, such as power failures and weather events, that can turn operations topsy-turvy.

Delta is mandated by federal law to have emergency response plans, which Taylor finds a big help in planning for Y2K. The Delta command center will be led by Taylor, CIO Charlie Feld and one or two vice presidents, all operating in rotating shifts.

The center will be linked to Delta's IT operations center and its Atlanta-based "nerve center," which monitors weather conditions and flight schedules and communicates with the Federal Aviation Administration. One person will act as a "direct link" to managers who oversee applications and manage Delta's IT infrastructure, Taylor says.

Delta's biggest Y2K challenge is the possibility of losing a large component such as its reservation system. Should that happen, the nerve center would be contacted to help determine whether the airline must delay or cancel flights.

A bonus is that "problem-management skills and techniques developed as part of the Y2K command center can be applied to day-to-day problem-solving" after the year 2000 threat disappears, says Gregory J. Blatnik, IT manager at Medical Mutual.

Of course, many large organizations already have problem- and risk- management systems. But for those that don't, Y2K "is a good way" to get one off the ground, Blatnik says.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Saia is Computerworld's senior editor, Managing.

-- It (wasn't@just.Sysman), June 26, 2000.

"There was never a reason to prepare."

Maybe not for an idiot like you, but for me there will always be a reason to prepare... it is the smartest way to live.

If statistics tell you that you have a 1 out of 100 chance of contracting AIDS from having unprotected sex with strangers, would you wear a condom? Your choice would obviously be no, mine would be yes. Are you trying to say that I do not have the right to do so, just because you don't think I need to? Fuck off and mind your own goddamn life!

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

What life?

-- haha (@ .), June 26, 2000.

Hawk's answer is great! Like most of the "prepare" knuckleheads, they use the wrong word,,, the word you are looking for Hawk, is REACT. Hawk, you are a puppet. You have the balls to use some unrelated dribble example about Aids? Your slip is showing, and you are retarded. Sounds like you been feeding at the Garree house of horrors a tad to many times bud.

Keep trying,,,even knuckleheads can be right sometime, LOL, I thunk.

-- Knucklehead detector (huh@hawk.com), June 26, 2000.

"Dribble"? No, that's the clap.

-- (nemesis@awol.com), June 26, 2000.

BTW Hawk,

How is sex with strangers?

-- Knucklehead detector (Huh@hawk.com), June 26, 2000.

LOL! Talk about dribble, that was a real good answer! Now, would you mind telling me what it has to do with the issue we are discussing?

The funny thing is, when we read your response, KNUCKLEHEAD, it sounds like you are describing yourself! A classic case of projection. It's pretty obvious who the retards are around here. :-)

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

OK Andy, whatever you say. I just wish you would learn how to spell my handle.

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

hawk,

There was never a reason for anyone to prepare for a catastrophic Y2k.

Those who said a reason existed were liars. Those who maintain there was reason to prepare for a catastrophic Y2k are idiots.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

If statistics tell you that you have a 1 out of 100 chance of contracting AIDS from having unprotected sex with strangers, would you wear a condom? Your choice would obviously be no, mine would be yes. Are you trying to say that I do not have the right to do so, just because you don't think I need to? Fuck off and mind your own goddamn life!

You said it, not me. Whole point of this thread is meme-infection. If your retort above is not a meme, than what is it? Is it in any way germain?

Not that this will help as it be clear you are wearing a condom full time to anything which might penetrate your meme.

-- Knucklehead detector (Huh@hawk.com), June 26, 2000.

Andy, although I hardly think you have proven anything, it seems you have made everyone on this forum completely aware of your opinion. It can be disputed until hell freezes over, but I think those who agree with you have already spoken, and those who disagree are not likely to change their mind if they haven't by now.

Are you nothing more than a one-dimensional person, who seemingly experiences some kind of perverse pleasure from obsessively needling others who you perceive to have acted in error, or is there anything in that little mind of yours that might make for a more interesting discussion?

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

hawk,

I intend to cease posting Quotably Quoteds on 020101. If, I after that, I determine (or someone shows) I was wrong for ever having begun, I will admit my error, but refuse to apologise - regardless of how annoying I realise my error and my insistence upon it have been.

A while ago, I was of a mind to discuss ceasing these postings sooner. I was informed they were no bother, and encouraged to continue. And I shall.

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 26, 2000.

Sounds like a MEME to me (cough, cough).

-- I'm Here, I'm There (I'm Everywhere@so.beware), June 26, 2000.

Well, guess that confirms it, you are most assuredly demented. Feel free to continue.

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

Is this Andy stuff BORING? Ya. Is it largely a "rub-it-in-your-face" exercise? sure.

But just for sake of argument, assume there is more here. Assume that what is attempting to be shared here is a way out of being in a position where an Andy Ray can rub-it-in-your-face. Open your mind to the very fact Andy is sharing Preparations material. Subject matter which may help you prepare for the next Pile of Crap which somebody wants you to think is real and actually concerns you.

Nobody is arguing sensible personal preparations to mitigate potential unforseen events is stupid, quite the opposite. What is dam sure, is Y2k held less potential than a pile of other issues right this minute which one needs to be aware of. Fact is, many folks best intentions were used by a small group of rather slimy individuals for their own agendas. Many of these do-gooders have now moved-on to more sexy scams, and fresh dupes,,,GNorth, Michael Hyatt and Mike Adams (y2knewswire)come to mind immediately.

The pollies were not just about poking fun, spamming and generally causing doomers grief. The message was "you folks are being taken for a ride---WAKE UP". We need more around who don't just react to every nut screaming the roof is falling in. In fact, much of what ails this world is the many around who fall for it,,, the seemingly inability to resist the wiggle of the kooks. Ain't the problemos, it be the reaction. Most of the problemos are real no doubt, but as y2k has proven, barely worth your interest and overblown for a reason, you are unprepared to set aside outright BS and suck it up like a good stooge.

We need independent citizens. We need folks who are above "opposing" the Gov. BTW, the guv wants you, as a sponge or a rebel, they got ya, old game, ancient in fact, al-d has the full story.

So just another way of maybe looking at what it really means to be prepared.

-- Knucklehead detector (Huh@tb2kun.com), June 26, 2000.

Knuckles

You wrote: ........."The pollies were not just about poking fun, spamming and generally causing doomers grief. The message was "you folks are being taken for a ride-- -WAKE UP". We need more around who don't just react to every nut screaming the roof is falling in. In fact, much of what ails this world is the many around who fall for it,,, the seemingly inability to resist the wiggle of the kooks. Ain't the problemos, it be the reaction. Most of the problemos are real no doubt, but as y2k has proven, barely worth your interest and overblown for a reason, you are unprepared to set aside outright BS and suck it up like a good stooge.

EXACTLY.

And as usual, to counter Andy Ray, a Troll dredges up a 6 months pre- CDC article from a VENDOR MAG. on Y2k as if it were Gospel.

CW and CIO ran articles on the dreadful Y2k CURSE coming until the end. Then CIO "changed the subject". CW ran a series of "what have we learned" and quoted the same people who were shilling their "wisdom" pre-CDC. Over at ZD Y2k, Mitch Ratcliffe had gotten it right long before all the others. A bunch of minor problems amounting to "inconveniences". SYSMAN, BIG DOG were the Vector for the Yourdons and Kappelmans trash that the rest of the I.T. world had taken care of as part of their job. Did EY and Kappelman and Howard Rubin KNOW? HINT: if any of them DID NOT KNOW THAT THE Y2k PROBLEM WAS CONTAINED,,,,,,HOW GOOD IS THEIR JUDGEMENT ABOUT ANYTHING I.T. RELATED?

AND THAT......IS THE QUESTION THAT SHOULD BE ASKED OF ALL THE PEOPLE WHO **DEMANDED** UN-NECESSARY AND EXCESSIVE "preparations" of themselves and others

Howard Rubin beats his gums with the I.T. version of "Its gonna be real bad".

One of these "GURUS", the CW quoted, Howard Rubin was in an auto accident on the CDC weekend and refused hospital treatment he needed because he was afraid to be in a hospital because of the dreadful Y2k problem and thought he would be safer elsewhere. If the world is lucky, his "expertise" will not be called for ever again.

More and more we see sketches of people acting, writing and talking in a manner that can only be described as "fear induced temporary insanity". The Politically Correct use the term "Thought Contagion (Meme)" and they are EXACTLY RIGHT.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 26, 2000.

The chaotic use of HTML indicates a deeply disturbed psyche, with a very high likelihood for occurrence of dangerous psychotic anti- social or violent behavior.

-- cyber freud (get.this.guy.some.meds@and.quick), June 26, 2000.

Degree? Hmmm...Frautshi, PHD, Gordon, many others who were doomers were masters or higher degrees...I don't think thats your answer.

-- FactFinder (FactFinder@bzn.com), June 26, 2000.

It, command centers were a direct (I repeat direct) result of FUD; the doomer chant created command centers, not any real threat.

Hawk, "If statistics tell you that you have a 1 out of 100 chance of contracting AIDS from having unprotected sex with strangers, would you wear a condom?" Obviously yes. If statistics tell you that there's a 1 in a gazillion chance the sun won't shine, would you prepare? Obviously not.

You see Hawk it's about chances not the stakes. It seems we had this debate last year. You didn't get it then and you don't get now. Too bad there's no teaching an old dog.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 26, 2000.

Speaking of "old dogs"... LOL!!

There was a lot better chance than 1 in 100 that Y2K could have gone wrong, VERY wrong. You got lucky, VERY lucky.

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

Hawk, you are an idiot. Luck had nothing to do with it.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 26, 2000.

cpr,

First, I used the IBM article as an example, hardly Gospel. I posted several hundred Y2K articles on the old TB2K.

Second, the article was published, and it says so, 100 days before CDC, not 6 months. Better brush up on your math skills.

FactFinder,

You are correct, a degree doesn't mean much in this business. I have 3+ decades of real world experience in programming. I was reading core dumps in my first year, while CS students were still trying to figure what hexidecimal is, in their first year. I've hired several people with degrees, that turned out to be total idiots, including my most recent junior administrator.

Maria,

The pollys say that there were only a few hundred doomers involved in the Y2K debate. Do you mean to tell me that this handful of people caused not only the .gov, but 85% of businesses to setup command centers? LOL!!!

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

Mr. Hawkin retrospect it would appear that the Y2K frenzy was indeed a massive hoax. I have read that the vast majority of people in this country had absolutely no concern whatsoever and it was a very tiny segment of our population that spent more than a minute even discussing it. Based on that it would seem there was virtually no chance that anything of significance would occur.

Im guessing that you mean to say that within your confined circle of fellow EOW believers there may have existed that 1 in 100 shot you are clinging to.

-- The (fact@fan.attic), June 26, 2000.

I have read that the vast majority of people in this country had absolutely no concern whatsoever and it was a very tiny segment of our population that spent more than a minute even discussing it. Based on that it would seem there was virtually no chance that anything of significance would occur.

What percentage of the population knew anything about, let's say, the internet in 1990? Probably less than 1%. Therefore, by this "logic", the internet could never amount to anything.

On the other hand, there is probably a much larger percentage who think that Bill Clinton is a wonderful president.

In other words, the number of people who know about some issue or believe some proposition is not a reliable indicator of its truth.

-- Steve Heller (steve@steveheller.com), June 26, 2000.

Sysman, "The pollys say that there were only a few hundred doomers involved in the Y2K debate. Do you mean to tell me that this handful of people caused not only the .gov, but 85% of businesses to setup command centers? LOL!!!"

Sounds unbelievable doesn't it? But true. The power of the lawyer is a wonderful thing to behold. The lawyer speaks "due diligence" and CEOs tremble, preparing all kinds of documentation and hiring consultants doing IV&V. The lawyer speaks possible letigation and CEOs build unto thee command centers. I know that a number of people at the Eddie's place did not believe lawyers were the reason companies pick through their words carefully and reacted this way. It is the only reason the gov and a high percentage (I don't think it came to 85%) set up some kind of command center or emergency process.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 26, 2000.

Maria, I beg to differ, I think you are the idiot. The world did not spend in the neighborhood of $1 Trillion on something that was a less than 1 in 100 possibility.

-- Hawk (flyin@hi.again), June 26, 2000.

Maria,

OK, you've got a good point about lawyers. All I'm saying is that better minds than those of the few hundred doomers, took a look at Y2K, and deceided that it could be a problem.

<:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), June 26, 2000.

This conversation reminds me of something cpr said on another thread....

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=003O2g

Dallas' status was never stated because the City Attorney and advisors did not permit it. That was bad news because it was a tremendous publicity score. Later on, Dallas with Boston were rated the two most prepared, ready and compliant cities. The Chamber of Commerce missed a great chance to Promo the City's Y2k status because of the Lawyers.

I'd say some attorneys were reluctant for their clients to make specific statements or specific promises about y2k readiness/compliance last year, just in case there did turn out to be some problems. This did not help in getting out the message that the y2k situation was gradually improving.

Does anyone even happen to know how many Fortune 500 companies were "y2k ready" on Sept. 1 of last year? That's the kind of hard info I would like to have seen more of last year.

-- (one@person's.opinion), June 27, 2000.

Does anyone even happen to know how many Fortune 500 companies were "y2k ready" on Sept. 1 of last year? That's the kind of hard info I would like to have seen more of last year.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 27, 2000.

WHOOPS. Msg. from leading Anti-Doomer Not added.

Does anyone even happen to know how many Fortune 500 companies were "y2k ready" on Sept. 1 of last year? That's the kind of hard info I would like to have seen more of last year.

PROBABLY...........ALL OF THEM !!!! THE DOOM Bunnies couldn't NAME ONE **IN TROUBLE**, nothing major "happened" (GLITCH CENTRAL IS CLOSED, KIDDIES) so :.......

More sensible question given results (and anti-Doomer debunking efforts) NAME ONE COMPANY THAT WAS IN DANGER OF SERIOUS PROBLEMS ..THAT YOU CAN ***PROVE** was in trouble. (DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT MENTIONING OIL COMPANIES. THAT IS CLAP TRAP FROM R.C.and the C4i Committee types citing Politicians like Poje at Chem Safety (which probably will be history as Congress trims more FAT and Fat headed "studies")

Note first that Heller's remark about 1% knew about the Net in 1990 ignores the fact that it was the NET not Y2k that was FOR REAL from 1995 to now. Y2k was a "problem" which people like Heller grossly exaggerated and the Public rejected as anything that would impact their lives. That nicely explains the filled shopping Malls I saw in San Diego 1/1/2000 and the empty banks near the American side of the Tiajuana border. Those banks had stayed up as a gesture of "business as usual". The SD paper ran several "impact stories" about the "first day" and the bank I saw open and sans customers was featured. Officer said the only ones using the ATMs seemed to be people taking out min. amounts to test or if normal way below a Sat. volume.

Second article feature DOOMZIE SCOTT O., the Ph.D. in I.T. and desert prepper with the Prepare4Y2k site. Gary's Poster Boy programmer had decided that "things wouldn't be too bad" and went to a neighbor's New Year's Eve party (as per usual). He didn't even "get out of the Cities before it was tooooooooo late!!. Now his site points to pay per click sites. BS ARTISTRY CUBED (like Heller).

Does anyone even happen to know how many Fortune 500 companies were "y2k ready" on Sept. 1 of last year? That's the kind of hard info I would like to have seen more of last year.

-- cpr (buytexas@swbell.net), June 27, 2000.

"The world did not spend in the neighborhood of $1 Trillion on something that was a less than 1 in 100 possibility." Well, Hawk as it turned out they did. (Do you have all five senses working, idiot?) And as it turned out many companies were thinking about sueing the "experts" over their advice. They spent the money based on FUD, nothing more.

Sysman, I think that when the Gartner Group came out with their findings, the business world listened. Afterall it's not very ofter they get free stuff from Gartner (even though the doomers had no clue who Garnter was). That's when FUD really spread. Gartner gave this Y2K problem some credibility. I'm sure now that they regret that publication.

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), June 27, 2000.

OK, GUYS...TIME OUT FOR AN INTERLUDE...

"For sale or trade: slightly used Y2K cow"

By Dave Barry

Published Dec. 19, 1999

If you've been worrying about this "Y2K" computer problem, you can relax. I am pleased to report that, according to computer experts, everything is totally under control. There is absolutely nothing to worry about. In fact, you might as well stop reading this article right now!

I said THERE IS NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT and you should STOP READING THIS COLUMN RIGHT NOW.

OK, good. We have gotten rid of the idiots who still actually believe the news media. We are down to the savvy individuals like you -- people who know, from personal experience, that nothing involving computers is EVER "under control"; people who have attempted to perform some seemingly simple computer-related task, such as connecting a computer to a printer, and eventually decided -- after weeks of puzzling over manuals written in the Ewok language and trying to communicate with "Technical Support" -- that the only workable printing solution is to hold a piece of blank paper in front of the computer screen and trace the words manually.

Oh yes, this Y2K thing is going to be very, very bad. At exactly midnight on Dec. 31, all the computers in the world, and an estimated 80 percent of the Etch-a-Sketches, will malfunction. In one way, this is good: Your Permanent Record from school will be erased forever, which means future generations will never find out that you once mooned a Thanksgiving assembly.

But everything else about Y2K will be catastrophic: Lights will go out; phones will stop working; the banking system will collapse; juke boxes will refuse to play anything except "Copacabana"; VCR machines will suddenly start displaying the correct time; and -- this is the ultimate nightmare scenario -- airline computers will charge people who are on the same flight THE EXACT SAME FARE. Within hours, civilization will collapse.

And believe me, the "computer experts" know this is going to happen. Why do you think Bill Gates built himself a house the size of the Houston Astrodome? To hold parties for his friends? WHAT friends? He's storing canned food in there! Unfortunately for him, the Y2K problem is also going to cause all the can openers in the world, both electric and manual, to become inoperable. But don't worry about Bill Gates: He employs many skilled, highly intelligent engineers. So he can eat them.

You are not so fortunate. You must find a way, right now, to feed your family when Y2K strikes. You will NOT be able to grow crops, because photosynthesis will no longer work (many areas will also be without gravity). You might want to consider getting a cow and some pigs. That way, when everybody else is starving, you can go "Ha ha!", because you'll know that any time you get hungry, all you have to do is grab a sledge hammer and mosey out to your yard, and there will be your cow, looking at you with big brown eyes that say: "Hi! Your kids call me Daisy! You could no more kill me than you could mate with a squid!" And then you will mosey back into your house, because the pigs are chewing on your sneakers.

So forget livestock. You need to get a large supply of food that cannot look you in the eye, and you need to store it in a safe manner. What do I mean by "in a safe manner"? I mean "not in the manner that was described in a news article on the front page of the April 4, 1999, issue of the Northwest Arkansas Times."

This article, which was written by Sarah Fisher and sent to me by alert reader Missy Leflar, is headlined "BEANS, RICE EXPLODE AT FAYETTEVILLE HOME." It concerns a man, apparently preparing for Y2K, who filled some six-foot pipes with "a mixture of beans and rice with dry ice." He planned to bury the pipes, but before he could, pressure from the dry ice caused one pipe to explode in a blast that blew a hole in his roof, spewing beans and rice all over. The police had to evacuate the area and bring in a bomb technician to detonate the other pipes.

I don't want to alarm you, but there is no way of knowing how many other people have unwittingly created Y2K food bombs. You could be living next door to such a bomb. And it might not be as benign as rice and beans. What if your neighbor happens to like seafood? How would you like to be awakened one night by a violent explosion, then watch as your house and loved ones are torn to ribbons by large, sharp pieces of high-velocity shrapnel from an Alaskan king crab? Wouldn't "Crab Shrapnel" be a good name for a rock band?

You had better come up with some answers to these questions, because time is running out. Y2K is right around the corner, and you need to be prepared, no matter what it takes, or how much it costs. I'll sell you my cow.

All right, y'all -- back to the debates, refreshed and reinvigorated...

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.

Well, it LOOKS like I'm gonna hafta get y'all motivated again...

(Takes off Bach's Suite #3 in D (playing during the interlude to get y'all to relax a little) a little too hastily, making a loud, long scratch in the 33 1/3 LP. Puts on Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries.")

-- eve (eve_rebekah@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.

I submit another possible cause for the unnecessary alarm spread by "experts:" There are people like sysyman in charge of computer departments - people with a demonstrated propensity to examine the facts surrounding an issue like Y2k and completely and utterly refuse to "Get It."

It smacks of a psychological imbalance - this tendency to accept only the bad and reject any good.

Perhaps the US is in trouble after all - though not threatened by Y2k, they seem to be over-wrought with idiocy...I2K?

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 27, 2000.

Thanks, Eve. It's time to take the forum back.

-- Anita (Anita_S3@hotmail.com), June 27, 2000.

Does anyone even happen to know how many Fortune 500 companies were "y2k ready" on Sept. 1 of last year? That's the kind of hard info I would like to have seen more of last year.

Some of what we knew around that time period. From August...

http://www.usa.capgemini.com/news/pr99.asp?id=104

Fewer Than Half of Major Firms Anticipate Full Year 2000 Compliance in Critical Systems by Year's End

Three-Quarters Have Experienced a Year 2000-Related Failure; Firming Their Grip on Year 2000 Problem Solving, More Top Managers Plan to Run Millennium Crisis Centers Fewer than half of America's largest companies (48 percent) expect all of their critical systems to be prepared for the Year 2000, according to a new survey by Cap Gemini America, Inc., an information technology and management consulting leader.

One in five companies (18 percent) expect that 75 percent or less of their critical systems will be "completely tested and compliant" by December 31, 1999. Thirty-six percent expect between 76 and 99 percent of their applications to be ready for Year 2000, and two percent anticipate completing work on 50 percent or less of their systems.

From September...

http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/documents/100dayrpt/exec_sum_100days.pdf

In general, large companies with greater resources have dealt well with the Y2K problem. Very small businesses may survive using manual processes until Y2K problems are remediated. However, many small and medium sized businesses are extremely unprepared for Y2K disruptions. One survey shows that 28% of small businesses do not plan to take any action.

The heavily regulated insurance, investment services, and banking industries are farthest ahead in their efforts; healthcare, oil, education, agriculture, farming, food processing, and the construction industries are lagging behind.

-- What did we know and when did (we@know.it), June 27, 2000.

I think a better way to state it is there was no reason to make any EXTRA preperations. One of the things that amazed me was people who lived in areas like CA didn't make any preps because of earthquakes, but were worried about Y2K. There were people who lived in cold climates and had already had their power go out because of snow or ice storms but didn't think about buying a generator, except for Y2K.

Having a flashlight in the house is common sense. Writting endlessly about LED's (as Corey the DC Weatherman did) isn't.

-- The Engineer (spcengineer@yahoo.com), June 27, 2000.

One can only hope that one day sissyman will come to know what Brian knows,,,cpr was right about y2k. One can hope can't one?

-- dimwitwhowaswrongabouty2k (bowinghe@adin.shame), June 27, 2000.

>> One can only hope that one day sissyman will come to know what Brian knows,,,cpr was right about y2k. One can hope can't one? <<

I brood over that quite a lot, you know. If he ever does come to know that cpr was right about Y2K, then that means yet another person knows cpr was right about Y2K. The implications of this are staggering.

If you think that's hopeful, I think that maybe I might tell my parents this weekend that cpr was right about y2K. That would make two more who know.

The possibilities are endless, really, if we just use our imagination.

Say we all just told five people every day that cpr was right about Y2K, and those five each told five more, then before you know it the news that cpr was right about Y2K would spread worldwide! The word "hope" doesn't begin to describe what that simple fact would mean to the world.

You know what I mean?

-- Brian McLaughlin (brianm@ims.com), June 27, 2000.

(chortle) Likewise, anyone who took out a fire insurance policy but never had a fire surely was an idiot -- clearly there was no reason to have wasted the money. I mean, it is an historically proven fact, right?...

-- WD-40 (wd40@squeak.not), June 27, 2000.

Ah, one of my favourite misleading anaolgies - the insurmountable "fire insurance" analogy! Perhaps I should start a series on illogical analogies to deal with thsi one and others more in-depth...

Vindicated Regards,
Andy Ray

-- Andy Ray (andyman633@hotmail.com), June 28, 2000.