While I am sure a lot of flames will becoming my way over this, I do have several fire extingushers in the house, so I should be able to handle it:)

I realize we are all going through a very stressful time. We are all preparing as best as we can, and we are all trying to protect our loved ones, but let's step back for just a moment. Everyone take a deep breath, and try to clear some of the muck from in front of our eyes.

There are a lot of things going on right now, and we are all very on edge because 01/01/1999 is staring us in the face, but not every computer failure right now is Y2K related. Not every power outage is Y2K related. Not EVERYTHING (notice I stressed everything, I know somethings are) that the goverment does are to screw us.

Am I saying to put on rose colored glasses, heck no. I am just asking you to take the black tinted ones off. Take off the glasses with the storm clouds etched into them and put on a regular pair of glasses. Something's, not all, are just what they appear on the surface. Yes yes, there are some things that have deeper and darker meanings, but not everyting. Sometimes a rose is just that, a rose.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), December 29, 1998

Answers

WHAAAAAAAA! Rickey. You mean the mudslides in Oregon are NOT caused by Y2K? WHAAAAAAAA!!

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@worldnet.att.net), December 29, 1998.

Rick,

Sometimes I think people mistakenly give more power to the bureaucrats than is warranted. Many are at marginal functioning capacity. Also, chances are, when the FBI or others "think" they're instituting a new system for tracking their problems, which incidentally tracks us too, they "honestly" think they are helping us. Amazable.

It is up to us to declare "loudly" when they are exhibiting fuzzy thinking and freedom denigrating activities.

Many current events are not Y2K related, as you point out. Some, however, have Y2K implications, especially on the behavioral aspects of people in crisis situations (Icestorms and S.F. Blackout) and emergency preparedness services and their ability to function well, or not. Key Y2K lessons can be learned in many un-related places.

Chances are, we will see an extreme effort nation-wide and world-wide to reach Y2K compliance in 1999. There will be many, many success stories. Which is wonderful! It is prudent, however to be vigilant about the not-successful ones that have the power to trigger awesome domino effects. It is those potential stories that will continue to capture our truth seeking radar eyes. With electricity, this world can muddle through Y2K, without it, even partially, major problems loom.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), December 29, 1998.

I wonder how many people in the south were prepared for those ice storms. No power for days!!! I'll never be without emergency supplies again...including at least three months worth of food. Y2K has taught me more about life and what is important.

Hugger

-- Anti-Chainsaw (Tree@hugger.com), December 29, 1998.

Rick, could you kindly provide some examples of where people have recently claimed that Y2K is causing computer failures, power outages, etc.? I suspect that you are confusing people's comments that such events are Y2K-like or have Y2K similarities.

One that comes to mind is the failure of the Galaxy IV satellite some months ago, which wiped out pager services -- this demonstrated that our fragile system has single points of failure. A few weeks ago, the power went out for most of San Francisco, demonstrating the reality of cascading multiple failures sparked by a single local failure. Obviously, neither of these events had anything to do with Y2K, yet they are both very relevant to understanding the potential impact of Y2K.

-- Jack (jsprat@eld.net), December 29, 1998.

Diane: In your reply you said we would see success stories during 1999. My concern is how is success measured ? By reporting ? By testing ? Who made the tests? Who validated the results ? Until 1/1/2000 I have serious doubts about the value of tests until the real thing rolls around. I hope and pray for successes. I also hope and pray they are telling the truth !

-- reed moore (reed_moore@postmaster.co.uk), December 29, 1998.

Reed - We will see many success stories - some percentage of companies started on time and provided enough resources to address their Y2K problems. The issue is not whether any orgs report success, but how many do not. The US Social Security Administration reports success. Huzzah! They started 8 years ago and threw many, many people and dollars at the problem; they darn well better make it! They've been an "A+" rated program since Congressman Horn started passing out the grades. It's not SSA; it's all the organizations that started late and have not provided sufficient resources that are in trouble. SSA may be able to send out checks, but Internal Revenue and/or Medicare (both both laggards at last report) are likely to fall flat on their collective faces. We will likely not hear much truth from them until they are forced to raise the white flag.

Expect many reports of good news. Expect silly headlines like "Y2K Solved" when good news is reported. Reporters may be admitting the reality of Y2K lately, but with few exceptions they haven't gotten that much smarter about the subject in the past few months.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.com), December 29, 1998.

"Rick, could you kindly provide some examples of where people have recently claimed that Y2K is causing computer failures, power outages, etc.? I suspect that you are confusing people's comments that such events are Y2K-like or have Y2K similarities."

It is been evidenced on this board numerous times. Most recently, and the message that somewhat prompted me to create this thread, is in "My bank's computer's "down" today ... Y2K-avoidance ..."

Has happened several other times on the board.

Rick

-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), December 31, 1998.