I'm wondering how much gasoline can be safely stored, and if it can be at room temperature. I live in a small apartment with nowhere else to store it that is secure. I'm aware that it keeps for about 6 months without additives, so I plan to stock up with about 10 - 15 gallons around June. I'm unresolved about where I want to be on 1/1/00. I'm in a small town (in college) now but planning to move to a larger one to transfer to another college, but I'm wondering if that is advisable. I guess for now I've decided to just see what happens in the next few months. My intuition tells me that things are going to become clearer by May or June. By that I mean, how severe January 1 will be will be in some sense indicated by the dates that precede it. On April 1 New York state, Canada and Japan's systems will roll-over; April 6 for the UK -- another important date in July. By May I'll have to decide if I'm moving or not. Fortunately, a friend has bought a house in Hawaii and offered me to come stay with him if the social order on the mainland starts to disintegrate, as he thinks is very probable. I'm not as convinced as he is of this, but it's good to have that ace in the hole. In the meantime I'm just going to start buying extra food this month and keep doing so until I have about a 30-day supply.

Geoffrey

-- Geoffrey Smith (gsmith@tidepool.com), January 09, 1999

Answers

G.S.-- Whatever you do, don't store gasoline inside an apartment. It's not even a good idea to keep a gas can in the basement or garage, though most people do it anyway. If TSHTF in Jan. '00, fifteen gallons of gas to drive around town will be meaningless. There may be roadblocks, check-points, or other martial law impediments. (Gas used to run a generator which is used to pump clean water, on the other hand, is important--but I don't think this is your intent.) Your main focus should be food, water, heat, and safety. And speaking of safety, location is critical. Your Hawaii option is interesting (how dependent are they on imports?). If you do go there, do it BEFORE "the social order on the mainland starts to disintegrate." If you wait until after troubles begin, your chances of being able to travel halfway across the ocean during crisis will be slim. God bless, --B.D.

-- bill dunn (bdunn@snet.net), January 09, 1999.

I've been in the center of a petrol fire and don't want to go there again. Goes faster than you can react etc. Don't store gas in your apartment. Just make sure your car is full and leave it at that.

-- Mark Hillyard (foster@inreach.com), January 09, 1999.

Although April will probably bring some nasty surprises, they may not manifest themselves very quickly, e.g., problems with programs using fiscal year 2000 dates in Japan, etc. Just because we get through April unscathed wouldn't mean Y2K will be mild.

-- Bill Byars (billbyars@softwaresmith.com), January 09, 1999.

Bill Byars has a good point. Even though many (*most* according to some) y2k failures will occur before "one-one-oh-oh," not all failures will have the same impact. The failure of a sales projection report in some big corp. is meaningless compared to an embedded systems failure which disables an oil refinery. Most chip problems (the things I personally think will really hammer power, water, teleco, etc.) will occur on or after Jan. 1. So even though a lot of forward-looking software may be screwing up during '99, it's possible much of it can be covered up, worked around, or ignored--to such a degree that from the macro view it seems society is not being hurt too badly. But don't be fooled: Jan. 1 is still the big day of reckoning for embedded systems. A year from today we'll know for sure. I hope I'll be able to email you with the good news that all my friends and neighbors have nicknamed me "Chicken Little." I would LOVE to be called that for the rest of my life.

-- bill dunn (bdunn@snet.net), January 09, 1999.

Geoffrey,

My little ole mother went through WWII and said that many people would bury gasoline in the backyard, away from the house to have available as an "in case" backup strategy, as in, extra for the car.

As to the "high points" coming up, as long as they can hide the news, they will. It's in their business interests to do so. April, July and GPS rollover, is that August?, October and finally 2000 for the embedded chip creshendo, as Bill points out.

I don't have a major argument with trying to keep the panic factor down...IF "they" get people ready at the same time. But disinformation, ah, that's another thing altogether.

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 09, 1999.

I agree -- Never, Never, Never keep gasoline in your apartment. In case of a fire, your insurance would probably be voided. Not that that would matter if you didn't have time to get out.

If your target is fifteen gallons, you'd be just as well off with 3 red five-gallon cans in the trunk of your car. And avoid traffic accidents.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 09, 1999.

RE: Hawai'i as a 'good' haven if TSHTF. 1. Electric Power: on Oahu it is from fossil fuel - no hydro nor atomic. The fossil fuel is shipped in. So expect to have limited or no power.

2. They have Military up the wazoo. It seems probable that Martial Law enforcement, if it was required, would be large, swift and pervasive.

3. Given a choice between freezing my butt off in Canada under ML and sitting out under the sun in the tropical garden under ML.... :-) But that's my butt, not yours - you may feel differently.

-- Ron J. Neilly (rjneilly@bigfoot.com), January 11, 1999.