It is May 1, 2000. Tell your worst case scenario!

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In the big cities, many millions have died from thirst, starvation, freezing to death, killings by hungry marauding gangs, killings by hungry neighbors, etc.

Electricity is still off, mainly due to Electric Company Programmers refusing to go to work without pay and refusing to leave their families. Going to work would mean sleeping on cots and chairs, etc. Travel from home to work and back home is impossible, gas stations closed, etc. Dangerous to travel. Lack of food at work is another factor.

The National Guard Members are going AWOL and going back home to be with their families. Lawlessness is on the increase.

The world economy has collapsed, since nobody has worked for 4 months. How is an economy to start up again? Why would a company hire employees to create a product that nobody has the money to buy? The economic collapse could last for years. In fact Ed Yourdon has predicted "One year of disruptions and TEN years of DEPRESSION!"

If you are a Yourdonite, you should stock up for ten years if you can afford it! Ed predicts the worst, that is why he sold his home in New York City, and moved to Beautiful Taos, New Mexico. Ed has predicted that new York City will be like Beirut, Lebanon.

Ed should know, because he is a Computer expert! We either believe an expert, or we don't. Disbelief could get you killed!

Prepare for the worst, and Y2K will be only a bump in the road. Faillure to prepare for the worst can only put your life in jeopardy! You owe it to your children to prepare for the worst! There is nothing worse then seeing your children go hungry!

A friend who lived through World War II, told me his Dad traded his wedding ring for a loaf of bread!

-- old sailor (old@sailor.com), March 23, 1999

Answers

old sailor,

What you describe is about a 5 on the 1 to 10 scale. Add chem spills and some radiation to the brew and you'll have an 8. If the wrong guy get nervous,,,,0

-- CT (ct@no.yr), March 23, 1999.


May 1,2000. Norm nwo@aol.com was killed when he joined a hungry marauding gang, when they were scrounging for food. The cemetary was overloaded, so he got buried in an open field without a grave stone. He could have prevented that, if only he had not been so cocky and a know it all about Y2K! Maybe someday somebody will put up a gravestone that says "Y2K no problem". He certainly deserves that much.

-- smitty (smitty@sandiego.com), March 23, 1999.

Old Sailor,

You ask how is an economy to start up again.

I would suggest that human ingenuity will promptly reinstate some form of local activity even if it begins with the simplest forms of barter. Such trade would then expand in to wider areas.

Yes, for the sake of the children.

Thanks for the post.

-- Watchful (seethesea@msn.com), March 23, 1999.


aLL HumAN LifE IS EXtiNCt bUT For YOu anD DIetER!!!!! SCarY HuH????

-- Dieter (questions@toask.com), March 23, 1999.

yES DiETeR,,,,VerY ScArY

-- CT (ct@no.yr), March 23, 1999.


May Day 2000? We'll get that far?

What do you think of todays world events?

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), March 23, 1999.


"Mayday, mayday. We are under attack from some kind of organised army, possibly -by their flag- the Indonesians. We are running out of ammo and desperately need help."

"Great", I say, turning the shortwave off and reaching for my rifle. "That's up near Brisbane. We'll probably be next."

"At least we're still alive now. Most of the people who lived around here died of starvation and violence by halfway through Febuary", says my younger brother -sixteen, but hunger and fear have made him look older. "If we hadn't had those guns, we'd have died too."

I nod. There'd been several attacks, including one serious one. One of the neighbours, staying with us, had been wounded then; if we hadn't had the guns, we'd have all been killed. As it was, the deaths had been on their side. I still remembered firing the rifle at point-blank range into the darkness, hearing the screams and yelling..the molotov cocktail lighting up the darkness with a red blaze, firing, desperately fumbling to reload, aiming the gun up at the forehead of another human -a living, breathing man with a crowbar in his hand- and firing, killing him. Withdrawing into the house, waiting with the gun loaded and the starlight scope on maximum-detail in case any of the survivors came back..and then going out the next morning, moving hesitantly down the street, following the trail of blood until we found the two wounded survivors and finished them off. Yes, I remembered February well.

"Then there was the fire", my brother mused. We'd seen that from the top of a nearby apartment block; in early March the area had been safe enough that we could move between the streets without weapons. The entire CBD had gone up in blazes. We still hadn't found out why, although for several days the smoke had given us a red sun and the fear that it would somehow spread across the Harbour. It hadn't, thankfully. A week or so after it had finished, we'd -very, VERY carefully- taken a boat from Mosman Bay and gone to Circular Quay to see what we could see. Just ash, ash and skeletons -although somehow the town epicentre, the MLC building and Centrepoint, had been spared- of buildings. There'd also been a gang of men with a couple of military-looking rifles; we'd seen them from a couple of hundred metres away, eyed them as they'd eyed us, and we'd pulled back cautiously towards the boat. Not hostile, just apprehensive.

I took the ammunition, slung the rifle over my shoulder and left the storeroom. The work people were down the road, at the park; we were turning an oval into a potato field. Some of them waved as I passed. They had a reason to. We'd saved their lives. Food for thirty, but we'd split it up, everyone going short, and taken in most of the people who'd come along after about February. They'd lasted that long -mostly on their minimal preparations- and it'd have been sad to see them die now. There were fish to be caught in the Harbour, and chickens, and some animals from Taronga Zoo had survived the attacks that had been made on the place by starving people during the worst periods. The animals, a couple of wallabies and a few smaller marsupials, were in an enclosed area now as an emergency food supply. We were still living off stored rice and canned tuna, half-rations due to the fact that we had eighty people rather than ten, but the eggs were turning into chickens now and we expected to be producing enough food to bring everyone back to full-rations within a couple of months; the fish population in the harbour was getting bigger, and our people were getting better and better at catching them.

"And now we've got an invasion on our hands", I commented. Oh well, maybe they'd stop short of Sydney. Their logistical lines couldn't be THAT long, could they? Got guns? --Leo

-- Leo (lchampion@ozemail.com.au), March 24, 1999.


Dear Old Saylor:

The last few days has changed the lay of the land for some time to come. The mistake that we are about to make will finally break the dollar to nothing, stock market will crash. When the first bomb drops we are offically into ww111 like it or not. Other countries are using the USA to do their dirty work and refuses to take responsible to keep their people clean of dictators. Therefore running USA into the ground gives them the the avaiability to come together after we have exhausted our equipment, men and materials, Clinton and his crew has taken over america without firing a shot. America is lost in the wilderness of despair in all areas of maintaining our protection. We will not have the money to carry this thing but a few months.

Therefore the year 2000 is an important date for all americans to come to gether and get our country back for the people. The new president will have to have real faith in god, and his honesty must have no treasoneoues thoughts or asperations for money or prestige. Only an american that sees the danger and correct it.

Y2K will have an impact on new materials and communications,and exact data will be hard to come by.The more we spend sending men and equipment into battle the larger our debts become. The Euro is waiting to become the next world currency aad bring the USA to her knees will be the new era of the euro.

If this last any longer than six months with our troops in all corners of the earth we will lose several of our men, and retirement will soar.

This year we will be in talks with Cuba, Mexico, Canada and the islands to come to gether to create a way of protection, commerce, While the rest of the world becomes under Russia and China domaination as the new boys on the block.

Meanwhile the we will have become like Mexico for the next twenty years as we struggle to become the old USA again. The price will be too high to again persue relation with other nation othe than Israel.

The bug will bite all large cities in some way or other due to y2k and the actions of stupid businesses and goverment will make it worse. There is a danger of civil war here in America, Mexico.

In the last forty five years we as a people have lost all moral thought to keeping our freedoms safe from those that have wanted to take it away, goverment, business special interest,certain public special interest from abortions,Making laws that have caused more problems than they have created that always keeps the public fughting each other.

It is may and a lot of scared people will be whining and crying for what they will finally learn that they alone are not in charge of their destiny. It has all been takenout of their hands, Food and the things we relay on daily will not be there.Than the race is on to survive.

We are no different from any other country when things begin to go bad after the big guys have reached the end of their rope and the plans begin falling apart. God help us all, we are in the percentage time along with our troubles hanging over our head.

All you GI knows what I'm talking about. How many have said the goverment will not allow this to happen. OH YEOH.

God bless all, the time is pasing and we are not saved. Cuba will be the next place to vacation and live.

Lon

-- Lon (lon1937@aol.com), March 24, 1999.


Year 2000, Jan 1. The chief of the PLO announces statehood, with Jerusalem as its captiol. When this date rolls around the whole Jewish city will be surrounded. The new prime minister will launch a nuke attack on Damaskus, and then the fighting starts. When the passover rolls around, the show will be all over.

-- (Boilerman7@powerhouse.com), March 24, 1999.

Wow. Today we're supposed to get a whole 5 hours of electricity, and thus my girlfriend are going to cook a great meal of potatoes, cornmash and pork fat. It ain't much much it was certainly better than the three months of Ramen noodles in the beginning.

A year ago today, nobody would have predicted that the centers of six American cities would now be vaporized, atomic dust from "terrorists." Few have anticipated the epidemic of fear which caused the worlwide run on the banks, or the erased records in Singapore, Tokyo, Bonn, and Rome from dead computers. Nobody would have guessed that we would all be poor and that our own capital would burn to the ground from angry mobs.

North America fixed most of its y2k bugs. But there were just enough errors--in critcal places--to royally screw things up. The rest of the world was another story. With gasoline now at ten bucks a gallon, who can afford to go anywhere? And Russia. Geez. Over there they are starving to death by the day. The current leadership there, a coup of generals, vows to "restore Russia's place in a new Soviet Union to it's once and future greatness."

We don't get much news from the current War in Korea, but rumor has it that it is not good. Tactical nuclear weapons are said to have been used, but to no avail. There is talk of a reinstatement of the draft for all men age 18-30, as well as a second amphibious landing at Inchon. I am 29.

At present, I can no longer afford to pay my rent, as the cost of food and fuel is just too high. Soon i expect the eviction notice. But in the place where I work I can sleep on a cot, so at least there will be a roof over our heads. Luckily our grant is good for another year, but with no organized federal government in place, what next?

In spite of it all I still have hope. It could have been a lot worse. And we will get by through this and rebuild, just like my grandparents did back in the Great Depression.

-- coprolith (coprolith@rocketship.com), March 24, 1999.



Stepping out onto the porch, she sets down the rifle and picks up the hoe. No need to hurry, looks like it is going to rain all day anyways; but leaning on the hoe creates the illusion of preparation to work, at least. Glancing down, the remains of last nights hunt lies at her feet. A mole, I think, the cats are catching on fast.

Out of the corner of her eye she notices a quick flash of brown, as the doe clears the fence in the back of the garden. Similtaneously, a slow moving blur of black and tan emerges from under the house. Watching the old dog stretch and shake off the dust from her hay bed, she contemplates again letting the pup run at night. Of course the last time we tried that, the pup did more damage digging in the garden than the deer do nibbling.

Noise from down the road...caution...conscience of the position of the leaning rifle. It is only the boys. Make mental note to remind them to be more quiet when out on the road. They are returning from Jones dairy up the road; gallon of milk for a dozen eggs. Fair price, but then with 120 cows, most of it goes to waste anyways. Terrible waste.

Commotion in the trees. The sound of the misty drizzle giving way to the fast approach of heavy rain. Over taking the trees on the ridge; overtaking the trees in the orchard; over taking the boys. Much needed rain to fill the barrels under the gutters. Thunder cracks in the distance, and the boys start to run. Living with nature is always a trade off. Rain today, the potatoe hills will have to wait.

Knowing days like this are so very few and far apart, she decides today we will take some time away from worrying and planning and working. Most days the stress is almost too much to bare. But not today. Today we will stoke the morning's fire to dry out the socks and warm the souls, and sip on hot chocolate from freash milk and recite familiar tales of yesterday's gone by. This will give us the strength for dealing with the uncertainty of tomarrow's perils.

It will get worse, but not today...

-- cinnamon (endofroad@mountain.top), March 25, 1999.


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