A good read from a Y2K software tester's point of view:

http://www.salonmagazine.com/tech/feature/1999/04/08/y2k_testers/index.html

Interesting quote from article:

"And so 1998 passes. Has the IT department at Everycorp met its Y2K objectives? On paper, yes. But bear in mind that managers who don't meet objectives don't receive bonuses. We can assume Y2K compliance has been met in all critical systems, except for those: A) whose managers lied, or B) whose managers reclassified their systems as noncritical to get a postponement.

Now it's 1999. Even if all of Everycorp's critical systems were certifiably Y2K compliant, there's still plenty to worry about.

First off, the international offices. Originally these were scheduled to be part of the 1998 testing, but there were local languages and time zones to navigate.

And the international staff really didn't seem terribly concerned.

In Latin America, local employees claim that if anything goes wrong, they could get by with the old pencil-and-paper recordkeeping. They figure their customers have lower expectations for efficiency.

In Europe, local staffers were too busy with the euro to give Y2K much thought. Besides, they can't quite understand their American colleagues' agitation. After all, once you've lived through two world wars -- cities leveled, populations starving, orphans shipped overseas -- what's so terrible about a computer shutdown? Probably less of a hassle than a French truckers' strike."

I think the last paragraph of the above relates to the "You Americans are so spoiled" thread that was posted a while back. Ain't THAT the truth? (Our cable is out right now and my eight year old is really bugged about it. 'Gotta do something about that. Suggestions?)

Enjoy the read.

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 08, 1999

Answers

I have a suggestion, give the kid a book to read. Or have a conversation with the child rather than typing here.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), April 08, 1999.

Cherri,

Your evil twin is showing. It's pretty difficult to have a conversation with a child when he/she is asleep or at school, which is the only time I post here.

I'll take the book suggestion in the spirit (I hope) it was intended. We have regularly scheduled times for reading. We may just have to expand them (in the hope of getting my 8 year old up to a 6TH GRADE reading level rather than a FIFTH GRADE reading level, where she currently resides).

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 08, 1999.

We stopped turning on the TV, and the kids didn't appear to notice. They help cook dinner, do laundry, care for pets, etc. They are gone to school nine hours a day and there isn't much time left to watch TV after they do everything else. (Plus bathing!) Of course, they hit the cable TV hard when they go to Grandma's house.

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), April 08, 1999.

Though we're meandering off-topic, I got a divorce three years ago and my ex-wife got the TV. I got custody of the kids (then 9, 7, 5) and the four of us lived without TV for two years. I asked the kids occasionally if they missed it, and their response was consistently "No." Instead, we would walk in the evenings, play games, read, whatever... I was amazed at the change in them and me. They would feel out of the loop once in a while when the kids at school would discuss a show they'd not seen, but boy they were the clearninghouse of all knowledge when it came to Animorph's books!

I remarried last year and my wife brought her TV to our family. Though it typically stayed off, I saw my kids increasingly getting re- absorbed into the tube. And it wasn't evening fare, but PBS shows mostly! (We didn't buy cable - just relied on the local stations.) Jackie and I noticed the kids behavior changing, but didn't necessarily attribute it to the TV.

When we went rural, we left the TV unpacked from the move, and we've noticed the kids are now what we knew them to be pre-TV. Is it all due to TV? I don't know, but the corollary is there. For what it's worth...

-- Brett (savvydad@aol.com), April 08, 1999.

FM,

Here's a tip on how to get kids to read....it worked with mine. We read the comics together every morning and of course they had their favorites and would start beating everyone else to the paper to see what their favorite strips' characters were up to that day. Then we expanded it to comic books, and they were always eager to spend their monies on those. Eventually books took the place of comic books and the magic of those took hold.

-- Cary Mc from Tx (Caretha@compuserve.com), April 08, 1999.

Great suggestions and insights. I haven't tried the "morning funnies" routine, but that sounds like a great one! My daughter is a good reader, but she has yet to learn to LOVE it. Thanks again.

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), April 08, 1999.