I don't have a link, but went in through

http://2000andyou.com/2000/forums/

click on news and click on the CNN piece. These people don't seem to know much, but they are almost alert to the fact that something very large is happening. This is in response to the GAO report on the cities. The beast is starting to stir.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWayne@aol.com), July 15, 1999

Answers

Link

-- flb (fben@yahoo.com), July 15, 1999.

I agree Mara. I have no context in which to put these remarks (what kind of program, who are the people, etc.), but if this is the level of understanding of the DGI public, we are all in BIG trouble! These folks don't have a clue! For example, if the gas pumps don't work we'll all just walk to work for a few weeks!

It appears there is no concept by the general public of the interdependences in todays economy. This is scary stuff to see after all that has been said about Y2K over the past two years. I better get working on those window shutters with the cross cutout in the middle!

-- An (Observer@A.Distance), July 15, 1999.

Direct link to the CNN transcript:

http://cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/9907/15/co.00.html

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 15, 1999.

An:

You took the words right out of my mouth.....the shallowness of these folk's perception is truly amazing. If they were the most qualified analysts CNN had for this assignment, it means the blind are leading the blind.

-- Mike T. (anita_martini@hotmail.com), July 15, 1999.

Best line of the whole show?

TILLOTSON: Pretend! It's TV!

-TECH32-

-- TECH32 (TECH32@NOMAIL.COM), July 15, 1999.

Herz is short a few amperes...

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), July 15, 1999.

Amazing - sad, but amazing.

I'd NEVER think I'd consider M. Geewax the best on any panel - but I'm was actually impressed that she hit several marks fairly well, knew a few of the links and relationships, and tried to stay focused.....the others contributed nothing, and were deliberately trivializing things.

One telling point to show their collective attitude: remeber this "Attitude" with a capital "A" - Bennett is an alarmist in their prejudices, with other religious people taking even more extreme...(hint:CBN)

< J.C. HERZ, TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Yes, I think there is a lot of hysteria rolling around, if you listen to talk radio, whether that hysteria is political or religious, and there are people in the media out there busy whipping people up into a frenzy and telling them to bunker down and put a shotgun by the door. And the real damage to Y2K is when a neighbor comes over to borrow a gallon of water and gets shot because someone thinks there is looter.

TILLOTSON: Let's hope that doesn't happen.

(LAUGHTER)

TILLOTSON: I want to ask, and I will stick with J.C. for a second because one of the supposed alarmists, as you would have it, is Senator Robert Bennett, who is the head of a Senate special committee looking at Y2K technological problems. >>

-- Robert A Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), July 15, 1999.

Robert,

But I think it was LESS trivialized than much of what I've heard of read. They recognized that there is some kind of a problem with the cities not being ready...

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), July 16, 1999.

I've been working intensely all day. Just checked in to see what had been reported on the Senate hearing today.

Apparently the powers that be thought the hearing important enough to make it available via Real Video. ('Pity, however that the link doesn't work. At least for now.)

My gut feeling as a journalist is that we should keep checking the following site over the next couple of days, for "official" witness testimony (not what they actually said, but what they submitted in advance for the record.)

Here's the URL:

http://www.senate.gov/~y2k/index.html

'Night

:)

-- FM (vidprof@aol.com), July 16, 1999.

Look, Folks,

They are FINALLY starting to sniff the breeze. One of the cities that will NOT have water or sewer done until October- December is Phoenix, located in one of the world's more FORBIDDING Deserts. The city council concerned??? It passed EMERGENCY legislation!

The "emergency?? The 'need' for a third hotel, a Marriot, to be financed by TAXPAYERS!! The city just got sued over it...guess how much attention is going to be paid to the looming disaster...none!!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@It's ALL going away in January.com), July 16, 1999.

They're idiots. I've met with a dozen or so community groups and the average person on the street (granted I'm talking about the average person who attends Y2K community meetings) understands the problem 100 times better than those Bozettas on CNN.

They discussed the non-issues and nominal issues, VCRs, embeddeds, computer viruses, etc. The problem is the complex systems that run the back room and I'm not talking about Peoplesoft, Oracle Financials, or SAP.

It's the 10, 20, 30 year old, custom applications that cannot be replaced by a generic package.

-Grrrrr- Makes me grumpy, I'm heading for a 7-11 for a donut.

-- cory (kiyoinc@ibm.XOUT.net), July 16, 1999.

Interesting (to me) that even though CNN did a show discussing the GAO reports, the CNN website has no NEWS story about it.

-- Linda (lwmb@psln.com), July 16, 1999.

Why don't we email CNN and notify them of this discussion...(?)

If I were asked to rate public perception of Y2K on a 1-10 scale, I would have to decline. It would have to be on a 0-10 scale.

I recently visited a gift store and noted a Y2K T-shirt. It humorously depicted a green bug who was a tad hung-over after New Year's Eve. I asked the cashier if she had had any comments on the shirt (hopefully from a GI). She shrugged and said, "$30."

-- Zach Anderson (z@figure.8m.com), July 16, 1999.

A Highlight --

J.C. HERZ, TECHNOLOGY WRITER: ... a neighbor comes over to borrow a gallon of water and gets shot because someone thinks there is looter.

TILLOTSON: Let's hope that doesn't happen.

(LAUGHTER)

* * *

Is it just me, or would the average GI reaction to that statement have been a momentary silent pause, in sad recognition of the possibility that MANY people will die in just this type of situation?

-- M.C. Hicks (mhicks@greenwich.com), July 16, 1999.