...NYC Y2K aware get together?

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Inspired by ExCop's thread about the New England dinner, I was thinking it's about time to have a New York City get together for people on this forum who may be interested. (Lurkers, please respond!!! My e-mail address is real, if you don't want to "go public.")

As an opening position, and I realize that this may be short notice for some, (I'm not married to this time or place, just seemed like fun - other suggestions are more than welcome...) how about this Saturday evening, August 21, to "celebrate" the GPS rollover? There's a restaurant called "Millennium" somewhere on the Upper East side that looks appropriate. (Meaning decent but not too expensive. I'll get more details...)

Drinks, dinner, chat, the others in the restaurant won't know what hit 'em! Doomers, Pollys, and everyone in between are welcome! Might be nice to put a face and voice together with the handle...

Whadda ya say?

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 16, 1999

Answers

C'mon, kids, don't be shy!

(I got one private response so far, so don't feel like you need to be the first...)

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 16, 1999.


I was afraid of this.

I guess NYC will be a toasted bagel...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 16, 1999.


No offense, pshannon, but aren't "live in NYC" and "Y2K-aware" rather incompatible? I cannot imagine being a GI in NYC and not being either already moved over 100 miles away, or at least in the final stages of packing. Please, please, move ASAP the H out of there. If you can get to NYC in 2 hours of driving, you are undoubtedly still living too close for your family to be safe in 2000.

If anyone reading this understands anything at all about Y2K, and thinks that living in NYC (or any city over a million GMA population) is an option past late 1999, please take a look at these essays on Gary North's website www.garynorth.com in the Martial Law section:

28-August-1998 25-August-1998 24-August-1998

Hope this helps your decision-making.

www.y2ksafeminnesota.com

-- MinnesotaSmith (y2ksafeminnesota@hotmail.com), August 16, 1999.


Times have been hectic. I made it to Vermont just barely, but North Carolina got scrapped at the very last minute and a day too late. I may be up in the New Jersey- New York City area this weekend. I won't know for a few days, but would like to try to meet up with you, pshannon, or try to make your NYC get together if it comes together. Keep me informed. My email is my email is my email.

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 16, 1999.


"...aren't "live in NYC" and "Y2K-aware" rather incompatible?"

Apparently so, based the responses to this invitation!

Thanks for your concern, MinnesotaSmith, I've got it covered. (two back-ups) Frankly, my plan is to stay here until the last possible moment, and maybe even beyond. (prepped elsewhere) I know this sounds odd, but IF tshtf at rollover, (which I see as being only one of many plausible outcomes) I want to see it and feel it. I have only my own safety to worry about, other family members aren't, or won't be, near the city. I'm young(ish) and single and healthy, and I have a sense of adventure. Believe it or not, if things go to hell fairly quickly, I want to be in it, and figure my way out. If Russia drops a nuke on the World Trade Center, so be it...

However, I see a slow devolution (3-9 months) as being much more likely, with "plenty of time" to get out and far away. If we are truely facing "the end of the world as we know it," I want to experience some of it viscerally here in the "center of the world."

Naturally, I hope this whole thing turns out to be a big bust, a hoax, a "Doomers Fantasy," although I'm a 7-8 on the WDCY2K scale. If it turns out that Y2K Pro is right, I've got plans for a project that will be much more interesting and exciting for me than to take up subsistence farming. Hope for the best, and prepare for the worst. (And try to somehow make the best of that?)

Stan, I'll certainly keep you informed. At this point, it looks like we can work around your schedule!

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 16, 1999.



Dear Mr. Shannon, I also live in the NY metro area but would not be able to attend your meeting. I just want to pass on this little bit of info. My husband and I ran into an acquaintance this past weekend at a wedding reception. He is a NYC cop. He is a Good one and trustworthy. I asked him if he had been told anyting regarding Y2k and is the police dept. preparing? He said that It hadn't been mentioned but he expected to have to work on New Years Eve. I thought he might have some news, but nothing so far. I am lurker on this forum and I am prepping for Y2k. I plan to be out of the state come rollover but I am prepping at home just in case the bridges are closed and I can't leave. I hope it is just a BITR. Sincerely, Rkcs

-- R.Sager (Rkcs@juno.com), August 17, 1999.

I am currently in negotiations with the Mrs. regarding my driving north to attend this gathering. The sheer force of my will has not been adequate to influence her to give the go ahead.

Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, gold bars...nothing I've given her is having any effect. How do I show my love for her in a way which does not wreak of manipulation?

Perhaps I'll take her to breakfast at IHOP. She never could resist those silver dollar pancakes...

Come on folks. Let's have a BIG turnout this weekend. Make the effort. You won't regret it; unless you end up in jail & your mother- in-law shows up to bail you out. Or the city tows your vehicle - now that's sure to put a damper on things.

See you this weekend, maybe.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 17, 1999.


bump...

-- Rudy G. (carpetbaggers@not.welcome), August 17, 1999.

Bingo!--I would like to see you in NYC. BRING the Mrs.

-- Mara Wayne (MaraWAyne@aol.com), August 17, 1999.

Thanks Mara.

The Mrs. can't travel this weekend. She's grounded for a week on account of the fact she refused to give up the remote controller not once but TWICE this past Sunday. She'll learn eventually! (it's a good thing she doesn't read this board) :)

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 17, 1999.



And for youse guys up there who are getting together: Just exactly what is NYC doing about their systems: some are very old but little automated (water, sewer, and steam come to mind) that they just might be surviveable/fixable; while others (subway, phone, power, steam (again) ) are almost equally old but have been extensively automated into a literal "juntraceable ungle" of wires, cables, conduit, and pipe underground so that repairs might be impossible to get finished.

The subway, for example, is vunerable to switching, power, emergency comms, normal comms, and remore control for the whole thing from the central command center. If it goes out or looses contact with the remote operated switches and trains - or parts of it goes down, there will be great troubles just getting people moved around safely.

Police, fire, taxes, schools, etc? The city has apparently said nothing publically: but was not one of those cities that was said to be complete yet.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 17, 1999.


Can you email me a scan of the pastry cart? BTW, lots of loonies here in the swamp but I don't remember anyone actually referencing North's site to prove a point. As with most posts in the Minnesota vein there is a scary undercurrent of racism. Frankly I"d feel safer during a crisis in NYC than some yuppie 'burb or the South. Can you say Easy Rider?

-- Jimmy Bagga Doughnuts (jim1bets@worldnet.att.net), August 17, 1999.

Hi gang...

OK, it looks like it's shaping up this way. A half a dozen or so, so far, some from out of town. Rather than "Millennium" on the Upper East Side, (which is kinda outta the way, I just thought that was cute) one of the out of towners suggested McSorley's on 7th street between the Bowery (or 4th Ave) and 2nd Ave, near Cooper Union. (McSorley's BTW, being the first place I ever got served, at 15. The old Irish bartender couldn't resist Patrick Shannon.)

From there, there are lots of restaurants in that area, some cheap (like on "Indian Row" on 6th St.) some not. I think there's also a Dunkin' Donuts on 2nd Ave.

I would suggest that we be ready to raise our glasses in a toast to John Koskinen at 13 seconds before 7pm EDT. (the second of the GPS rollover). I don't particularly want to be in the subway at that moment...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.


Robert,

I don't know if it's telling or not, but the only bit of consistent news about NYC, and almost the ONLY news (but not quite) is the story about the "Command Bunker" on the 23rd floor of the World Trade Center.

Oh, and David Letterman...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.


Patrick, you've made my day!!!

Let's hope the line is short. If the area colleges have not yet started back then it shouldn't be a problem.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 17, 1999.



In order to recognize each other, you could wear white T shirts with a small "Server Busy" stitched on the front pocket.....

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), August 17, 1999.

But Lisa, wouldn't the white shirts clash with our tinfoil hats?

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 17, 1999.

Tinfoil hats! What a great idea. I'm going to go make mine right now...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.

Now hold on a minute Patrick. Am I to assume we are free to design and fabricate our own tinfoil hats? No-holds barred, so to speak? Anything goes, as it were?

Or should design specs be submitted to a central authority for approval? Perhaps Chuck would best serve in this capacity, as he has so little to do these days that I assume he would jump at the opportunity. The position, albeit temporary, would provide some added oomph to his resume as well. What say you Chuck?

Then there's the question of tinfoil hat production. Do we fabricate them in-house, or would outsourcing be more cost-effective?

Finally, we must address the merchandising aspect. Surely the tinfoil hats, once brought out of the cupboard, so to speak, and into the light of day would become an immediate craze. Once the masses begin adorning themselves, the glare of the sun reflecting off the hats could prompt a niche market for special anti-glare glasses. A special coating for the glasses would require heavy R & D. The help of venture capitalists would be a necessity in order to finance this endeavor.

This is all very complicated. Perhaps the hats are not a good idea.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 17, 1999.


I tend to be anarcho-libertarian when it comes to things like this. I think that individuals should be able to design tin-foil hats according to their own preferences, so long as they don't interfere with the design rights of others. If, for some reason, your tin-foil hat design were to cause me some sort of distress, I would assume that we would be able to be responsible enough for ourselves to work out some sort compromise. Personally, I tend to go for simple designs, a tin-foil scull-cap, if you will. I think that if we were to require some sort of "authority" to decide if design specs were necessary, we would want to come to a consensous as to who that "authority" would be.

On the other hand, it may be too hot for hats...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.


Damn ps, I've been holding off answering this thread, hoping the date would change. Why didn't you think of this last week? I was in the city Tue-Fri! I can't do it on the 21st, got a birthday party for an old friend here, about 30 people coming over.

I like the "server too busy" idea better, but if you insist...

The latest in GI headgear

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.


PS - Do you think we can talk Mr. Greenspun into including the hat in his collection of photos for the bottom of the page? <:)))=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.

Well, Sysman, we can always do this another time as well! A couple of these folks are coming from pretty far away, and it seems like they're roarin' and ready to go. I live in the city, so anytime is good for me!

Maybe we should plan another one for 9/9/99. Or just about any time, frankly. There are a couple of folks who live in the city who can't make it this weekend, who would also like to do something at some point, so I suppose another gathering will be in order...

(And you're right, I should have thought of this sooner. Yesterday, I realized that GPS day is a Saturday night, and just thought it would be cool!)

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.


Ah, yes, the Omega 2006! Little does that man know how much fun people are having at his expense! I'm tempted to actually buy one...

Phil? Would it be a copyright violation?

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.


Hummm, 9/9 is a Thursday, not good on a "school" night for a boy from Princeton. Maybe the 10th? We could discuss the news, or lack of, about 9/9. <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 17, 1999.

Sounds like a plan, sysman!

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 17, 1999.

OK ps, could be a plan.

We're having another party here on Labor Day. Since I'll have a few days to "recover," the 10th could work out well...

I'll post myself a reminder. My backup mainframe site is near Madison and 34th. I'm sure I can talk the boss into a Friday trip.

Stay tuned...

Tick... Tock... <:)=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.


Darn, forgot my new sig. again...

Tick... Tock... <;00=

(wink included)...

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.


I don't know if I want to make my tinfoil hat out of reynolds wrap or an old hand me down space blanket. I like the skull cap idea, but guess that is taken. Maybe, a dual purpose chemical warfare hood. [g]

Sincerely, Stan Faryna

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 18, 1999.


P.S. If anyone asks, I'll just tell them I'm an Intel bunny person.

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 18, 1999.

Well Stan, I think I'll go for the old Moe-pokes-Curley-in-the-eyes design. Simple. Maybe a slit for my nose, aka air in Sept in NYC... Hummm...

<:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 18, 1999.


Gentle push...join the party...we don't bite...without asking permission...tinfoil not required

-- 4 light, 4 dark Paddy (look@the.mensch.oyvey), August 18, 1999.

Yeah - but I'll bet most of those tin-foil hats will actually be made of Aluminium anyway .... bunch of Yankees of there.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), August 18, 1999.

Quite correct, Robert. The preliminary B.O.M. calls for tin, however we are working with a deadline which is fast approaching. Aluminum is an acceptable substitute according to the latest research.

And no, I don't have any links to the research papers. These are distributed industry-wide. Need-to-know basis & all that.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 18, 1999.


Gary North will be on Art Bell's Coast-to-Coast radio show this Friday morning at 1:00am EST. This is Gary's 4th or 5th appearance on Art's show. Guaranteed to be an entertaining, scary, & even informative listen.

One can listen live on more than 400 AM radio stations, including the following:

1210 WPHT

1140 WRVA

1110 WBT

1100 WTAM

You can also listen live over the internet using the G2 Player. Go to Art's website:

Art Bell Website

Click on Listen Live (lefthand column under Functions). This will take you to Broadcast.com where you can select from audio or video feeds.

Art's shows are archived for listening at your leisure here:

Art Bell Program Archives

You must have the RealPlayer software installed on your computer in order to listen via the internet. Download it here:

Download the G2 Player

Art first interviewed Gary North some 15-16 months ago. That show prompted me to research Y2K with vigor. Up until then I had been procrastinating. "Scary" Gary got my butt in gear. I owe a debt of gratitude to both of these men.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 18, 1999.


Once more - with feeling.

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 19, 1999.

I think Art's show is still on 770 AM, WABC out of NYC also.

Tick... Tock... <:00=

-- Sysman (y2kboard@yahoo.com), August 19, 1999.


Up, up, and away!

-- Stan Faryna (info@giglobal.com), August 20, 1999.

Just don't plan on going to the bathroom or washing your hands while you're here in NYC...

;-)

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 20, 1999.


Laddie, our lives are in your hands. You are responsible for enticing us to attend this gathering. You dangle a mug of McSorley's dark in front of our collective nose & then suggest our collective bladder be of extremely high capacity!?!?

One way or another I WILL wash my hands & I WILL use the potty during my stay in NYC. It is your job to see that appropriate facilities are available when necessary. Capish???

Where's dIetER when you need him?

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 20, 1999.


Apparently, I may have been a little premature with that potty and hand-washing thing. It's not until AFTER 1/1/00, when the utilities fail, that you'll have to hold it in. I think you'll be OK for this weekend. Besides, it's not like anyone ever flushes or washes their hands in McSorley's anyway.

(funny story -- for years McSorley's only had one bathroom. Afterall, why would a bar, where only MEN hang out, have a ladies room? Incomprehensible! Anyway, after living in San Francisco for several years, and obviously not going to McSorley's for a while, I went back there with my then girlfriend and some other folks. When she had to "tinkle," I pointed in the right direction, and said that they only had the one bathroom. She didn't seem to care, she was drunk. It wasn't until she was walking away that someone pointed out that they had, in fact, built a second bathroom. She, uh... wasn't alone. When she came back to the table, she was a good sport about it though. I think she may have punched me in the shoulder. I don't remember. I was drunk...)

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 20, 1999.


When relating an anecdote which is set at McSorley's Old Ale House, "I don't remember. I was drunk..." need not be stated - it is always assumed to be a given! :)

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 20, 1999.

The above statement by me in no way reflects my own experiences. A wittle boidie told me. No, it was a mouse in the corner who passed it along. Or was it a fly on the wall.

Ah, heck. I don't remember. I was drunk...

-- Bingo1 (howe9@pop.shentel.net), August 20, 1999.


I have a feeling we're going to be in for a long evening!

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), August 20, 1999.

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