Driving in to work today I was stunned by a radio report that I heard on KCBS radio in San Francisco today. The lady news anchor began the piece by saying something like "Now we are going to talk about a subject that every body is really board about...Y2K. Joining us on the line is the presidents right hand man John Koshikin(sp). Tell us Mr. Ko-Skin-um what are your doing in SF today.

"Why Rebecca we are holding a community awareness meeting in SF with about 400 people attending (I have not heard this meeting talked about in any of the press .ed.)"

"Mr. Ko-Skin-um isn't it to late for anybody to start preparing for Y2K"

"Rebecca we all know that cities that have had our community awarness meetings are well a head of cities that will not have our meetings. We don't expect any problems in San Francisco, other than some small businesses may need to upgrade their software if they have problems."

___________

It went on like this for about five or six minutes, they did not even talk about a 3 day storm or a BITR. Y2K= NO PROBLEMO IN SAN FRANCISCO.....

With all of the posts recently on this forum of the daily increase in Y2K failures, I ask, AM I LIVING ON A DIFFERENT PLANET THAN MR. KO-SKIN-UM??????

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), October 19, 1999

Answers

Are you going to San Francisco? Be sure to wear some edible flowers in your hair....

-- ---- (--@--.com), October 19, 1999.

I think his employee, Janet Abrams, wonders the same thing...

"John Koskinen and I spar a bit. He is a bit optimistic."

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), October 19, 1999.

Helium, Koffinsky is from a different planet. Still goes there a little too often to be concerned about earthlings. His assignment is almost complete. Keep the herd asleep ...

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), October 19, 1999.

Helium,

Different planet.

I was stunned this morning to hear he was in the area. Just happened to look at the S.F. Gate site this morning and found out about it! Bummer.

Well see if tonights local news has anything to say.

Diane

See thread...

S.F. Y2K Community Conversation Today! Koskinen, Y2K Czar Says Thousands Of Businesses Still At Risk (San Francisco Chronicle)

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 001bpF

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), October 19, 1999.

Helium,

Koskinen is either an alien or an android. He never blinks and his smile never changes. My wife noticed this last fall when we saw him on TV. She said that he made her stomach feel ishy--lol. Her test for most everyone and everything. But, she is ussually right about her gut.

Just one opinion about him from the cold state of Minnesota.

-- incredulous (cantbelievit@aol.com), October 19, 1999.

If Diane J. Squire did not know about Koskinen being in her own hometown, I can guarantee you Koskinen DID NOT want her to know about his being in her hometown.

San Fran is where he uttered the infamous "free market may not be the best way to allocate resources" comment and he probably has a mental block about the town now.

-- lisa (lisa@work.now), October 19, 1999.

He is an alien pod. Trust me. I used to room with him at the University of Alpha Centauri.

-- Martian (visiting@earth.now), October 19, 1999.

Its not Ko-Skin-Um, It is Go-Spin-Em. Earl

-- Earl Shuholm (earl.shuholm@worldnet.att.net), October 19, 1999.

SF Gate Tech article, quoted below directly from Patrick Shannon on Senger's Review email newsletter

"Y2K Czar Says Thousands of Businesses Still at Risk (Benny Evangelista, San Francisco Chronicle)

John Koskinen is in San Francisco today for a "Community Conversation." This article begins: "About 800,000 small businesses across the country remain at risk for Year 2000 computer failures and there is little the federal government can do to help if they experience problems, said White House Y2K czar John Koskinen." Koskinen is quoted from a telephone interview as saying, "If you're a small company that decides to wait and fix it and does not get it fixed on time, our position is, 'That's life'... It's a great, free country, and you have the freedom to fail." Then, this article does a mild "he said, she said" -- "Critics have accused Koskinen of downplaying the federal government's Y2K problems to avoid spreading panic and fear. Koskinen said he believes that federal agencies have made great strides in the past year and will be ready to survive the date change without serious problems. But he also said critics ignore the fact that his agency is still warning that there will be Y2K failures abroad and that small businesses and smaller hospitals in this country remain vulnerable. The U.S. Small Business Administration last spring offered up to $500 million in Y2K loans for small businesses. Koskinen noted that to date, only 85 companies had Y2K loans approved or pending."

-- (not@now.com), October 19, 1999.

I left my Glock

In San Francisco

Beside my gas mask

And my MREs.

When I return to San Francisco

I'll be packing a .223.

-- Not Whistlin' Dixie (not_whistlin_dixie@yahoo.com), October 19, 1999.

Q: "Am I on the same planet as Ko-Skin-um?"

A: Unfortunately (for you), yes, you are!

-- (dot@dot.dot), October 19, 1999.

No, you are not on the same planet as John Koskinen.

He lifted off from Earth for press release nirvana a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

-- no talking please (breadlines@soupkitchen.gov), October 20, 1999.