OT? -- Flame if you must, I know its only a friend of a friend report

greenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread

Flame me if you must but I'm trying to pass along a little bit of info.

Today I spoke with a close friend. Someone I trust and have known for over ten years. I know that this puts this post in the FOAF category. However, since I do know the source, I will pass this along. And yes I do know that there is no substantive information involved, only an opinion.

My friend spoke with an air traffic controller, someone he has known for some time and respects his opinion. My friend asked him how the remediation of the air traffic control system was coming along. His response was short. "It's looking bad, very bad."

I know that's not much. But, it is an opinion from inside that system.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), November 04, 1999

Answers

Well, I will go you one better. In October of 98, I was on a vacation with a group of people from our area, one of which was the Senior VP of Power Generation for our local electric co, which service area includes Pa,WVA,OH,NY,VA,MD. I asked him point blank were they going to keep the lights on?. He said they were trying but it was kind of iffy. Then he said he felt certain, many utilities would not! He was really bothered by the replacement parts in inventory which would not be tested and could be noncompliant. He believed that systems that were made compliant could be undone in the normal course of maintenance. I confirmed his position with my brother-in-law his also a VP of same power company. They are on the y2k project committee together. I know it has been over a year but obviously there are reasons for concern.

-- Very Concerned (rwilhelm@edate.com), November 04, 1999.

Just to show you how FOAF is worthless:

Customer of mine who came in a couple weeks ago designs and programs the systems that handle air traffic control. He was sitting in the store on a Saturday with me talking about how PC's keep dropping in price and saw my Y2k printout from the NWC and commented on how angry he was that he had to work so much overtime trying to prove their stuff was Y2k ready. His bitch was he couldnt make it bomb on Y2k tests and the customers werent happy with that info, it was if they wanted it to fail to prove it could fail. He says some cosmetic issues came up but that was all. He is convinced Y2k is a near-hoax because of his experience with it. So here is a actual "friend", not a "friend of a friend" who works with this stuff on a daily basis and doesnt see any y2k problems.

Now he only knows about HIS machines and his programs, not ALL machines and all programs. Bottom line, one persons opinion isnt worth squat. Whats more if that person has an agenda or is misinformed the opinion is skewed even more and is worth even less than zero.



-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), November 04, 1999.


Earlier this year I sent an email to AEP complaining that their Y2K timeline on their web page wasn't more specific. The main guy from AEP in Columbus actually called me on the phone to discuss it. Surprised the hell out of me! His name is Ken Walker. He was very nice. I can't remember the whole conversation, but he explained about how the power grid is like a highway and how it is all interconnected. He said that they are doing everything possible, even trying to help the smaller companies so they won't cause problems on their part of the grid. He did tell me, however, that he wasn' promising a "bed of roses". He said he can't guarantee that there won't be power outages...just that they are doing what they can. A few days later, by the way, our local paper interviewed one of the AEP people in our city. His remarks were that everything will be fine, no need to worry, yada yada yada. I actually sent a letter to the paper telling them that they should be talking to the guy from Columbus not some hick from our town who obviously didn't know what was going on!

Anyway, thought I would let you know about this because it was my conversation with Ken Walker that really made me gear up my preperations. We haven't prepared for extended problems, but we are good for a few months, just in case. Also, Mr. Walker's response really opened my husband's eyes and got him thinking because up until then, he wasn't really concerned.

-- Darla (dnice@hgo.net), November 04, 1999.


Hamster, If you discount every opinion or fact that comes from a single person, you're not left with much. That's why we "Collect and Compare" these little tidbits to form a greater perspective.

-- squeak squeak (littlewheel@hamster.cage), November 04, 1999.

So, does that mean all FOAF stories are worthless, hamster???

-- OR (orwelliator@biosys.net), November 04, 1999.


Moderation questions? read the FAQ