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

I have been mildly amused by the ever increasing number of Off Topic matters being raised here, and also by the large number of reports of failures (like trains catching fire) that have no obvious link to Y2K. So as a little exercise in time wasting I have gone back over the previous 100 posts and sorted them into one of five categories.

Off Topic 66 posts

These are topics that are either labeled as OT, or ones that deal purely with items where there is not even an attempt to link them to Y2K. (There are a lot of posts included in here on oil prices, however where there has been an attempt to link the oil prices to Y2K, I have categorised the post as Possible Y2K)

Not Y2K related 13 posts

These ones are where there has been a post that suggests some event may be Y2K related, when there is sufficient evidence (either in the original link, or subsequent to the original post) that shows the event is not Y2K related.

Possible Y2K 10 posts

These are ones where there is a report on an event, but there is no evidence either for or against it being Y2K related.

Probable Y2K 5 posts

These are ones where there is a report on an event, and there is evidence of either computer failure or embedded system failure, but no evidence to show conclusivly that it is a Y2K event.

Y2K related 6 posts

These are ones where it is admitted up front that the failure is due to Y2K, but I have also included ones where Y2K remediation has been succesful but there has been a degradation of service as a result.

I would say a big thank you to those people who have posted the reports that fall into the last 3 categories. Unfortunately there is a lot of reading to find them.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), January 21, 2000

Answers

Malcolm, you forgot mud wrestling posts!!!!!!!!

-- mudpie (mud@dot.pie), January 21, 2000.

I will be eternally grateful to those who have taken the time to do the research and post it here. You would be hard pressed to find any one place that such extensive coverage and various points of view. I believe what we are seeing, in various forms, is the domino effect. Some people still can't see the forest for the trees.

-- Trish (adler2@webtv.net), January 21, 2000.

Malcom as everyone knows, pole fires are quite common the world over. There have been No y2k errors that anyone knows of, save the admitted failure by the DOD (for which J. Hamre was fired).

We can all rest comfortably in the knowledge that it was all fixed everywhere despite the signifigant variance in capital expenditures.

Perhaps we can put together a thread for those who believe the above line of crap.

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), January 21, 2000.


Malcom;

I beg to differ with your opinion that the current price of oil is OT. There are serious questions as to why there appears to be an oil shortage, and that a good portion of the shortage maybe in large part due to Y2K related failures. Many feel that we are not getting the whole story from the producers or the government. Energy (and thus oil from which much of the energy used in the world is derived) is one of the corner stones of the iron triangle. If we lose oil, we are in serious trouble.

As the 1000 paper cuts continue to wound our infastructure, this could break the so called "camels back"

Stay tuned and keep listening.

-- Helium (HeliumAvid@yahoo.com), January 21, 2000.


That's the whole purpose of this forum; to try to confirm reports as Y2K related that the media refuses to even touch -- and in many cases does not even know about that came to light here first. It's great to be cautious and categorical, but there has to be an element of analysis and ipso facto correlationism based not on shear conjecture, but reasonable speculation. I was just thinking rather in the opposite direction before reading this: how many "OT" topics seem DIRECTLY related to Y2K. I think there needs to be a basis or criteria to go by -- which in fact is sound reasoning, the opinion of the most informed, experienced and respected voices on a matter and of course, weighing all in light of mainstream information. I think this forum is doing just fine in these areas, and that, in my opinion, soon enough we'll be able to tell if what we are thinking is really happening, is. It just may be that we're ahead of the pack in our understanding, not visa versa or forming erroneous conclusions. THIS is where information comes first (places like this) BEFORE reaching the mainstream in many cases. There have been some rather far-reaching repurcussions from statements made here, reaching the ears of and being commented upon by major mainstream media and ndustry. The tendency seems to be not of bringing forth unsubstaniated fact, but of having the facts prematurely before verification can catch up to it. Don't forget, we're playing hide and seek with facts that major interests do not want revealed, as well as dealing with much distraction, negativism and downright hostility to get them.

-- Patrick Lastella (Lastella1@aol.com), January 21, 2000.


Patick,

You are so right! As a matter of a fact, I would think any reporter who has been made aware of this forum, and doesn't occasionally lurk here isn't doing there job.

Many well formulated opinions are expressed here, on all sides of the issue. A most important "find" on the net! No matter how it's url is perceived. This, to me, are why things are changing on an ever so much "subtle" level.

An honest dialog with other folks of "like thought" "unlike thought" from almost anywhere on our globe is a pleasure. One, I hold in the most highest of esteem.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), January 21, 2000.


Patrick, sorry, sometimes my fingers don't work so well, argh.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), January 21, 2000.

Malcolm

At least they aren't posting power outages all over the world.

Not much is going to come out if there is problems, there are legal considerations involved if third parties are effected.

Otherwise the forum is morphing and wafting. It would seem like a natural thing.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), January 21, 2000.


Trish, It past 01-01-00, just how long is "the forest" going to hide the tree's?

It's over, it was not bad, the failures would not normally even have been mentioned in the mainstream press if not for all of the hype before the fact.

The worry is over, wishing for the worse is all you can do.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 21, 2000.


I don't know about the rest of you....but if gas goes to $5/gallon or becomes unavailable, I really am not concerned whether its y2k or not! I come to this forum several times a day to find out what is going on in the world. I am sure not going to get any news out of the talking heads, other than about the kid from Cuba. If I didn't have the forum, I wouldn't have a clue. And as far as sifting the chaf from the wheat, I have to do that with the TV and the newspaper too. So what is the difference, other than the forum is hours ahead of the news media. If this forum evolves into a forum that is non y2k...so what? Its interesting and informative and I enjoy all its personalities. I won't argue that all the problems with oil and gas are y2k, but its damn suspicious that it just started and is building in numbers, being dollars or number of refineries going up in smoke. Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 21, 2000.


Malcolmn,

All we have to do is change the name of the forum to "OT TimeBomb 2000". Works for me. =)

-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), January 21, 2000.


If there are corporations and governments fixing rollover problems in the background and hiding it from public scrutiny, then there will probably be attenuated and elusive symptoms and indicia, pointing back toward those problems.

I don't doubt for a minute, that there are some spectacular examples of hands-on, manual work-arounds, currently in place. It would be genuinely interesting to know of these and the results these will have.

-- snooze button (alarmclock_2000@yahoo.com), January 21, 2000.


Wow, did this rub some people the wrong way. All I intended here was to post my own observations, not to be critical or supportive of any particular side, and to thank the ones who include some reference to Y2K in their posts. It looks like I didn't express myself well enough at all.

mudpie: I would have included mudwrestling as a category, however there were none in the previous 100 items. Perhaps KOS would oblige us here. :-)

Trish: I agree with your expression of thanks to those who do the research. They are the ones who make the forum what it is. However we will just have to wait to see if a domino effect does happen.

Gordon: Unfortuantely pole fires are quite common all over the world, particularly where wooden poles are used. We experience 1 or 2 every year here in NZ. But is there anyone who honestly does believe that everything is fixed? If so, what are they doing here? My personal opinion is that there are still a lot of Y2K issues to face, however I believe that the consequences of the remaining failures will not be too severe.

Helium: When I decided to waste a bit of time on this exercise, I had to set myself some measurable criteria in order to retain some consistancy in ordering the items. I decided to treat a post as Off Topic if: a) It was labelled Off Topic; or b) It contained no reference to a possible Y2K cause. Thus some oil posts were include as On Topic, while some were Off topic. eg. A post which was mere a snip of the lastest oil prices with no reference to shortages or the cause of the prices would be OT, however if it was linked to a shortage then it would be in the Possible section. If it also linked to problems with a particular refinery or pipeline, and showed that the problem was unexpected, then it would be Probable Y2K.

Patrick: I tend to agree with you and I feel that there are some items listed as OT that are probably On Topic, but if the original poster wanted it treated as OT, then I listed it as such. You're so small (minded@times.now): Have I done something to upset you?

Michael: I do believe you have stated one of the main reasons that I frequent this forum. To exchange ideas with other people from around the world.

Brian: Fortunately the power industry has come through better than many people expected. So far no outages that can attributed to Y2K.

-- Malcolm Taylor (taylorm@es.co.nz), January 21, 2000.


Come on Malcolm,

You should be used to the forum ebb and flow by now! Rather like the tide.

This week appears to be "oil" week.

*Grin*

Delighted the power's on too. Kudos to all the fixer uppers. Gratitude works.

;-D

Diane

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 21, 2000.


Hey, who in their right mind is going to admit that anything is Y2k related? Nothing is Y2k related, and everything is Y2K relate because this is the year 2000, and everything is happening now, not last year. So regardless of what it is, it is Y2K related.

-- Notforlong (Fsur@aol.com), January 21, 2000.


Incidently I might add, this is the only news source we have here in the good old USof A, unless you are interested in the CUBAN BOY. That poor little guy can't even go to the toilet till there are fifty million news releases. Also if you are interested in items that happened thirty or forty years ago, All our news agencies are good at that. However if we want to know what is happening right now, right here, this forum is our only source.

-- Notforlong (Fsur@aol.com), January 22, 2000.

Malcom;

Thanks for the answer, I accept your criteria!

-- Helium (HeliumAvid@yahoo.com), January 22, 2000.


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