This is a LONG one. Submitted in case anyone wanted to use it themselves.(posted 9410 days ago)Fair Warning Preparation for the Year 2000 Crisis
Introduction
This brochure has been prepared by a layman based on research. The brochure has been provided to you as fair warning, probably given to you by someone who is concerned about the situation and who hopes the crisis will not harm you. Even if you do not take this warning seriously...or the Year 2000 (or Y2K) Computer Glitch fails to have a devastating impact...please consider yourself esteemed to have been given this information. Someone cares about you to have risked their reputation in sharing with you their concerns.
No professional advice is intended or implied. This brochure is submitted as information upon which you may wish to seek professional help, or to take measures on your own. The producer of this brochure and the person who provided it to you cannot and will not be held liable for consequences of actions taken based on the information and no warranty is offered or implied as to the precision of the data. This brochure is a courtesy only. If you paid for it, you have been conned. The brochure is supposed to be free. People who wish bulk quantities may offer financial gifts to cover costs, but this is not a for-profit effort.
You are strongly encouraged to confirm any or all information or opinions expressed in this brochure. Consider the genuine expertise of your source(s) of confirmation and their motivation for answering. Manufacturers or suppliers of survival products or services may be inclined to exaggerate the seriousness of the problem. Bureaucrats and corporate executives whose livelihoods depend on your dependence on fiat money and electronic credit-juggling may be inclined to minimize the seriousness of the problem. Genuine computer engineers (not clerks at computer retail outlets) are backing up their concerns with action, such as moving out of urban areas, learning low- or no-tech trades and skills and transferring wealth from paper goods (mutual funds, retirement accounts, stocks, etc.) to tangibles (stockpiles of food, water and fuel, gold and silver bullion and currency, etc.).
Whats the Problem?
In the early days of computer design and programming, critical time and space was saved by recognizing two-digit dates, two-digit months and two-digit years. On the year 2000, computers will read 00 as 1900 and not as 2000. The problem is fixable, especially on a small scale. In larger systems the fix will be harder, more expensive, and will take longer to accomplish. The most enormous systems (and the oldest) are banks and governments. When the computer begins to deal with Y2K, it will begin to make errors or will shut down completely. In isolated cases trouble has already occurred.
Individual PCs are likely to survive the situation well, except where they rely heavily or exclusively on networking or linking to larger systems.
There is also an embedded problem with specialized equipment depending on non-programmable chips, such as many automatic security and utility monitoring and switching devices. The embedded trouble may result in interruptions of utilities to business, industry and private customers. Some of these interruptions can last long enough to be, effectively, permanent.
What will Happen?
Many people believe that there is absolutely no cause for alarm, or that there will be some few, inconvenient, perhaps even comical, bloopers and then things will settle down. I like to ask these people on what evidence they base their belief.
The experts who are convinced that there is a problem have opinions of the severity ranging from 9 months of Depression-like hardships to World War III devastation. Almost every one of these people also confess that it is not possible to accurately predict the specific effects of a Y2K Crash...only that such a crash will occur and it will be more than merely inconvenient.
The expections include (but are not limited to)...
...global bank crashes, ...failure of governments to provide economic services such as tax collection, welfare and retirement benefits or payments to government employees or contractors, ...serious interruption of telecommunications (phone, radio, television), ...life-threatening disruption of shipping and transportation (food, medicine, fuel, etc.), ...serious interruptions of utilities, ...permanent loss of automated information (credit ratings, financial records, birth and medical records, school transcripts, etc.).
With any or all of these failures will come secondary turmoil, possibly including (but not limited to)...
...loss of emergency services (911, police, fire, ambulance, etc.), ...massive unemployment, ...loss of demand for frivolous (non-critical) trades, goods or services (entertainment, convenience stores, tourism, etc.), ...loss of civil order leading to violent looting and marauding, ...death by the thousands from medical service/supply disruption, loss of utilities, violent aggressions.
How Should I Prepare?
First, get right with God. The preparer of this brochure, after decades of research, is convinced that the God of the Christian Bible is the God. End of sermon.
Second, find out about the problem and decide if you should be concerned. The best source for this information is the Internet. Search on the key word Y2K which is the most common abbreviation.
Third, become mentally prepared for a drastic change of lifestyle, possibly including changes of residence, occupation and diet. Rent and watch movies made in and about the Depression. Movies such as Mad Max and Bladerunner, while entertaining, are not very useful for the purpose of realistic preparation of the mind.
Practical considerations include (but are not limited to)...
...leaving urban areas (find [or make] friends or relatives living outside of town and arrange ahead of time to move in with or near to them when the crash occurs, or buying vacation property in a defensible area which includes a source of water and room to grow/raise food), ...buying and storing food, water, fuel, medical and health supplies, clothing, tools, building materials, vehicles, gold and silver, etc., ...learning early-twentieth-century skills and trades such as farming, ranching, cooking, first aid, mechanics, carpentry, plumbing, etc.
An often-overlooked source for survival information is literature of the Boy Scouts. Search used bookstores if no family member is authorized to buy Scouting material.
The Up Side
People who survive a devastating initial disorder will fall into three basic categories... hermit-isolationists, aggressive marauders and cooperative neighbors. Pick the last one. If you prepare only to help yourself, you are missing out on the best survival supply of all...like-minded people who can contribute what good or skill you missed, or never had. If you help friends, families and even strangers who did not get or believe the warnings, they can, in turn, provide you with skills you may not have, extra hands for work (and eyes for watching out)...and company in the days and months without so much television, magazines and rented videos.
The more preparation for Y2K that occurs, the smaller the impact and the sooner the restoration of pre-Y2K order if not of exact Y2K systems. Your readiness adds to the general capacity to cope and recover.
Dont be scared...be prepared!