Where can I see cold hard facts rather than warm fuzzy opinions

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I'm newly interested due to the harrassment of friends, garynorth.com and darth yourdon. Like Thomas, I'll believe when I see the wound in His side ... but I'd like to see it ahead of time (ie prior to 12/31/99) so I can prepare. I'm caught in the chasm between not wanting to be a wacko (again) and starving to death (the first time). When can I go and see something tangible? To add to the challenge, I'm a liberal arts speech major - definitely not a techno weenie!. What I want to be shown is hands on proof from a system administrator of a fundamental nationwide service that two digit code is the root of their current and year 2000 operating system (legacy) which is then covered with later code. Perhaps a flow chart showing all the systems which will wither when the tap root dies.

As the man said to Jesus, "Lord I believe, help thou my unbelief" - yes they spoke Olde English in Jerusalem in 20 AD

Thanks

John Kelton

-- John Wesley Kelton, Sr. (jwkelton@aol.com), September 01, 1998

Answers

Hi John Wesley Kelton. If you follow this link you can see all the medical equipment that will be DOA Y2K. http://pc47.cee.hw.ac.uk/y2k/2000/Meddevic/index.htm

As far as anything that Joe Six-pack would notice (our mean little nickname for anyone who isn't technically oriented and probably has to do real work for a living) you will probably see some bank problems in Jan 99, so get some money out before then. Utilities, if they aren't going to make it, won't admit this until summer 99. By then it could be kind of hard to find a Coleman cookstove. Get it while the gettings good, that's my motto.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), September 01, 1998.


That's the problem, there aren't very many cold, hard facts to go by, and you certainly won't find many here.

Try these for starters: http://pw2.netcom.com/~helliott/00_frms.htm http://www.y2ktimebomb.com/ http://www.itaa.org/year2000.htm http://www.year2000.com/ http://y2k.gov/java/index.htm

-- Buddy Y. (buddy@bellatlantic.net), September 01, 1998.


John,

What you are seeking you will never find. There is no central control of complex systems. No one has the answers you seek. You will be forced to read lots of stuff and moreover develop the skill of reading between the lines. Accept this.

And it is completely beside the point now. You are TOO LATE for a nice comfortable investigation of this.

Since you like things all laid out for you, here goes. Prepare for food shortages, bank runs and rioting.

"Oh no!", you say, " I must have more information before coming to such drastic conclusions, and you are not the source of Learned Speech."

You are out of time. BRRRAAAAAAAACK! Next!

You must prepare now. NOW! And then tilt at the windmill of True Knowledge of Y2K.

Reversing these will bring great pain and suffering to you and your family. Remember Proverbs 22:3.

-- Will Huett (willhuett@usa.net), September 01, 1998.


John

If you believe that it is less painful to be a wacko than to starve to death, prepare.

As for hard evidence, I have cast the runes, and they all point south, that's as good as it gets in the way of hard proof before it is too late. If your gut is churning as you read about the problem, follow its advice, God gave you instinct for a reason.

-- Uncle Deedah (oncebitten@twiceshy.com), September 01, 1998.


John: If you're looking for a techno-geek source of information, have your search engine look up Cory Hamasaki9s DC y2k Weather Report. He issues it weekly, volume 92 should be out by Wednesday. Read the last four or five months' worth, at least. He's a god start.

-- J.D. Clark (yankeejdc@aol.com), September 01, 1998.


Here's a simple motto to live by: "You get in line and take your chances."

-- Bardou (bardou@baloney.com), September 01, 1998.

John, you sound a lot like my dad. This Merrill Lynch article helped him- maybe it will give you a little of the info you are looking for:

www.ml.com/woml/forum/millen.htm

-- Gayla Dunbar (privacy@please.com), September 01, 1998.


John,

Remember what Jesus said after Thomas had seen and believed. He said "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

For most of us, it takes a lot of hours of slogging through dozens or hundreds of web pages and downloaded government reports to get a complete picture. But you can try some simple logic tests.

Would Citibank spend $650 million to fix a problem if the problem wasn't real?

Would the commissioner of the IRSstate (Wall Street Journal, April 22, 1998) that "If we don't fix the century-date problem, we will have a situation scarier than the average disaster movie you might see on a Sunday night. Twenty-one months from now, there could be 90 million taxpayers who won't get their refunds, and 95% of the revenue stream of the United States could be jeopardized"?

Would the United States General Accounting Office issue a report to Congress that includes the statement, "The public faces a high risk that critical services provided by the government and the private sector could be severely disrupted by the Year 2000 computing crisis"? (GAO-AIMD-98-85 Year 2000 Computing Crisis)

You can take many steps to prepare that are just like insurance, and really won't cost you that much, such as having a supply of food that you can eat later whether or not there is a severe Y2k crisis. <<<<<<<<<<>>>>

-- Dan Hunt (dhunt@hostscorp.com), September 01, 1998.


John:

Check out computerworld's web site at http://www.computerworld.com/res/year_2000.html. This is a magazine that the IS (Computer Information Services) people of the nation read.

As you read, look past the brave fronts and see the uncertainty.

-- Ron Southwick (southwick@macconnect.com), September 01, 1998.


two examples.

Our county (Cobb, GA, about 1,000,000 population) issued about 10,000 library cards in early January this year. They (as usual) were due to expire in two years from date of issue (Jan, 2000). When tried in the current county-wide computer system by the users, the cards would not be accepted by the program [They could not check out books.] The county needed to recall all these cards, reissue them (due to expire 12-31-99), then mail them again. All other cards issued since January are due to expire in 12-31-99.

They are trying to get a replacement computer system, but are still in the bidding stage.

Case II. Remember the satellite that failed a few weeks ago? It wiped 75% of the pagers nationally, and stopped about 20% of the ATM processing. It was caused by 1 program stopping one computer stopping one satellite for two days.

Now multiple it by 10,000,000 programs stopping 100,000,000 computers (doing all sorts of things) affecting 250,000,000 people.

Got the picture?

-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 01, 1998.



Well John, all you get is >time<. How you spend yours is your doin. For me, the recognition of this impending event has had a profound effect on my understanding of life. I figure the lifestyle our society has had on mother earth has reached a point of "enough's enough"! Figure out what YOU need to do, to live. I would suggest you take the method of least resistance. When things start to get tough, no sense fightin yourself. If you are not used to working with your hands, You may want to start now. Try to look at each source for your needs. A diesel generator is great untill you run out of fuel. Pare back your electric needs to run off a solar battery setup. The sun shines to an extent everywhere. Think basic, and you will survive. Everything beyond "basic" becomes a luxury. I guess this will be a good time for everyone to get down to earth so to speak. If however, you choose to use your time by focusing outwardly, towards the opinion of others, then be aware, that deep down genetically, (assuming lucidity), you are the only individual responsible for your needs, as all of us with opinions will be for ours.

-- chance (theknowzone@no_reply.com), September 02, 1998.

Methinks it's far, far better to be thought of as a wacko with a full belly than to be thought of as the late, lamented John Wesley Kelton, Sr.

Doubt all you like, but PREPARE while you doubt. (Most of us do, if we're honest with ourselves and each other.

But, preparing gets much harder with every day that you wait. First, you have one less day to complete the process. Second, the lines get longer and the crowds you have to battle for each little bit of merchandise get bigger.

In the not too distant future the waiting time in each line will exceed the number of days left until 2000. There are some things it's just not nice to do without ...... water, food, heat in the winter, etc.

-- rocky knolls (rknolls@hotmail.com), September 02, 1998.


FACT: The Y2K problem is real. EVIDENCE: The federal government, financial institutions and telecommunication companies are spending billions to fix this problem.

FACT: We live in a networked world and participate in electronic relationships that many of us are oblivious to. EVIDENCE: Your paycheck is electronically deposited into your account at a bank by your employer via the telecommunications infrastructure.

FACT: The nature of the Y2K problem is date related. Problem trigger dates are fixed, impending and non-negotiable.

FACT: If Y2K problems are not fixed, multiple systems may fail simultaneously. EVIDENCE: See previous two Facts.

FACT: There is nothing lost by preparing for a problem.

FACT: I hope I'm wrong about all of the above.

-- Michael Benson (mike_benson@NOspam.com), September 02, 1998.


You want the truth? YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!

-- Jack nicholson (edrider007@aol.com), September 06, 1998.

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