--- So, the Russians FINALLY admit it. Everybody's pissed off about the US "suggesting" that they step down from "Alert" status. This is gonna be BIG trouble, boys and girls. And - what about the Chinese?

http://www.russiatoday.com/rtoday/news/07.html

Russian Military Says Y2K Bug a Problem, U.S. Helps

MOSCOW, Jan. 26, 1999 -- (Reuters) Russia's Defense Ministry admitted on Monday it considered the millennium computer bug a problem and a Pentagon official said a U.S. delegation planned to go to Moscow next month to discuss the issue.

"There is a problem and we are working on it," a ministry spokesman said, referring to a fault in which computer software first developed in the 1960s and 70s fails to recognize the year 2000 and thinks it is back in 1900.

It was not clear where exactly the problem was or whether there was any snag in the strategic missile command system, where, as some American officials and experts fear, a computer glitch might provoke an accidental nuclear alert.

Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev, a former head of strategic command, last year brushed aside concerns about the problem saying Russian nuclear missile systems were bug-free as they used "special computer technology."

The spokesman could not deny or confirm an Interfax news agency report which quoted ministry sources as saying a group of Pentagon experts would be in Russia from Feb. 10-12...

--- Did we expect anything different? At least they didn't say that the release of Windows 2000 would be delayed until Q2, 1900:

http://www.computerworld.com/home/print.nsf/all/9901258C76

Y2K may stall Windows 2000

Analysts pessimistic; many expect mid-2000 shipment for Microsoft operating system

By Sharon Gaudin

01/25/99 A growing number of analysts are warning users not to expect delivery of Windows 2000 before the middle of next year.

That's at least six months after the delivery date pinpointed last week by Ed Muth, Microsoft Corp.'s group product manager for Windows NT. And the delivery date Muth targeted in his statement -- which came on the heels of a confirmed one-month delay in the release of the third beta of the updated operating system -- is later than what Microsoft had predicted. In a statement last year, it pegged mid-1999 for the final release of Windows 2000.

Aside from any Microsoft issues, the major culprit behind analysts' prediction of a delay is the year 2000 problem and related system freezes that are expected to go into effect in the second and third quarters at many user companies.

"Based on Microsoft's history and the events coming up this year, like Y2K, I don't see them coming out with Windows 2000 this year," said Rob Enderle, a vice president at Giga Information Group Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. "Windows 95 and 98 were both midyear releases. I don't see a difference in the timing of Windows 2000, and there's a lot more going on this year than ever before -- Microsoft's developers may have to deal with emergency Y2K situations. And don't forget that this is the most complex product they've ever come out with."

--- Credit Cards:

http://www.techweb.com/se/directlink.cgi?IWK19990125S0080

January 25, 1999, Issue: 718 Section: Behind The News

Millenium Bug Bites Retailers Bruce Caldwell

Year 2000 problems are still cropping up among credit-card holders, and there are still large unknowns in the retail supply chain, according to participants at last week's National Retail Federation conference in New York.

Visa said it still receives 100 to 150 reports a month that credit cards have been declined by point-of-sale systems because a card's expiration date is in the year 2000. MasterCard says it sees a handful of such incidents a month, usually at small, single-store operations.

At this point, it's too late for any retailer with more than $400 million in annual sales-and the complex systems needed to support a company of that size-to start a year 2000 project, says Mohsen Moazami, VP of global enterprise solutions at retail consulting firm Kurt Salmon Associates. Moazami says his company is turning away new year 2000 clients for that reason, and that mergers will take place this year as unprepared retailers seek safe harbor with those that that acted in time.

"I thought things would be better," says Morton Mease, director of planning and technology services at Montgomery Ward & Co. in Chicago. Mease points out that a major retail point-of-sale system vendor rushed a year 2000 patch out to customers in the last week of December-warning that the patch was needed for the system to operate in January.

Copyright . 1999 CMP Media Inc.

--- "Are you a good Witch? Or are you a bad Witch?" I know a lot of folks are paranoid about FEMA (and reading all those Executive Orders might give one good reason to be paranoid...). Although in a perfect world, this would be unnecessary, considering the circumstances, I'm going to assume for the moment that this is a good thing:

http://www.fema.gov/y2k/99011.htm

FEMA Regional Y2K Workshops Begin

Full FEMA Coverage of Y2K Issues

Washington, January 26, 1999 -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) kicks off its first series of regional Y2K Preparation & Consequence Management Workshops agencies in Atlanta, Ga., in mid-February. In addition to FEMA officials, participants will include state and local emergency managers, state fire marshals, state Y2K coordinators and regional representatives of key federal agencies.

The 10 workshops, to be held across the country from mid-February through the end of March, will provide a forum where the emergency management and fire services communities can discuss initial Y2K compliance assessments, potential consequences of Y2K disruptions and the coordination of necessary responses among local, state and federal responders. The regional workshops will pave the way for a national-level Y2K consequence management exercise to be held in Washington, D.C., in June.

"FEMA has a major role to play in working with state and local emergency management and fire services officials to prepare for dealing with any disruptions and responding to Y2K transition problems," FEMA Director James Lee Witt said. "These workshops are designed to identify possible problems and help the emergency management and fire services communities plan responses and develop contingency plans."

Meanwhile, FEMA officials at the highest level were focusing on Y2K issues in a series of meetings in Washington, D.C., this past week. FEMA regional directors, regional preparedness directors along with the agency's regional response and recovery division directors met on Wednesday with headquarters senior managers with Y2K responsibilities to discuss preparation and consequence management issues. And on Thursday, the senior FEMA managers met with John Koskinen, chairman of the President's Council on the Year 2000, and representatives of the agency's federal emergency response partners to discuss the status of state, local and federal Y2K preparedness activities.

--- I'm sorry, but I simply do not believe this. I think Dep. Sec. of Defense John Hamre is...well...unlike SOME people around here, I don't like using these kinds of words lightly. I THINK HE'S LIAR. There. I said it. To claim that the US military will be "100 percent ready" is simply not credible. I would be more willing to view him as having even a shred of credibility if he said 90% ready. But, he ruined it for me:

http://www.techweek.com/articles/1-25-99/countdow.htm

Contingency Planning for Y2K

by Amara D. Angelica

Some good news for a change: The U.S. military will be "100 percent ready" by the end of the year. So said Deputy Secretary of Defense John Hamre in a Jan. 14 news briefing, adding that 81 percent of mission critical military defense systems have been certified Y2K-compliant.

Responding to rumors of a Y2K-related National Guard mobilization in May, Hamre said, "There is no mobilization plan right now for bringing the National Guard out or active-duty military."

Hamre said the Department of Defense is shifting to "consequence support planning" and will "coordinate exercises with other federal agencies to determine areas in which it can provide help to the civilian sector."

Federal Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director Mike Walker said many states have not developed Y2K contingency plans. "It is very important that counties, municipalities, school districts and other organizations that have not yet begun to work on Y2K issues, start now."

In February and March, FEMA will conduct Y2K Consequence Management workshops around the country for state Y2K emergency coordinators, emergency managers and state fire marshals. Federal Y2K czar John Koskinen also announced a new toll-free public Y2K information line: 1-888-USA-4Y2K.

But Ohio, Kentucky and Washington arent waiting for the feds. They plan to call out National Guard troops at year-end. Wisconsin, Iowa, Oregon and Illinois are considering similar actions. Los Angeles plans to keep 300 more officers on patrol around the clock for a week before and after Jan. 1.

What has some concerned is the possibility that U.S. coal- and oil-fired power plants will shut down because of delayed deliveries. However, the North American Electric Reliability Council issued an optimistic report Jan. 11 saying, "transmission through critical year 2000 rollover dates is expected to have minimal impact on electric system operation." Michael Gent, the councils president, said, "More than half of all mission-critical power systems are now free from possible Y2K problems."

Rick Cowles, considered a leading expert on Y2K and power utilities, points out some problems with that position (www.cbn.org/y2k/cowles.htm). He says controls manufacturers (which upgrade electric power systems) are becoming backlogged, the National Regulatory Commission will shut down any nuclear power plants not Y2K-certified by July 1, 1999, and that if support systems (local emergency services, radiation monitoring, security systems, etc.) go down, nuclear power plants cant operate.

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 26, 1999

Answers

Hi pshannon, thanks for news summary!

About FEMA: personally, we no longer care if FEMA is a wolf in disguise. The NERT / CERT / NET training is invaluable for getting a practical start on survival + help-thy-neighbor skills. Training is free, excellent, conducted by local Fire Dept personnel etc. who live in your area and are well-experienced in rescues, responses, etc. When disaster strikes, participation in neighborhood help-out is voluntary, not mandatory.

If one looks at disaster response, such as recent tornado devastation and the rising-to-2000-dead in Columbia's recent 5.9 earthquake, one can see the nearby citizens rushing to aid the striken. It's a good idea to have prior training/practice so that good samaritan impulse doesn't get one injured. The training emphasizes taking care of one's self, then family, FIRST. This is the sensible grassroots way to prepare and help one's blockheads :)

Take the best of what's being offered now, be practical, get prepared.
It's too late to worry about conspiracies, no matter how true they may be. If Y2K goes Infomagic, that which maintains the superstructure of big bad Govt will go down as hard as the rest of the infrastructure, perhaps even more so. Concentrate on yourself, family, + community, and practice sending loving, healing, positive vibrations to all those you care about.

Ashton & Leska in Cascadia

xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx xxxxxxx

-- Leska (allaha@earthlink.net), January 26, 1999.

As always, good advice, Leska...

-- pshannon (pshannon@inch.com), January 26, 1999.

The Rocky Mountain News (Denver's real paper) finally ran a story about the Red Cross' recommendation to get prepared for 1 week of infrastructure and service failure. The person interviewed went on to say that if you felt the consequences of Y2k to be different then go ahead and prepare for what you see.

I don't know why they waited till today to run the story since the announcement is kind of old news, but it got a pretty good write up. There was a "Y2K" word on the very bottom of the front page and the story was on the page 4 of the front section.

--Jim the window washer

-- The Window Washer (Micaiah@2kgs.bbl), January 26, 1999.

Window Washer, found your Denver Rocky Mountain News article and posted it here:

Red Cross Preaches Y2K Readiness (Also FEMA Preparedness Checklist Links)

http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id= 000Qor

-- Diane J. Squire (sacredspaces@yahoo.com), January 26, 1999.