These are the scary ones...

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This is from the Omaha World Herald opinion page. (Omaha, NE)

These are the kinds of people who will start the panic. Good point about the 17 hour delay, though.

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Published Monday June 21, 1999 Howard Kleinberg: Don't Forget 17-Hour Y2K Cushion BY HOWARD KLEINBERG COX NEWSPAPERS COLUMNIST Miami - The way I figure it, I've got 17 hours to see what Y2K is doing to the rest of the world before it gets to me; that's more preparation time than you get for a hurricane, a lot more than you get for an earthquake. You might even be able to get in an entire cricket match in that amount of time.

I think I will make it through Y2K and all its imagined and real fears, as 17 hours is a lot of time for me.

Look, the calendar will turn to 2000 somewhere out in the middle of the Pacific 17 hours before it turns in New York, Washington, D.C., or Walt Disney World. If computers are going to crash, if ATM machines are going to fail, if airplanes are going to fall, I'll know in plenty of time and can adjust - or panic, if that is preferable.

Y2K gets to New Zealand 17 hours before it gets to the eastern United States. Sydney, Australia, is 15 hours ahead of us; Tokyo 14 hours. We'll get a pretty good idea of what's going to happen, if anything, by watching them. (Likely, it will be just a bunch of New Year's Eve drunks crashing on expressways.)

All of Europe will be into 2000 well before any part of the United States, and in fact, Californians will have three more hours than us in the East. So we've got time to sit back and watch.

Lately, we have been getting assurances from our banking institutions and federal government that all is well, that we are prepared. But banks and federal agencies do not always play it square with us, so I'd rather wait and see.

Earlier, I began to concern myself about Y2K, especially when finding ads in magazines such as the one selling 200-gallon waterbags for $79; two for $149 - water not included. There were those who were telling me to hoard money, but I could not figure out why. If everything came crashing down that moment, what good is money? What can you buy with it?

Posthaste book advisers are suggesting we get copies of our family records, keep first-aid kits stocked, take courses in computer stuff, get Zip disks, be kinder to the dog, make your peace with God, etc., etc.

Elsewhere, I am receiving assurances, such as when I read that Quicken financial software, which I have in my computer, is "Y2K compliant and will work smoothly at least until 2027." Having been born just 17 days before Franklin Delano Roosevelt was first elected president, I cannot help but wonder if I will be around until 2027 to see if this is correct. And even if I am, and Quicken is working smoothly, will I be?

Having already stocked my South Florida home for this 1999 hurricane season - there's something out there already! - I am well on my way to being secure for whatever Y2K brings.

Then, at 7 a.m., Dec. 31, I will arise to the clamor of an alarm clock, turn to CNN and see if Auckland is still functioning. If it is, I will roll over and go back to sleep. If it isn't, or if CNN isn't, then I've got 17 hours to get the batteries out of the old refrigerator in the garage and into the flashlights, portable radios, laptop computer and TVs, yank the remaining grapefruit and oranges from the trees and bring the canned goods down from the shelves.

In the face of hurricanes, I've done that before. Inexplicably, I always forget where I put the manual can opener. Yes, that is what I will do. I will devote the rest of this year to finding the manual can opener and, once finding it, will have it by my bedside when the alarm rings at 7 a.m. Dec. 31.

Other than that, we've all got plenty of time. Relax.

Omaha World Herald, Omaha, NE 6-21-1999

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Comments....

-- newlurker (bcobur@yahoo.com), June 21, 1999

Answers

It's people like this - reporters who refuse to see the bigger picture, but who's trash is still published and consumed by our friends and neighbors - that really irritate me.

I hope his power goes off so his alarm clock doesn't go off... think 1 or 2 hours would do it for him?

-- dan (dbuchner@logistics.calibersys.com), June 21, 1999.


http://www.DarwinAwards.com/submission.html

Was that spelled Kleinberg or Klienberg?

-- Ken Seger (kenseger@earthlink.net), June 21, 1999.


Just for your educational poorposes(sic)

http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/05/biztech/articles/27year.html

Moreover, many actions are minor adjustments. The State of Washington's National Guard plans to mobilize 3,000 soldiers, about half its ground forces, in December to be available to help deal with loss of utilities, water or other essential services or to quell potential civil disorder. The plan is virtually cost free because the same soldiers would otherwise have been reporting for routine training a few weeks later

Louis Marcoccio, head of Gartner Group's Year 2000 research program, says another failing is assuming that contingency plans are needed only for the first week of the new year. Gartner estimates that fewer than 10 percent of software failures will show up that quickly.

-- spun@lright (mikeymac@uswest.net), June 21, 1999.


How many of those seventeen hours will be filled with paralyzing panic, the inability to take action due to sudden worry, severe fear, the constant influx of irrational notions and trembling hands?

-- Randolph (dinosaur@williams-net.com), June 21, 1999.

17 hours (or 22 here) notice...will be of little avail, if TEHTRAH. If everyone who is unprepared is going out to purchase whatever, it would be a good day to stay home and fill the last of the water containers. It would NOT be a good day to purchase batteries, gasoline, food, guns, ammo, medicines, or generators.

As an aside, what might you still be able to purchase on December 31, or even a day or two later? Other than Amazon.com stock (at a discount)?

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), June 22, 1999.



Hi Mad Monk!

I bet that the merchants' shelves will be stocked like never before the last week of December.

If concern rises as the big day approaches, Christmas sales might be down, but sales of staples will skyrocket.

On the other hand, Christmas sales might be huge, as people figure it's now or never to obtain possession of many items.

-- GA Russell (ga.russell@usa.net), June 22, 1999.


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