Hi Y'all, (even Y2K Pro, our beleagured nemesis),

Is anxiety building yet? How y'all feeling out there? Are you ready to rumble? Have to say, that the 'managed' reports of y2k readiness (ha) from the media stinks to high heaven. Its so shallow, so easy to read. Only someone as, how should we say, 'attention-challenged' as Y2K pro could be fooled by Big Brother. Me thinks that a polly like Pro is so annoying is because we of sound mind and body are busting our collective butts to prepare, with little understanding from our peers or family. So to have a weiner buzzing throughout these postings is kind of like having an annoying child screaming in a dept store. Only magnify 10X because of what we're dealing with...

DOWNtheROAD

-- DOWNtheROAD (foo@foo.com), July 20, 1999

Answers

I've been looking for an appropriate thread to post this on for a day or so and this seems like a good one. I am anxious because I keep seeing the same generic B.S. statements from groups or companies that should know better. Here's one that's going to go down hard. Where have you read this type of letter before?

I received the following "article" in a quarterly newsletter to shareholders of Alliance Mutual Funds. That's right, I'm naming names. I received the newsletter just a couple of days ago. I can't believe I even entrusted $1,000 of my money to these idiots. Please note the cut and paste quality of this article. What are vendors and suppliers for a mutual fund? Shouldn't they be a LOT more worried about the Y2K readiness or compliance of the companies they're investing in. Talk about DWGI!

Y2K...Just Around the Corner

As you may know, the Year 2000 issue or Y2K bug as it is often called, results from a common programming technique in software applications and embedded microchips that used only two digits to represent the year (such as 90) instead of four digits (1990). Any device or application that needs to process dates, from business applications to building security systems and desktop computers, to elevators can be affected. In the year 2000, any of these items might be unable to distinguish between 1900 and 2000 and could stop working correctly if applications or microchips are not repaired or replaced.

Alliance Capital is committed to assuring that its own systems will be Year 2000 ready and to verifying that its key suppliers and vendors are also Year 2000 ready. We began work on the Year 2000 Initiative in the third quarter of 1997 and continue to make steady progress towards Year 2000 readiness.

To date, we have completed the remediation and internal testing of all mission critical systems that are involved in servicing the vast majority of our clients. We expect to complete the remediation of all non-mission critical systems by June 30, 1999. We have participated in the industry-wide testing sponsored by the Securities Industry Asociation, and will continue testing with our strategic partners and service providers throughout 1999.

Contingency plans are being developed to deal with potential failures in our own systems or those of our vendors and suppliers. We fully expect that we will be Year 2000 ready on January 1, 2000 and that our operations will continue as usual. However, there can be no guarantee that the Year 2000 will come and go without distruption.

For more information on our progress, visit our website at www.alliancecapital.com. You may also access our quarterly reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which include updates on Year 2000 efforts through our website.

Certain statements included in this article are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to the risks, uncertainties, and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. To the fullest extent permitted by law, the foregoing Year 2000 discussion is a "Year 2000 Readiness Disclosure" within the meaning of The Year 2000 Information and Readiness Disclosure Act, 15 U.S. C. Sec. 1 (1998).

-- nothere nothere (notherethere@hotmail.com), July 20, 1999.

" Y2K...Just Around the Corner "

That's Bull, Y2K was already supposed to be happening all over the world right now as we speak. So, where are the horrible catastrophes? Where are all the banks and financial institutions that should have folded and small businesses that should have gone bankrupt and died out like so many non-compliant dinosaurs? Where is your beloved Jo Anne Effect when you really need her? (Oh right, the biggest problems are yet to come... blah blah blah. You say that every time when of your other predictions fail to materialize)

-- (doomers@suck.com), July 20, 1999.

If I had any money with them I would get it out as fast as I can.

I have changed banking ( whatever I NEED to do for the business ) and changed brookers and sold, sold, sold everything that was worth selling.

I will wait out this one with a LOT of cash/valuables on hand. So what if I loose some interest on it? I can live without it.

I rather loose that than most of it in the predictable crash.

-- justme (justme@justme.net), July 20, 1999.

Someone mentioned the SIA test, and NOBODY (not doomers, not pollys, not real people) has ever talked about it. Sombody PLEASE tell me: Was it the screaming success they claimed it was, and the stock market will be OK? Or was it all a lie and a cover-up, and we don't know about the stock market. Or is there som sort of conspiracy of silence that even North and Poole suscribe to? SOMEBODY say something about it, PLEASEEEE!!!!!!!

-- walt (walt@lcs.k12.ne.us), July 20, 1999.

"The people who see Y2K as a possible end of the world are people who may feel disenfranchised, who want to be survivors. They want to feel that they see something that the rest of us don't. This ties in with some fundamentalist Christian beliefs. These people on the fringes of society may have big fantasies about people getting what they deserve."

********************************************************************* {snip}

"Is anxiety building yet? How y'all feeling out there? Are you ready to rumble? "

{end snip}

Yep, that's a Doomer for you. Big fantasy about people getting what they deserve?

Take off your tinfoil hats and maybe you'll start picking up on the real signals that DOWNtheROAD is sending.

-- (doomers@suck.com), July 20, 1999.

My fantasies are really building about you getting what you deserve, Doomer!

-- sue (deco100@aol.com), July 20, 1999.

Is that a child I hear screaming Doomer? Spent too many years of my life ignoring whiners like yourself, who have difficulty understanding life beyond kindergarten. I suggest you read DeBono' lateral thinking (if you know how to read), and discover as yet unmapped areas of your brain. Those little grey cells are there for 'thinking', believe it or not.

DOWNtheROAD

-- DOWNtheROAD (foo@foo.com), July 20, 1999.

I guess you could say, DOWNtheROAD, that you'd really, really , really LOVE to see my kind "get what we deserve" huh?

Hye dude, your meme is showing.

-- (doomers@suck.com), July 20, 1999.

Doomer, you miss the point. I have no inclination one way or the other. Those who can't see the forest from the trees will pay for it. And since you choose to ignore reality, you will have to cope as best you can when computers everywhere start freezing up or spewing out mindless data. I'm a big advocate of opposing views, but your bs isn't required here, because this isn't a 'perception' problem. Its 'technological' (I know, technological is a big word). Why are you wasting our time?

DOWNtheROAD

-- DOWNtheROAD (foo@foo.com), July 20, 1999.

Wasting your time?

That would impy you feel a need to read my posts, not just skim over them. Sounds like I'm doing you a favor, but your an ingrateful son of a bitch. Maybe when Y2K turns out to be a non-event you'll see why I have such a vested interest in mocking the Doomer Cult.

-- (doomers@suck.com), July 20, 1999.

Oooh, aaah. NOW you hurt my feelings! Anyway, listen Dumber, er sorry Doomer, I read all postings so that I can keep a balanced perspective. I'm as interested in one side as the other. Your postings, and the other trolls who resemble the back side of pond scum in their rantings, are a waste of time. So get a life will you?

DOWNtheROAD

-- DOWNtheROAD (foo@foo.com), July 21, 1999.

Down,

Please don't waste your time even acknowledging babies when so much is at stake. He needs the attention Mommy and Daddy didn't provide. Go back to your video games doom...

-- Babydetector (host@parasite.com), July 21, 1999.