I ran across a very well written short story/essay called "Remembering Tomorrow" by Michael Ayers.

Remembering Tomorrow

http://www.living-room.org/sustain/remembering1.htm http://www.living-room.org/sustain/remembering2.htm

The story focuses on what life type of problems our civilization might go through in the next 50 years as we run out of oil. Problems very similar to those we discuss in regards to Y2K. Three short excerpts follow.

Enjoy.----------Alexi.

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"Needless to say, things were not going too well in Las Vegas. I was the head manager and a part owner of the steak house just before the Collapse. But, as you might imagine, with so many people out of work there were very few visitors coming to town. And for a city whose whole economy was based on entertainment and gambling, that meant trouble.

"In a very short time the city just stopped. When I moved there we were the fastest-growing city in America, but in just a few years the whole place just dried up and blew away. There was just no way to make ends meet back there. Whats worse was that people without jobs had to walk everywhere, and in a town that was so spread out, walking in the 110-degree heat was not fun."

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Right next to the subdivision was an immense rectangular building made of white brick, with no windows. Only a few of the large, red letters remained from its original sign: W   L-      RT. There was no indication of what this building may have been, but now it was just ugly. Surrounding the building was a flat, five-acre expanse of asphalt. A few rusting old automobiles sat scattered around the edge. In certain sections, after decades of effort, aggressive shrubs and vines had managed to break through the un-natural cap of pavement, and now clumps of sumac and kudzu were beginning its reclamation.

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After a while their conversation turned to the upcoming conference. "So, Byloo," Teresa asked, "whats the subject of your lecture?"

"The Role of Climate Change in the Global Pandemics of the 2040s, is the title."

"Brrrahh. Thats a real cheery topic," she responded. "Do me a favor, and make sure that your talk comes after mine. I dont want the audience to be too depressed before I begin."

"A-ha ha ha," laughed Byloo, sarcastically. "You know, it seems that every time I give this talk, someone asks me the very same favor. But I always say, it would have been just that much more of a tragedy if we didnt learn anything from it."

-- Alexi (Alexi@not-in-the-dark.com), August 08, 1999

Answers

Alexi...thank you. Great reading and...something to think about.

-- quietly (quietly@preparing.com), August 08, 1999.

Your welcome, quietly. This story is another reminder that even though we might escape problems at rollover, direct computer glitches are in no way are only big problem.

-- Alexi (Alexi@not-in-the-dark.com), August 08, 1999.