Mr. Ed the Talking Something-or-Other said this past February:

"As many people are now aware, 46 states (along with Australia and New Zealand) will begin their 1999-2000 fiscal year on July 1, 1999; New York (and Canada) will already have gone through their Y2K fiscal rollover on April 1, and the remaining three states begin their new fiscal year on August 1, September 1, and October 1. We also have the GPS rollover problem to look forward to on August 22nd, as well as the Federal government's new fiscal year on October 1st. There is, of course, some finite probability that all of these rollover events will occur without any problems; but there's also a finite probability that pigs will learn to fly." -- My Y2K Outlook: A Year of Disruptions, a Decade of Depression, 2-7-1999. Link

Well, we now have an act of Fate, or God, or Nature, which confirms once and for all that Mr. Yourdon is Full of LlamaHockey (hmmm....that sounds like something else familiar)

Last night, there were about a dozen tornadoes reported in eastern North Carolina, in association with the approach of Hurricane Floyd.

One of these tornadoes took out what is known in these parts as a "hog parlor". The owner of said hog parlor was interviewed on one of the local TV stations, and said this (and I quote):

"There was pieces of barn flying through the air, there was pigs flying through the air; everything was flying!"

So PIGS DO FLY!!!! Proof positive that Mr. Yourdon has been wrong all along. There ya go. (This pig/tornado incident actually did occur; true fact. I have alerted Mr. Stephen Poole, Official Bestower of the Flying Pig Award.)

Oh, by the way -- this lil' ol' area where I live has been declared a Federal Disaster Area. FEMA and the National Guard have been mobilized around here for several days, in a large way. Have seen it with my own two lil' ol' eyeballs. They have been nothing but helpful, cheerful, and a big boost to those who needed their help. Not a BIT of a "Martial Law" glint, not in nary an eye.

So to those Doomer Martial Law Conspiracy Buffs who continue to spout that crap in spite of all evidence to the contrary, I'd like to say: *KISS* *MY* *ASTERISK* ( * )

Reporting from Hurricane Alley -- (40 miles from Floyd's NC eyepath) -- I remain,

-- Chicken Little (panic@forthebirds.net), September 16, 1999

Answers

Actually I think the hurricane Floyd experience has shown that many people in a hurricane prone region of the US put off preparations, and can make trouble for themselves and others by last minute shopping, evacuations, gas tank fill-ups, etc.

I imagine that many are thinking they might prepare better for the future in case the coast does not "dodge the next bullet".

The parallel for some readers may be obvious; it may not be. Prepared people fare better in emergencies than non-prepared people. It has been the refrain of those of us concerned by the "all is well" messages...Govts don't want panic...but they will make panic. Prepared people don't panic. Highways were clogged for upwards of 20 hours...in the hurricane target cities people mobbed stores for supplies and lines were hours long, and many left without what they needed. Fortunately, most were spared severe catastrophe.

Since it is not known that Y2K problems will head east, or stay east enough for the world to avoid damage, seems only logical and prudent to me for folks to prepare.

--She in the sheet upon the hilltop.

-- Donna (moment@pacbell.net), September 16, 1999.

The only people who claim that Y2k is a mere hurricane are Koskinoids like you, Chicken. Y2k is like a hurricane everywhere, in the dead of winter, with bank failure, 50%business failure, simulataneous disruption in transport, energy, communications, water, sewer, medical care... Everywhere. Simultaneously. Unpredictably.

Your hysterical tone says a lot about the cognitive dissonance between your media-influenced intellectual construction of Y2k and the growing reality of what the world is about to be put through. Get a grip on yourself, face the facts, and get to work preparing yourself and your community.

Liberty

-- Liberty (liberty@theready.now), September 16, 1999.

Yeah chicken you just keep on counting on the government to do for you what you should be doing yurself bouk bouk bouk bouk bouk!

-- Colonel Sanders (Finger@Lickin.Good), September 16, 1999.

watching pbs/bbc kids special on weather, aired yesterday, talked about hurricane factoid: completely plucking a chickens feathers, naked chicken lived, barely

-- (chickensplucked@bystrong.winds), September 16, 1999.

Chicken: "Oh, by the way -- this lil' ol' area where I live has been declared a Federal Disaster Area." I've been there many times and as far as I can tell it is. This is unrelated to Floyd. Otherwise, I was unable to get any useful information from your post.

Best wishes,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), September 16, 1999.

Chicken,

As KoS so eloquently said,

Go pluck yourself.

-- flora (***@__._), September 16, 1999.

Please don't feed the pigs.......I mean the trolls please.

-- Porky (....@.....), September 16, 1999.

Ya know what's really sad? You can tell by reading this that Chicken Little thinks his message is an example of high comedy. That's right, he truly believes this is a display of rapier wit! You can picture the spittle flying from his little chicken beak, the violent laughter of an hysterical lunatic exploding from deep within his little chicken breast, while he tap-tap-taps this message with his little chicken toes. It's not only sad...it's kinda weird.

-- RUOK (RUOK@yesiam.com), September 16, 1999.

-- (chickenlittle@gets.sucked in again), September 16, 1999.

Hey retard, the hurricane missed your sorry ass. Had it come ashore as a 5, you would likely be dead now. You should thank god that it didn't.

As for your comments re:Yourdon, you have only to look around at the failures occuring daily now. YOu must be blind and stupid.

-- gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), September 16, 1999.

Hey CL!,

Cover up GIRL, you must be getting cold.

You need to join Cherri in that search for 100 year love in Brigadoon.

Deo Vindice!,

BR

PS

And when you die, YOU wont be Tarheel Dead, because you are a Scalawag!!!!!

-- brother rat (rldabney@usa.net), September 16, 1999.

Well, we're still laughing ;^)
Shows how the pollys will grasp at any flying straw house to prove nothing will happen! But it *is* worth noticing that such a bizarre event did indeed occur. We will take it as a good omen :-)

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), September 16, 1999.

Kentucky,

I'm awe struck...

that's the most intelligent post you ever made...

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), September 16, 1999.

Well gawrsh.

What a naked display of the Doomer mentality; I'm kinda overcome.

Didn't think you folks would so openly show your venomous asses, but then, Doomers are full of surprises; ya just never know the depths to which they will sink. Andy's one of the least offensive replies? Who woulda thunk...

-- Chicken Little (panic@forthebirds.net), September 17, 1999.

I had to count to 144 in hex first though... :)

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), September 17, 1999.

commending Andy for his eternal steadfast patience LMAO

-- Chicken Little (panic@forthebirds.net), September 17, 1999.

Ah crap,

Wasn't going to respond, but there's such a thing as "getting your dander up".

'brother rat' said, "Cover up GIRL, you must be getting cold."

Punk, when I was 10 years old (long before you were thought of I bet), I caught water moccasins & copperheads down on Durham's Creek, off the Pamlico River, and skinned 'em. Ever done that? Didn't think so.

'brother rat' said, "And when you die, YOU wont be Tarheel Dead, because you are a Scalawag!!!!!"

Punk, I went to school in Chapel Hill; used to party with members of the basketball team; the NCAA Player of the Year dated my girlfriend's roommate. Can you say that? Didn't think so.

Don't even start to talk to me about being a Tar Heel. You're in WAY over your head.

Think before you stick your ass out (I know that's a tall order)

-- Chicken Little (panic@forthebirds.net), September 17, 1999.

Chicken Little is a BIRDBRAIN who trolls on this forum and tries to get people all riled up over his idiotic rantings and ravings. Please don't feed this BIRDBRAIN troll!

-- Chicken Little is a BIRDBRAIN (chickenlittle@birdbrain.com), September 17, 1999.

Holy Poo-poo, Batman! I mean, Mr/Mrs Birdbrain. First time I've had the honor of being called a Troll.

Thanks. It's nice to move up in the Doomer world (i.e., down in the rest of the world)

-- Chicken Little (panic@forthrbirds.net), September 17, 1999.

Y2K is not a storm.

-- Lane Core Jr. (elcore@sgi.net), September 17, 1999.

My brother's uncle's sister's freind of his third cousin got kissed by Mike Jordan. You take that back I'm a bigger sport's fan! WAAAAAHHHHHHH. Excuse me now I's gotta go catchum me some critters for mu barbecue, momma said shees gonna tell us stories after dinner ifin we get some bigguns.

-- CygnusXI (noburnt@toast.net), September 17, 1999.

leaving the world no poorer....

-- zoobie (zoobiezoob@yahoo.com), September 17, 1999.

Sorry Chicken Little, the quote specifically referred to chickens learning to fly. Being hurled through the air by high winds does not qualify in any sense. Note that your supposition fails both criteria of necessity and sufficiency - a pig in the air has not necessarily learned to fly, conversely, a pig, having learned to fly, might not ever actually be encountered in the air.

-- Count Vronsky (vronsky@anna.com), September 17, 1999.

So, Ed wrote: "there's also a finite probability that pigs will learn to fly"; perhaps tongue is cheek, but clearly it does not say that pigs could not fly! Perhaps CL does not understand that "finite probability" is not equivalent to zero possibility. No surprise here.

Jerry

-- Jerry B (skeptic76@erols.com), September 17, 1999.

Good thing that hurricane was kept just a mere 75 miles east of the coast - else you would have seen destruction from Orlando up to Washington.

The people's reaction to the hurricane, the media's emphasis, and the government's (overreaction ?) to the threat (moving millions, then preventing them from returning - which will increase flood saturation damage!) will be typical.

Dear sir chicken - can you "move" the date off a little until everybody is ready? Seems like half the companies, agencies, and governments world aren't quite ready to deal with the problems yet.

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (Marietta, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), September 17, 1999.