The whole article is on Y2K, however I am posting just the quotes of the month. Please go read the rest of the article he talks about his experiance at a local Y2K awareness meeting.

PS: Diane, that is one pithy quote of yours at the end!

Things will get worse before they get better.....

http://www.fiendbear.com/view0999.htm

The Contrarian's View

Vol. XIV, #2, September 30, 1999

Y2K QUOTES FOR THE MONTH

With less than six months to go before the Y2K date change, the global picture that is slowly emerging is cause for concern.... Our assessments suggest that the global community is likely to experience varying degrees of Y2K- related failures in every sector, in every region and at every economic level. - Jacquelyn L. Williams-Bridgers [Inspector General of the Department of State, before Congress]

Even the heartiest optimists concede that the international [Y2K] situation looks negative. They just don't seem to grasp the idea that the United States will be seriously impacted. This defies logic, empirical evidence and past experience. At what point does the light bulb go on? At what point does Y2K denial become Y2K reality? - Paul Mladjenovic

I have been in meetings in Tokyo for the last week, and have met some very high-up people in industry and government, which has given me a lot of critical information about the risk posed to the world economy by the world's second largest economy.... The government has had a Y2K campaign running since summer 1998, and have done a lot of the right things, but until last week, no-one had told them that Y2K affected PCs at all.... Only one bank has even started checking their PCs.... In meetings with some of the key PC manufacturers, it became clear that they have NOT tested the BIOS for Y2K issues (just like the US situation in 1997) ....many companies are not telling the truth [about Y2K] - but this is mostly from ignorance rather than a deliberate policy. However, having told an untruth, they must confess if they subsequently wish to change their tune - and THAT results in a loss of face. - Karl W. Feilder [founder and president of Greenwich Mean Time]

We can't surprise people. There are going to be Y2K failures on New Year's Day.... People ought to prepare, but they ought to prepare early. - John Koskinen

A couple of weeks ago I met with the branch manager of a bank in which I have an account, on some non-Y2K related business. After completing the business I casually asked about the bank's Y2K compliance. The manager replied that the bank felt there would be no problems with the bank's systems, that much work had been done and the systems were checking out pretty well. I then asked what the bank planned to do about other bank's systems that may not be compliant. Specifically I asked how the bank would protect its ostensibly compliant systems from corrupt incoming data from other systems. He said that incoming data can be blocked out to protect the integrity of a system. I replied that if you block all questionable data, you destroy the overall interconnected system and essentially destroy the banking system. How can this be dealt with? I received a blank look for a second or two as he processed this query and saw a bunch of Error messages on the personal computer system in his head. His answer was that he knew of no way to deal with this, that any widespread data blocking would destroy the system it was intended to save.... "Then what is the answer?" I asked. "There isn't any that I know of," said the banker. You can guess what I did when I left his office. - Cody Varian

For you people who are undecided, Banks are terrified. The ABA says that Citigroup spent almost a billion dollars fixing something and the article didn't say that they were done. Since this is T minus 135 days [on August 18] including weekends, holidays, sick days, and uh-oh, maybe a project manager will be up on charges of exposing himself or will decide to take early retirement, you gotta wonder how Citigroup expects to slam the last brick into place juuuust in time. How did they do it? How did every other bank in the world manage to time things so that their last brick slams into place juuuuust in time? And what's really odd is that they started at different times. They expended different amounts of effort. Some claim to have spent less than fifty million bucks. Chase says 363 million, Citigroup is on record at 950 million. It's like a turtle, a panther, and a meat bee are in a race to Boston, one starts in Florida, another in Kansas, and the third from Alabama. Somehow they all end up at the finish line within moments of each other? I'm as gullible as the next person but come-on, someone is faking the results. - Cory Hamasaki

We can print more money than Americans can withdraw. - John Koskinen [February 17, 1999]

Social Security started ten years ago. They've been lauded up and down for being early, planning and executing the remediation, and praised on TV, the printed press, over an over for being Y2K A+, verified compliant. In the face of all this, I've consistently written that they weren't done. That I've had insider, geek-vine reports that Social Security was still working on Y2K and that there was a disconnect between the word from the trenches and the clueless yip-yap from the talking heads. I've maintained that there would be Y2K failures at Social Security, probably not show stoppers but problems and failures none the less. I based this on insider info, whispered words from geeks who are still cranking code at Social Security, and 30 years of knowing how complex enterprise systems respond to unusual conditions. Now we have a series of interesting events, 1) the GAO, the pit bulls of the government, are tearing at Social Security on Y2K mis-statements, 2) Social Security's Y2K Tsarina retires 4 months before the big, write your own ticket to the presidential ball, party, 3) A public failure, your benefits expire in 1900, makes the Worshington Post. - Cory Hamasaki

SSA is still patching their source code. I've seen the incorrect comparison where YYDDD is compared to YYYYDDD in SSA code. - Cory Hamasaki

I know for a fact that we're going to have some problems in Indiana - Connie Kay Nass [State Auditor]

I received an inquiry from a law firm asking if I want to be an expert witness in the coming Y2K litigation and what my rate is. Pay me now or pay me later, is that it? - Cory Hamasaki

I know a mainframe ISV/service bureau that is goin' fix-on-failure for their 75,000 COBOL, PL/I and assembler programs. Yes, some programs are fine, wouldn't need fixes; some programs are only run once in a decade; some can be forcibly retired. Some will break and take not just the bureau down but will take their clients down too. - Cory Hamasaki

If you want to know why the press ignores y2k, here's why. Y2K threatens the credibility of the government and the solvency of the banks. It threatens the cushy jobs of reporters, and their pensions, too. So, it's not a story. But, like Waco, it will be when the truth can no longer be suppressed. But expect no apologies from the mainstream news media for their deliberate suppression of massive quantities of negative evidence. There is one thing that always gets spiked by the media: their collective conscience. - Gary North

Actual press release: "Anastar Inc., a Silicon Valley company, is introducing a new product that doubles as a bright Christmas tree-top star as well as backup lighting in case of a Y2K power outage." And if you make that tree out of bread sticks with salad greens for leaves and tofu ornaments, you'll have an emergency food supply, too. Gives me that warm, holiday feeling all over. - Diane J. Squire

-- Helium (Heliumavid@yahoo.com), October 06, 1999

Answers

Thanks Helium!!!!!!

-- R (riversoma@aol.com), October 06, 1999.