The effects of the year 2000 problem will not become of major concern to most People until it affects them directly. By directly I mean enters into to their everyday expierence.

How It May Affect Each of Us.

Money: though our jobs, the market, banking. The ability to make money and provide for ourselves with it. If this is the extent of the problems, We will be very fortunate indeed.

Water: A person can live for about 5 days without taking in water. After about 2 days without water, we are in serious straights (weak, nausous). People have died in the wilderness of dehydration next to streams of water they would not drink due to it's taste/consistency.

Food: A person can live about 30 days without food, assuming they stay as motionless as possible. After about 3-5 days of normal activity (without eating), a person must combat constant fatigue and mind-consuming thoughts of food. After about 7-10 days of activity, a person may frequently pass out under exertion and even simple tasks become monumental efforts.

Heat: Hypothermia is when the bodies core temprature (usually 98.6) lowers due to the inability to produce heat internally to keep up with heat-loss from surrounding cold air. The lower our body temprature becomes, the more difficult it is to think clearly. Perversely, we may feel warmer as we lose feeling in our extremities. Without proper clothing or heat sources, we can die in a matter of minutes or days from exposure to cold. Both food and water play an important role in regulating and maintaing body temprature.

Each of these things, in my expierence, have a most powerful affect upon people. Emotionally, they are akin to how people act in domestic disputes or when under extreme life stresses. Examples of what people will do for money (for instance) lie all about our culture.

When hungry, thirsty, or cold; well, these have a way of modivating even the most lethargic to newfound energy. I've expierenced the absence of these things in survival situations (thankfully not all at once) and beleive me, one does ANYTHING they can to make the discomfort stop. Conventioanl Morality, unless tested at this level, can come to be pushed aside in favor of immoral methods to releive these kinds of discomforts (i.e. survival at another's expense).

Without Banks, this economy stops.

Without Water, a land cannot be lived on. Period. (see posts about city water supplies at risk). Without eletricity, each person must get their own water by hand, by whatever source is avalible.

Without oil, the days of supermarket food are over. (see R.C.'s post below on the oil situation).

Without natural gas, there is no heat to many parts of the country. Oil products or eletricity also supply many other kinds of heat. Wood heated homes (fireplaces/stoves) are a small minority of currently inhabited places.

We are literally looking at the end of a people's ability to inhabit a place shortened to a few days if one of these basic conditions are not met.

However bad y2k might be remains to be seen. Even if there are only 5% failures in each key sector, this will be one of the most powerful disasters in our history. Our ability to minimize the suffering of whole populations of people will rest on the ammount of oil, eletricity, and banking sectors remaining viable after the first of the year.

To the regulars on this forum, I've probably beaten an old path. To those who have been here just recently, research and prepare while you can. No one comes to these conclusions lightly. No one who has love in their heart wishes for such things to happen. I hope disruptions are kept to a minimum, but I have little choice in the matter.

Good luck to you all. I apologize for any spelling errors and for if I offended anyone inadvertantly.

-- Lonelyroads (lonely@faraway.net), December 27, 1999

Answers

What is so terribly sickening about the whole thing is, the government could have been truthful, and jumped into not only warning people of the terrible circumstances, but actually helping. They would then not be held accountable when these terrible things take place. On the other hand, since they chose not to do this, whom do you think will be the target of revenge when a man's family is dying at his feet? Better find a good place to hide media and gov., because you will be faced with a mass of humanity that the world has neve known before, and they will be after your hides, and you must arise from your hole some time.

-- Notforlong (Fsur439@aol.com), December 28, 1999.