Is your disbelief part of your hopeful thinking that somehow, somewhere there has got be be a catastrophic failure because you have become so addicted to the "shocky feeling" that you experienced in the beginning?

Have the frightening possibilities you have feared for so long become so much a part of you that you can no longer live in a normal world without them? Why has the lack of problems from the actual rollover caused you distress? Have you lived on the chemicals that fear gave you for so long that you need them to survive day to day? Instead of feeling relief are are you experiencing a feeling of loss and a need you cannot describe? Are you feeling this way emotionally as well as physically?

Do you find yourself searching for something to bring back that feeling you have been experiencing for so long?

Do you suddenly find yourself looking, searching for a substitute-a catastrophe in the making to concentrate on? To hold onto? To find evidence and "proof" of it being bigger then you think others see it as being? Have you become addicted to being afraid? Do you miss that sense of purpose in the face of adversity that has been your daily existence ?

Are you finding your reaction to the news of things working ok to be different then you thought they would be?

Are you asking yourself why you are feeling so different then you thought you would if everything went ok? Are you experiencing a sense of loss? Had Y2K become so much a part of everything you did daily that you are a little disorientated, finding it difficult to figure out what you should do now?

The possibilities of what could have happened was so shocking, so scary that you can probably remember the exact second it hit you. Everything you took for granted was suddenly weak and potentially unreliable. You can liken it to being a 4 year old who has loving parents who, one day, suddenly turn into monsters. You suddenly you were distrustful of everything, every where you turned. It didn't help that everyone around you did not seem to be able to see it. You knew the possibilities, you may not have been able to know in detail how they would fail, but when you thought of what life would be like if they did, you knew you had to act!

Gary North had all the links to every potential problem there could be. He managed to get his "spin" on them so when you went to the sources he gave you had already had a little seed of doubt planted in your subconscious that made you view what you read in a different light then if you had not read his spin on the subject. Soon you started viewing everything you read with that same little nibble of doubt, even without reading anything he wrote. You were scared, you were alone in a world that didn't seem to see what you were seeing.

Then you discover TB2000. You are amongst other people who are in the same shoes you are. They understand the fear you feel. They experience many of the same things you do, the family and friends who laugh at you, degrade you, call you crazy and put you down for wanting to protect your family.

Now the rollover has happened. Bombs have not gone off, power is still on, your plumbing works, you got money out of the ATM today.

If the rollover had happened two years ago, with everything in the exact condition it was back then, then there WOULD have been failures, banks for sure, ATM's probably, power? I do not believe so but then that is from what I know about how they work.

What I am trying to say is that when you became a GI (get it) then by everything you understood and the way you understood, you were right.

Finding a place where people thought like you, were as concerned as you were probably saved you a lot of mental and emotional problems. TB2000 helped you get through it. The people understood. They did not make fun of your fears, they had them too. Adversity brings people together. You became close and even friends with people here.

All of the things you have gone through, all of the feelings you have felt were real. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You did what you considered was the right thing for you to do, prepared to the extent YOU felt was necessary to be safe. It was the right thing for you to do.

The rollover has happened and in those 24 hours there were probably a lot less problems then are experienced during any other year on a rollover. Computerwise and socially. This was a 24 hour period where it seems everyone in the world was focused on the same thing. From what I have seen so far, except for Russia being anal retentive in bombing those who disagree with them, this has been the most peaceful 24 hours in the history of mankind. All of the little places in the world that are normally fighting each other appear to have stopped for that 24 hours. No gang shootings, no robberies, I haven't heard of any murders. Hopefully some of them at least are a little reluctant to go back to business as usual.

Why did I keep posting here when I had been told many times what I wrote was not welcomed?

I remember what I experienced when I GOT IT. Yep, I was reading gary north's site and it hit me. I went into shock, nothing seemed real bla bla bla you know, you went through it.

I am fortunate that in my life I have had the opportunity to learn and work on an unbelievable variety of equipment both computer software and hardware as well as non computer hardware.

I had to find out for my self if what I feared was going to happen. Starting with aircraft, something I know extremely well, was the easiest.20 years ago I got angry when I saw digital instrumentation was being put in the cockpits. I was shown that those were superficial, that the non digital equipment was left in for backup.

I then got that list of all the things that could "possibly" fail. Elevators, building control, embedded chips and systems. One by one I went to the source to get the facts. I started a mail-list where I gave this information to anyone who wanted it.

This is where you and I went different way. Information here was geared towards preps. I went after finding proof that failures would occur.

I started posting here because I believe that everyone had the right to know what was ok as well as what was going to fail.

I believe people have the right to all of the information available so they could use their own judgment in deciding how to prepare.

And DAMN IT, I wanted other people to be spared the fear I initially went through! If a person was not interested in reading what I had to say I did not care. But I felt they had the right to chose for themselves. If I reached one person who was frightened needlessly then it was worth the flames etc.

I have a mailbox full of letters from people who appreciated hearing what I wrote, who asked for information in areas that I had researched or worked in that I pointed them to.

Am I glad I was right? Yes and no. I am relieved at the lack of problems, but me being "right" and others wrong was never an issue.

"Being right" is such an issue with some people that they would rather be "dead right" then accept being wrong about something. To some people being wrong causes them distress. One of the things I have learned in my life is to accept it when I was wrong and learn from it, accept it and go on.

Like I tell my kids, ok what you did was wrong, learn from it (don't do it again because now you better now) and continue on.

I dislike people who knowingly set out to influence people with information they know nothing about, with total disregard to what effect that will have on those who listen to it. It is cruel to frighten people needlessly for their own personal agenda. As it would be criminal for me to perform surgery on someone, people like Dave Hall and Paula Gordon, who knew they were lacking in knowledge of embeddeds, should not have pushed their "opinions and writings" on a population who were desperate for truth so they could prepare and protect their families.

As for TB2000, there is no reason for those who have become friends to stop just because preparations were not needed as they thought they would be, why don't you just continue on without all of the focus on Y2K and make it a forum "just because" you want it to continue. Why is there a need to continue to focus on Y2K or dig up some other potential catastrophe?

With everything you have learned from each other why not use that knowledge available to people in areas where it is or could be needed?

Earthquake, flood, or hurricane areas would benefit from knowing what is needed in case they happen.

As for Y2K, If next week goes like it has so far, way not get over it?

Oh, a suggestion, at least listen to what other people have to say before you dismiss them because they are not "one of yours". You might save yourself a lot of heart ache in the long run.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 02, 2000

Answers

Cherri sweetheart, ROTFLMAO!!!

I think I'm in love with you.... you, you, delicate petal... oh how I love French teases ....

You've made my.... day....

(snort, guffaw, chuckle, ho ho, hee hee)

no.... really....

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), January 02, 2000.

sometimes its not WHAT you say...its HOW you say it. Your current post is written in Vanilla flavoring and I appreciate that. But most of your posts are so irritating that its difficult to get beyond that. Its to your advantage if you would seek out the "truths" of your own systems of communication as you seem to have done with Y2K. No one wants to be beat over the head and have their beliefs stomped into the ground....including you. IOW, had you written your investigative results, rather than telling us all what dumb sh..s we were, you would have been much more helpful. Like you tell your kids...you made a mistake...learn from it. You are obviously an intelligent person and have communicative skills when you choose to use them. But I always felt that TB2000 was your replacement for the dog when you needed to kick something.

Taz

-- Taz (Tassi123@aol.com), January 02, 2000.

I dislike people who knowingly set out to influence people with information they know nothing about, with total disregard to what effect that will have on those who listen to it. It is cruel to frighten people needlessly for their own personal agenda.

Cherri,

So...are you saying, for example, that FEMA was cruel to its employees and the American public?

"FEMA Awaits the Stroke of Midnight"

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=0029an

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), January 02, 2000.

c, I hope you are right they we have seen all we are going to see....but your statment is not going to make me breath a sigh of relief yet...Maybe mid-summer is when I will do that...Thanks for your thoughts..

-- Mia (amibeth@hotmail.com), January 02, 2000.

My Dear Lady Cherri

Mistress Cherri, I do begin to believe that you are in serious need of help. I know not weather you have sucumbed to a "Super Hero" complex; Or you can't stand the suspense of what the morrow holds! In either case, you do yourself no good by slipping into your "Tights" and charging into this forum schreaming "I'm gonna save you! In spite of yourselves"!

Dear Lady, the Fat lady comes center stage tomorrow. And her song will last for at least two months. I invite you to consider a "Prozac" moment. A cool damp towel over your fevered brow. And some one, you trust (Y2K Pro)? To hold your hand, when ever you decide to venture out from under the piano (one has to have security you know).

In the mean time I humbly offer this old tried but trueism. "Tis best to remain silent! And be thought a fool! Then open your mouth and remove all doubt!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Shakey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-- Shakey (in_a_bunker@forty.feet), January 02, 2000.

The Red Cross was pretty hard on us preppers too. It went from preparing for 3 days, to 2 weeks.

-- ~~~~ (~~~@~~.xcom), January 02, 2000.

Cherri,

You said,

"Am I glad I was right?"

Right about what? Aren't we still waiting to see how things will play out? Do you have access to information that no one else in the world does? If so, please share it.

-- eve (123@4567.com), January 02, 2000.

Is your desire to be accepted by the masses on this board so great that it drives you to write long pieces of psychobabble each day?

Do you feel better that you didn't prep?

Does it make you feel good to say....there, the world didn't end for you idiots?

Do you know how chip failures really impact systems?

Do you know how much real activity has taken place thus far in the financial markets?

-- Gordon (g_gecko_69@hotmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Cherri, you wrote:

"Is being right that damn important to you?" Your a hypocrite.

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002Btp

-- I am right (Iamright@Iamrighttt.xcom), January 02, 2000.

well said, the world wide co-orperation was unprecedented... but it's not over yet, give it a couple of weeks and watch your bills and financial statements.

-- KatInSeattle (YouC@ntSpamMe.com), January 02, 2000.

Damn...where's the killfile capability when you need it?

LunaC

-- LunaC (LunaC@moon.com), January 02, 2000.

Cherri, Can you on all the others that posted here calling us doomers and such please answer one question....why????why did you stay here? why not go elsewhere? We are a group of person here to discuss how we wanted to prep if this became an event...and you and others came here blasting us and yes I saw many that blasted back...but why did you just not leave us alone...there are far more important things to "picket"...if I was wanting to fight, which is how I have felt towards you and others posting here, I would have been somewhere else where it could have made a difference in this world we call home...for example the stripping of land, abortions, nuc. weapons, so many others...Please if you have time to blast what we on this forum was trying to prepare for "just in case" answer me that..why could tb2000 members not discuss, plan and such without yours and others presence here....

-- watching (watching@hotmail.com), January 02, 2000.

Wow, Cherri, I'm so impressed. You had you Spell-check on!

-- Scat (no@more.spam), January 02, 2000.

Cherri,

Cogent post. You put into words the thoughts my wife and I have been thinking since rollover.

After researching Y2K (about 1,000 hrs) over the last two and a half years we decided it would be prudent to prep for the worst and hope for the best.

It was amazing to watch the world rollover with power staying on seemingly regardless of the amount of time and money each country spent on remediation.

Our position has always been that the system(s) will begin to break on rollover, not blow up at the stroke of midnight.

What remains is a psychological dissonance that we must recognize.

If one puts effort into a project then one would like the project to come to fruition.

It's like that scene in Dr. Strangelove where we're rooting for Slim Pickins to fix the bomb bay door so he can drop the bomb.

"We prepped for a disaster so where the hell is it?"

---

I found it very interesting that as each country celebrated the new year I was somewhat disappointed that everything seemed to work OK.

That's dissonance ladies and gentlemen.

It is this dissonance that makes me very aware of my reactions to the events or non-events of the coming days/weeks/months. Yes we prepped for a disaster but that shouldn't make us root for it.

As a half-a**ed disclaimer I must state that my fundamental position after a lifetime in research leads me to conclude that disseminating the truth has never been the primary goal of government or business. In other words: Keep Watching.

-- Fractal (bobalex@silverlink.net), January 02, 2000.

"From what I have seen so far, except for Russia being anal retentive in bombing those who disagree with them..." LOL, Cherri, are you Russian?

http://stand77.com/wwwboard/messages/9678.html
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Posted by (209.245.173.132) Cherri on December 31, 1999 at 12:30:43:

Okay now Don't laugh. My new computer is Y2K compliant, was when I got it a few months ago. But my old one, 4 years old is not. I had put off checking and fixing it and now I wonder if I should do it or not. I don't use any applications that would need the year. Should I just forget about it and let it go or will the e-mail, sorted by date mess up or just sort odd? Advice anyone?

-- (123@abc.def), January 02, 2000.

Keep your preps! The world is gonna go any moment now! What's that I see? A column of smoke? Are those police sirens? Auuuugggggghhhhhh!!!!!

-- Truk (truk@loa.moc), January 02, 2000.

Linkmaster, I am not writing about mainframes or computer software, I do not believe I ever have written much about them. I am talking about Dave Hall, Paula Gordon and embeddeds.

He is the one who started the "embedded" hype, he admits he was doing nothing but guessing but only when forced to do so and not very publicly. It was the concern for them in all areas of the infrastructure and evrything people depend on every day that frightened people into believing they would have no powwr, water etc that are vital to their survival. If the stock market crashes, or banks screw up then it's only money, if it is infrastructure then it is lives.

I doubt very many people are concerned if a business that is based solely on information fails to the degree they worry about the lives of the people they care for.

Also I do not believe I called people here names, or put them down for preparing, as I have stated many times, I was prepared before anyone here ever heard of Y2K.

As for how I comunicate.. I am not and never have been a "people" person, I could never work in a "people" orentated job and have no desire to do so. I have spent thousands of hours perfectly happy talking to various computers and hardware and that is good enough for me. I also could never be in instructer because I have a dificult time putting what is in my head into words, due to my dyslexia I do not "think" in words when I work, I think in electron flow and logic paths. I am not a writer, most of what I and others in my fields would write concerning the work was in abbreviations technical shorthand. Our shift logs were generally indecipherable to most other people.

I have literally sat here for hours some times trying to get my points down so others could understand them. If I acted like I thought I was "better" than athers it is probably because in what I do I am better than the average person and have to remind myself that not that many people understand these things like I do. FEMA and other organizations that show people how to prepare are not guilty of scaring people unnecessarily. People like Paula Gordon, who for her own agenda, wrote the crap she did about embeddeds is the guilty one. Dave Hall set out to scare people, it has been written publicly that that was his intention and he has always put a disclaimer at the bottom of what he writes saying it is his opinion only. I offered to help him almost two years ago to understand and learn how embeddeds worked. He did not want that help.

I offered Paula Gordon the same thing. She was not interested. When you discover the reason why she wrote about embeddeds when she had absolutly no knowledge of how they work you will find out why she did it. Or were you unaware that she is a politician?

I did not go out of my way to write what I did above in a vanalla way or anything else. I wrote it because that is what I see. When this board crashed I saw the loss some people felt from loosing the sense of community and that made me realise that that was something they needed that went beyond the origional purpose. As there no longer appears to be a need to prepare for Y2K, then why not change it into the community it has become? Some people seem to be trying to drag out the potential for Y2K failure and it is possible that they are doing that because they do not want the social aspects of what they have here to end.

Considering some of the things people here have said to me when I posted, the way I have acted should not be in question.

But give me a break, Y2K hits and someone calls upon Paula Gordon for answers??? Give me a break! Can anyone here honestly tell me that they think she would have the ability to give a knowledgable answer? Surfing the web cannot make you an "expert" in embedded technology.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 02, 2000.

Lady Logic; Your endorsment of Cherri's motivations, considering your recent misbehavior and subsequent lack of apology, counts for very little. You have delighted in heaping coals upon the heads of the folks here and generally being very unkind. You have engaged in the worst kind of insult and taken pleasure in it at that.

While I have had my differences with Cherri, I don't recall her behavior as even remotly approaching the level of insult and outright trouble making that your has achieved.

Cherri, your intent is well spoken and clear. Remain and speak. The point about how you say things could be well taken on all sides and has most certainly hit home with me.

I remain, waiting.

-- Michael Erskine (Osiris@urbanna.net), January 02, 2000.

Cherri,

I could be wrong, but after looking at your message again, you seem to be someone who would worry themselves sick about Y2K unless they could convince themselves there was no chance at all of anything serious happening. Many people on this forum prepared for the possibility of serious problems but knew that a large range of outcomes were possible, including having electricity on January 1st.

I'm still waiting to see what happens at businesses next week after the New Year's holiday is over. You also said...

Am I glad I was right?

You were right about utilities. How the supply chain and economic side of Y2K turns out remains to be seen.

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), January 02, 2000.

Cherri:

I appreciated your Dec 31 post concerning the non-problem embedded chips presented. I tried for 2 1/2 years to disprove the problems that net "experts" purported and ironically read your post hours before the CDC. I had prepared with food and more importantly seeds with my farmer friends here in Idaho. We are also working toward growing bio-diesl fuel (from peanuts/mustard seeds) and sustainable agriculture for a better future hopefully.

I am one of those folks who has been slightly addicted to the "worst case" scenarios of the dooming glooming crowd; however I have made enough mistakes in my half century of life, to say "OK, ole Dad was a little wrong on that one - let's get on with the other projects."

I am indebted to your wisdom concerning chips and kindly advice to go on with life. Keep an open mind and advise me if you do any consulting on automated systems for futuristic agricultural methods. We can use all the brain power available, to grow healthy eats and fuel our diesel vehicles here in the spud state. And maybe not trash Grandmother Earth in the process.

Cheers and Happy New Year! BO

-- Gary Bowman (bow@ruralnetwork.net), January 02, 2000.

Cherri,

Everything you said is true, especially about livng with the fear of something major happening and being addicted to it. I lived that way for about a year and a half. When some of the keys dates passed without a hitch I started to lighten up and get back to living. I did keep the preps but the paranoia diminshed. By the time the rollover came I had little concern about things falling apart.

I suspected that the terrorism, chemtrails, etc. was all hype. Now all I have to do is kiss these Y2k forms good-bye. I will then consider myself reborn.

Thanks for you input.

A Lurker

-- (Lurker@here.com), January 02, 2000.

Fractal-

You are mistaking cognative dissonance for a misunderstanding of your own feelings. At least that's what I did. As I watched each country successfully rollover, yes, I will admit I was disappointed. But, I was not disappointed, there were no problems; rather, I was disappointed that I had been so wrong about the initial outcome. I expected at least some localized power outages, and there were none to speak of.

Now, this is not to say that the ball game is over. It is not by a long shot. But it does mean that our worst fears are over, which is fine by me. Even if the economy goes in the dumper six months from now, I don't see hunger, or riots, or any of the worsts possibilities of a few months ago.

-- (cavscout@fix.net), January 02, 2000.

Cherri, since you have apparently taken quite a bit of time composing this post, I will take my time commenting on it, and explaining why you may not receive the effect you most probably hoped for. I appreciate your honesty in regard to your dyslexia and your difficulty in communicating. With that in mind, I still believe some of what you say should be rebutted.

Is your disbelief part of your hopeful thinking that somehow, somewhere there has got be be a catastrophic failure because you have become so addicted to the "shocky feeling" that you experienced in the beginning?

Cherri, your opening paragraph immediately distances you from your audience. If their disbelief is due to hopeful thinking because of an addiction to shocky feeling, or said more accurately, fear, then what you are communicating is: Because of our fear, we hope for catastrophe. I don't believe this accuately reflects the majority of the posts on this forum.

Cherri, people were faced with a highly technological problem of a nature that most of us are not qualified to assess. We remain dependent on experts. Dependency in a possible life-threatening situation demands utter truth, accuracy and clear communication. Was that forthcoming in a consistent manner? Apparently not. If it had been so, and had been complete then fears would have been assuaged. They were not. Does this mean what was said was not true? Not necessarily, it means what was said was not successfully communicated.

Cherri, your first paragraph also begins with the premise that you are speaking to fear addicts who wish for catastrophe. If your intent was to be helpful then you have failed. Those who would have listened to you will distance themselves from the remainder of your information because they do want wish to be included in your label.

Have the frightening possibilities you have feared for so long become so much a part of you that you can no longer live in a normal world without them? Why has the lack of problems from the actual rollover caused you distress? Have you lived on the chemicals that fear gave you for so long that you need them to survive day to day? Instead of feeling relief are are you experiencing a feeling of loss and a need you cannot describe? Are you feeling this way emotionally as well as physically?

Do you find yourself searching for something to bring back that feeling you have been experiencing for so long?

Do you suddenly find yourself looking, searching for a substitute-a catastrophe in the making to concentrate on? To hold onto? To find evidence and "proof" of it being bigger then you think others see it as being? Have you become addicted to being afraid? Do you miss that sense of purpose in the face of adversity that has been your daily existence ?

Are you finding your reaction to the news of things working ok to be different then you thought they would be?

Are you asking yourself why you are feeling so different then you thought you would if everything went ok? Are you experiencing a sense of loss? Had Y2K become so much a part of everything you did daily that you are a little disorientated, finding it difficult to figure out what you should do now?

Cherri, the preceding four paragraphs are a repeat of the first two paragraphs. They could be interpreted as a reflection of your own fear.

The possibilities of what could have happened was so shocking, so scary that you can probably remember the exact second it hit you. Everything you took for granted was suddenly weak and potentially unreliable. You can liken it to being a 4 year old who has loving parents who, one day, suddenly turn into monsters. You suddenly you were distrustful of everything, every where you turned. It didn't help that everyone around you did not seem to be able to see it. You knew the possibilities, you may not have been able to know in detail how they would fail, but when you thought of what life would be like if they did, you knew you had to act!

Cherri, this paragraph is touching to me. How troubling and lonely your early years must have been for your emotional resources to be so fragile that they would be so visible in a format you intended to be informative on another level. Do you see how this can be read?

Gary North had all the links to every potential problem there could be. He managed to get his "spin" on them so when you went to the sources he gave you had already had a little seed of doubt planted in your subconscious that made you view what you read in a different light then if you had not read his spin on the subject. Soon you started viewing everything you read with that same little nibble of doubt, even without reading anything he wrote. You were scared, you were alone in a world that didn't seem to see what you were seeing.

Cherri, this Gary North paragraph is can be illustrative of your inability to separate your own feelings of vulnerability in making up your own mind. It can be seen that you have now completed the process of transforming an essay you intended to write objecting to what, you surmised, was disappointment in the lack of global disaster, to full disclosure of your own processing of the situation. It has been my experience, in reading the posts on this forum, that the majority of the poster were entirely capable of separating information from opinion.

Then you discover TB2000. You are amongst other people who are in the same shoes you are. They understand the fear you feel. They experience many of the same things you do, the family and friends who laugh at you, degrade you, call you crazy and put you down for wanting to protect your family.

Cherri, while I personally did not experience the scenarios you have created, I would imagine some people may have. Instead of approaching this particular paragraph with some semblance of compassion for those who have experienced this, you have used words that will, in most cases, repel a reader.

Now the rollover has happened. Bombs have not gone off, power is still on, your plumbing works, you got money out of the ATM today.

If the rollover had happened two years ago, with everything in the exact condition it was back then, then there WOULD have been failures, banks for sure, ATM's probably, power? I do not believe so but then that is from what I know about how they work.

Cherri, a minor point, youve injected your supposed knowledge (which may or may not be valid) about how they work without backing up with any hard facts about your qualifications. You are, in essence, asking that we believe your statement with the same blind trust in which you have accused us in regard to Gary North.

What I am trying to say is that when you became a GI (get it) then by everything you understood and the way you understood, you were right.

Finding a place where people thought like you, were as concerned as you were probably saved you a lot of mental and emotional problems. TB2000 helped you get through it. The people understood. They did not make fun of your fears, they had them too. Adversity brings people together. You became close and even friends with people here.

Cherri, you got off to a good start then blew it with, mental and emotional problems. Your assumption was that people would have those problems.

All of the things you have gone through, all of the feelings you have felt were real. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. You did what you considered was the right thing for you to do, prepared to the extent YOU felt was necessary to be safe. It was the right thing for you to do.

Cherri, if you had opened with a version of this paragraph, perhaps you might have succeeded. As it stands now, this is nothing more than patronizing. Your audience is, at this point, only forming their rebuttals. They dont care whether or not you think what they did was right.

The rollover has happened and in those 24 hours there were probably a lot less problems then are experienced during any other year on a rollover. Computerwise and socially. This was a 24 hour period where it seems everyone in the world was focused on the same thing. From what I have seen so far, except for Russia being anal retentive in bombing those who disagree with them, this has been the most peaceful 24 hours in the history of mankind. All of the little places in the world that are normally fighting each other appear to have stopped for that 24 hours. No gang shootings, no robberies, I haven't heard of any murders. Hopefully some of them at least are a little reluctant to go back to business as usual.

Cherri, this is a naive, hopeful paragraph. I applaud your optimism re: ...this has been the most peaceful 24 hours in the history of mankind. You cant possibly back that up with hard facts. You can only hope.

Why did I keep posting here when I had been told many times what I wrote was not welcomed?

I remember what I experienced when I GOT IT. Yep, I was reading gary north's site and it hit me. I went into shock, nothing seemed real bla bla bla you know, you went through it.

I am fortunate that in my life I have had the opportunity to learn and work on an unbelievable variety of equipment both computer software and hardware as well as non computer hardware.

I had to find out for my self if what I feared was going to happen. Starting with aircraft, something I know extremely well, was the easiest.20 years ago I got angry when I saw digital instrumentation was being put in the cockpits. I was shown that those were superficial, that the non digital equipment was left in for backup.

I then got that list of all the things that could "possibly" fail. Elevators, building control, embedded chips and systems. One by one I went to the source to get the facts. I started a mail-list where I gave this information to anyone who wanted it.

This is where you and I went different way. Information here was geared towards preps. I went after finding proof that failures would occur.

I started posting here because I believe that everyone had the right to know what was ok as well as what was going to fail.

Cherri, the preceding paragraphs are quite a mishmosh. Distilled down: I was afraid, I decided to do my own investigation, I examined areas in which I was familiar, I assuaged my fear, I wanted others to stop being afraid. Yes?

I believe people have the right to all of the information available so they could use their own judgment in deciding how to prepare.

Cherri, I agree with this paragraph.

And DAMN IT, I wanted other people to be spared the fear I initially went through! If a person was not interested in reading what I had to say I did not care. But I felt they had the right to chose for themselves. If I reached one person who was frightened needlessly then it was worth the flames etc.

Cherri, what right do you have to rob people of the experience of fear? Fear is a great motivator, a great teacher. The way you responded to your overwhelming fear was, apparently, good for you. It appears, by the your words, you feel the need to control someone elses life experiences.

I have a mailbox full of letters from people who appreciated hearing what I wrote, who asked for information in areas that I had researched or worked in that I pointed them to.

Cherri, remember your quote: Finding a place where people thought like you, were as concerned as you were probably saved you a lot of mental and emotional problems. See?

Am I glad I was right? Yes and no. I am relieved at the lack of problems, but me being "right" and others wrong was never an issue.

Cherri, If being right was never the issue, why do you state, Am I glad I was right? You contradict yourself by making it an issue.

"Being right" is such an issue with some people that they would rather be "dead right" then accept being wrong about something. To some people being wrong causes them distress. One of the things I have learned in my life is to accept it when I was wrong and learn from it, accept it and go on.

Like I tell my kids, ok what you did was wrong, learn from it (don't do it again because now you better now) and continue on.

Cherri, right and wrong are two sides of the same coin. If right is not the issue, how is wrong the issue?

I dislike people who knowingly set out to influence people with information they know nothing about, with total disregard to what effect that will have on those who listen to it. It is cruel to frighten people needlessly for their own personal agenda. As it would be criminal for me to perform surgery on someone, people like Dave Hall and Paula Gordon, who knew they were lacking in knowledge of embeddeds, should not have pushed their "opinions and writings" on a population who were desperate for truth so they could prepare and protect their families.

Cherri, were we truly frightened needlessly? Was this a non-event from the start? Prove it. Prove it. Prove it. On a personal side, I prepared for the unknown. I prepared because of the information that was not there.

As for TB2000, there is no reason for those who have become friends to stop just because preparations were not needed as they thought they would be, why don't you just continue on without all of the focus on Y2K and make it a forum "just because" you want it to continue. Why is there a need to continue to focus on Y2K or dig up some other potential catastrophe?

Cherri, once again it appears you would like to control others life experiences. Perhaps you were making an innocent suggestion, but it doesn't come across that way. Why should we not focus on this issue of Y2K when the information from ALL camps, including the government, is telling us that its not over yet? How do you know my preps are not needed? I live in California, we have at least two week minimum every year of power outages. Im grateful for the fear that impelled me into preparing.

With everything you have learned from each other why not use that knowledge available to people in areas where it is or could be needed?

Earthquake, flood, or hurricane areas would benefit from knowing what is needed in case they happen.

As for Y2K, If next week goes like it has so far, way not get over it?

Oh, a suggestion, at least listen to what other people have to say before you dismiss them because they are not "one of yours". You might save yourself a lot of heart ache in the long run.

Cherri, I would like to believe that your intentions are honorable. It has been my experience, as one of the old ones here, that people will do exactly as they choose, believe exactly as please. I admire the courage of anyone who ventures into unfamiliar territory, as you have translating your ideas into words. I encourage you, even though our opinions may differ, to keep writing. It's like anything else, the more you do it, the easier it gets.

Happy New year and good cheer.

The old 'nit-picker.' Casey

-- Casey DeFranco (caseyd@silcom.com), January 02, 2000.

If we are to learn from situations, I would like to highlight a problem common to our modern society - "hype."

Perhaps we have become so saturated with mechanized, commercialized assaults upon our senses and minds that we fail to pay attention unless an idea or product is exagerated into becoming the biggest, the smallest, the best, the worst, etc. A story is not a story unless it is amplified tenfold by protest or disaster or glitter.

Do we excourage political or religious extremism by demanding that ideas become hyped in exageration before they are worthy of our attention?

Did the foment surrounding y2k develop out of our need to hype an idea with fear in order to motivate others into paying attention and taking action? What about the alar scare and black predictions concerning health and environment. These tactics have become commonplace. Aren't they just as much a product of hype?

Once upon a time, long ago, I was under the impression that science was a refuge safe from the winds of hype. Science was the place where ideas could be examined and tested dispassionately. Where agendas and blame and emotional values were intentionally blocked from formulation of a problem statement, analysis and evaluation. Computers were a scientific field.

Alas, not even science is sheltered from hype these days. I remember when science was a respected field for the truths it gave us. Now it has become infected with the same hype, politics, commercialization and agendization as everything else.

No wonder some of us prepare. We can't believe a damned thing anyone tells us.

-- fedup (fedup@fedup.now), January 02, 2000.

Oh, c'mon gang, lighten up a bit. I think we always felt that Cherri meant well, no matter how ditsy her posts were. And her spelling has improved radically, no doubt at least partly in response to the unmerciful teasing that we subjected her to about it. And she tries so hard.

And let's give credit where credit is due: Cherri has ALWAYS insisted that embedded chips would NOT be a problem, and so far they have not. The fact that Cherri could never give a consistent, believable technical argument to justify her position is beside the point -- as of THIS date and time, her prediction is way ahead of Paula Gordon et al.

Cherri projects a nice ray of sunshine. And I can only hope that ray continues to shine over the next few weeks, so that we can all "declare victory and go home" with Y2K.

-- King of Spain (madrid@aol.cum), January 02, 2000.

Cherri,

The following is from an earlier thread....note the tact and understanding you employed:

"Well Stevie poo, still sitting on your brian I see...gotta "prove" how smart you are if you have to find every glitch from last year till the day you die HUH? Must be sad to have such poor self-esteem."

"Next week computers will have glitches and even total failure, just like every "working" day of any year. Be sure to document each and every one so you will not feel the need to admit you were wrong."

-- Cherri (beenselling burgers@side.the.gulch4years), January 01, 2000.

-- TM (mercier7@pdnt.com), January 02, 2000.

TM, When I post to Steve Heller is not about this forum or Y2K. We read the same book, He want's to be in it, I lived it.

I am, quite honestly, pushing his buttons, just to watch his reactions.

In this we both act and react like 8 year olds.

-- Cherri (sams@brigadoon.com), January 03, 2000.