Sorry, for some reason this thread refused to display an icon at the bottom to let me submit a post to it:

http://hv.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=002D1u

Dear Hoffmeister, et. al.

Instead of being frustrated to have power, I'm happier than ever.

Have you lived without power for years? I have.

Have you lived without water and sewer for years? I have.

Have you lived with kife-in-your-gut-like, chuck-it-up-again starvation for years? I have.

Have you ............., fill in the blanks? I have.

And why was this so? It was almost exclusively the result of the denial, ignorance and greed of OTHER people, the bastards and the bitches. I refuse to let them zap me again, either through Y2K, or any other intentional or brainless blessings.

Please refrain from accusing Ed Yourdon of profiteering, etc., because he is a very capable and honorable man. Didn't his book outline YOUR choices for preparing for different durations of disruptions. What choice did you make?

Did you not invetigate hundreds of official and credible Websites that warned of potential Y2K disasters? Are you going to rail against their authors also? Did you not receive a statements from your utilities and insurance companies that they could not guarantee this, or insure that? I did.

Be thankful that you have been warned of potential calamities. Y2K or not. Read "The Great Reckoning" by James Davidson & Lord Rees-Moog, as well as "The Crest Of The Tidal Wave." Especially study the first page of the Prudent Bear Fund annual report and other historical financial and economic data.

I know, you've heard 'wolf' so many times before... But you can't lower your guard because of false alarms. The Swiss have been ready for diasters since decades, by being armed to their teeth, and have fall-out sheltes, piles of food, and more, in every residence.

Are they dumb, smart or just paranoid?

Have you triumphed? I have. I hope you will too.

-- Not again! (seenit@ww2.com), January 04, 2000

Answers

Maybe it's not coincidental that I am half-Swiss and nearly half-Scot (the remainder is American Indian)? My mother's family has lived in the same HOUSE in Zurich for 800 years (including portraits of my direct ancestors back to 1250, now THOSE were some nasty and prepared- looking people, let me tell you).

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 04, 2000.

Did I want to be without power and having to bury bags of human exrement? Not really. Would I rather look forward to certain good things that are happening in my life due to years of hard work? Yes. All these people who are accusing us of having wanted a disaster do not understand WHY we prepared. Fear and anxiety, guys, because we never wanted the suffering. Not because we were yelling, "bring it on."

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), January 04, 2000.

Dear BigDog,

I've lived in a house in Switzerland that was built more than 1000 years ago. Did not have a crack in it, inside or out. Why can't we not build them to last 50 years without having to screw around to keep them from falling apart?

-- Not Again! (seenit@ww2.com), January 04, 2000.

Hey, there is such a thing as personal disaster, like unemployment, for instance!

More than Y2K, we feared economic disruption/recession/depression, which, if the stock market continues the way it's going today, could STILL happen. Y2K just kicked our butts into action, that's all.

I'm a realist. I buy medical insurance, car insurance, computer insurance, mortgage, fire, etc. etc. to cover me in event of disaster. I don't want to get in an auto accident, be seriously sick, or have my house burn down or my computer blow up -- but hey, that is what insurance is for: minimizing losses and risk. That is what Y2K preparations were all about: insurance. Nothing more, nothing less. I am greatly relieved the power is still on, the phones are up and we didn't get nuked. There IS a God.

-- Marie (pray4peace@compuserve.com), January 04, 2000.

Not again,

I'm sure you have read "Man's Search for Meaning" by Victor E. Frankl. How trivial some of this must seem.

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), January 04, 2000.

The sickness of our time is our pathologic inability to choose our technologies with authentic values in view. 50-year houses? The latest million-dollar monstrosites being built for the nouveau riche are, ironically, more ticky-tacky than Levittown ever was. Yes, there IS a message there.

-- BigDog (BigDog@duffer.com), January 04, 2000.

Well said Marie!

-- Nigel (nra@maxwell.ph.kcl.ac.uk), January 05, 2000.