I am not addressing Pollys. I am addressing those of you, like myself who prepared for a potential disaster. I have no regrets. But I sense in some of you a real anger that things didn't bomb out. You don't really want everything down the tubes do you? It's like taking out fire insurance and being disappointed your house didn't burn down. The only reason I could think someone would be angry is if they did something dishonest -- like run their credit card bills up thinking they weren't going to have to pay for them or something. I apologize if anyone is offended. That is not the reason for this. There is enough criticism from the pollys as it is, and I don't count them of any value. We KNOW there are failures happening -- constantly. But do we have to be EXCITED about it? It won't be nice if things really go down. I would hope we would hope for the best, even though we know it may be a lot worse. Cheer up everybody. We were the smart ones. We don't have to defend our positions to the pollys. They weren't bright enough to see the problems in the first place -- do you think they are going to listen to you now?

-- Kim Scaramastro (kim@antipas.org), January 07, 2000

Answers

IMHO:

We're searching for validation for all the preps we've made. I, myself, don't want TEOTWAWKI, but ONE significant failure would have been nice. Validation. Yep.

-- Butt nuggett (Floater@toilet.com), January 07, 2000.

Butt Nuggett? Where do you people come up with these names??? What imaginations!!

-- Kim Scaramastro (kim@antipas.org), January 07, 2000.

I think we're keeping ourselves informed of current events now rather than trying to argue validity. There are remarkably few admissions of Y2k caused events, even when it may be true. Brings to mind the water company whose bills said "Due: Jan. 3, 1900" and they STILL said it wasn't Y2k related.

I've posted before why I think I was prudent in preparing, and why we all still have valid reasons for not getting rid of the preps just yet. Many non-y2k reasons exist, and always have.

I was a little surprised, but I, for one, am glad that no major disruptions happened immediately. I do think that the multitude of minor ones could snowball into larger problems if they built up too much, too fast.

I'm never unhappy about having insurance and not using it. I'm more unhappy about needing it and not having it. No offense taken, nor intended.

-- Powder (Powder47keg@aol.com), January 07, 2000.

I NEVER wanted "it" to go down...my preps followed the Red Cross guidelines pushed to one week.

Look, validation is one thing, having it so bad that the FEDS tear up the last vestiges of Civil Liberties is quite another!

-- K. Stevens (kstevens@ It ALL went away seven days ago.com), January 07, 2000.

Yes I would have liked some serious problems. Its not like fire insurance - there you loose everything, here you've just got an unpleasant life for a while, but it can be re-built (ask the Quebecers and the French (hmm just struck me that both communities were Frensh speaking - no I don't even want to go down that path, stop it IS, I say STOP IT).

Having a level 5/6 event for a few weeks would have given all us complacent folks here in the west a good jolt in the grey matter not to assume that we can continue to plunder the earth for our own selfindulgence and would understand first hand how 80% of the planet has to live because we insist on using every avilable resource for ourselves.

-- Interested Spectator (is@the_ring.side), January 07, 2000.

Hey Butt Nugget! Is "Butt" short for "Butthole"?

-- Stupid Questioner (Just@curious.com), January 07, 2000.

I never wanted anything to go down at all. I quite like my hot showers, Internet connection, electric lights and supermarket access. Nevertheless, I'm fully aware that life is not certain and few disasters will give you time to prepare before they hit so we stay prepared at all times.

I will admit to a degree of astonishment that things went so smoothly as they apparently have but in retrospect it seems only natural that once in while things should work out better than you think they would since they so often go exactly the other way.

.......Alan.

The Providence Cooperative - A great source of preparedness information

http://www.providenceco-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), January 07, 2000.

It's only Jan. 7, folks. There's still plenty of time for everything to go down the tubes. Be glad you prepped. It's gonna hit big.

-- (bugref@hestro.org), January 07, 2000.

Contingency Planning - planning for the worst case and hoping like heck you NEVER have to use those plans. Accordingly

Y2K as a non event - Best plate of crow I ever had to eat. Hanging around here gives the opportunity to have seconds and thirds. Good stuff. (Hopefully can have a bunch of seconds on March 1 - maybe even some crow soup....)

Come on, its good eatin and there is plenty to go around. Belly up to the table folks.

jh

-- john hebert (jt_hebert@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

I'm overjoyed that the basic infrastructure stayed up - but I don't think we're completely out of the woods yet as far as business and the effects on the economy go. I continue to be watchful. As a friend of mine says, it's a wiggly world.

-- Linda (lindelf@earthlink.net), January 07, 2000.

Good God, no!!!

I'm 43 years old, have chronic tendonitis, and am bipolar.

the bipolar is WELL under control with meds, but I would hate to go back to the old, pre medicated ways.

Don't want to be a true, dirt farmer, hard scrabble.

Still concerned that things could go sour, though...

-- mushroom (mushroom_bs_too_long@yahoo.com), January 07, 2000.

Another interesting analogy is: say you're on an airplane. You're happy that you have seatbelts, emergency exits, and floatation cushions, but you hope like hell you don't ever need them. There are a lot of reasons you might need them, all bad.

-- Powder (Powder47keg@aol.com), January 07, 2000.

"Butt Nuggett? Where do you people come up with these names???"

That's an easy name to come up with cuz all he did was look in the terlet!

-- Hawk (flyin@high.again), January 07, 2000.

At first, I felt 'embarrassed' family was kind, but laughing at my preps...BUT, the most important thing this taught me was that 'nothing' in life is certain...Where is my trust???the banks, grocery stores, comfort zones, now I dont feel so trusting anymore. Like someone else stated, I am more thoughtful of getting into debt so quickly. I am thankful that I have learned to trust in God now more than government and TPTB....and SURELY good DID come from all of this, it got me back to BASICS which is where we ALL should be. There is nothing wrong with simplicity and should times get rough and I believe they will, I am alot more prepared now than ever....Thanks to all the posters here and to Ed for giving us ALL something to think about. As for being excited about it....NOT!!!!! I never wanted to see bad things happen, but I admitt, I was afraid. For now, I shall enjoy the forum, relax, smile and laugh.

===consumer

-- consumer (shh@aol.com), January 07, 2000.

Pollys -- as you can see by the answers above -- you really don't have any reason to ride us. The whole thing is a matter that we just wanted to be prepared for what was ahead, and may still be ahead. I personally would rather be associated with someone who is smart enough to listen and prepare than those whose ears are closed. Closed ears don't leave any room in your lives for improvement. This isn't a war of who's right and who's wrong. We are all going to have to pull together if things get really bad. If they don't -- then we can celebrate together. Am I being too naive? I wish people could get along. There's no reason why we can't pull together. Just so you will know, I don't have anything againt anyone one -- pollys or doomers. We have to pull together and help one another.

-- Kim Scaramastro (kim@antipas.org), January 07, 2000.

When I first started learning about Y2k and the possible consequences I thought cool-I've always been a bit of a luddite anyway. I mean, I don't even have a dishwasher. But as I got involved in making preps, I started to think about what I was really attached to, and the consequences of having our technology going haywire all at once on the lives of people who need meds, or even just the people in the cities. So by the end of 99 I was really stressing out even though preps were completed and I'm glad it's been a BITR so far, but what bugs the heck out of me is how all of us GIs could be so wrong, when we've spent countless hours studying the problem, when guys like Ed were extending such a logical argument-it just doesn't seem real. Then there were so many people who never even gave it more than a moments passing thought and were so arrogant about it at the same time, who have turned out to be right. I'm not disappointed that it wasn't too bad, it just seems so strange. After all, I'm not the type who gets terribly excited about end of the world scenarios, but I honestly believed we were closer to an 8 than a 2, and it still could turn out that way. Damn, I'd rather just leave all this behind and start planning my next trip to Europe!

-- soapie (soapie@suds.com), January 07, 2000.

"Do we really want everything to go down?"

Not everything, just the women.

:-)

-- (long@dong.silver), January 07, 2000.

Kim...quite frankly...yes,civilizations go in cycles.we are at the end of the cycle in the u.S.A(not a misprint)I would rather face a "big bang" than a slow downfall.......VIVA LA REVOLUTION

-- eric micael....allen (bizerr4@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

long dong......I thought you died of aids.

-- eric micael....allen (bizerr4@hotmail.com), January 07, 2000.

Hi Kim-- For me it isn't a question of wanting it to all go away. It is a question of still being afraid it will all go away.

-- Pam (jpjgood@penn.com), January 07, 2000.

Pam, I know what you mean. I want to get on with things, but I keep checking back here to see what is happening, as if things are suddenly going to start going crazy. I am well prepared here at home, but just can't seem to shake the uneasiness about the situation. I guess it is because like many of you -- THIS DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. There is too much info on what SHOULD have happened -- not what DID. Well, it's time to get serious and get a life. What happens will happen. I don't want to keep thinking about it. Still -- it is addictive to check back here to see what the news media is not reporting is happening. I am a firm believer that we are at the end of an age. I don't think we have too much more time before there are some drastic changes made.

-- Kim Scaramastro (kim@antipas.org), January 07, 2000.

No. I would rather look like a fool than have even one small business fold BECAUSE it will be much easier for me to simply decide to be more carefull about my conclusions than it will for those folks to rebuild their lives.

One thing that impresses me here is the apparent failure to understand that the issue is not completely resolved. For those who have recently joined the forum and never exposed themselves to all the various possibilities (I did say possibilities) it is easy to understand their notion that it ended when it began.

Too much (way way way too much) emphasis was placed on the embeddeds issues and power/light/telco problems.

There are still the software and particularily applications software issues. Someone started a thread asking for reports. They were going to do a trend analysis. They seemed to indicate this was to be a rational/scientific endeavor. That trend analysis simply can not be complete at this point because trends develope over time. Sufficient time has not yet passed to give us a concrete indication of what these applications are doing.

I am waiting to see that analysis BEFORE I decide that indeed the world is right by deciding that there are no remaining issues.

When that is in, I will toss in my y2k bennie if that is warranted.

-- Michael Erskine (Osiris@urbanna.net), January 07, 2000.

IS I totally agree with you. People need to "wake up". I was raised with the belief that when you borrow something, you return it in the same, or better shape than you got it. Well, we are trashing this place and I don't think we can buy a replacement.

-- Paul Neumann (neu_mann@email.msn.com), January 07, 2000.

My disappointment is this: When it looked like there might be real trouble, I could imagine us all learning, just at the cusp of a new millennium -- that we really do live in a continuum with our past, and with those forebearers who had to live in nature, understand the seasons, do things for themselves. Instead, the seemingly perfect rollover seems to endorse all the modern delusions -- Wheee!!! Who needs nature!! Who needs the knowledge of the past!! We are a new kind of being, one that can live on information, on entertainment, on air!!! The future works! Full speed ahead!!

-- Ann (don'tknow@aol.com), January 07, 2000.