On This Day Pre-Y2K
Confused by any of the jargon you see below? Check the Y2K Glossary!
February 14, 1999 Permalink
A few days ago, I got into a conversation at a gas station with the person using the next side of the pump. We both liked the commentator that I had really loud on the radio. He said something about getting a bunch of friends to cut off Washington DC from the rest of the country.
I said don’t be a unibomber. Just wait 11 months for y2k to do the job for you. He said “do I really think it will be that bad?” I offered a bet. I will meet you here at noon, Feb. 1, 2000. The bet on y2k would be 2 rolls of toilet paper. He laughed and said sure. Then I said, “think about it. If y2k is really bad, 2 rolls of toilet paper will be worth more than gold. If it is nothing, they are worth a nickle each, so already, I have the advantage in the bet.” He paused and said “I need to think about this.”
I love making “how bad will it be?” bets with rolls of toilet paper. After all, if it isn’t very bad, I need to get rid of the huge stash in my garage.
—David Holladay, Time Bomb 2000 Forum (LUSENET), 02/14/99
It is in the nature of the y2k problem that it is very difficult to pin down exactly which 40 issues will prove to be the most important ones. If you asked ten of the 8+ people on this bb to list their top 4 crucial y2k facts you would probably get a list of 25 or so crucial facts, plus doubles. For me the most crucial FACT that I can definitely take to the bank and which definately has crucial consequences is that Sooo many(i.e. millions, including biggies,)companies and countries have started too late to fix their systems, therefore will have difficulties (at least) with their business which will cause markets to plummet..so get out of the market. This is what I tell anyone and everyone, and I have total “faith” in all premises of this argument. Now there will be heaps of other effects, probably quite a few more important ones, but I’m not goin’ on about them here. (another crucial fact would be the considerable probability of teotwawki, but i could go on and on. we all could..)
Anyhow, what I want to get around to saying in this post is that the pro-Teotwawki argument is quite strong precisely because of the multiple weakness points which y2k attacks, each of which are sufficient to bring the whole shebang down. There’s at least 10 or twelve industries that are crucial to our modern-urban survival, and each of these are dependent on each other to varying degrees. And they’re all threatened seriously at the same time, due to their common dependency on computers...You might have proof that, say, 9 of these will be mostly ok, - we’d still be stuffed.
—humptydumpty, Time Bomb 2000 Forum (LUSENET), 02/14/99
You simply must read M. K. Wren’s book, A Gift Upon the Shore. In the book, there has been a nuclear blast, and only pockets of people survive. Two of the survivors, the main characters, feel they must preserve what great books are left. They gather and sort, and seal them in parafin wrappings to stop deterioration of the paper, and finally they put them in a bunker/root cellar affair that doesn’t leak. Of course there are very few people around to disturb them.
But one reason the book is so good is because it isn’t the typical blood and guts scenario, although there is some of that. It’s more about how people cope with a devastated country, and what they find is important to them. I feel it’s important to me to preserve things from the net, that may not survive; simply the writing of ordinary people, as well as the specialists.
—gilda jessie, Time Bomb 2000 Forum (LUSENET), 02/14/99
