On This Day Pre-Y2K
Confused by any of the jargon you see below? Check the Y2K Glossary!
February 23, 1999 Permalink
I came upon by accident the rerun of Gary North’s first time on Art Bell. I think it was last May.
I remembered Gary well from the 70’s and the inflation/gold scare. I felt then that what he said was quite sensible, even though things didn’t get as bad as he thought. Perhaps his warnings persuaded policy makers to change their thinking.
Anyway, the next day I looked at his website and was a believer.
I immediately purchased Ed’s book and Hyatt’s book. Ed’s book removed any doubt for me.
Two weeks later, Gary discussed procrastination on his web site and said, “Your checkbook will know.” I started spending for preparations the next day.
—GA Russell, Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 02/23/99
In 1997 my brother started talking about Y2k. He works in a large bank in Chicago. He was pretty excited about it. Time hushed him up. Then in 1998 I read an article in the Parade Magazine, actaully it was a question directed to Marilyn Slavent(?) concerning Y2k. Her answer was very in depth and a little frightening. About that same time, my banker brother said older customers were coming into the bank and inquiring about Y2k. Some withdrew their savings. Brother was told by his bank to try discourage withdrawals and any questions related to Y2k were not to be answered. Instead, a name and address was required from the customer, and an informational pamplet would be sent to the customer. I started doing research on the net, ended up here, and am preparing like the world is going to end. (I don’t think it is, just a lot of hard times) Sometimes I feel foolish and question exactly what I am doing since I do not know that much about computers. I must rely on the opinions of others to make my decisions and have found that there are some very well informed people on this forum. I, too, look for certain names on posts and replies. I welcome the mixture of GIs and pollys because it allows me to see both sides of the issue. I appreciate that all try and give links so each of us can read original information and come to our own conclusions. If nothing comes of Y2k, I will still have learned much from this forum.
—Linda A., Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 02/23/99
I got it on vacation in Oregon this past year. Liek you, I have been in the IT industry for quite a while, but had figured everyone knew about and had a plan. While on vacation, I stayed at a friend’s house, who asked me, “So Brett, what do you think of this Year 2000 thing?” He figured me for a GI as one year earlier I’d been saying that I thought computers might actually be hurting our society rather than helping. I told him that I thought nothing of Y2K, and he introduced me to what was on the web. The turn-around for me was the text of the June 2, 1998, CSIS conference where Sen. Bennett was the keynote speaker. I read all 57 pages and returned to work telling my employer they’d better take this a lot more seriously than they had.
I’ve since married a woman who “gets it” and we’ve moved our 5 kid family to rural Iowa and now live on 10 acres of land with an acre- sized pond. My kids are happier than they’ve ever been and my wife and I are having a great time digging/building our root cellar and reading up on Carla Emery’s book.
One year ago I never would have figured I’d be where I am today - amazing.
Even if this goes okay, I wouldn’t change a thing about our new life - makes me wonder why I’ve been doing other things all of this time.
—Brett, Time Bomb 2000 Forums (LUSENET), 02/23/99
