On This Day Pre-Y2K
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May 28, 1999 Permalink
217 days now. The systems will not be fixed. Things will break. The spin from Ko-Skin-em is to shift the responsibility for preparation to the communities, something about dialoging and brochures, but get ready.
Essentially they have come to the same conclusion that I did at Day 500. My Day 500 message was that the remediation had failed. At that time it was so shocking that Gary North ran it for a month.
Day 500 is over, we’re at 217. The official spin now is “get ready”. They have been irresponsible. We should have stocked the community centers last year, did the outreach thing at Day 500. The official spin transitioned from “No Problems” to “We’ll be compliant” to “We’ll make December 31, 1998”, “I mean March 31, 1999” to “You’re in trouble”.
Everyone remember Al Gore pumping his fist to show how excited he was that the government would make March 31, 1999? Al ain’t too excited anymore. Who sandbagged Al? Was it Ko-Skin-em? Is Kosky rubbing his hands together, cackling with delight at the confusion that he’s caused? “We told them that September 1998 was the day, then December 31, 1998 with a full year for testing, oh yeah, something about March 1999, now I’m telling them that everything’s fine but they should start hoardin... I mean, stockpi... ah, make it, read a brochure, look at a poster, and harrass their local government. My-my, what a big brain I have.”
Oddly enough, Gary North still predicts problems and believes that a self sufficient rural place is a good idea. Ed Yourdon is still in Taos, and I’m still on my way to get some 7-11 donuts.
The answer now is teams, the churches, neighborhood watch, extended family units, recognizing that this is a problem and that we can beat it.
If we get ready as best we can and make provisions to help others, we’ll be able to walk away from the crash landing. Wishing won’t make it so. This will take a concerted effort, hard work, and more than a little good luck. No one will do it for us.
—Cory Hamasaki, Cory Hamasaki’s DC Y2K Weather Report, 05/28/99
