Comments?

[James K]

Hi folks,

I would like to hear from some of the folks who flamed me for saying that the Y2K "crisis" wouldn't happen. I would especially like a word from a couple of the "computer experts" who called me names and said I knew nothing about computers.

(FYI, just for fun, I went in (at 7 pm) and watched a 1965 vintage system roll over with no problem whatsoever. "23 59 58, 23 59 59, 00 00 00, 00 00 01, 00 00 02....".)

So, when you come out of your fortified bunkers, let me hear from you.

Jim

 

[Jimmie]

Hi Jim, I was not one of the ones that disagreed with you, and think it's really sad that someone called you those names.

BTW, it's human nature for people to worry about/prepare for events that could have a drastic effect on their lifes.

Now you were right, as was a lot of other people, myself included, but we don't feel a need to rub it in.

Those that were wrong, were wrong. No need to be confrontational about it.

And those same people that prepared are survivors, they will survive and be ready for anything. Really, that is something we should all look up to.

[This message has been edited by Jimmie (edited January 01, 2000).]

 

[Greg G]

I didn't join that thread but since you brought it up, I can't wait to go to the next gun show here and see what probably will be cut-rate prices on all of that Y2K stuff some of those people were selling. I may try to get one of those radios with its own little wind-up generator for a fraction of whay they were selling for.

[This message has been edited by Greg G (edited January 01, 2000).]

 

[foxfire]

Jim, I think it's just human nature to favor the side of caution, the ol' better to be safe than sorry mentality. Where I live, no one, and I mean no one, knew for certain what was/wasn't going to happen. I asked everyone I could, so I could try to make an informed decision. In the end, I, too, joined the BTBSTS group. So we were wrong, so what? Everybody wins this time and I'll be prepared for the next crisis. No, I wasn't one of those 'flame throwers' (I'm one of the new guys). I hope they write in. And I, too, am looking forward to these upcoming gun shows and yard sales - should be lots of bargains for a change...

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ff ...save the 2nd. No fate but what we make.

 

[beemerb]

One thing that might happen because of the Y2K is a lot of people who never owned a gun before bought one and hoefully got a little training in the use of.Who knows but at least some of them might end up coverted to the pro gun side.I hope.By the way I am one of people who added to my stockpile just in case.I allso carry a spare tire in all my vehicles and have a ccw.carry 100% of the time.I would rather be prepared then be caught short.
PS I allso have insurance on my vehicles not that I expect to be in an accedent either.
Bob

 

[KAM_Indianapolis]

It aint over till all the ones and zeros have been counted. There have been some minor glitches. But I still believe we have yet to see the worst of this problem.

Just because nothing is wrong today doesn't mean that in several hours,days, or weeks nothing will happen. There are a lot of systems in this country and on the planet (and above the planet) that don't get excersized until they are needed. I wouldn't start selling off your supplies just yet. Though I would by the odd gun and ammo, if it were a bargain.

We now have enough supplies to outlast a very bad winter storm. Dont have anything that we wont eventually use.

I guess though in the minds of a lot of people this will be a non-event. Of course if the world had not spent $600 billion (or more) where would we all be right now.

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Peace through superior firepower...
Keith

If the 2nd is antiquated, what will happen to the rest.
"the right to keep and bear arms."

 

[ak9]

GregG, I'm with you. I may go broke saving money buying my hurricane supplies for next season. I kind of had my eye on the dual powered system myself. I imagine there will be alot of freeze drieds hitting the market and the garage sales ought to be great! And that new 5000watt generator and that model 29 nib and......starting to salivate.

 

[Fourdiamonds]

Did a fair amount of precautions--More so for the fear I have of our Government then y2k. Yes, I've said all along that I really hope six months down the road my friends can giggle at me, but you know what, I'm still going to stockpile, for as sure as God made green apples, we'll need them soon enough!!!!

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From my cold dead hands.

 

[Hal]

Jim,
Is this the thread you refer to? http://www.thefiringline.com:8080/forums/showthread.php?threadid=32150
Few, if any people believed everything would shut down at the stroke of midnight. Most simply had no idea what would happen. It's still premature to say that there aren't going to be any problems in the next few months, or for that matter the next few years. A lot of patches for software address dates as far down the road as the year 2020. Please remember $500 to $600 Billion was spent world wide on what was/is a very real problem. I still have the same concerns I did 2 years ago about the whole issue. Time that should have gone into product development was diverted to fix a problem that should never have been. People lost jobs, and in the next few months will lose jobs over Y2K computer problems. A lot of capitol expenditures were diverted to make room for new equipment. People lost job benefits so their company could come up with money for new equipment. Case in point: How well written do you think Windows 2000 is going to be? This POS is going to be unleashed on the public as a finished product, when it really is still in the Alpha stage. MicroSoft should have been working on new stuff, but instead spent a lot of time working on end of life products. What about all the fence sitters that bought a gun, "just in case". How many of them are feeling ashamed and foolish? Think they are going to happily lose money so a bargin hunter can buy their guns, or are they going to dump them for the highest price they can get?(ie n the street). There is still a lot of crap to wade through. The worst is yet to come as the IT field dumps the extra people added to cover Y2K preperation, and the minor glitches start to surface. Their ain't going to be enough people left to fix the minor stuff, and the minor stuff will become major problems. Count on it.

 

[rabbit assassin]

Well the fanatical y2k doomsdayers will move onto something else now - maybe it will be an asteroid that will hit the earth - a secret UN army in Canada that will invade the US, these oeople would like something to happen.

Meanwhile the anti gunners quietly work away and laugh at all those survivalists and others who are actually doing them a favour.

Just think what could have been done with all the money spent (or even 1/100th) on y2k books videos etc - if it was used in a pro gun campaign.

 

[Johnny Got His Gun.1]

The doomsayers are merely banking that something might happening at sometime. The increased vagueness of such an idea increases the doomsayers' probability of being right in the long run.

So what?

An asteroid could hit us. A reactor could fritz out. A city could experience a riot over something. The Norse had a saying, "Any man who must put his nose out of doors should not be a coward." If an individual's time is up, it's up. If a society's time is up, it's up.

Furthermore, y2k has taught me one important lesson: the American populace, on a whole, is sorely under-prepared for most worst-case scenarios. How else might we account for all of the frenetic hair pulling and stockpiling of the past year? Perhaps I'm gereralizing, but more handwringing seemed to come from sheeple who hung on the media's every hope of cataclysm. At least stockpilers will be better prepared if, say, a natural disaster threatens their respective regions. If they're smart, they won't sell what they invested so much money into. Keep it . . . just in case.

But, for Pete's sake, don't scream from the rooftops about it.

 

[foxfire]

I can't even compare the 'doomdayers' to a clock that's stopped. At least the clock is right twice a day, every day.


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ff ...save the 2nd. No fate but what we make.

 

[Mike in VA]

Though there wasn't a catastropic meltdown of the infrastructure, it's WAY too early to declare victory. There's going to be tons of little nickle-dime glitches that pop up over the next 6 months. Some won't even be noticed, some will just be ignored, but others will bite us in the butt in most annoying ways. Whether it's the randomness of perversity (or the perversity of ramdomness), if bad timing conspires with the right glitch, $h*t could happen. While I'm grateful there was no apocolyptic events (I really didn't expect any -), I'm more grateful that, as far as I can tell, the citizens of the world pretty much kept their heads, folks pretty much behaved, and no one did anything heinous.

OTOH, I can't bring myself to make fun of those who prepared (though there was clearly some over-reaction). At the minimum, chance favors the prepared mind, and the event provided an impetutus for my family to formalize and provision for a disaster plan.

Anyhooo, glad everyone made it OK, best wishes to everyone for a healthy, happy, prosperous new year! M2

 

[Oatka]

Well, being from Florida, we always were prepared for short-term (2 weeks) outtages, so Y2K was no different, except for a few extra buck withheld and a few more gallons of water (in Nevada now).

My biggest concern was that laws/rules instigated to control the rowdies would not be lifted afterward. That and the refineries or foreign oil fields bellying up and taking us into the 70's again, only worse.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how little BIG stuff went down. I suspect that while some doom-and-gloomers are disappointed, there's a lot more chagrin amongst those who were all set to slap a bunch of restrictive laws on us. And, since there were no major shootings, the antis are going to have to crank up there propaganda machine another notch.

The date I fear now is Jan. 20 -- when Congress is back in session. Isn't is easier on the nerves when they aren't?

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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.


[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited January 02, 2000).]

 

[James K]

Hi, guys,

My apology for "rubbing it in." I guess that is human nature too. I just feel sorry for all the folks who had to go on special duty (often without overtime pay) to sit in cold "command centers" and watch ... nothing.

Of course there will be more glitches; no one ever said there would not be. One county in New Jersey sent out tax bills saying that taxes had to be paid by July 1, 1900 to avoid penalty.

As for doomsayers, I remember one fellow who always made the New Year tabloids by predicting a massive earthquake in California that year. He told an interviewer, "One year, I am going to be right, and they will forget all about the years I was wrong!"

Jim

 

[John/az2]

My problems started way before Y2K.

I have to restart my Windows 98 computer 2-3x daily!

------------------
John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!

[This message has been edited by John/az2 (edited January 02, 2000).]

 

[Blue Heeler]

I think one of the doom merchants was called
"chicken licken"---that may have been an alias tho'.

 

[ak9]

So what is wrong with collecting overtime for doing nothing? Who else deserves it more then those who help keep us all safe? I feel sorry for the ones did not get the overtime for doing the same duty? Man that really sucks! Thanks guys!

 

[KAM_Indianapolis]

RAE - you hit on something I had thought a couple years ago. What are all these soon to be un-employed programmers going to do (especially the ones that armed themselves.) Hopefully they made enough to retire and get themselves a nice vacation home in the woods where they can learn to hunt and fire that gun safely.

Johnny - You got that 1/2 right. I don't think most of America is prepared for a best case scenario.

 

[Art Eatman]

Well, I'm happy to say I don't have to worry about what to do with any MREs...

I asked a lot of questions about the whole deal, and added a bit to my usual pantry-supply, mostly to avoid any hassles with "the establishment" if idiots-at-large created problems. I still think the feds were poised to over-react.

Preparations? Well, I cleaned the carburetor on my 15-year old generator--and then hauled it back to my hunt camp, along with an air compressor and power saws and nail guns and added a room onto it. I think "Comfy in Camp" is a good motto--which is why I bought a propane refrigerator, but a few months ahead of schedule. I'll have cold beer and ice and salad stuff and all that sort of thing.

Will all this peace and quiet affect ammo sales? Will all that stockpiling by the Fortune 500 companies mean lower-quantity orders during 2000? For instance, Coca Cola announced they were building up a six-month supply of raw materials...

I'm also curious to see if any of those programmers did indeed put "trapdoors" into the software of any financial institutions, enabling them to do mischief at some later date. Offshore banking, after hours?

Oh, well, the future is always fun!

As usual, Art