Cheryl, thanks for calling attention to the Y2Ktoday Koskinen interview. With all the "stuff" posted on the two threads yesterday, I overlooked it. So I spent some time this morning reading it carefully.
I guess we all read things in the framework of our past experiences. I must say I didn't see anything disconcerting in this interview. Seemed reasoned and reasonable to me.
How in the world did Koskinen come up with: <><"87 percent of the people say that, two weeks before the end of the year, they're going to make sure that they have a minimum three-day supply of food and water for the weekend.>>
I don't think he did. I think what he was saying is that he would have preferred that the poll results were 87 rather than 18 percent reporting that they were planning to have a few days of rations on hand. I have no clue why he chose 87% rather than 86 or 91. Perhaps that was from some part of the poll that was not documented, or perhaps that is just a number that pollsters consider the threshold of high commitment. But I didn't read his words as you did. Regardless of the red herring "87," I think he was simply saying that 87% would have been a more satisfactory answer than 18%.
I also don't think he's advocating waiting until 2 weeks before the end of the year to buy batteries. I agree that there's some risk of that being "picked up as a sound bite." There's always a risk of those things being taken out of context, particularly on the short-attention-span TV newscasts.
Perhaps the reason we read his words differently was due to a different perspective of what is involved with "having a minimum 3 days supply of food and water for the weekend." To me, that means, at most, picking up a jar of peanut butter and a couple of boxes of crackers at the time you buy your Christmas turkey. It doesn't mean backing up the truck to the grocery store.
I've been kidded on this thread about my JIT approach to grocery shopping. But even I always have enough food in my pantry to last me several weeks in an emergency, longer if I have the means to cook. There are all sorts of strange jars, boxes, and cans in there--things that I bought once and forgot about. Couple of jars of salsa, a can of coconut milk, some smoked oysters. I don't know that a can of corn and a handful of raisin bran will tempt my palate much, but it will make a meal if need be.
One of the more useful things he said: ...we're all binary...What they miss is the problem in the middle, which is where the real problem is.
Karen
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