interesting Ed Yourdon comp.software.y2k post
it seems to be me that we're going to be moving into panic mode by Xmas of '98, and full-scale foaming-at-the-mouth mode by Xmas of '99.
From: Ed Yourdon <ed@yourdon.com>
Newsgroups: comp.software.year-2000
Subject: Re: Survey4Q-1997
Date: Tue, 16 Dec 1997 21:59:54 -0500
cory hamasaki wrote:
<snip>
> I'm going to have dinner w/ my pal, the survivalist nut-case
> who owns the 100+ acre farm, tomorrow night. Got lots of plans to make.
> Maybe I'll give him a 55 gallon drum of diesel for his Christmas present
> instead of the NRA T-shirt (I get them at a discount, patches too.)
Y'know, this brings up an interesting point: what should we all be doing about
relatively innocent-but-clueless friends and family members? I'm not so
concerned about my siblings and kids -- they're all reasonably healthy and
intelligent, and can take responsibility for whatever decisions they make
after hearing my particular perspective about Y2K. But what about my parents?
Should I send them a 55 gallon drum of fuel oil?
Granted, I may be a bit older than some of the folks on this forum, but I'll
betcha there are a bunch of us who have parents with very modest incomes, and
who are very dependent on Social Security -- not only that, they get their
monthly SSA stipends direct-deposited into their bank account. At one point,
I tried to guesstimate how many systems are involved in the
SSA-to-Mom's-bank-account "logical transaction," and gave up after I ran out
of fingers and toes with which to count.
Obviously, there's not much I can do, personally, to ensure that the banks and
FedWire and telecom and SSA systems will all be working to ensure that Mom
gets her SSA check. But on the other hand, your image of the 55-gallon drum
is an important one: THIS is the likely to be the last year when you'll be
able to find such things at a reasonable price, and in reasonable quantity.
For obvious reasons, I don't envision shipping a large drum of diesel-fuel
through the Post Office, but what about a one-month supply of emergency food?
It's still readily available, at a reasonable cost -- and it might turn out to
be very, very useful in a couple years. In any case, it would sure be a
change from the banal Xmas gifts I usually end up sending a lot of relatives.
Has anyone else thought of this? More to the point: has it dawned on anyone
that this could turn out to be the last calm, peaceful Xmas season we're gonna
see for a few years? Even if a miracle occurs and Y2K turns out to be a
Sally-Katzen-style "non-event," it seems to be me that we're going to be
moving into panic mode by Xmas of '98, and full-scale foaming-at-the-mouth
mode by Xmas of '99.
Ed
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