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Technology Stocks : Discuss Year 2000 Issues -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2500)	8/29/1998 6:38:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

The Year 2000: Social Chaos or Social Transformation? year2000.com ABOUT THE AUTHORS: John L. Petersen is president of The Arlington Institute, a Washington DC area research institute. He is a futurist who specializes in thinking about the long range security implications of global change. He is author of the award winning book, The Road to 2015: Profiles of the Future and his latest book is Out of the Blue - Wild Cards and Other Big Future Surprises, which deals with potential events such as Y2K. Margaret Wheatley and Myron Kellner-Rogers are authors and consultants to business. A Simpler Way, their book on organizational design was published in 1997. Dr. Wheatley's previous book, Leadership & the New Science, was recently named one of the 10 best management books ever, and it also was voted best management book in 1992 in Industry Week, and again in 1995 by a syndicated management columnist. Their consulting work takes them these days to Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Australia and Europe. In the States, they've worked with a very wide array of organizations.

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2500)	8/29/1998 10:23:00 PM
From: C.K. Houston	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 9818

Greenspan's Money in Treasury Bills By Dave Skidmore AP Writer Tuesday, August 18, 1998; 5:33 p.m. EDT =========================================================== WASHINGTON (AP) -- So where does Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who knows more about the economy than almost anybody, put his own money? No irrational exuberance for him. He shuns the stock market for the safest investment of all -- short-term Treasury bills. Greenspan's desire to avoid any conflict of interest guides that decision, says Fed spokeswoman Lynn Fox. But investment advisers caution that others shouldn't necessarily follow his lead, even with the market's recen rocky course. "If you don't have a growth element in your portfolio, you're not keeping up with inflation," said David B. Yeske, a certified financial planner in San Francisco on Tuesday. ''So he's probably losing ground with each passing year.'' Not that the central bank chairman has much to worry about in that department, according to Greenspan's financial statement, made available Tuesday. The man with his finger on the economy's pulse owned at least $2.4 million in short-term Treasury securities and had at least $466,000 in money market and credit union accounts at the end of 1997, according to the statement dated June 29. He also owned a Norfolk Southern Corp. bond worth at least $500,000 and a Massachusetts state bond worth at least $100,000. That's on top of his annual salary of $136,700, not to mention the salary and assets of his wife, NBC-TV correspondent Andrea Mitchell, 51, whom he married in April 1997. Unlike Greenspan's holdings, his wife's portfolio is weighted heavily toward stocks. [CK SIDEBAR: Wonder how long she'll be doing this??] The asset figures are not precise because the value of each asset is given as a range. Greenspan wasn't required to disclose gifts from friends but he listed wedding gifts from colleagues in government, anyway. They included glass servers and a silver ladle, valued at $300, from Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin, and folk art of undetermined value from House Banking Committee Chairman Jim Leach, R-Iowa. Greenspan has filed an annual financial disclosure every year since he was sworn in as Federal Reserve chairman in August 1987. But until this year it said simply that most of his assets were in a blind trust worth more than $1 million. He chose to liquidate the trust after his marriage to Mitchell so the couple could make joint financial plans, Fox said. It was probably an expensive decision. ''He probably gave up a couple hundred thousand dollars a year in investment income,'' Yeske guessed. Many people of Greenspan's age tend to shun stocks in favor of investments such as Treasury securities, which protect against loss of principal, said Scott M. Kahan, president of Financial Asset Management Corp. in New York City. But that can be a mistake. If Greenspan were his client, Kahan said, he'd warn the chairman he can't count on inflation remaining as low as it is now. Prices have risen at a 1.5 percent annual rate so far this year. ''A 72-year-old man in good health could live another 20 years, or even 25,'' Kahan said. ''Plus his wife is 20 years younger.'' But then Greenspan is the Federal Reserve chairman and he does have some influence over inflation and the stock market. Maybe he knows more than the investment advisers? Two years ago, Greenspan warned of ''irrational exuberance'' in financial markets. Last month, he told Congress that ''history tells us there will be a correction of some significant dimension.'' The Dow Jones industrial average had just hit a record high five days earlier. Since then, it's been declining and, despite some recovery, closed Tuesday more than 600 points below the peak. c Copyright 1998 The Associated Press

To: John Mansfield who wrote (2500)	8/30/1998 7:38:00 AM
From: John Mansfield	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9818

' NERC Y2K Readiness Assessment Report The attached Y2K readiness report questionnaire is a critical element of the NERC effort. This document will be used to aggregate information on the overall readiness of the electric supply and delivery industry in North America. _____ Confidentiality of Responses Download the Questionaire [Excel 5.0/95] [Excel 4.0] Download the Instructions [RTF] [Word 4.0] READINESS ASSESSMENT QUESTIONNAIRE NERC Y2K Readiness Assessment Report Instructions for Completing and Submitting the Report Background The North American Electric Reliability Council (NERC) has been requested by the U.S. Department of Energy to assume a leadership role in preparing the electric power supply and delivery systems of North America for the transition to the Year 2000 (Y2K). DOE's request is part of a broad initiative by the President of the United States to ensure that infrastructure essential the nation's security and well-being remains operational during critical Y2K transition periods. DOE has requested from NERC a status report and coordination plan by September 1998 and a full status report by July 1999. The status reports will review the measures that are being taken to prepare the electric power supply and delivery systems for the transition to Y2K. In addition to the role of Y2K readiness assessment, NERC is providing a forum for Y2K information exchange through its Web Page at www.nerc.com. This exchange forum includes generic checklists of Y2K critical areas and components, generic test procedures, Y2K contacts, links to other Y2K Web Sites, and other useful information. NERC is also providing for coordination of Y2K activities among the NERC Regional Reliability Councils through the formation of NERC Y2K Coordination Task Force. NERC's Operating Committee and Security Coordinator Subcommittee are taking on the challenge of coordinating Y2K scenario assessment and operational contingency planning. Although the initial request came from DOE, Y2K is an international problem. NERC's efforts are focused on the four major interconnections of North America, which includes Canada and a portion of Mexico. Methodology The attached Y2K readiness report questionnaire is a critical element of the NERC effort. This document will be used to aggregate information on the overall readiness of the electric supply and delivery industry in North America. NERC plans to use this instrument for monthly progress reporting. It is only through a systematic and repeated procedure that a reasonable progress assessment can be made. The aggregated results will be reported to DOE and other applicable government agencies in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. The aggregated results will also be available to the public. NERC plans to maintain the anonymity of the individual reporting entities. The information reported publicly will be aggregated data, from which it will not be possible to ascertain individual entity information or names. Contact names will only be used for verifying information for omissions and discrepancies. Contact and company information will be removed from the database once the completeness and authenticity of the report have been verified. The assessment instrument is being distributed through the ten NERC Regional Y2K Coordinators to all operating companies with direct responsibility for operation of bulk electric power supply and delivery systems. In the interest of having a single reporting document, a section on business systems and nuclear generation have been added. Reporting on these will be the responsibility of the EEI, for business systems, and the NEI for nuclear generation. Those sections of the report that are returned to NERC will be forwarded to the appropriate organizations. As before, the report on the distribution section is the responsibility of the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, the American Public Power Association, and the Edison Electric Institute. Instructions for Completing the Y2K Readiness Assessment Report Beginning in August, the report has been simplified to make it easier to complete. There are fewer questions to answer. To facilitate the aggregation and standardization of the data into a database, some restrictions on how the data is entered for certain cells have been implemented. These are explained in the following instructions. 1.The report has eight sections: "Company Information"; "General Planning"; "Nuclear Generation"; "Non Nuclear Generation"; "EMS/SCADA"; "Telecommunications"; "Substation Controls, Protection and Distribution"; and "Business Systems". A ninth section called DB shows the record that will be entered into the NERC database. 2.A single report is expected from each entity with responsibility for operating part of the bulk electric supply and delivery systems of the four major Interconnections in North America. 3.The Nuclear Generation section of this report is optional. Please do not include any nuclear generation in the Non Nuclear section. If NERC receives any information on nuclear facilities through this report, NERC will forward the information to NEI. 4.A Company/Organization coordinator should gather the information from applicable coordinators/experts in each area addressed by the report and consolidate the information into a single report to NERC. 5.Per cent complete must be entered as a number, from 0-100, only. 6.Dates must be entered in month, day, year format e.g. 12/15/98. 7.A standard method for determining per cent complete follows. It is preferred that your responses be geared to % work done compared to total amount of work to be done. This would account for various activities having different amounts of effort. For example: if your inventory shows 100 devices with possible Y2K problems, and your assessment shows that only 2 have Y2K problems and one device has been replaced with a Y2K ready device and the other still needs remediation, the per cent complete to report would be Inventory 100%, Assessment 100%, Remediation and Testing 50%. 8.You must avoid making changes to the format of the report. The results of your responses are summarized in the DB section. Because of the volume of the responses, NERC will be cutting your response from the right hand column of the DB section and pasting it directly into the database. Please verify that your responses have translated properly into the DB section. If you make changes to the spreadsheet that disable the capture of the information in this section or if you provide information in a nonstandard format, NERC will be unable to use your response. 9.The report is to be submitted electronically by August 28,1998 in the Microsoft EXCEL format by emailing the file to: Gene Gorzelnik of NERC at efg@nerc.com or overnighting an electronic copy to Gene at NERC, 116-390 Village Blvd., Princeton N.J. 08450. 10.Any questions regarding the Readiness Assessment Document should be directed to Terry Devaney at 408-532-7185 or tdevaney@worldnet.att.net. Your assistance in completing this important process is greatly appreciated. List of Regional Coordinators ECAR Larry Bugh 330-456-2488 larryb@ecar.org ERCOT Steve Grendel 512-248-3150 sgrendel@ercot-iso.com FRCC Donnie Miller 813-384-7815 donnie.r.miller@fpc.com MAAC Tom Kennedy 610-666-4749 kennedt@pjm.com MAIN Dan Hasenwinkel 630-261-2634 deh@maininc.org MAPP Jim Jones 612-341-4634 jl.jones@mapp.org NPCC Tony Elaqua 518-356-6118 Aelacqua@nyiso.com SERC Ron Pendred 704-382-5570 rpendred@duke-energy.com SPP Carl Monroe 501-664-0146 X218 cmonroe@spp.org WSCC Bill Comish 801-582-0353 bill@wscc.com Some people have had problems printing the Business Information Page to one sheet. This problem is a printer formatting problem and can be fixed by doing the following. With the Business Information page displayed, press the "File" button at the top left of the open Window. Then click on "Page Setup". In the section of the new window that says "Scale," click on the little circle to the left of the phrase "Fit to: 1 page wide". A dot should appear in the circle. Then press "OK". Finally, save the entire document by normal means (Ctrl-S, press the floppy disk symbol, or go to "File," "Save"). nerc.com