Ross Perot says it's easy - just set the clocks(on the computers) back to 1972 and run the darn power stations MANUALLY. Why didn't we all think of that. Saved billions. Where has this guy been?

Bob P

-- Bob P (rpilc99206@aol.com), May 05, 1999

Answers

Yeah.....and this is the guy that left 18 milion Americans holding the bag during a national election.

-- Lobo (atthelair@yahoo.com), May 05, 1999.

ROTFLMAO. Did he have the usual seeing is believing handy dandy flip chart too?

-- (didnt@see.it), May 05, 1999.

You see...Y2K is like this crazy old aunt you've got down in the basement...

-- Ross is a trip (possibly@bad.trip), May 05, 1999.

actually I've allways liked Perot. How can a guy so out of touch run a software company (probably non-compliant). I was so naive

hopeless,

Bob P

-- bob P (rpilc99206@aol.com), May 05, 1999.

I wonder if Scary Gary will do one of his take-offs on this tomorrow. :) Stay tuned.

-- Rob Michaels (sonofdust@com.net), May 05, 1999.

I wonder if Jay Leno will pick it up.

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 05, 1999.

Larry King should have asked Perot about all of those non-compliant health care financial management systems that EDS creator when he was its founder and CEO.

-- Incredulous (ytt000@aol.com), May 05, 1999.

I'm ALL EARS - what did the old coot really have to say !! :))

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 05, 1999.

this man is actually partially responsible for this problem, and is most likely getting even richer from remediation efforts.

-- . (.@...), May 06, 1999.

He is tearing Slick up on Kosovo and Iraq,,, brought up the song and dance in " The best little Whore house in Texas ",,,, Onto loo loo land and Littleton.

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 06, 1999.

TV Movies Vidio games Parents Don't need an automatic weapon to hunt deer

He's writeing a book on child rearing

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 06, 1999.

TV

Movies

Vidio games

Parents

You don't need automatic weapons to hunt deer

The book

&*#$ formateing

Wants universal draft,,, brought up the Swiss !!??,,, don't need autos?

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 06, 1999.

Yup,,, 30 sec on Y2k,,, turn the clock back, we can do it all by hand,,, shut down the puter till you got it fixed,,, would fly if there were clear skys, wait a day if it is cloudy.

This guy is nuts. I'm out of here,,

-- CT (ct@no.yr), May 06, 1999.

'Y2K is like this crazy old aunt you've got down in the basement... '

now you know why, if anyone asks, I say yeah I live in Texas.... but I was born in North Carolina.

Bush is just a younger, and not as bright or gutsy, Perot.

As my grandson used to say in the grocery store to horrify onlookers and humilate his parents: 'help me! I don't know these people!'

-- Shelia (Shelia@active-stream.com), May 06, 1999.

Hmmmmm,

Like a crazy old aunt living in the basement? I think we have a few of those right here, posting their opinions on a regular basis. But I'll bet the other part about just turning the clocks back will be headline news on the Polly sites today. Wonder if we can't get a few of our own crazy aunts to log in and say "I told you so!" :-)

-- Gordon (gpconnolly@aol.com), May 06, 1999.

FWIW, I have personally had lunch with Ross Perot twice in my life. It was not a one-on-one lunch either time but although there were others present, it was not a large gathering either. I have spent many long days and nights in EDS facilities on various hardware projects and count many EDS employees among my friends and acquaintances.

I cannot explain, much less excuse, his actions during the presidential campaign. From my perspective, it looks like he used a lot of trusting and well meaning people to revenge himself on George Bush and the Republican Party in general, and that his actions directly resulted in "Slick Willy's" residence in the White House. I shall never forgive him for that and I shall always believe that he knew at all times EXACTLY what he was doing and what the likely outcome would be.

I cannot for the life of me reconcile his professed and demonstrated love of the United States of America and its people (particularly the military) with his actions in that political campaign. The only conclusion that I can reach is that I am simply not in possession of enough facts to understand the situation.

Having said that, I can and do assure you that Ross Perot is all of the following: A graduate of the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. A successful (former) naval officer. The single most successful salesman in the history of IBM Corporation (He exceeded his yearly sales quota by some phenomenal amount in the first 90 days of the year). An extremely intelligent man. A faithful husband and father.

Some of you may remember when he chartered a Boeing 707 to carry Christmas (or was it Thanksgiving?) Dinner to the American POWs in Hanoi. Others may remember his defiance of the Iranians and his mounting of a successful rescue mission to bring back to America EDS employees who had been taken prisoner by Iran. That particular incident demonstrated adequately his personal courage and willingness to go in harm's way on behalf of others as well as again showing the world that he will not hesitate to use his wealth for the well being of others. I also know a man, an EDS employee, who's son had brain cancer. The situation was beyond what was covered by even EDS' superb medical benefits. Without any fanfare, one of the EDS corporate jets landed at a small airport near the remote EDS site where the distraught father worked and Ross's personal physician and other appropriate medical personnel took charge of the boy. He was flown to the best available and treated with the same benefit as it Ross himself had been his father. No bills were ever presented to the family but the real point here is that this boy and his family were not treated any differently than any other EDS employee.

Ross is definitely a man you can count on--if not one that you can always understand. In terms of quality, his loyalty cancels his imposition of "Slick" on the rest of us. In terms of quantity, he has done America a great disservice.

As for his "turn the clocks back" idea, it's not as half baked as it might sound. His ignorance of embedded systems precludes him knowing of the difficulty in setting clocks at all, in some such circuitry. In concept however, a control process which does nothing other than produce can easily be "lied to" about the current date (such as the traffic light problem and its solution) and continue functioning perfectly well, all the while "thinking" that it's 1972.

In summary, I think it's fair to say that Ross Perot is a mystery in many ways, a genius in others, and far from the "whacko" that some would have you believe. I personally see him as the "Gary North from an inverse universe". He loves the Constitution and says Y2K is no big deal!

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), May 06, 1999.

Sounds like Ross is really a great guy but you forgot the part in his Iran bio about supplying the Shah with the computer power to create SAVAK.

-- Greg (brothergregory@hotmail.com), May 06, 1999.

While SAVAK may be the "jack-booted thugs" of the Shah's Iran, Perot is no more responsible for their creation (or actions) than IBM is for building the hardware, the State Department is for OKing the export of the "package" or the American taxpayer is for paying the taxes which paid for it all. Get real!

I don't know where you were while it was all happening, but the Shah was a "good guy"! (just ask the government if you don't believe me). We even paid his medical bills! Everyone knows that our government would NEVER allow a "bad guy" to do anything wrong! What's the matter with you anyway? Don't you know anything?

-- Hardliner (searcher@internet.com), May 06, 1999.

Bob P ;

Isn't Ross Perot the father of all those chichens they sell in the grocery stores ??? The corn fed "yellow ones" ???

Furie...

-- Furie (furieart@dnet.net), May 06, 1999.

IMHO Perot is exactly what this country needs... But he was too well aware that one does not just walk in, uninvited, and take over the most powerful job in the world. He was very aware of the possibility being eliminated by the powers that be. He refused the normal secret service protection which is provided to all presidential contenders, relying instead on his own people, armoured vehicles, etc. for personal protection. He spoke on this subject several times, as if to tell those who were listening, of the spot he was in.

He could have won that election *twice*. I am convinced he knew that if he won, or perhaps even if he just continued to gain support, he would have had a very short life. I'm sure, because of this, he did not actually want to win but still needed to accomplish something for his country which no one else was able, or cared, to do. Running for president provided a forum which could not be equalled. He did his utmost, and spent millions of his own money, using this forum to wake the public from their apathy. He was trying to show them how things could and should be. How their tax monies were being squandered. What the increasing national debt, and the interest thereon, would very quickly do to this country. He described a multitude of wonderful things that could be done with these dollars instead. How the government was not beholding to the people and other very heavy information. And he did it all with graphics and analogies. Can you just imagine the team of people he had working on compiling all these facts and figures and putting them clearly onto those graphs and charts. They certainly weren't just making this stuff up but there are certainly many who want things to stay just the way they are.

The trouble is, the public listened all too well to what he was saying. It soon looked like he would walk away with the election and so had to back it down. I'm convinced he knew he had to get out or face the "threat" winning. Staying out til near the end of the race, he nearly took it anyway. He received 22 percent of the votes here in Erie County ih WNY.

He had to drop his standing again. Does anyone really think that a person with the intelligence, capabilities and support people that Perot possesses would actually shoot himself in the foot like he did, by mistake? IMHO; that story about his daughters wedding was simply another ploy to reduce his chaces of winning. The media, as would be expected, jumped in and convinced many that he was a neurotic or somesuch, just before election day. Unfortunately for us, although probably fortunate for Peorot, it worked.

The real sad part, it seems to me, is that those who put Perot down are not remembering that he was right in everything he said!

Just my opinion.

Me

-- Floyd Baker (fbaker@wzrd.com), May 15, 1999.

As noted, Ross Perot has always been a phenomenal salesman, but this in no way validates any of his views on Y2K. Most salescritters I've supported, especially the very successful ones, have an alarming tendency to over-simplify the issues and over-sell the capabilities of systems. When there were problems with the installation, it was all too often tech support (or even the design team!) who got lit up, not the salecritter.

In the systems supports world, salesman jokes are more common than lawyer jokes:

"How do you know a salesman is lying? Their lips move."

Sure-fire sales "close": "Sure, it can do that!"

All-too-common tech support phone comment: "The salesman told you WHAT?!"

I have no comment on any other aspect of Mr. Perot's intellect, character, or experience. He is a complex and rather extraordinary individual.

He is also a very successful salesman.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), May 15, 1999.