A major food chain, Giant Food, in the Washington, DC metro area announced on a radio ad that they are Y2k ready. At the end of the ad, however, they advised the public to prepare as they would for a "three day snowstorm", the most popular bad advice. I called the company and asked them if their suppliers are Y2k compliant. Of course, they weren't sure because "we have so many of them".

-- fatanddumb (fatdumb@nd.happy), December 04, 1999

Answers

Although this is good advice, MOST PEOPLE DON'T PREPARE WELL FOR WINTER STORMS. That statement was just played out on my local news station. Do you suppose MOST people will TRY to prepare after christmas??

-- yk2 dave (xsdaa111@hotmail.com), December 04, 1999.

I once lost electric power for three days after an April ice storm. It was not that cold in my Michigan apartment but they were not a pleasant three days (and we were able to "heat" the place by continually filling the bathtub with gas-heated hot water. Of course the ceilings were dripping with condensation.)

Here's why the three day storm analogy is not relevant for Y2K:

Snow eventually melts But computers don't fix themselves

Anyone with a shovel or plow can help with snow But only computer experts can fix computers

Repair crews from other states can help with a storm But Y2K is a global problem

It's still a good idea to be prepared for a three day snowstorm but that was also true last year, the year before, etc.

-- Richard Greene (Rgreene2@ford.com), December 04, 1999.

Hurricane = Pollies "Let's go outside and have a picnic!"

-- Kap'n Ahab (#2@#2.2$), December 04, 1999.

Hurricane in Florida = Doomers in Montanna "Let's batten down the hatches, head to the cellar, hook up the generator, and pass the time posting paranoid messages to the internet!"

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), December 04, 1999.

Ok I'm ready for y2k or as they told me a three day snow storm. January 3rd power comes back on I ate my three days worth of food and water. That evening a freak snow storm hits, no power, no food, no heat, no water was snowed in for a week. At the end of the week I died. If I only would have stocked up more I would still be alive. End Of Story

-- santaclause (snowedin@the. northpole), December 04, 1999.

Think "20 Bhopals" around the world on 01/01/2000, for starters.

http://www.taskforce2000.co.uk/pdf/failure.pdf

(page 11; Embedded Systems Failures; par. 5)

-- GoldReal (GoldReal@aol.com), December 04, 1999.

We shall see, I do not think things will be as bad as I thought just 3 months ago. How can they? With most folks not prepared and NO or very little direction from anywhere, people from all walks of life must think this Y2K thing is a joke and are preparing accordingly. We have a talented government with great people skills, I really hope they're right.

Good luck to all.

-- Rich (rluck@AOL.com), December 04, 1999.

Round of applause to santaclaus. Excellent point.

-- Colin MacDonald (roborogerborg@yahoo.com), December 06, 1999.