Y2K... did you succumb to the hype?

I think we are headed for a repeat, maybe worse, of the Great Depression.........when it will happen I have no clue, but I think it is inevitable and will probably happen sooner rather than later.

After that I guess I would rank natural disaster as the second most likely, and civil war as third.......I know, that sounds really weird, but the way this country is going it's either going to split, explode, or implode. I see the government doing more things every day that they should NOT be doing, and I see more people getting upset over it everyday......at some point, there are going to be more people calling for a revolution than there are going along with it........but that's just MHO

Our government.

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Dahc.

Democrats?!???...

We always keep a fair stock of everything we might need for a while. Y2K we werent too worried untill I was callled out of retirement, against my wishes but no choice, and they paid me up front we did reconsider and thought it through.
First there is no way you can support the life style we have now in a real TEOTWAWKI. True it will come back but it will take years before things are back to today, we had the funds and we prepared. We are still using some of the supplies, had to buy toilet paper about three months ago for the first time. 'The precious metals have done real well, still have some diesel and its really gone up in cost so we made money on that..
We did lose some food that we just decided we did not want to eat.
Point is we found we could only support a life style of about 1850, forget electicity, running water, computers,
No we will not try to keep our life style as today but we have the homestead and gardens and so on but now we are dependant on medicine that has a short life on the shelf and realize we will not be long term survivers. Also too old.
Be prepared but don't spend your whole life doing it remember to live each day instead of planning on the worst.

Agree -- government it the greatest danger to citizens.

It doesn't matter if politicians call themselves Democrats, Republicans or Whigs, they differ very little in substance. Most are for sale and few are truly interested in the well-being of common citizens. Very few, if any, respect the Constitution when it conflicts with their desires.

A wise person said something to the effect, "There are two kinds of people who seek political office, those who want power and those who want money. Both are a disaster. The best course of action is to find someone who doesn't want the job and give it to them." (Can't find the quote, might have been Mark Twain or Will Rogers).

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I didn't buy into it. My PC will go to the year 2099 & then back to 1980. Figure by 2099 I'll be dead & gone & someone else can figure it out! lol Since everything's run on PC's I figured as long as it set past the Y2K hype then everything else would be smooth sailing!

I love the way this thread starts by using the word "hype" to pre-emptively discredit anyone who "bought into it" before "we" even have a chance to post. While I knew the world wasn't ending, I also knew based on my compute knowledge and what all the computer experts working for our company had said that some serious threats were there. I had a laptop given to me by our pastor and it was fairly old and not worth anything. It failed when I tried to advance the date. It just shut down and wouldn't start up again. I knew it would and it did.

Story after story of computers being set forward and tested only to result in the same predicted shutdown that some on here seem to be denying. Below is a link to one view.

http://americanradioworks.publicradi...es/y2k/a1.html

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Barack Obama - Spending beyond belief, dismantling our military, groveling to enemies, and wiping his butt on our constitution daily.

They said to stock up on canned goods..............so I bought 10 cases of BEER!!!!!!! :}

Beyond all doubt, nuclear terrorism is the biggest threat on the horizon. Bird flu pales in comparison. Even a detonation of a small, "Suitcase" sized nuclear device in NY or Chicago would eventually kill upwards of a million Americans...And Guess What?

Then...our war plan calls for immediate and overwhelming retaliation...BOOOOOM goes Syria...BOOOOOOOM goes Iran...BOOOOOOOM goes maybe Saudi Arabia or any other Country that harbors terrorists.

Our War Plan has NO Contingencey in the face of a Nuclear attack that calls for world "Concensus" or UN Action. In other words, we get nuked...LOTS of other people get nuked...no questions...no hesitation...no waiting for CNN to take a Poll.

By the way, did you know that the US has nothing in it's warplan which outlines circumstances in which we might surrender?

So you see, one crazy terrorist with one, small nuclear device, in one of our major cities could easily destroy, not only a piece of America, but many other nations as well...
Something to think about...just my 2 cents

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"The most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being." - Sir Isaac Newton
(A REAL scientist)

I am sorry you feel that I am trying to preemptiv....whatever you, but surely you must admit there was a LOT of hype over Y2K. Either that, or the end of the world was avoided "Jack Bauer-style" and the rest of us had no clue...

All I know is that in 99, a dear friend who is into heavy Electrical installation for companies that do all the automotive resets and Ford, et.al during their shutdowns for retooling, about had heart failure from laughing so hard when I explained to him what was being said about Y2K. He told me confidently that the "grid" would be just fine and that any software/hardware issues had been dealt with a year or two prior.

We bought a generator and a bit of fuel, but he guaranteed me we wouldn't need it. We were in church that new years eve, which is where we are every NYE... Me another guy snuck downstairs and flipped the breakers at midnight. Now THAT was fun...

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THIS THREAD IS SOO 2001!

Isn't that the way ALL opinion polls are supposed to be slanted?
Asking humans to predict the future reminds me of how many times humans have been wrong about predicting the future in the past. Remember those big blunders in history?
"Why God HIMSELF couldn't sink her"- The builders of the Titanic.

"Everything's coming up roses." Stock market analysts in the summer of 1929.

"Man will never achieve heavier-than-air flight."

The list goes on and on.
You'd think by now everyone would know better than to even waste time asking the questions, but I guess that other saying is true, "The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history."

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I'm not sure I would say we 'fell' for the Y2K hype, as we have always kept a stock of basics to last about 3-6 months, but we did stock up a little more. My husband's family stocked up due to working in a union and wanting to be prepared for strike or layoff situations, and my father worked for commission so my mother stocked up when times were good. Therefore both my husband and I were raised to stock up on things. We already had chickens and have always had a garden so didn't make any changes in those areas.

Having worked in Instruments and Controls for 15 years previously, I knew that there were possibilities of a few problems, and the power company that I had worked for replaced a lot of instrumentation due to the known problems in 1998 and 1999, therefore by mid 1999 I felt that most of the problems would be taken care of and there would be no 'end of the world as we know it'. A few things were missed and there were at least 3 nuclear plants in the US that shut down at exactly midnight (this is too far fetched to be a coincidence - all three shutdowns were listed by the NRC as instrumentation failure), as well as the Hershey facility in Pennsylvania. I only know about those because I had worked in the Nuclear power industry and still have friends there, and have a brother whose friends worked at the Hershey facility.

We spent New years Eve Y2K about 300 miles from home with a brother, which we found interesting as we had friends who had made no preparations but wouldn't leave home.

My greatest concerns now are the economy, and the government.

Someone else on a different post was saying that they had talked to a guy in the "deep south" who said that the Civil War hasn't really ended, that we're just taking a breather. I remember a satirical cartoon put out right after the election in 04 that showed a line around the midwest and south. The west coast and northeast were called Canadian America and the other area (midwest and south) was called Jesusland. Now, I'm not saying that it'll be a divide between blue and red, Christian-religious and non-Christian religious, but I definitely see a split somewhere in this country along a couple different fault lines. I'm wondering if the next presidental election (or deferrment of it) will be the straw that breaks the camels back...

I was babysitting a five y/o and two 12 y/o that night and all I had done for preparations was get a flashlight and some candles ready, just in case. The two 12y/o snuck downstairs and flipped the breaker, just like you did! Except they had timed it wrong and did it too late. I LMAO at them until I almost cried, it was so funny. Makes a great story too!

I let the Y2K thing pass without doing anything to prepare for it. What caught my attention was when DH came home one day and said there were major layoff's at work and he (after 27 years at the same company) and the rest of his crew were going to be able to keep their jobs by going to nights 11:30 p.m. to 8:30 a.m.. I had always kept a full pantry but this really got my attention. We did have a time that our power was out for five days due to an ice storm and the stocked pantry, woodstove and oil lamps were a blessing!! I guess if I were to say something is coming in the future it is a downgrading of our economy. I don't know that the ecomony will tank but like my sister says, if it's your job it's a "Depression"!

I took Y2K seriously. Not so much the computer hype, but the need to prep. I was more worried about people panicking and creating a problem or a terrorist using the hype as a diversion.

I used the information as a guideline and it opened my eyes to more probable scenarios and the overall need to prepare.
'Hope for the best but prepare for the worst' is one of my favorite phrases.

I've been a prepper ever since and it has given me peace of mind. The more I prep, the better I feel. I don't prep out of fear. I consider my stored goods to be an insurance policy and I do it to protect my family. There WILL be a disaster in the future. Which one, don't know.
But here in the PNW we have the real possibility of a massive quake (Cascadia faultline) with resulting tsunami, volcanoes (Baker is always steaming and Ranier is disintigrating and St. Helens has been busy again), and any other generalized disruption that can happen to other communities such as a pandemic, terrorism, skyrocketing fuel costs, etc.

If not for a large scale disaster, then why not set aside in case of a personal disaster. Are you covered if the main breadwinner in your family breaks a leg? Or loses his/her job? How much reserves do you have?

We had a family nearby that was in my food co-op that tried to keep a years supply of food. A few years before Y2K, her husband was killed in a 4 wheeler accident. It was neat that they had a years supply of food, and she said without that she would have had a hard time making it. Also, since they were in my food co-op, I had records on the computer of what they normally ordered, and when fellow co-opers realized she wasn't ordering asked if they could purchse some of what she had ordered in the past. So people were able to help her out with a few things (especially the treats for the children) that they had been used to having.
In times of illness it's nice not to have to run to the store, as well as not have to run out and stock up just before an ice/snow storm or hurricane is predicted to hit.

Me another guy snuck downstairs and flipped the breakers at midnight. Now THAT was fun...[/QUOTE]


We did that at the party we attended. I wonder how many of us across America did that? lol.

I stocked up for y2k and used it all. I found it was a great way to save money in that I went to the store alot less. Have slacked off some but am feeling the pull to get back to it. It's just nice to know I have what I need. But I'm not under an illusion that it could save us from SHTF. I really think if things were really bad it would just postpone the inevitable. Guess I'm a pessimist.
Cider

Wish I'd thought of that!