Remember the Y2K scare?
- Thread starter Richard Cranium
- Start date
Sixpactogo
Well-Known Member
I remember it well also but never bought into all the hype. I worked for the Power company constructing electrical Sub Stations. My next door neighbor was worried and bought a 15K Watt generator and started storing food and supplies. He asked me one day if I was ready for Y2K? I replied "yup".
He asked if I had a generator and any back-up supplies. I said, "nope".
He then asked what I plan to do if the power grid went down. I told him, "I have this neighbor that has a generator I can tap into"
He asked if I had a generator and any back-up supplies. I said, "nope".
He then asked what I plan to do if the power grid went down. I told him, "I have this neighbor that has a generator I can tap into"
Did you show him your new 200ft extension cord??
j-c-c-62
Well-Known Member
Being in Florida and with over 600KW of portable Gensets, I was always well liked in my neighborhood after a hurricane. In most cases I told the neighbors, if you can get a cable to my house, you got power 24/7.
Sixpactogo
Well-Known Member
As I said, I didn't buy into the hype. I was probably snoring by 10 PM. My wife probably stayed up to watch the ball drop at Times Square but that didn't interest me much either. After you get to a certain stage in life, the new year is just that......Another year.Did you show him your new 200ft extension cord??
j-c-c-62
Well-Known Member
Just another lap around the sun in my world, no big day, as long as I wake up in the morning.
Detective D
Well-Known Member
There was a lot going on, society was bombarded with a lot of dark and fear type messages.
We had the Y2K "scare".
But we also had save the planet types telling us all of that stuff, GM made that electric car that they recalled and destroyed for one example that came of that.
Then Katrina happened and it got blamed on climate, besides all the sorrow around that event to begin with.
9-11 was a dark event
We had mayan calendar types yelling about that, i forget if it was 2008 first and then got changed to 2012? Whatever.
Look at some movies that were out at that time- The Sixth Sense and the Matrix both came out in 1999. Both are very much centered on questioning reality and what life means. They are not the only movies or TV shows from that span of years with an undertone of "life is not what you think it is". I am not bashing those movies, but observation requires I acknowledge the subtle themes.
Despite official numbers, inflation ran away in those years, for daily need type items like food etc. Home prices balooned and crashed(which became more news) and the "economy sucks!" became a thing. While not as evident as recent years, that era had a major impact on how blue collar middle class lived life compared to the decade before.
Anyway, I am sure there are more examples. But the "darkness" from all of that stuff had a cumulative effect, and some of it spread into things and influenced things in subtle ways. Music, media, people's outlook on their future..... I might be remembering wrong but somewhere in there one of those "happiness" surveys came back with more dire results to reinforce the whole situation.
I remember growing up in the 80's and into the 90's, and I am aware of all the economic and social issues of those times even though I was young.... in so far as they affected rural America anyway. Regardless of those trials, it was "better" overall I think. Maybe it was the end of the cold war and people getting out from under that pressure, or just how the average worker lived life, but I keep waiting for that basic general "mood of society" to circle back. I think one way or another society is going to have to suffer some major pain to correct 30 years of going down this current road to do it. I have enough years left in me(theoretically) that I think it is worth it. But I think a lot of people won;t think so and would rather keep struggling and worrying about things we didn;t used to have to worry about then endure that pain in the short term. Time will tell.
j-c-c-62
Well-Known Member
Society needs to take some responsibility in this IMO dark recollection you have of the times in that era. Meaning if all it takes to change peoples viewpoint is a media "bombarding", there is no hope for a free future. If fictional thought provoking movies can unsettle a viewer, the viewer has a problem. Climate of course caused Katrina. Public ignorance and maliase caused people not to evacuate to safety in due time or at least learn from nearby hurricane Camile in 1969. Inflation cylces are a given in our society, everyone acts wrongly like it's the first time and the end of the world. 9/11 was a wakeup call, we are not immune, just like Pearl Harbor taught us.
Not sure if you are remembering wrong so much as not seeing the big picture is where we maybe disagree here.
Not sure if you are remembering wrong so much as not seeing the big picture is where we maybe disagree here.
YY1
Well-Known Member
Did you live the same late 90's/early 00's I did?
The "computer revolution" revitalized the entire economy.
...until everyone had one...
...and the the "network revolution"...
...untill everyone had one...
...and the "wireless revolution"...
...and then the "internet revolution"...
The "computer revolution" revitalized the entire economy.
...until everyone had one...
...and the the "network revolution"...
...untill everyone had one...
...and the "wireless revolution"...
...and then the "internet revolution"...
Detective D
Well-Known Member
None of the stuff I mentioned altered how I live life. Real world cost vs wages does impact my life. But I am not deluded into believing the reasons given why things are "fine". It is mathmatically provable things are economically worse for a majority of people compared to 40 years ago. 60 and 70 year olds will disagree to some extent. But that isn't what this thread is about so I am leaving it at that. Observing facts does not require correlation to my values regarding how I go through this life. Observations are just that, observations.
Society has changed. I am simply pointing out some of the things I observed and reflected on over the years since that time. There are tons of reasons Joe Public(as an average) has taken the road put before them without question. I don't need or want to dive into it here. Suffice to say Y2K was part of a bigger picture during those years, not an isolated event when it comes to America's cultural changes.
c body convert
Active Member
stashed as much cash as I could that year...wound up at my buddy's in Jersey for his New Years party...that afternoon we were in a Go Go bar and the tv showed New Years happening in Russia....when they didn't accidentally launch any missiles at us I figured all was good...wound up using that cash to buy my convertible
j-c-c-62
Well-Known Member
Yes, I did, is your reply here directed at my reply above?
Because to be clear I was replying specifically to the mindset of the nation that was the leadup to and of the Y2K era dud that led to the observed consternation in society, that I thought was being remembered and shared as slightly dystopian, and I disagreed with that remembrance, as it certainly was not mine.
I am ignoring anything recently or currently, regardless of whether it applies or not.
Rishi
Well-Known Member
"The hype" may have helped stave it off. It's the crap we don't foresee, the stuff we cannot imagine, that kicks us in the butt. The Apollo 1 tragedy was more about unanticipated consequences than it was incompetence.
Don't dis' the hype. It serves a purpose.
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