The ability to delude yourself may be an important survival tool
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BREAK/BREAK"One crucial issue for voters to ponder is this: Whose finger do you want on the ALT-CONTROL-DELETE button?" U.S. vice president Al Gore, trying to sell himself to the tech crowd after his tour of Microsoft, Slate, 15 November 1999 "When I speak publicly, no matter what I say, no matter how much I bore you, I'm treated like this visionary." Red Hat CEO Bob Young, on how the Linux phenomenon has boosted him into the public eye, MSNBC, 15 November 1999 "The Internet isn't about transporting bits anymore." Ziff-Davis chairman Eric Hippeau, announcing a technological shift that will come as a surprise to network engineers everywhere, in his remarks before introducing keynote speaker Bill Gates, Comdex, 14 November 1999 "Paul Allen is building [cable company Charter Communications] from the bottom up and he's doing it with acquisitions." IPO.com analyst Jeff Hirschkorn, who no doubt believes the Microsoft billionaire also bakes his cookies from scratch using frozen dough, News.com, 8 November 1999 "We have been rapidly learning about using the Internet to check on all types of facts and sources for all sorts of stories." USA Today managing editor John Hilkirk, offering mass computer illiteracy in the newsroom as an excuse for getting duped by a fairly transparent models'-eggs hoax, The Boston Globe, 29 October 1999 "There's a huge advantage to being last. You can come up with a vision and a strategy that's better." AltaVista CEO Rod Schrock, on his company's less-is-more marketing strategy, ZDNN, 24 October 1999 "Before the Web existed, it was very difficult to explain what the Web was." World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee, on the days before the computer industry had invented vaporware, Seattle Times, 17 October 1999 Mark: For the History buff and ADL archive of interesting quotes and factoids. VR/DJ
> > Declaration of Independence? > > > > Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured > > before they died. > > > > Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. > > > > Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two > > sons captured. > > > > Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the > > Revolutionary War. > > > > They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their > > sacred honor. > > > > What kind of men were they? > > Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were > > farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But > > they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the > > penalty would be death if they were captured. > >
> > Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships > > swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and
> > properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. > >
> > Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move > > his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, > > and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, > > and poverty was his reward. > >
> > Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, > > Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. > >
> > At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson Jr, noted that the British > > General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his
> > headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. > > The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt. > >
> > Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed > > his wife, and she died within a few months. > >
> > John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 > > children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to > > waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning > > home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later > > he died from exhaustion and a broken heart. > >
> > Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. > >
> > Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. > > These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were
> > soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they > > valued liberty more. Standing tall, straight, and unwavering, they > > pledged: "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on > > the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each > > other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor." > >
> > They gave you and me a free and independent America. The history books > > never told you a lot about what happened in the Revolutionary War. We > > didn't fight just the British. We were British subjects at that time > > and we fought our own government! > >
> > Some of us take these liberties so much for granted, but we should not. > > So, take a few minutes while enjoying your 4th of July holiday and > > silently thank these patriots. It's not much to ask for the price they > > paid. > >
> > Remember: Freedom Is Never Free! > >
> > I hope you will show your support by please sending this to as many > > people as you can. It's time we get the word out that patriotism is NOT > > a sin, and the Fourth of July has more to it than beer, picnics, and > > baseball games.
What They Said with Dread by Declan McCullagh 8:55 a.m. 4.Jan.2000 PST PLAGUE: "Plague will follow shortly. Most of the inhabitants of the northern cities will die within a matter of a few weeks, from cold, disease, fires started in an attempt to keep warm, or random violence. This is bad enough, of course, to qualify as a disaster ranking with the Black Plague, if not the extinction of the dinosaurs." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, July 1999 WORSE THAN OTHER MODERN DISASTERS: "The Year-2000 phenomenon is clearly such a jolt, and we believe that it will be much more pervasive and serious than most of the [disasters] we've experienced in modern history." --Ed and Jennifer Yourdon in Time Bomb 2000 EXTINCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE: "We must also prepare ourselves for the very real possibility that the outcome of this situation might well be the total extinction of the entire human race. It really could be worse than I am predicting and I really am being optimistic. First, I would like to assure you that I am not some kind of nut anxiously waiting for the end of the world...." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, November 1998 DEPRESSION IN THE UNITED STATES: "Economic slowdown... unemployment rises... interruptions in utilities... common use of heaters, cook stoves... increase in layoffs... some neighborhoods form purchasing associations... [probability of this outcome or worse] is 65 percent." --Consultant Bruce Webster, The Y2K Survival Guide HIDING GUNS: "[You should cache] most of your arms and supplies, while this is still possible and legal. Preferably, you should have several smaller caches known only to you and to a highly trusted backup... someone who will pass the supplies on to your family or group if anything happens to you... you need to convert most of your spare cash and paper investments into gold and/or silver coins." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, January 1998 CAN'T BUY FOOD BY JUNE 1999: "Problem is if only 1 percent of the people are preparing now and the supply chain is overburdened, adding only another 1 percent will crush it. Come May-June of '99 your chances of buying any long-term foods will be minimal. So then people will start stocking canned goods and dog food. Not guaranteed, but there is a distinct possibility that we could start seeing food shortages at the local grocery stores by July-Aug '99 as everyone starts buying ten extra cans of food a week...." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, November 1998 IT'S OVER: "The problem will not be fixed. Everyone in authority will deny that time has run out to get this fixed, right up until December 31, 1999... I'm saying that it's over. Right now. It cannot be fixed. Whatever it does, the Millennium Bug will bite us." --Christian Reconstructionist Gary North, early 1997 GREAT DEPRESSION: "I think it is going to be very bad. In fact, the best possible case for which there is any hope is another Great Depression." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, July 1999 MARTIAL LAW: "As 1999 progresses, as the global economy continues to decline and as more and more of the early Y2K failures occur, there will be some sudden, critical failure which will trigger a social crisis... Whatever the cause, governments all over the world will seize on this as an excuse to put their plans for martial law into effect, hoping to have some kind of emergency administration in place before their existing systems are wiped out by Y2K." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, January 1998 'A VERY BAD FIRE:' "The Y2K 'fire' has not broken out yet, though we'll begin seeing the first few flames in 1999, possibly as early as January 1, 1999. But like many of my Y2K colleagues, I can already smell the smoke, and I believe, deeply and sincerely, that it's going to be a very bad fire indeed." --Consultant Ed Yourdon, March 1998 STOCK MARKET CRASHED: "The stock market crashed and there was a run on the banks... We've been only too aware that the fractional reserve banking system was unwise and insecure... The safest place in the whole universe right now is not in the center of the securest compound money can buy. It is in the center of God's will." --Authors Michael Hyatt and George Grant, in novel Y2K: The Day the World Shut Down NEW YORK WILL RESEMBLE BEIRUT: "I recently sold our New York City apartment and bought a house in a small town in New Mexico... I've often joked that I expect New York to resemble Beirut if even a subset of the Y2K infrastructure problems actually materialize -- but it's really not a joke... Y2K is sufficiently worrisome, in my opinion, that I'll make sure my family isn't there when the clock rolls over to Jan 1, 2000." --Consultant Ed Yourdon, July 1998 COMPLETE COLLAPSE: "We're looking at a complete collapse of the government's systems and partial collapse (50 percent) of private industry's computer systems. Analogous to the dissociation of the former Soviet Union. 10-20 percent of the military will resign when they aren't paid for months. Rioting, looting, and burning in the usual places... DJI down 5000 points in 6 months, hyper inflation for a couple years...." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, republished by Gary North, March 1998 NIGHTMARE: "At 12 midnight on January 1, 2000... most of the world's mainframe computers will either shut down or begin spewing out bad data. Most of the world's desktop computers will also start spewing out bad data. Tens of millions -- possibly hundreds of millions -- of pre-programmed computer chips will begin to shut down the systems they automatically control. This will create a nightmare for every area of life, in every region of the industrialized world." --Christian Reconstructionist Gary North, early 1997 A DECADE OF DEPRESSION: "We're going to suffer a year of technological disruptions, followed by a decade of depression... We're likely to be living in an environment much like the Third World countries some of us have visited, where nothing works particularly well." --Consultant Ed Yourdon, February 1999 CERTAIN SNAFUS: "The systems will break, this is a certainty. It is uncertain whether the consequence is rioting, looting. Mad Max and Escape from New York or Little House on the Prairie." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, November 1998 SCARED WITLESS: "I have been studying Y2K in every way possible to me since October of 1997. On a daily basis. How many hours? I don't want to know. In that time I have become convinced that we are going to get blasted. Big time blasted. Infomagic blasted. I have learned enough to get real damn scared, scared motionless like a rabbit facing a snake." --Consultant Cory Hamasaki's newsletter, November 1998 CONSULTANTS OUT OF WORK: "My day-to-day work will suffer an increasing number of interruptions, glitches, delays, inconveniences, and disruptions during the second half of 1999; and I'm expecting that they'll be sufficiently pervasive after January 1, 2000 that my income will drop to zero during the first six months of the new year." 
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