Re: No Y2k Bug

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@AXE*THISiprolink.co.nz>]

pdwyer wrote:
 
> And the media? Well, they're only on the lookout for the next crisis.
> Facts are things which just get in the way. They were informed of the
> state of play, and should've relayed the information.

Indeed they were and should have done. Here in Auckland, the water
company attempted to point out that the water was gravity fed and not
reliant on computers (or even electricity for several days if the power
failed). But the water company got a line at the end of a story on page
27 while the front pages and the TV and radio kept urging people to buy
bottled water and fill their bathtubs. The water company tried to point
out that if everyone filled their bathtubs, it would be a huge waste of
water, and that when nothing happened, the effect of everyone emptying
their tubs at the same time could flood the sewers. But that only got a
line on page 27 too.

The most bizarre thing is that Auckland has some of the purest tap water
in the world. If people wanted to stockpile drinking water, they could
have just bottled their tap water. But no, the media was urging everyone
to go to the supermarket and buy imported bottled water (which the sheep
did in their tens of thousands and the supermarkets happily complied
with, importing the stuff by the ship and planeload).

Tests by the NZ Consumers' Insitute found that the imported Australian
"mineral water" under the Snowy Mountains brand was actually
chlorinated, fluoridated tap water from Melbourne. That didn't even get
a line on page 27; you had to be a subscriber to the Consumer magazine
to learn that gem.

I think Australians could sell the Sydney Harbour Bridge to the average
thick New Zealander, especially to the average no-nothing New Zealand
journalist.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand