BE AFRAID: If there's anyone who should know whether New York will be safe on New Year's Eve, it's James Kallstrom. The gumshoe-turned-police honcho is the former head of the FBI's New York field office.
His verdict: Don't go there.
"The prudent thing at the turn of this millennium is to celebrate by yourself or with your family ... if there is a strike, it will be in a large gathering," Kallstrom said, according to a report in the Australian Daily Telegraph.
TRAVEL TIPS: The spin is dizzying. The FAA has repeatedly told us that air travel on New Year's Eve is no big deal, and the head of the agency says she'll be in the air during the date change.
But just in case, Amtrak is going to shut down all its trains that are en route just before midnight.
"All 53 trains operating will stop as briefly as possible in the nearest convenient stations just prior to midnight on Friday, December 31 before resuming operations. On December 31 and throughout the weekend, Amtrak will double the number of staff monitoring train operations," says a note from the White House's Y2K council.
UK NIXES LOOTERS' PLANS: Jack Straw says the British army is ready for Y2K. No, it's not fixing tanks or trucks.
Straw, the British Home Secretary, has located troops within 10 minutes of cities to quell possible riots and looting, according to one report.
GOOD LUCK: We're not quite sure how much good it'll do, but this week the US Defense Department delivered a boatload of emergency supplies to the Russian government -- just in case.
The DOD delivered 35 fire trucks, 6,500 fire extinguishers, 22 generators, and 700 power supply replacement batteries, according to an article in Federal Computer Week.
The idea is that the Russians can use the equipment -- which they requested -- to stave off Y2K disasters.
__DON'T THINK TOO HARD ABOUT THIS ONE: __ Scottish sewercrats are running scared of Y2K.
Authorities fret that a failure in pumping stations could cause sewage "blowback" through pipes into homes.
The North of Scotland Water Authority has hired a number of standby generators to ensure this does not happen, according to a report in the Daily Telegraph.
