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Power Outages Strike East Coast
fordp writes "CNN, CNBC and others are reporting that major power outages are happening just after 4:00PM EDT in New York, New Jersey, Detroit, Ottawa and Toronto, Toledo." There are reports of a Con Edison transformer on fire on 14th Street in NYC, and lots of people stuck in trains and elevators. CNN is reporting that it is, according to power officials, most likely not related to terrorism, because you know you were wondering. The Niagra Mohawk power grid is overloaded, which feeds electricity throughout the northeast U.S. and into Canada. Update: 08/14 21:06 GMT by P : The mayor said there was no fire, that it was black smoke brought on by an automatic shutdown because of the power grid failure.
I was watching Modern Marvels on the History channel, randomly, when I noticed that CNN and MSNBC had their news anchors put the war helmets on, and start the 9/11 rant all over again.
I'm not one to say that we shouldn't worry a little, but coincidences happen! Why should we jump to conclusions long before anything really big has happened? Come on now, this is just way too much hype!! When they begin to find evidence of something bad happening, then tell me about power outages.
People stuck in elevators? Please. The power goes out everywhere, let's at least pretend that we're not shaking in our boots, and put some confidence back in our country!
Judging by this chart I'd say a whole lot of people were running their air conditioners today. Maybe that's it?
Should serve as an example to the Department of Energy. The U.S. needs a distributed power generating system ASAP. Lots of small solar and wind generators all over the nation. Every block should have one.
Right now, "officials" are saying this probably isn't terrorism. But I bet it's giving al-Qaeda some ideas.
If an accident can make this happen, I'm sure a cleverly-placed explosive can make it happen much more easily.
And once all those cities are out of power and essentially crippled, the real strikes start.
And now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go get some tea on for when the FBI guys come knocking on my door. Does Ashcroft take one lump or two?
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CNN just spewed the same speculative garbage.
Let's preview the baseless speculation that we'll likely hear in the next hour or so as 24-hour news pundits rush to scare the crap out of the public in their overzealous attempt to add more color to the simple news item that they intend to milk for all its worth over the next day:
* CNN interviews a taxicab driver whose cousin thinks this may be the work of Saddam Hussein
* Fox "confirms" the "terrorist attack" using as evidence, an unnamed "washington insider" noticing a dark-skinned man walking down the hallway of an unspecified building seconds prior to the outage.
* Red Cross is immediately planning "Power Aid 2003" featuring an all-new remake by Vicki Lawrence of "The Night the Lights Went Out in George" - proceeds of $100 billion are expected, $11.43 of which will actually be used to improve the power grid.
You bring up a valid point, but a massive blackout like this one happens because the already-loaded grids are used to supply the blacked out grid. The more grids black out, the greater the demand on the other grids, increasing their chance of failure.
Kind of like a domino effect.
The system is probably way too slow to handle (or predict?) near-by grid failures, which is why other grids are popping, too.
Conserving power is ludicrous. There is an unlimited supply of power in the Universe. Why should we even *consider* conserving it?
We need MORE POWER NOW! I want cheaper, more reliable power. I want a nuclear plant next to my house, better yet, in my basement, for my own personal power usage.
Conserving water, makes sense, we only have so much h2O, although it'd be better to invest in purifying our current supply and recycling water.
So, again, WHY? WHY SHOULD WE CONSERVE POWER????? WHY WHY WHY????
my power bill is $180-200. I keep my house at 72-75F, even when it's 105F outside. IF the power company gets 35% more expensive here then it will be cost effective to generate my own using propane and a generator.
My Linux Command of the Day site : LCOD
Because the alternative was Bill "A Little to the Right of Darth Vader" Simon.
Frankly, I think Cruz Bustamante would make a fine governor. Unfortunately, I think it's "hasta la vista, California."
Actually with Mars being so close it will give people in big cities a very rare chance to see this site without all the light polution by which they are normally surrounded.
Construction and power production have been unionised for at least six decades. It does not seem that there has been a sudden change there.
There is quite a bit more regulation, but the main set of regulations that have affected capacity are the increased scrutiny of nuclear plants after the one at Three Mile Island came close to a melt-down. When idiots build a nuclear bomb upwind of Manhattan even a 1% chance that the station would go critical is too close to be acceptable.
The problem is that the nuclear industry lied repeatedly about its safety record. So now nobody can believe a word that is said by them.
I am actually prepared to support certain nuclear power designs. The heavy water system built by the Camadians and the MIT 'carbon ball' systems are both true failsafe systems. The light water and AGR systems built in the US, most of Europe and the USSR are all intrinsically unsafe, kept from catastrophic failure by a series of 'safety' systems. As the Challenger, Columbia and Chernobyl events showed, technologists are not as good at building risk free systems as they claim.
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The USA is a funny funny place! People seem to be worried about all sorts of crimes being comitted now that there are no lights. Riots, Murders, Home Invasions...possibly even an Army of Darkness attacking (Great Movie!).
Why are you so worried? You seem to be more afraid of each other, then other things!
Well, let me tell you a couple facts about major US cities. I figure it is probably true in urban areas in other countries, but I can't directly speak for them.
Before there was any hint of a power outage on the east coast, police who would be working tonight knew it could be a tough night. It was going to be hot and muggy tonight but no rain. People would be out on the streets because the houses and apartments without air conditioning would still be hot from the daylight hours. It is a summer Thursday night and a lot of people would be getting their weekend startend early. It is almost payday for a lot of people. Checks hit on Fridays or on the 15th of the month for most people. Usually, if you have direct deposit, they hit a day early. So you combine all these factors and you are going to see a rise in domestic disputes and general violence. Now, turn off the lights and everybody's air conditioning and you have just multiplied the problem. Now you have a lot of hot people without their nightly drug (TV) or the money they expected (ATMs are down) with nothing to do but interact with other hot, annoyed people. Smell trouble?
My other question is...isn't the 2nd Amendment about creating a mulitia to defend your country...not about defending your house?
The simple answer, without politics, is yes. But how do you define 'militia'? Historically, at the time it was written, it meant all able-bodied males between the ages of 18 and 45. When the militia was called upon, they were an irregular force used to suppliment or replace regular soldiers. Often, they would take over a fort or garrison when the regular troops were needed elsewhere. Usually, this meant defending their own homes, although the British in the colonies were known to pull the militia out to other areas and force the homes to be left undefended. This would have the effect of upsetting the militia.
When the militia was called up, they were expected to bring their own weapons and provisions, hence the need for keeping weapons in their homes and knowing how to use them. The Swiss use this method to this day.
And is it the gun culture of the USA that brings about this fear?
No, it is really the media that inspires this fear. When we wake up Friday morning, we are going to be shown every bad thing that happened overnight in the blackout areas. If there isn't major unrest, we will hear about 'heat-related deaths' and traffic accidents. That is the American media mentality. I guess it must be our own fault for watching all the trash we do. What you won't see covered are things that are going on right now in New York: People are buying food and water for strangers when the shop keepers aren't just giving it away for free. People are taking in their friends and coworkers and giving them a place to stay for the night if they can't get home. People are sharing their cell phones so strangers can call home and let their families know they are alright. I saw a man walking with candles to the houses of older members of his church to make sure they were alright and had what they needed to make it through the night. What is going on right now is the true American spirit and it crosses all racial, social and economic lines. And this is true of 99.99% of the people caught out in this mess tonight. The other 0.001% will be splashed across the front pages and news broadcasts around the world and people will wonder how terrible it must be to be in that situation.
And last, but not least, this is the night that will have a ripple effect throughout the entire area. No TV, nothing to do and the condom stores are closed? Expect a mini baby boom next May of 'black-out babies'!
Viv
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A few major reasons. First and foremost, the Constitution was thought to be a document to goveron the nation for, at most, a generation or so. After that it would be scrapped, and rewritten as more appropiate to the times, (although I would be hard pressed to find something I like better). The Founding Fathers were concerned that THEY not some future despot would become drunk with power and try to oppress the people. Remember that we were less than ten years from a fairly bloody conflict with our (and your) parent nation.
The theory was that the people should have the ability (not necessarily the right) to overthrow the government, should it become necessary. Indeed history shows us that in most cases despots have first disarmed the populace:
The Founding Fathers had some very specific viewpoints about it as well.
There was legitimate fear that the government would become corrupt, and NEED to be overthrown because the people would be unable to remove the corrupt from power.
From our Declaration of Independence:
This is a small section of the document that many Americans actually feel is more important than the constitution. After all, there are several perfectly legitimate ways to organize a government. Furthermore, a constitution needs to change with the times.
Over the years how we have interpeted and taken this portion of the Declaration has changed. Now, we a
There is a civil war coming in the United States. Remember which side has most of the guns