Slashdot Mirror
Deregulation and Niagara Mohawk - Is There a Story?
It's just a few hours after the Northeast U.S. power outage, and facts are trickling in; as of right now, it looks like an accidental overload knocked out a large part of the Niagara Mohawk power grid. A few years ago, California went through rolling blackouts that were largely due to a poorly-executed deregulation of that state's power industry. The question that's probably occurring to many of us is, did late-'90s deregulation play a role in today's power event? I don't know the answer, so I'm turning it over to you -- moderators, please check links and up-mod the most informative, pro or con. Here is some information to get you started:
"We support deregulation 100 percent..." (N-M spokesman, 1997; notes N-M wanted to sell generators and "concentrate on the transmission and distribution of energy" -- did it?);
N-M made some bad investments and is
scheduled to request a rate hike (did it?);
and N-M's own website says:
"Deregulation [has] changed the laws and regulations governing the electricity industry to promote competition..." (how so?).
...if you asked us to pass judgment on the guilt of Scott Peterson or Kobe Bryant. It's way too early to turn this into a rant against deregulation.
Yes. Let's turn slashdot into a rumour-mill.
Oh wait...
Oh God no, no power to run the computers.
You mean I actually have to interact with people?????
How can I steal data if all the computers are off?
Ohhh, you mean stealing in real life.
That ain't gonna happen, there's natural light out there. You know what natural light does to a well CRT-baked skin.
Sorry everyone, this one was my fault... I accidentally plugged my toaster oven in the same outlet as my microwave. :(
NO CARRIER
If the damn Sims would simply accept paying more taxes, I could build the nuclear plant and maybe get a stadium too. It would make them all happier too!
Why Is My Power Plant Aging So Quickly?
Hmm. Night approaches....
Why Am I Getting Riots?
"I may be Love's bitch, but at least I'm man enough to admit it."
Yeah, CNN has been so hard on the Republicans these days, which is so unfair because so many Republicans have been doing so many things so very well. The way they blow any little scandal all out of context and proportion and just harp on it for weeks on end, their steady refusal to walk the party line, their whole anti-war attitude, their open mockery of the president, it's just ridiculous. And I hate how they have that "Impeach Bush" ticker running across the bottom of the screen all the time. Damn liberal media. That's why I only watch Fox.
Let's all have a moment of silence for all the linux and *bsd boxen whose legendary uptimes were mercilessly snuffed out by this service interruption. Some clung to their UPS's bravely until every ampere of juice had been drained.
They will be missed, and we will build even longer uptimes to replace them.
microsoftword.mp3 - it doesn't care that they're not words...
I suppose we'll find out the facts soon enough, though.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an optomist among us.
But they now have the perfect excuse for a rate hike. A quarter or two will look bad but profits will be up in the near future (or so I surmise, based on my long experience playing Alpha Centauri, whacking people with sticks in the SCA and drinking large amounts of Guinness listening to Clan N'gal late at night).
I drank what? -- Socrates