Power Outages?

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
21

Fact :
There is a company (and there is probably more than one) that are picking up their whole datacenter and moving to different parts of the United states so that their business continues to run in the morning. This whole move on this particular company had to pack up their small ( about 65 servers and SAN solution) has to move tonight via a learjet and be hooked up again before 7 am CST.

Quite a hectic night they are going to have.

I wonder how many other stories guppies can tell us here regarding how the power outtage has affected them.

22

Markets set to open as normal.

23

The blame game has started already :D

[thumb=D]blame_canada2.JPG[/thumb]

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Well, I don't have many batteries to spare.. but next time the power goes out I'll send ya a sack of potatos :D

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If you were a terrorist and wanted to remain relevant, wouldn't you claim to have caused the blackout? This would certainly cause uncertainty and confusion (maybe even fear) among the American people which is, after all, their goal.

If I were marginalized and stuck in a cave somewhere in the mountainous region of Pak/Afghan, I'd claim credit for every major disaster that occured anywhere around the world.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by myvoice: *
If you were a terrorist and wanted to remain relevant, wouldn't you claim to have caused the blackout? This would certainly cause uncertainty and confusion (maybe even fear) among the American people which is, after all, their goal.

If I were marginalized and stuck in a cave somewhere in the mountainous region of Pak/Afghan, I'd claim credit for every major disaster that occured anywhere around the world.
[/QUOTE]

myvoice, it seems that you know the goals of these terrorists so well, have you contacted the local FBI office?. I am sure they will appreciate your wisdom.

27

the incident has proven what a waste the Department of Motherland Security is.. all they do is snoop on the citizens while America remains vulnerable..

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by PakistaniAbroad: *
the incident has proven what a waste the Department of Motherland Security is.. all they do is snoop on the citizens while America remains vulnerable..
[/QUOTE]

Hmmmmm.....Perhaps you could enlighten a dim bulb like me how the blackout is at all related to the Department of Homeland Security. You think a lightening bolt or fire or heat wave or whatever caused the blackout is related to terrorism which falls within that Department's jurisdiction?

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It was an act of God alright, dunno whose.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by PakistaniAbroad: *
the incident has proven what a waste the Department of Motherland Security is.. all they do is snoop on the citizens while America remains vulnerable..
[/QUOTE]

Here look at it again .

It makes perfect sense to me.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by fayax: *

Here look at it again .

It makes perfect sense to me.
[/QUOTE]

Let’s follow the bouncing logical ball for a minute.

PA says “the incident” [meaning the blackout] proves that the “Department of Motherland Security” (presumably Homeland Security) is a waste. In order for the one thing to “prove” the other, there needs to be a logical link between the two. The only relationship the DHS has to power plants and power grids is keep them secure against terrorist attack. DHS has nothing to do with operating the things. If the blackout was caused by a terrorist intervention, then PAs argument might make some sense. If it occurred for other non-related reasons, it may be relevant to prove how much of a waste the Department of Energy is and how poorly that Department has functioned to meet its purpose for being.

Then PA says “all they [DHS] do is snoop on the citizens while America remains vulnerable.” Again, logic requires that there must be some relationship between the “snooping” and the identified “vulnerability.” DHS snooping though is not designed to make energy grids invulnerable to lightning strikes, or fires, or overloads. DHS snooping is unrelated to preventing disasters from flooding, drought, earthquake, tornados and other things as well.

PA’s argument is no more logically sound than if he identifies the next major earthquake as evidence that the DHS is a waste.

Once you understand the above, you may enroll in Logic 101.

32

what a joke superpower america has no power in reality :bukbuk:

blackouts are common feature in pakland but to see this in the United snakes is a real eye opener what a complete shambles, superpower my foot

33

A view from NYC

I left the office around 5:30. After the UPS back up went kaput. I called my wife and luckily th eLan lines were working. She had family over so it was cool and safe.

There of the east side denizens, walked up 42nd to 2nd ave on the way home. But as got to around 53rd street. Second avenue was pretty much vehicle free. Plkease were walking in the streets. Laughing/joking…drinking beers. The bars were packed. So we decided to grab a few at a local joint. We were there till about 9 pm. As the place was running out of candles, some neighbors went out and brought some back, these would come in handy.

As I got to first ave, it was pretty dark, I have nbever seen NYC this dark. There was so much traffic trying to go to Queensborough bridge. With no traffic lights working. Residents took it upon themselves to direct traffic and usher pdestrians across. It was so heartwhelming. We then went to our respective apartments. I got in to the apartment and there were candles everywhere. My family was serving dinner and we had some good pasta and salad.

At around 11, a friend of mine came by, he was stuck in the city after walking all the way from Downtown and stopping off fr some brewskis.

We decided to wait till the baby went to sleep and then he and I went out for some more drinks. You could stars in the sky. I have never seen so many stars in NYC. And I have been to a few fashion shows. :slight_smile:

Around 2 am, we went back home, the streets were quited down, with one or two people walkking with their flashlights. The doorman of my building walked us up the stairs and we woke up around 7 am.

After listening to the radio, we made some breakfast and then the lights came back around 9:30 am in my hood. Thank god for rich old white people.

All in all..an experience. We were very relieved that it was not another terrorist attack. But if Canada is behind this. We should invade by september 15. I want the place taken over and under US control by Halloween. :rotfl:

34

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by myvoice: *

Let’s follow the bouncing logical ball for a minute.

PA says “the incident” [meaning the blackout] proves that the “Department of Motherland Security” (presumably Homeland Security) is a waste. In order for the one thing to “prove” the other, there needs to be a logical link between the two. The only relationship the DHS has to power plants and power grids is keep them secure against terrorist attack. DHS has nothing to do with operating the things. If the blackout was caused by a terrorist intervention, then PAs argument might make some sense. If it occurred for other non-related reasons, it may be relevant to prove how much of a waste the Department of Energy is and how poorly that Department has functioned to meet its purpose for being.

Then PA says “all they [DHS] do is snoop on the citizens while America remains vulnerable.” Again, logic requires that there must be some relationship between the “snooping” and the identified “vulnerability.” DHS snooping though is not designed to make energy grids invulnerable to lightning strikes, or fires, or overloads. DHS snooping is unrelated to preventing disasters from flooding, drought, earthquake, tornados and other things as well.

PA’s argument is no more logically sound than if he identifies the next major earthquake as evidence that the DHS is a waste.

Once you understand the above, you may enroll in Logic 101.
[/QUOTE]

Here is Logic 102 and you might not understand it, but sorry I cannot make it any simpler.
Dont waste you time trying to convince me that US didnt rule out at first that this was terrorist attack. So if people and the government first thought that this was a terrorrist attack...obviously they themselves did not have faith in the effectiveness of the homeland security.
Secondly, Homeland security is useless and instead of providing security infringes on normal peoples' rights.

Sorry if you dont understand that. But when your rights are taken away by the sweeping changes that are being enacted ( homeland security) being a big part of it, then and only then you might understand.

The point is not whether a lighting bolt or an earthquake caused any calamity. THE POINT is that even with all the homeland security, NO MATTER what happens everyone asks, was it the bearded man ? Was it the Jihad people. Terrorists dont have to do anything. US ignorance and arrogance accomplishes all that.

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This Was a First World Blackout](http://slate.msn.com/id/2087036/)

New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson got it exactly wrong when he issued yesterday’s sound bite of the day about the blackouts that affected much of the Northeast. “We are a major superpower with a third-world electrical grid,” Richardson zinged, landing himself in the second paragraph of a New York Times story. The former energy secretary is right in the sense that the American electrical infrastructure needs updating, but he’s wrong about the nature of the problem: It’s a First World, not a Third World, one.

That’s the assessment of Benjamin Carreras, a physicist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. A Third World country, Carreras says, experiences frequent, small blackouts, not rare and massive ones like Thursday’s. “In a Third World society, the situation would be very different, because you would get a lot of blackouts,” small, localized ones that happen all the time, Carreras says. “But the small blackouts make the large blackouts less likely.” Because the electrical grid in the United States is overloaded to the breaking point, the country has to make a choice in the short run, according to Carreras: Either tolerate lots of minor Third World- style blackouts or put ourselves at risk for rare, gigantic, First World-style ones.

An article on the Nature Web site last year discussed research that Carreras and his colleagues published in the journal Chaos. In a Third World system, Nature explained, “the tension in the network gets released in many small jolts rather than a big paroxysm. But it would be hard to persuade power companies to permit such small failures, Carreras admits.” The upshot: “Power grids are inherently prone to big blackouts. … Trying to make them more robust can make the problem worse.” That’s because the elimination of small blackouts “can hasten the build-up to the point where a big cascade of blackouts becomes inevitable.”

The United States is so dependent on electricity that it requires a very reliable, very interconnected, very First World grid—the exact kind that we have. But that demand for reliability—and the intolerance for small blackouts—creates the risk for blackouts like yesterday’s. Third World countries can generally put up with frequent minor blackouts, because electricity is less important in the Third World than the First World. “In the Third World, if the electrical grid goes away, you can keep cooking, and you can do a lot of things, because not everything depends on electricity,” Carreras says. In the United States, on the other hand, “the airports aren’t working, the water system in Cleveland isn’t working. That’s our vulnerability—we are extremely interconnected.”

So, according to Carreras, it’s the very reliability and interconnectedness of the American electrical grid that caused Thursday’s blackouts. That reliability and interconnectedness exists because of the huge demand for electricity in American life, and because the American economy relies on electricity to function. But until we’ve created a system with more transmission capacity than the current one, we’re putting ourselves at risk for massive blackouts like yesterday’s. That’s a problem, but it’s not a Third World one.

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Looks like no one else posted it yet..

Iraqis Offer Tips Over U.S. Blackout](Latest news from around the world | The Guardian)

Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.

From frequent showers to rooftop slumber parties, Iraqis have developed advanced techniques to adapt to life without electricity.

Daily highs have soared above 120 degrees recently as Iraq’s U.S. administrators have been unable to get power back to prewar levels. Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the same fate, if only briefly.

Let them taste what we have tasted,'' said Ali Abdul Hussein, selling Keep Cold’’ brand ice chests on a sidewalk. ``Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis.‘’

Here is a top 10 list compiled on the streets of Baghdad:

-10: SLEEP ON THE ROOF. Without power - and hence without air conditioning - Iraqis have taken to climbing up stairs in the hot nights. Some install metal bed frames on rooftops, while others simply stretch out on thin mattresses. We sleep on the roof,'' said Hadia Zeydan Khalaf, 38, wearing a black head-to-toe abaya in the hot sun. It’s cooler there.‘’

-9: SIT IN THE SHADE. Many Iraqis go outside when the power’s off. We sit in the shade,'' said George Ruweid, 27, playing cards with friends on the sidewalk. Of the U.S. blackout, he said: I hope it lasts for 20 years. Let them feel our suffering.‘’

-8: HEAD FOR THE WATER. We go to the river, just like in the old days,'' said Saleh Moayet, 53. Several people said they had seen American beaches on television, and suggested they might be a good place to sit out the blackout. They have so many beautiful beaches,‘’ said Hamid Khelil, 44. ``They should go where it isn’t so hot.‘’

-7: SHOWER FREQUENTLY. I take showers all day,'' said Raed Ali, 33. Before I go up to the roof to sleep, I take a shower and I’m cooler.‘’

-6: BUY BLOCKS OF ICE. When refrigerators shut down, there’s no better way to keep food cool. Mohammed Abdul Zahara, 24, sells about 20 a day from a roadside table. ``When it’s hot people buy a lot of ice,‘’ he said.

-5: CHECK FOR BITTER-ENDERS. They should go to the power stations and see what the problem is,'' suggested Ahmed Abdul Hussein, 21. Maybe there are followers of Saddam Hussein who are sabotaging their power stations. That’s what happens here.‘’

-4: GET A GENERATOR. Abbas Abdul al-Amir, 53, has one of a long row of shops selling generators in Baghdad’s Karadah shopping street. When the power goes out, sales go up. I sell about 30 generators a day,'' he said. When the shutdown lasts I can sell even more.‘’

-3: CALL IN THE IRAQIS. Some suggested the Americans ask the Iraqis how to get the power going again. Let them take experts from Iraq,'' said Alaa Hussein, 32, waiting in a long line for gas because there was no electricity for the pumps. Our experts have a lot of experience in these matters.‘’

-2: USE FOUL LANGUAGE. When the power goes out, I curse everybody,'' said Emad Helawi, a 63-year-old accountant. I curse God. I curse Saddam Hussein. And I curse the Americans.‘’

-And the No. 1 suggestion among Iraqis for Americans suffering without power: TAKE TO THE STREETS. Some said demonstrations can be effective in persuading authorities to turn on the switch. We held protests. After that we had fewer blackouts,'' Ahmed Abdul Hussein said without even a hint of sarcasm. I’d suggest Americans go out and demonstrate.‘’

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by spoon: *
**Iraqis who have suffered for months with little electricity gloated Friday over a blackout in the northeastern United States and southern Canada and offered some tips to help Americans beat the heat.

...] Some said it was poetic justice that some Americans should suffer the same fate, if only briefly. "Let them taste what we have tasted,'' said Ali Abdul Hussein.... "Let them sit outside drinking tea and smoking cigarettes waiting for the power to come back, just like the Iraqis.''**
[/QUOTE]

lol. Nice article, Spoon. Lots of useful advice in there, but i must say, i like the above advice the best.

38

Superpowerless. :hehe:

Get over it. Hundreds of millions of people around the world survive without electrictiy practically every day of the year, and this should show some North American’s what it feels like.

39

Millions of people around the world starve everyday too. Would it make everyone happy if the Americans got to experience that as well?

Fact is, Americans aren’t used to it and shouldn’t have to be shown what it’s like. That should be an advantage to living in the most advanced society in the world. Even though they weren’t used to it and individually feel this type of thing is possible with the proliferation of international terrorism, they came through it with flying colors. Especially NY :k:

40

Thought you guys may find this interesting :smiley:

If Bush Really Wants to Investigate the Cause of the Largest Blackout in American History, He Should Start with the Vice-President, Tom DeLay and Himself