MASSIVE FUCKING BLACKOUT

[Ghost Rider]

Was it big on the news? I would hope so, considering some 50 million people were affected. I was very proud of our city for the way we hung together and dealt with the crisis, though. There was almost no looting or public disturbances, and volunteers went to many of the major intersections (all of which had dead traffic lights) and helped direct traffic until the cops arrived.

Newswise...very much so.

Made the front of the Washington Post(and probably a whole slew of papers)...the next day.

In fact, the biggest irritation was knowing that my board was down!

Though that is what actually alerted me...mostly out of some odd curiosity.

So I turned on the TV, and every network and news channel was alive with it.

[Joe]

The market for power in the U.S. is hardly free; if it was, we'd have enough nuclear power plants to make this sort of thing a non-issue. California, the state that has had the most trouble with being forced to use out-of-state capacity for power generation (remember the 2001 blackouts?), is also the state most hostile to nuclear power.

[Darth Wong]

The market for power in the U.S. is hardly free; if it was, we'd have enough nuclear power plants to make this sort of thing a non-issue. California, the state that has had the most trouble with being forced to use out-of-state capacity for power generation (remember the 2001 blackouts?), is also the state most hostile to nuclear power.

Every state is hostile to nuclear power. That's what 30 years of enviro-bullshit will do to you.

[Jason von Evil]

Admit it, Mike, it was the penguins. You know it. I know it. We all know it.

Most likely, within days thousands of websites will be up blaming the government, terrorists, and seagulls.

That's one of the first things New Yorkers proclaimed when it happened. That belief didn't last long though.

Mr. Wong: It was all over the major news networks. Even Bush had to give his 1.2 cents.

[Darth Wong]

BTW, I suspect that it will turn out that the cascade failure was caused by one or two lines going down. Their load would have been shunted onto the next available line, which would go down in turn, and you can see where this would eventually lead. I believe that's what happened during the big 1965 blackout, although it wasn't supposed to happen again.

Nevertheless, I think all of the politicians around here who have been pushing for privatization and deregulation are going to be in for a rough ride in the upcoming elections. Their bullshit and their use of our power grid as a neo-con philosophy experiment have cost us dearly.

[SirNitram]

Was it big on the news? WAS IT BIG ON THE NEWS? The fscking IRAQIS know more about your situation than most of you lot! They've been giving advice!(Number 2 on CNN's list, from a 68 year old woman, is 'Use Foul Language')

So, yea, it got some news coverage.

[Pablo Sanchez]

That's one of the first things New Yorkers proclaimed when it happened. That belief didn't last long though.

Mr. Wong: It was all over the major news networks. Even Bush had to give his 1.2 cents.

Watching CNN talking about Bush's contribution now. He thinks the problem is that the grid is "antiquated" and that it needs to be modernized. He also claims that we do not know what went wrong, and his main response was that Congress needs to shove his energy plan through ASAP.

[Darth Wong]

The market for power in the U.S. is hardly free; if it was, we'd have enough nuclear power plants to make this sort of thing a non-issue.

With all due respect, that's bullshit. You are trying to distract from the failure of the free market in this situation by arguing that it should have been made even more free.

The problem is one of simply motives; in a free market, corporations inevitably move to build the least amount of generation they can get away with, because excess capacity is LOST PROFITS. You can spin this any way you want, but the end result is that free-market thinking and profit motives are precisely what got us into this mess.

[Joe]

The market for power in the U.S. is hardly free; if it was, we'd have enough nuclear power plants to make this sort of thing a non-issue. California, the state that has had the most trouble with being forced to use out-of-state capacity for power generation (remember the 2001 blackouts?), is also the state most hostile to nuclear power.

Every state is hostile to nuclear power. That's what 30 years of enviro-bullshit will do to you.

None so much as California. Constructing a nuclear power plant is going to be a helluva lot more difficult in California than it is in say, Texas.

[Hamel]

I didn't learn about the power failure until 2 AM this morning (blame my fucked up sleeping habit)

edit: By the way, that was a fine rant you posted, and hits the issue right in the nuts. People are already cracking jokes about Gray Davis being responsible for the blackout. An obvious reference to him supposedly being totally at fault for what happened in Cali. Tcha, you know what? Uh uh. A Slashdot post describes what really happened:

FACT: The power plants existed, ENRON and other electricity brokers flat out refused to allow those plants in California to be started, even when the rolling blackouts became a daily event throughout the Bay Area and Southern CA. Even when The Governor of California went to ask the White House to intervene, Bush/Cheney backed ENRON, even though all the evidence pointed to the fact that the supply was being heavily manipulated. This was PROVEN when ENRON finally collapsed under the weight of its own debt.
FACT: ENRON manipulated the market, with falsified transfers of power out of the State, then back into the state, and totally falsifying their records, DELIBERATLY to reflect transactions, then charging the State for all the transactions involved at a cost approximatly 4000 times the original contract cost. This cost the State nearly 40 BILLION dollars, and the odd thing, thats almost exactly the same amount of money California is in the hole for, and the GOP is using as a lame excuse for a recall. Pete Wilson, a former GOP Governor is heading the campaign to put Arnold in the Governors office in Sacremento. He is also the man who pushed for the State Electricity utilities to be "deregulated", (that means sold off to the highest bidder) The only single person that should take the blame is Wison, not Davis. Davis was not even in public office when the Utility was sold to ENRON.Get your facts right man, or just quit lying about things.

[Demiurge]

Holy mother of shit, that was a big blackout. I'm glad I live down here south of the south.

[LadyTevar]

Was it big on the news? WAS IT BIG ON THE NEWS? The fscking IRAQIS know more about your situation than most of you lot! They've been giving advice!(Number 2 on CNN's list, from a 68 year old woman, is 'Use Foul Language')

So, yea, it got some news coverage.

I still wonder if Nitram's dad made it back home from Manhattan's financial district...

.... Hmmm... NY Mayor advised people this morning to 'treat it like a snow day and stay home'. Nitram's parents were supposed to be here on Sunday, his dad couldn't get the time off. Wonder if his dad is going to say 'Hell with it, I'll go to WV with the family' now?

[Admiral Valdemar]

I like how the US blames Canada (argh, that song!) saying it was a lightning bolt hitting one of their powerplants, then the Canadians say it was a fire in a US plant and so on.

No one even knows what really caused it, though one thing is for sure, it was bloody big and it may get more common.

If it's any consolation, I was going to laugh out loud but refrained. The UK National Grid (which owns most of the power stations in the US, IIRC) has said that, due to the problems Mike nicely outlined with excessive power being unused and banks reclaiming powerplants due to bills not being paid etc., Britain may also experience such blackouts on colossal scales. Only we'll get the problems in winter which is where heating takes the bulk of our juice, in the US it is summer with the A/C running 24/7.

Last December the peak output at any one time in the UK was 54GW, the maximum power output of the 103 or so power stations on this little island reaches 65GW, far too close for comfort after taking into account the privatisation removing excess power stations from the grid. If our winter is as cold as it was last year, we may need to ration energy and many untold consequences may occur.

It seems quite strange that in the 21st century many of the most developed nations in the world, the US, UK, Europe and so on are suffering the great energy crisis scenario many only thought to be eco scaremongering to get greener power.

Well, just though I'd put my $0.02 into the bucket, glad to see you're back, Mike.

[Darth Wong]

I like how the US blames Canada (argh, that song!) saying it was a lightning bolt hitting one of their poweplants, then the Canadians say it was a fire in a US plant and so on.

Trying to pinpoint the start of the problem is typical political buck-passing, when the real problem was the fragility of the entire system (facilitated by political cowardice and neo-con bullshit on both sides of the border) that caused a small problem to magnify into a huge crisis.

[kojikun]

I hope it happens in more places. I want to have been in Toronto when it happened, it sounded fun. less crime then normal, people helping one another, who can complain?! And the more it happens the more of a true crisis this will become and the more evident it will be that we need to do something serious in order to rectify the problem. So everybody, TURN YOUR ACs ALL THE WAY TO 0*!!!

[Joe]

With all due respect, that's bullshit. You are trying to distract from the failure of the free market in this situation by arguing that it should have been made even more free.

How can the free market "fail" when it doesn't exist? In any case, the extent of deregulation has been exaggerated, at least in the U.S.; only the generation side of the industry has been deregulated, and the blackout seems to have been caused by a failure in the transmission system, which is certainly not deregulated.

[LadyTevar]

I hope it happens in more places. I want to have been in Toronto when it happened, it sounded fun. less crime then normal, people helping one another, who can complain?! And the more it happens the more of a true crisis this will become and the more evident it will be that we need to do something serious in order to rectify the problem. So everybody, TURN YOUR ACs ALL THE WAY TO 0*!!!

I think it's funny how New York City was also reporting less crime, more people helping each other, etc.

[Stravo]

HI everyone, I'm back in service and all is well. Although I had to walk 5 miles to get home yesterday no one would deny that I needed the exercise. Glad to see that Dalton and I and other NYers were thought of during this hard time and Mike, thoughts went out to you and yours during this time.

[Admiral Valdemar]

I like how the US blames Canada (argh, that song!) saying it was a lightning bolt hitting one of their poweplants, then the Canadians say it was a fire in a US plant and so on.

Trying to pinpoint the start of the problem is typical political buck-passing, when the real problem was the fragility of the entire system (facilitated by political cowardice and neo-con bullshit on both sides of the border) that caused a small problem to magnify into a huge crisis.

Watching the blame circus on TV for the last day has been entertaining to say the least. After the initial ruckus with "WTF happaned? Who caused this shit and how hard can we spank them?", Bush got on and pledged to modernise the power grid in the US. Who's betting this'll be just one of the many deciding factors in the upcoming elections?

Still, despite the horrid attitude most people have against nuclear power (or anything with the "N" word, MRI equipment, anyone?), I think this is a clear cut case for the implementation of more fission plants, the extra funding of research into fusion technology like ITER and the phasing out of old coal fired and other carbon-fuel based plants.

It seems ironic that last week's New Scientist highlighted the coming problems in energy we'll be having once oil production reaches peak level within the next 10-15 years or so. Interestingly, Canada has the largest deposit of "heavy oil" in the world, about as much as an area of Scotland I believe. Seems the Canadians will be selling power to the US for more time to come and even oil to the Arabs if it is ever tapped into.

[Andrew J.]

I would just like to say: fuck the Niagara-Mohawk Electric Company. Fuck them straight up their asses. Anyway, my story:

I was at work, sitting behind a cash register at an amusement park when the power went out. There was a rollercoaster full of people right outside the store, and of course it got stuck, although it was closer to the ground than it should have been. I had no idea what to do, the cash registers wouldn't work, so I had to insist on exact change and write down records of the transactions on a paper towel. I finally got to leave work early, found out my parents had been sitting in the car in the parking lot for an hour, thinking I'd get out even earlier. We went out to eat (the Lake George tourist trap area had power) and when we got home the power was back on (about 8:45 PM).

[Frank Hipper]

Strange how much this echoes the 1965 blackout-same area, cascade failure....
CNN had an cell phone interview with a lady in Toronto last night, she was saying how everyone was treating intersections as 4-way stop signs, being as cooperative towards each other as possible. It hit just as rush hour did, what a nightmare....
The way people in New York were being helpful to each other is also very cool, there was a civilian directing traffic this morning. Funny.
Any reports of looting? If there was any, they aren't mentioning it in what I've seen.

[Sea Skimmer]

Clearly the giant laser the USAF is using to heat up Paris drew a bit too much off the grid...

[Hamel]

How can the free market "fail" when it doesn't exist? In any case, the extent of deregulation has been exaggerated, at least in the U.S.; only the generation side of the industry has been deregulated, and the blackout seems to have been caused by a failure in the transmission system, which is certainly not deregulated.

Like hell it's exaggerated, take a look at the cable companies

Hello hueueuge bill for basic cable, how ya doin?

[kojikun]

I think it's funny how New York City was also reporting less crime, more people helping each other, etc.

I know! its great! We should have blackouts more often, if people are going to actually be NICE for once instead of rioting and looting. People you would NEVER expect to do those things took it upon themselves to help in a potentially dangerous situation. It makes me proud.

[Mark S]

Power around me was lost at about 4 pm yesterday and didn't come on for me until about 5 am, though that time varied around the area. I woke up, turned on the radio to hear that Earny Eves was urging people to stay home unless they were emergency workers, turned the tv on and heard the same thing, so I did. Had to listen to the Primier at some point I guess.

From what I've heard on the news, there are about five different things they are blaming this on, from transmission lines between Ontario and New York, to two or three locations of power plant fires.

Canadian and American power is connected because the bigger the grid the less likely it is that a spike in power will cause a black out because power can be distributed more easily. Unfortunately it leaves you open of things like this. Or that's what the 'Energy Official' on the news today said.

Personally I think it was alieans...