12:00 - 12:00 - 12:00 - 12:00 -- I Think I'm Next

[paulcs]

I believe part of today's rolling blackouts in Northern California ended in Block 14. They will resume in Block 14 next time around -- possibly tomorrow.

I think I live in Block 14.

Also, hospitals with generators learned today (the hard way!!) that they are not exempt from rolling blackouts. Hospitals claim the generators are for emergencies only (earthquakes). They are uncomfortable with the lights going out for any amount of time, even a few seconds, as brain surgery in the dark is probably not an optimal situation.

Paul
paulcs@speakeasy.net

[Helevitia]

I got lucky. I was in block 13 which blacked out sometime today while I was at work And since that was the last block, it will be a while before I'm hit again.

Dave

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about?

[Helevitia]

No offense taken. As a matter of fact, I am furious over this whole rediculous fiasco that we are all going through over here in Cali. I blame it on Corporate greed. thos stupid fux at PG&E and So Cal Edison force the surplus we hav here to be used for emergency funding. That is 400 million fkg dollars! You know we have a corrupt system when an emergency is considered no power and our shitty school systems are considered less important(for many years now). !$%@!#$!#@

Dave

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it's all about?

[Six Of One]

And this in the US of A. Shame.

No offence intended.

[paulcs]

The ISO is now claiming the state was overcharged by over $6 billion since last May. I think this is about to get very nasty.

Paul
paulcs@speakeasy.net

[az]

actually it's not the companys this time (well, at least it's not only the companys), it's the laws and regulators too... companys weren't allowed to build new power plants for the last ten years because of the environment (which is basically a good thing, but you have to balance everything), and end-user prices were regulated, so companys couldn't afford to buy current from other companys...

i think the politics should rather open their eyes on things like this and the school system before throwing away billions for some nifty useless (and dangerous, i might add) star wars toys so that the big kids like bush and rumsfeld have something to play with...

(we here in europe do have our own problems, i know about that, so this is not intended to say usa bad, europe good, it just fitted in the thread)

AZ

[paulcs]

This is not a nuclear issue. I don't believe any power plant, nuclear or otherwise, has been built in California in a long time.

Companies don't build nuclear power plants in California because it's too expensive. Nuclear power plants here tend to be built on earthquake faults. I don't think making them seismicly sound is gratuitous tree hugging. It's only prudent.

Of (I think) the two last nuclear power plants built, one was found to be a couple of miles from an active fault and had to be rebuilt. The other was found to be right on top of a fault and had to be rebuilt.

In fact, one had to be rebuilt twice. Apparently, after the first rebuilt it was found that the cores were accidently reversed.

Plants that use fossil fuel are the real issue here. It's a tough call. The air pollution problems in some of our bigger cities is legendary. (I think the people of Los Angeles like having the occasional day when they can't see the air their breathing.) I'm not quite sure we have a choice. LA might, but most of the rest of us weren't quite as clever as LA.

Hydroelectric plants appear to be out of the question.

Paul
paulcs@speakeasy.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 23 March 2001).]

[Greebe]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">(I think the people of Los Angeles like having the occasional day when they can't see the air their breathing.)</font>

Don't ya mean they can see the air they're breating? I seen it so bad that you could cut it with a knife!

[Greebe]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">(I think the people of Los Angeles like having the occasional day when they can't see the air their breathing.)</font>

Don't ya mean they can see the air they're breathing? I've seen it so bad that you could cut it with a knife!

[az]

that's what i meant, paulcs...

but i think i have the solution... how about solar cells?

AZ

[paulcs]

I don't think solar is cost effective. It seems wind generated power is much more common here.

Greebe is not really exagerating. I'm pretty sure we have more cars per capita than anywhere in the US. Maybe on the planet. Several miles inland from much of our coastline are a wall of hills. The wind blows in from the Pacific and moves away the pollution above the hills. However, the stuff below just gets caught by that wall, creating what looks from the air like a HUGE brown tube. It's pretty gross.

Until very recently, when the number of cars spiked, San Francisco had relatively clean air. You see, we're on a pennisula. The hills are across the Bay. Easterly winds from the Pacific tend to blow our pollution to Oakland and Berkeley, where it is caught by the hills.

I'm sure they don't appreciate the gesture.

Paul
paulcs@speakeasy.net

[paulcs]

I don't want to get too down on California. Our weather is pretty darn good -- almost all the time. Our universities produce many fine scholars and athletes that can actually read. Our companies make your CPU's and many other things in your computers. Our women are very attractive. In fact, when you're not looking, we lure your attractive women away with promises of fame, fortune, and a nice tan.

Oh, and our beer is pretty good as well. It's why Dave felt the need to defend American beer in the Maggi beer post. We produce some pretty good wines too. And we invented the martini!

But do you really want us messing with nuclear power? Is there anything you've heard about our famous utilities that leads you to believe we can be trusted with anything that dangerous. I'm willing to believe our neighbors in New Mexico, Arizona, and Nevada are perfectly happy about our self-imposed moritorium on nuclear plants. If we blow ourselves up, we might irradiate them!

That would be just plain rude.

Paul
paulcs@speakeasy.net

[This message has been edited by paulcs (edited 23 March 2001).]

[az]

i don't think any use of nuclear technology solves enough problems to justify the problems we create using that tech...

AZ