Breaking News: Major Power outages in many cities

[LvR]

You guys missed the point - MSBLAST wrt Jon's comment "Makes me think either there was some kind of "terror" related incident" - never meant to imply the worm was actually responsible even though its not totally impossible.

[Dr Mordrid]

I believe we had 5 nuclear plants shut down without incident, including the huge Fermi II plant about 30 miles SE of here.

Dr. Mordrid

[The PIT]

I wonder why Terrorists don't try this method of attack. Cheaper and if Brian is correct very effective.

[Brian Ellis]

TP

Although the overall effects would be bad, loss of life would be minimal ( no terror) and remember that there would be no press, radio or TV to inform the public what clever boys they were. One of the key aspects of modern terror is the publicity it receives. If we hadn't been able to see what happened when the twin towers went down, its impact on those not living or working in Manhattan would have been far less. If the terrorists destroy the means of propagating the information, then their action is diluted.

For the same reason, the first occupied buildings in a coup d'état are the radio and TV stations.

[The PIT]

Eh know one knows about it???

Everyone knows about the power outage. Don't worry todays media would spread the news rapidly.


"The first occupied buildings in a coup d'état are the radio and TV stations" Thats so the Rebels can tell there own story.

[agallag]

Hey, I'm back online in Toronto. Canadian power is about 50% back on. Mine came on in the middle of the night sometime, I think around 5am. There are still large pockets in the city without power, and the subways won't be running again until they're sure the power is stable. The premier of ontario and the chief of police of toronto have said all non-essential workers should stay home today, so, 3 DAY WEEKEND! Woo!

Anyway, it was kinda peaceful last night. We went out as a family and walked the dog we're babysitting. Sat around the livingroom and talked for a few hours. Went out and looked at the stars, which can normally not be seen with all the city lights. It was really quite pleasant.

[agallag]

Originally posted by Brian Ellis
TP

Although the overall effects would be bad, loss of life would be minimal ( no terror) and remember that there would be no press, radio or TV to inform the public what clever boys they were. One of the key aspects of modern terror is the publicity it receives. If we hadn't been able to see what happened when the twin towers went down, its impact on those not living or working in Manhattan would have been far less. If the terrorists destroy the means of propagating the information, then their action is diluted.

For the same reason, the first occupied buildings in a coup d'état are the radio and TV stations.

Actually, most of the radio stations in toronto were still broadcasting throughout the blackout. They all have emergency generators so they can stay on the air. That's how we were getting all our updates about how big the blackout really was. Strangely, the phones kept working the whole time too. Where was the phone company getting its power?

[Sasq]

The phone company has its own generators and a room full of 2v lead acid batteries that way about 45kg each making up the 48v you phones run on.

Standard practice. Also if your near a multi story telephone exchange during a major earthquake run away as fast as you can. the sides will generally fall off and the building becomes rather Elastic.

Dan

[Brian Ellis]

OK, TP, just imagine the whole of the UK without power. How many TV sets would be on? How many newspapers would be printed? How long would the batteries in your trannie last? How many trains, trams or trolley buses would run (even diesel engines need power to work the signals, points, etc.)? How many cows would be milked for your cuppa? How many freezers would remain cold? How could you fill your car? How could you recharge your laptop? How could the emergency generators in hospitals, phone exchanges, ISPs, get more fuel? How would you stop the looting that would inevitably break out? How would water be pumped? How would sewage treatment work? How could emergency services work? How would you power essential security devices? I can assure you that total anarchy would break out on the fourth day because no one would know what was happening because there would be no further means of communication other than the town crier.

A small foretaste of this has been felt in Baghdad, but this is peanuts compared with what would happen in the UK under such conditions.

[GNEP]

Basically the only place I know that would be OK long-term is my parents' farm - the huge great 3 phase generator that is used to power grain driers and feed mixers and grain blowers etc can power the house if needed. There are quite large tanks of diesel, gas, heating oil and petrol in the yard. Food isn't too bad - we can always lop the leg off a cow Most dairies I know as well have generator power for the milking machines and coolers.

And we can live without the phone.

Oh and I have a clockwork radio

But yes - long-term power-outages would be an arse.

[Brian Ellis]

GNEP

The problem is that there may not be a cow left to lop the leg off: they may all have been looted by hungry mobs, who would tear up the countryside. And when they find nothing, they'll torch the farm, fuel tanks and all. It would not be the first time that this kind of thing has happened. When a populace starts to become hungry, then all hell is let loose.

You may not be old enough to remember it, but food rationing during the 39-45 war and after was a balancing act between supplying enough to prevent riots and minimising the import of foodstuff, remembering many farm workers were in the forces (ever heard of Land Girls?), Whenever things looked like getting out of hand, the Ministry of Food would up the ration of a commodity. The most important import where the rations were generous was tea, as this would have been the most sensitive trigger for problems. OTOH, most imported stuff was strictly rationed or simply not available, at all. Certainly cattle and sheep rustling was quite common, as the meat ration was quite small (1/6 or 2/- per week irrespective of the cut: ie a beefsteak the size of a small biscuit or a whole pound of belly of pork). The black market thrived on stolen animals.

[Chrono_Wanderer]

jsut got power back (at six)! last night was a new experience for me!

man! the sirens were everywhere yesterday night! And there were so many force alarms coz the backup power for the alarm went out... so yea... the family bascially had to stay up and keep disabling the alarm.

well, someone will have LOTS of explaining to do!

[Liquid Snake]

Blame Canada

Surprisingly, things didn't get too chaotic here in NYC. Not much in the way of looting occured overnight. The streets were pitch black except for a few flickering candles. With nothing else to do, I ended up playing Scrabble with my sisters. I won despite being half-asleep But getting home was even more fun. Stuck in traffic for an hour and half because all the traffic lights were out. The tunnels were open, but they were pitch black except for the headlights of cars. It looked kind of cool actually. The subways are completely out, and there are still many parts of Manhattan without power. So I'm off from work today

[Chrono_Wanderer]

Is it really canada's fault? (Ontario hydro is cutting budget)

[GNEP]

Brian - we're talking about between a day and a week here. Not months or years without enough food