++++++ EAST COAST POWER OUTAGE...THREAD # 4

[SoCalDem]

THREAD # 1 LINK...disappeared

THREAD # 2 LINK

THREAD # 3 LINK

[VolcanoJen]

1. Canada Blames Outage on Lightning Strike

Reposting this from Thread #3.

By the way, SoCalDem, thanks so much for keeping this discussion going!

- Jennifer

http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20030814/API/308141046

The Associated Press
TORONTO
Canadian officials said Thursday that a massive power outage across the Northeast and parts of Canada was caused by a lightning strike at the Niagara power plant.

"We have been informed that lightning struck a power plant in the Niagara region on the U.S. side," said Jim Munson, a spokesman for Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien.

[Walt Starr]

4. Yep, a lightning strike

One lightning strike reveals to all terrorists in the world how vulnerable our infrastructure really is.

Just what we needed.

[BraveDave]

15. Too Bad there were no storms in the area.

There's no way it was caused by lightning. There's no record of any in the area.

[huckleberry]

17. Not a lightning strike!

My Mom and Dad live just outside of Niagara Falls, NY. My Mom said that there was NO lightning strike - it's a beautiful, clear day. Also, they have power, but no water!

[ElsewheresDaughter]

110. my friend in Montreal said it was a beautiful day...clear skies...

NOT lightning...it was cheney energy bill lightning...the enron energy bill had passed both the house and senate was in conference where they intended to let it DIE a rightful DEATH!....ahh the fear factor in play AGAIN!....i hate these evil bastards

[On the Road]

29. Looks Like That Map Might Stop at the canadian Border

[ryharrin]

55. That's true, but there weren't any storms at all on the US side either.

Who knows.

[HEyHEY]

2. Well

Withdraw your newest appeal about softwood lumber, and we'll turn it back on...bwahahahahaha!

[underpants]

3. the anti-Candians might have just gotten a wake-up

It helps if their heads are out off their asses, for a change.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

9. "It helps if their heads are out off their asses, for a change."

Nope, not possible without major surgery and even then it's dicey. They suffer from what doctors call "Ingrown Head". :eyes:

[underpants]

19. Oh so that's who is driving in front of me

:bounce:

[Ein]

5. 21 plants in 3 minutes

What are they not telling us?

[VolcanoJen]

7. Lightning of Mass Destruction!

The lightning hates freedom! Why does the lightning hate America?

}(

Something stinks to high heaven here...

[Pallas180]

81. Dimwit said, "If I'm lying, may God strike me" - but God's aim with

those thunderbolts has gotten a little fuzzy.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

10. Lots.

Lots and lots and lots.

[Throckmorton]

100. Thats what can happen,

The undervoltage and reverse power protection schemes at each station will take local, automatic control upon a severe sustained degraded voltage condition.

BTW, both units at my nuke stayed on line, but it was close.

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

6. Ya get the feeling God is trying to tell George something?

Since the Resident has been in office, our submarine sank and killed several Japanese, our P-3 was caught in a "tangle" w/the Chinese, creating an international incident, we lost the world's respect after ditching Kyoto, we lost the WTC towers, the Pentagon was sacked, all resulting in the loss of approximately 3,000 people, a perfectly good economy sank like a rock, our congress was anthraxed, the Space Shuttle blew up, we went to war for no damn good reason, our troops live in filth, misery, and fear and are attacked, injured and killed on a daily basis, the US lives under the constant threat (real or imagined) of terror, and now, lightning strikes our powergrid, causing a blackout across half the country.

What are the odds?

[VolcanoJen]

8. That's a great round-up, rebel!

Why doesn't the press start asking the same question?

[5thGenDemocrat]

54. Great post

And you didn't even mention that Osama bin Laden, Saddam Hussein and Ken Lay are all still on the loose.
John
I'd say the odds are pretty long.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

11. can't wait to see what happens next...

NOT !!

[SoCalDem]

13. LOCUSTSSSSSSSSSSSS

aaaaaiiiiiieeeeeeee:(

[Rebel_with_a_cause]

14. We had locust in the west this year, didn't we?

Nevada, Utah, Wyoming etc?

[salin]

63. Next summer is the "year" of the 17 yr cicada

the swarms can be so dense that the seem like locusts.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

24. insect infestation is already covered...

West Nile Virus mosquitoes...

[Pallas180]

79. ROFL ! and frogs.

:evilgrin:

[osaMABUSh]

65. I guess * hit the trifecta ....again...and again... and again....

time for another tax cut I guess

[laconicsax]

89. I think I'll use this list you've compiled

The next time some idiot rethug tries to tell me that God was angry with Clinton being inagurated back in '93. (There was a huge wind storm in the Seattle area on inaguration day. It knocked out power in the whole area for a few days.)

[meow2u3]

112. Do you really think Bush will listen to God?!!!

nt

[dArKeR]

12. Why doesn't Davis take this opportunity to attack Wilson, Arnie, Bush,

and Cheney. And claim this is a conspiracy (fraud) recall?

How California's Power Crisis Works - The Roots of the Crisis
Deregulation of California utilities - Many are pointing to the deregulation plan that former Governor Pete Wilson signed into law in 1996.
http://www.howstuffworks.com/california-power1.htm


A rogues’ gallery - Meet the men who devised the deregulation disaster.
The ball is in Gray Davis’ court now, but it certainly didn’t start there. His Republican predecessor, Pete Wilson, pushed, prodded and presided over California’s electric power deregulation, but a number of other men played critical roles in devising the disastrous scheme. Here are four of them:
http://www.newsreview.com/issues/sacto/2001-03-22/cover2.asp


http://darker0darker.tripod.com/

[orangecoloredapple]

16. I read that the power is not down in Buffalo, but

is it working in Rochester? Thanks for letting me know.

[huckleberry]

18. My nephew (in Rochester) says power is out there.

[orangecoloredapple]

28. Thanks - that was much appreciated

it's good to know.

[Hokie]

20. This was not supposed to happen

The engineers supposedly installed protection schemes to prevent a cascading blackout after the 1964 NE blackout. I guess they are still not there yet.

[htuttle]

23. They worked here in Wisconsin

I saw an interview on the local news with a guy from Alliant energy in WI, and he said one of their plants in Sheboygan caught the surge, and prevented it from cascading any further, just like it was supposed to. There weren't any outages in Wisconsin.

Don't know why they didn't work elsewhere.

[trogdor]

73. That was almost 40 years ago.

Ya gotta cut 'em a break. Considering the demands we put on the grid, it's a wonder stuff like this doesn't happen more often.

Anyhow, most of the Utica/Rome NY area had their power restored by 7 PM.

[Rose Siding]

21. Gent- Reliance electric says lightning not cause

CNN- He says that would be virtually impossible and with all the safeguards in place he has no idea what could have caused it.

[seventhson]

22. Is NIagara Power DENYING the official story: Lightning?

My honey caught this.

Sher has been saying all day they are not telling uds the truth. NOW she caughgt a CNN blurb that Niagara Power is denying the lightning strike story.

Anyone catch that?

Chretien says it is lightning but the utility denies it?

Now a guy is saying somebody mucked up.


I am near NYC and I caught the surge and neighnoring towns are out (I'm on) - but the denial is interesting. Want more

[QuietStorm]

26. I heard AND where is the f/up on the fire at ConEd (pls aswr someone)

I want the link on the denial (I did a search nothing) and my sister saw the smoke from the fire in NY across the river as seen from NJ. It had to be big if she could see it. WHAT HAPPENED TO NEWS ON THAT FIRE? Has there been and I just missed it.

[QuietStorm]

27. Has our President said ANYTHING?

[spinbaby]

30. He's babbling now

Incoherent as usual. But they did dress him up nicely in a suit.

[QuietStorm]

38. yes I just caught the end of it why did he look like he is lying?

he looked like he had some egg on his face. or is it just me that thinks this.

[QuietStorm]

39. You know that movie Independence day

of course if it is terrorism people in washington and colorado should keep an eye out to see if these thugs start moving to higher ground.

[Cooley Hurd]

43. Con-Ed spokesman says smoke caused by abrupt shutdown...

...not a fire, as per a CNN reporter a few minutes ago.

[Pallas180]

82. Just Con Ed smoke stacks with the major black smoke - but I did see

3 fires in NYC...no explanation given.

[Snellius]

31. Just got power. Local NY weather says NO lightning storms

We just got power back here in Hudson Valley of NY. Local weatherman here says he checked all his charts and there was no sign of a lightning storm anywhere near that area. Everyone here, especially those who live near the Indian Point nuclear power plant, is still suspicious that this might not be a cover for another attack.

[VolcanoJen]

32. That's good info about the lightning, Snellius

Thanks for posting that.

So who put Chretien up to the lightning story??

[Cooley Hurd]

42. NiMo vehemently denies lightning strike (on CNN)...

...and Con-Ed denying fire at their plant. BTW: power came up at 7:45 in Saratoga Co (NY)...

[Pallas180]

84. Hey Snellius. I'm formerly from that area - where are you?

:hi:

after they gave up on the lightning story, tv said there
was a fire in the Mohawk/Niagara plant....and someone mentioned
they may be looking for an insider (someone who may have set it)

[0rganism]

25. When the lights go down in the City/And the sun shines on the baaaay

oh I wanna be the-ee-ere
in my City
ooh ooh

WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON IN THIS COUNTRY?

HOW MUCH BULLSHIT ARE WE GOING TO PUT UP WITH BEFORE WE MOVE TO BAGHDAD?

[GalleryGod]

35. Anybody See Shrub Asswipe's Pitiful Performance???

:puke: Can't even speak English!
:silly: A Village IDIOT In Chief:wtf:

[PretzelzRule]

85. oh, yes

that wanker cannot speak coherently without cuecards.

[ChoralScholar]

62. I just want to take this opportunity to say...

that Journey is very appropriate for any and all situations.

And now, back to your regularly scheduled coverup already in progress...

[expatriot]

33. the president calls it a "rolling blackout"

and he said the word "veracity" without screwing it up. But he looks very, very uncomfortable... he doesn't make emergency statements very well because he needs prepped for like two weeks in advance to make a good speech.

[Davis_X_Machina]

40. "Rolling blackout"...

...just like California.

Now we have to recall Pataki, just to be consistent.

[dflprincess]

44. I heard one commentator

(maybe on MSNBC - can't be sure as I was hopping around the stations) say that Bush*'s remarks would not be live but taped. Who knows how many takes it took to get all the words out right. Probably why it was late coming on, he was suppose to speak (and reassure us) at 7:30 central.

[cantwealljustgetalong]

34. Blackout shuts down nuclear plants...

US authorities shut down seven nuclear power plants today because of major outages that hit the northeast United States, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) announced.

An NRC statement said the closures were ordered because of "grid instabilities", but added that "all plants are in a safe condition, using their emergency diesel generators where appropriate".

...

It named the closed plants as Indian Point, Ginna, Fitzpatrick and Nine Mile Point in New York state, Perry in Ohio, Fermi in Michigan and Oyster Creek in New Jersey.

http://theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,6960767%255E1702,00.html

[LosinIt]

95. How come if they shut down both Ginna & 9 Mile Point is my power back on?

I live between these two stations. From what I heard on the news, once the nukes have been powered down it takes almost two days to power them back up. I'm confused, nu-ku-lar engineers or power grid experts who can explain this one to me?

[Throckmorton]

102. Well, you power doesnt come from only one source.

Right now, hundreds of combustion turbines, black start capable baseload unit, and hydro plants are holding up the grid. Along with a few fortunate Nukes that didnt trip automatically. Remember, at this hour there are still millions of people without power.

Nukes take at least 24 hours to return to full power operation, its just reactor physics. Xenon Transients rob neutrons needed to sustain the reaction.

[Wonk]

36. We predicted this (in 1982): energy expert

link

[phoebe]

37. I wouldn't be surprised if * says it's now time for building more nuclear

power plants. Anyone?

[VolcanoJen]

41. Cleveland under curfew - starting 9:30 pm

Per Keith Olbermann on MSNBC, the mayor of Cleveland has also said that they're running out of water, or at least they're having problems distributing water to their residents.

Olbermann just said this is as real as any terrorist attack.

[diplomats]

47. Bill Richardson, Clinton energy secy., is on Larry King

where the heck is Spencer Abraham, Chimpy's energy secy.?

[SoCalDem]

50. vacation?? They seem to ALL be on vacation

Remember the hokey little road trip last week?? and Dickie's fishin'.. chimpy is kicking cowpies and flyin' around stuffing money in his pants..:(

[QuietStorm]

45. why are we just getting reports on the blackout in NYC

there were other states hit with the outage. It diminishes the event.

[Cthulu_2004]

97. because...

the footage of people streaming out of NYC on foot makes great press...

[VolcanoJen]

46. NBC's David Gregory just said Bush looked "uncomfortable."

Holy crap! Yes, I think they might be starting to come around...

Olbermann, in the meantime, has been hard at work debunking the "Canadian lightning" story.

[dArKeR]

49. Fundraising again while our children die and America (doesn't) burn!

American Media Whores to Junior's rescue!

[bigboy]

94. nervous george???

lies again. Lightning?? It rained frogs too...

[dArKeR]

48. Painfull to watch Bush's news conference! Canned speech for all crises!

All you need to do is replace 'terrorism' with 'power grid' and it's the same response Chimpy gives to everything that happens in the U.S. or the world.

What an idiot! And no media questions this? Why?

[VolcanoJen]

51. Even the Freepers aren't buying the comments from Chimpy.

Must be read to be believed:

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/964370/posts

[peekaloo]

57. rut-roh.......trouble in tiny town

I did get a larf out of this one:

To: Husker24

He did give us a couple of great new Bushisms when he talked about our "amediate" concern "up east".


22 posted on 08/14/2003 6:23 PM PDT by Chi-townChief

----------------------

freeps track Bushisms? I thought he goofed on purpose to "inferiate" the libs.

[Mari333]

64. Ummmm sounds to me like the Freepers

Have no idea what a HANGOVER is like....but their descriptions of it are obvious.

[PretzelzRule]

86. Holy shit!

From the FreaKKKRepublik link:

To: Husker24


For the first time, I didn't believe Pres. Bush. He tried to appear too casual, repeated "rolling black-out" too many times in the first few sentences, and just seemed strange. I don't think they know what caused the power surge that took down 21 power plants in 3 minutes in 5 states and Canada...and sadly, I don't think we'll find out until something similar to this happens on a grand scale that can't be hidden. I know...I'll go get my tinfoil hat now....


15 posted on 08/14/2003 6:15 PM PDT by kittymyrib
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies >

/end

Congratulations, kittymyrib. You win a prize.

[laconicsax]

91. The clinton bashing didn't start for a while on that thread

"He doesn't sit on the tarmac getting a stupid hair cut like clintin did.
He didn't bomb an aspirin factory to cover up his dallyances (not sure if that is spelled correctly)
He didn't LIE under oath
He wasn't IMPEACHED"

I guess for a freeper, that's relavent discussion for a power outage.

[QuietStorm]

52. FINALLY ABC NEWS JUST REPORTED THE DISPARITY

FINALLY ABC NEWS JUST REPORTED THE DISPARITY in news reports. I just heard a commentator say that there was a report of the lightening, but Niagara falls states there was no lightening. They are fucking with us. I mean if they do not know the cause they do not have diddle around like this they just report they do not know the cause. WHY have they diverted our attention for the fire at ConEd and shifted it to Niagara falls only to find out Niagara Power says there was no lightening.

now comes ted Koppel...poor guy he has been asking pointed questions since we went into Iraq can't seem to get anyone to answer his questions though.

[cmd]

53. Cleveland update

9:48 p.m. My daughter is sitting on a cruise boat on the Cuyahoga River in downtown Cleveland. She said the city is almost totally black. There were lights on the Terminal Tower and one other building. The coast guard is shining lights on the the river and there are periodic radio announcements.

She will be going home in a few minutes, traveling about six miles to an area of the town that is probably without water. If there is water, she is under a boil order. I will be calling her tomorrow morning to wake her up. She has a HUGE day at work that she has been planning for months. Right now she's worried about being able to take a shower. I just want everyone to be safe tonight. I'll update when I have news. cmd

[ramapo]

56. NNJ's back

Got our power back about an hour ago.

No big deal here. We were out about 4.5 hours. The east cost power grid goes down now and then. Once the circuit breakers start popping it snowballs and it takes a bit to recycle everything.

Everyone was playing up the terrorist angle at first. Too much.

Saw Bush* on Tv. He looked pasty. I think the job is getting to him.

[Isere]

60. Problem in a Nuk-ular plant?

I saw a trailer on one of the cable news channels, CNN I think, that said that the Canadian Defense Minister stated that the problem started in a US nuclear plant. Since then I have heard nothing to confirm this. The reliability of info from Canada hasn't been all that great so I am reserving judgement.

Did anyone else see this?

[NewJerseyDem]

66. Mine is back too

It came back here around 8:30. Our electricity went out late for some reason at around 5:00, I don't know why. New Jersey seems to have faired pretty well in comparison to NYC, Cleveland, etc.

[absolutezero]

87. i just got it back

and i live in north jersey

as for the lighting, i knew it was bullshit when they first said it for one reason


IT'S IMPOSSIBLE

lighting (for those of you that don't know) requires a massive static charge on the ground before it can jump up to positive ions in the sky. (yea it travels up, not down) but this can't happen at a power station, they don't let the voltage get high enough (you need 110v to jump a centimeter, millions to jump 40000 ft)

then they revealed it was clear day and no lighting hits were reported, meaning the canadians have something to hide

[trogdor]

114. It was a beautiful day - not a cloud in the sky.

My son is at summer camp in western NY - I'll ask him when he comes home if there was a thunderstorm yesterday. I highly doubt it.

[JCMach1]

58. This happened in JAX, Florida about a year ago

Some areas took nearly 12-24hrs. to get back online.

http://www.news4jax.com/news/1426714/detail.html

[htuttle]

59. Sounds like Cleveland is going to run dry tonight

From ABC NEWS:

They are trying to get some emergency generators down to the water pumping stations. Some higher areas of the city are already out of water. Earliest that power will be restored (with generators) to the water pumps is midnight, and it might be much later. Most of rest of city has about 3-4 hours of water left.

(on edit)
Forgot to attribute this. The Mayor of Cleveland said this when she was interviewed on the phone.

[nykiera]

61. Pulaski NY has power

As of 10:30 pm et.

Missed Du for these many hours!

[dusty64]

67. Cool, we're going

up to camp on the Lake tomorrow. Got ours back around 9:40.

[ryharrin]

68. For some reason my section of Syracuse never lost power.

Though large parts of it did. I wonder why?

[SoCalDem]

69. I bet Syracuse votes republican

:evilgrin:

[ryharrin]

71. It sure does :)

Good ol' Jim Walsh (R) has been our representative for as long as I can remember.

[LosinIt]

96. Jim Walsh is the LARGEST asshole ever

Met him at what was billed as a birthday party, but ended up being a Republican gathering. It was last summer. As big Jim was leaving after schmoozing around with the non-Dems, I said to him, "We don't want a war." He turns around with his schmarmy smile and says, "Well, the President hasn't made his case yet, we'll see." Like his mind wasn't already made up. Later that night, after several drinks I had a shouting match with a self-proclaimed 'card-carrying member of the John Birch Society'. What a night.

[Cooley Hurd]

70. My sister is in Union Springs (east side of Cayuga Lake)...

...and she never lost power, either. Auburn was still out as of 2 hrs ago.

[dusty64]

74. Downtown had power,

I was "thrilled" my workplace never lost its power.

[HungryLoser]

72. The stockmarket should be doing interesting

things over the next few trading days. Dick n Bush are sweating bullets tonight, Dick's probably on the phone right night screaming at underlings. Our rates are going to go up again. We should all protest and stop using electricity... well, less electricity.
Ooo.. I wish I could hear them right now, nobody in the white house is sleeping tonight.

[ChaoticSilly]

75. Speaking from the point of view

of a person who was without power here in Memphis for 6 days a few weeks ago due to an 80mph windstorm, I hope they get the lights turned on soon for everybody up there - it really sucks to have DU withdrawals for so long.

[goforit]

76. Another Wag The Dog!!!!!.............Rummy's chaos strategy at work!!!

This administration is nothing but a
F@$ing nightmare!!!!!!!!!!!



:argh:

[Lori Price CLG]

77. ...It's a few less hours of Kobe, Laci, and Swarzenegger updates.

BTW, it's odd the 'powers that be' do not know the cause of the blackout... yet, seemed to know from the get-go it was *not* an act of terrorism. Since ruling OUT terrorism, it stands to reason that 'they' know they cause.
-Lori

[MetaTrope]

78. We need MORE ENERGY DEREGULATION DAMMIT!

How can our power companies get anything done with the federal government always breathing down their neck?

[Pallas180]

88. Gee, I thought Ken Lay got a lot done with government .

:toast:

[preciousdove]

80. "Lucky for us the DHS has nothing to do with this event:"

(paraphrasing can't find it online yet). A U of MN expert about the failure of the power grid talking to a TV reporter. When asked if the outage could spread he said yes but it was unlikely. He gave the impresion thought it was an anomaly not something he expected to happen.

Pawlenty is in NYC. He is an appointee to a historic preservation committee or that is his cover for being in NY according to the TV news. (Hope he has a miserable evening.)

[whirlygigspin]

83. spinning in the dark

I don't think anyone knows, as of now what did actually
cause the blackout but you can bet a dozen doughnuts that
Prime Minister Crouton's office was counter spinning wacky Pataki.

--No one wants to be blamed--and the're all running for cover.

[Pallas180]

90. On the serious side - there's a lesson in this. people are without

water because electricity runs city pumps to give
water - some without food because with new electronic
stoves, need electricity to start the stove..

so , here's the lesson:

start saving a month's worth of water in liter coke bottles,
and stock up on canned foods that can be eaten without cooking-
tuna, chicken, campbell soups, crackers, etc etc

this may have been an accident....if and when there's an attack
you'll still need water and food..and if you can get a lil hibachi
pot for warming stuff up.

On edit - better save in larger containers (kitty
litter 16 pound container is perfect) water to put
in toilets. Toilets dont flush without water ya know.

[laconicsax]

92. The lesson can also be used

to predict humanitarian disasters--if you bomb all of a country's power plants, they're not going to be able to pump or purify water...hmmm

[Rhiannon12866]

93. I am back! I had just logged on, after 4pm when we very suddenly

lost power. The clocks were stopped at 4:20pm. I am in Upstate (not Western) New York. We got power back shortly before 9pm, and realize that we are extremely fortunate. Power is still out in NYC and it may take several days to restore power to Ohio, according to MSNBC, plus many are without water. My friend called this region ``the new Baghdad.'':shrug:

[Ganja Ninja]

98. There’s an easy explanation for this whole mess.

I think we should just file this incident under the title “The George Bush Jinx”.
Webster defines a jinx as 1. A person or thing bringing bad luck. - 2. To cause (someone) bad luck.
Lets face it this guy is bad luck, not for himself but for anyone or anything he comes in contact with.

[Corgigal]

99. ABC news this morning

its basically saying this is probably a cyberatttack. If it's done properly we won't even know who was there and how it was caused. They mentioned probing on the electrical circuits a few weeks ago.
To me, this makes the most sense.
I'm not sure the Govt will tell us for sure.

[PaDUer]

101. Of course not...

wonder what was really going on and they needed a diversion!

[alaine]

103. Thank you, I saw it too, after flipping over from NBC,

where they are still in denial or expect us to be. I just saw the three women with the three little babies who got dumped in NY last night by their bus company and had to spend the night in an alley. I'm really impressed, I have to say, by the way New Yorkers and every one else has handled this, maybe everyone thought there would be fires and riots etc, although I understand there was some looting.

I am still so pissed that they told us that it absolutely was not terrorism, but they didn't know what caused it. How stupid do they think we are. I don't have any more proof than anyone else that it was, but good grief, don't contradict yourself, W, and then expect us to swallow it.

I thought it was interesting that the other man ABC was interviewing (I forgot his name already, not Ghent though) said, when they asked him why they denied hacking last night, he said that "the officials making the announcements" to the public might have denied it (Bush is a mere "official"?), but that the FBI agents investigating it never denied that it was cyber-terrorism. When Diane Sawyer asked them if islamic terrorists were sophisticated enought to be able to do this, he said yes, although that is not ruling out the possibility that it could have been any number of groups.

[lanlady]

107. are you talking about that Dick Clarke guy?

The one who told Diane that 90 % of power grid systems are easily hackable? I thought that was interesting, and it made a lot of sense. He called for more gov't regulation on security grounds.

Said public officials have an old-fashioned view of terrorism (bombs, body bags) and couldn't recognized cyberterrorism if it hit 'em in the face. I've always suspected Bush*, for one, has never switched on a computer.

[Athame]

120. Dick Clarke also said that the energy companies had just agreed

on WEDNESDAY to an energy security policy that had not been implemented yet....

:tinfoilhat:

[molly]

104. I think so too

it happened too fast and affected too much.

[Corgigal]

105. Interesting article quotes below and link

Massoud Amin, a mathematician directing new security efforts in the industry, described the North American power grid as "the most complex machine ever built." At an April 2 conference hosted by the Commerce Department, participants said, government and industry scientists agreed that they have no idea how the grid would respond to a cyber-attack.

What they do know is that "Red Teams" of mock intruders from the Energy Department's four national laboratories have devised what one government document listed as "eight scenarios for SCADA attack on an electrical power grid" -- and all of them work. Eighteen such exercises have been conducted to date against large regional utilities, and Richard A. Clarke, Bush's cyber-security adviser, said the intruders "have always, always succeeded."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A50765-2002Jun26

[LeftHander]

106. MS WOrm? Shutting down servers at power plants?

Maybe that is the culprit...if lightning not cause.

I am sure there are hundreds if not thousands of Windows computers at power plants across the NE....

But then why did'nt other areas succumb...

[Not a robought]

108. Does anyone know how to check

if Detroit is connected on the same power grid that went down?

[Throckmorton]

111. Yes, its all one big, mutually system from Maine to the 110th

meridean. North America, sans Mexico, has four major power grids, Quebec/Maritimes Grid, Eastern Grid, Western Grid and Texas Grid. There are no sycronous ties between the grids, but there are High Voltage DC ties in several spots.

As a small insider aside, ISO-New England has been complaining about ISO-NY's Severe Line Outage Detection (SLOD) scheme for years. They always said that the it wouldn't work when called upon. The ISO-NE SLOD worked like a charm, and kept most of New England lit up.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

109. it was a cheney energy bill strike...this will get it passed and kennyboy

will get what he paid for and lots more...the bill is in conference and they were going to let it die there....guess what?....yup cheney wins :puke:

[meow2u3]

113. My sister and niece are in New York

They're directly affected by the blackout.
My sister is studying for her MCAT, and she can't do anything--no cell phone, no lights for her to study, no nothing.

My niece moved to NY a week ago.

I'm wondering how they're doing :(

[Not a robought]

115. Was anyone just watching CNN?

Leon Harris just now asked a power industry exec on camera what he thought the cause was and he said, "I think it was a lightning strike in Canada, err... I mean close to the Canadian border..." and then he was cut off and replaced with color bars.

WTF?

[chris_b]

117. they wont let you know the reason

they'll keep you dumb as always!
sorry but thats the truth(almost the same here in germoney).

dumb people are easier to rule, thats why your schools have no money!
education is too dangerous!

chris

[elcondor]

116. Hey! My lights just went on a few minutes ago!

I heard Detriot still doesn't have power, though. I'm in Northern Ohio, for what it's worth. The best part of last night was star-gazing sans light pollution--but I am glad it's over for me. (I was on a boil-water-alert!) :-)

[classics]

118. Most of Cleveland is back on the grid.

Power to the majority of the city itself was restored at 7:30am Eastern.

The suburbs are served by a different electric company and many of them had power back on around midnight, but many are still without power at the moment.

[goobergunch]

119. So New Jersey and part of Upstate NY are back...

how are NYC, Detroit, and Ohio doing? Inquiring minds...

By the way, yesterday was the first reasonably clear day in Philly for months. :bounce:

[Rhiannon12866]

121. NYC was supposed to be back on by one a.m. early Friday morning

It was not. I believe all of it was back on by Friday night. In Upstate New York, where I am, we were told that we would have no more power interruptions after 2:30pm Friday. The lights are back on and have stayed on, finally.:-)

[demgrrrll]

122. Someone on the Bartcop forum posted that they have discovered that

the blackout began in Cleveland and that the President of the Energy company in Cleveland is a Bush Pioneer. Probably just a cowinky dink.

[Rhiannon12866]

124. I did hear today on CNN that this is the area that they are focusing

on in their investigation of this. The connection to Bush* is very interesting. Whether it will prove relevant or not, we'll probably never be told.:shrug:

[robbedvoter]

123. Last neighborhood to get light - Fri at 9:00 PM _ Lower East Side

(since Con Edison plant is right here, on my street). Bloomberg was INFURIATING ("well, it's good Con Ed wasn't damaged, that would've been months...As it is, who cares if it's a few hours of a few days?" (he had power at the time).
I think the "rolling blackouts" bushism was a Freudian slip - it was after all an Enronic activity that led to this (another one of hgis buddies, in Ohio produced this - wittingly or crassly)
I read all the back threads (since I had no power at the time). Loved Rather's comments on Andrew Card running the country nd the entire fund raiser coverage. New Yorkers will find it out and will serve it cool next summer.
Most of us partied and made the best of a bad thing but we don't let the greedy thieves off the hook. It was hell going up and down on stairs in the dark and trying to sleep in a hot and humid place, but we pretty much came together outside.
I was thinking of the Simpsons episode where Mr Burns shuts the power to subdue Springfield. They make a bonfire and sing Lisa's song:
"You may have the plants
But we have the power"
Mr Burns gives in.