Major Power Outages on Eastern Coast...

[Woolen Horde]

Toronto, Detroit, New York.... more cities reporting problems.

Is there a heat wave going on and did all the demand for electricity to power air conditioners collapse the system, or is this the first wave of some kind of terrorist attack? Talk to me people.

[DennyA]

Had a totally bizarre power fluctuation here about 15 minutes ago. The power in the house flipped on-off-on-off-on-off-on at a very rapid rate, as if someone was flipping a light switch at a high rate.

Thank gosh the computer was on a UPS...

[James Gutierrez]

MSNBC is quoting "federal sources" as saying it was not terrorism, but an overload of the Niagara-Mohawk power grid.

[Anders Hallin]

Recall! Recall! I don't know who, but heads will roll!

[Bub, Andrew]

It might be a scary night on the Eastern seaboard. Last time this happened the looting was severe, according to CNN.

[bago]

Fire in a plant!

[Woolen Horde]

I'm sure all the Californians are laughing their asses off at their East Coast breathern. All that mocking that they made at California's expense when we went through daily blackout hell. How'd you like them apples, Big Apple?

[Rywill]

You like apples?

You know, I have to admit, there was a little worm of fear gnawing at me when I first saw the story. This huge power grid goes out, and the government says "Oh, it's not terrorism, it's just natural causes" (whatever that means--like the grid died of old age?). Then a report comes in that black smoke was seen rising from the power plant, and the government says "That's nothing. It's normal."

And, y'know, I'm sure it is. But a tiny little part of my brain wonders whether if, hypothetically, a terrorist group had bombed a power station and knocked out power across the whole seaboard, might the government--especially W's government--try to cover it up?

But nah. I mean, obviously, if there were a coverup, they wouldn't let me post this messa--*

[Woolen Horde]

The black smoke was just explained. When the grid went down, all the power plants were still running, but all that electricity wasn't going anywhere, so they had to shut them down immediately. And when you shut down an oil furnace quickly (i.e. extinguish it), it smokes.

[Dave Long]

Yeah, all the news so far is that this is unwanted, but also just a case of overloaded demand or something. I'm down here in PA and we're unaffected so far.

--Dave

[Anders Hallin]

Does anyone else imagine Cleve shouting "IT BEGINS!" then running for his bunker at this very moment?

[Pjerrot]

Talking about scary!
I just saw Terminator 3 yesterday, and now CNN talked about a worm might have been behind the power outage.
I tell ya' it's the end of the world - Arnold knew the truth :wink:

Cleve - Arnold. Really the same person?

They don't blame the worm anymore - 'natural causes' , ' technical problems'. So you can all relax. When it gets there'll be looting and other crimes - but isn't that normal for USA?

[Jason McCullough]

I'll be surprised if there's looting. Things have improved a bit since the mid-70s.

[Sean Tudor]

Does anyone else imagine Cleve shouting "IT BEGINS!" then running for his bunker at this very moment?

Remember - Cleve is never more than 10 minutes away from his bunker ...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1040000/images/_1042964_bunker_150.jpg

[Nellie]

They don't blame the worm anymore

THe very thought that powerstation software might be sat on Windows scares theliving piss out of me, I live about 20 minutes drive away from a nuclear power station :D

[bago]

Iraq, Cali, NY... Electricity is just not liking the US right now...

[Woolen Horde]

Iraq, Cali, NY... Electricity is just not liking the US right now...

Heh, well, it don't like the French either. The heat wave is so bad over there that they've had to shut down close to half of their nuclear power stations, because the cooling water they use comes from rivers, and the river water is too warm to do any cooling right now.

[Alan Au]

...

- Alan 'Itsatrap' Au

[Warlord of Mars]

I'm hearing that lightning was the cause behind the whole thing.

[DennyA]

If some terrorist idiot did blow up a transformer somewhere and set all of this off, do you really think they'd admit it?

[Woolen Horde]

Reuters reports looting in Ontario, Canada.

Yup, Canada.

I'm *shocked* I say. Shocked!

[Brad Grenz]

If some terrorist idiot did blow up a transformer somewhere and set all of this off, do you really think they'd admit it?

You think they could keep it a secret?

Looting in Canada? Guess everyone decided they really needed a new hockey stick.

[Toddy]

Depend on the subtlety of the sabotage, wouldn't it? It's certainly possible. Just to ramp up the paranoia, take a look at where people believe the power problem originated -- around Niagara Falls, NY. Which is right next door to Buffalo, where a supposedly major al Qaeda cell was rooted out last year. Maybe the feds didn't get them all. Maybe one of the cell members got a job with Niagara-Mohawk. Dum-dum-dum!

No, I don't believe that it was a terrorist attack. But you don't need bombs to commit an act like this. All you need is a really hot day, a way inside a power plant, and knowledge of how the system works. It's no surprise that the grids around here are overloaded, and a couple of missteps might bring down the whole house of cards.

BTW, I haven't seen any reports on looting in Canada. I saw a news clip of some kid getting arrested by the Ottawa police for a fight on the street, but that's it. What's the world come to? A blackout without widespread looting?!

[Anders Hallin]

If some terrorist idiot did blow up a transformer somewhere and set all of this off, do you really think they'd admit it?
Well, few are the terrorist attacks that no one takes responsibility for. That's rather the point.