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That link I posted on #50 will give you the history of all the phreaking. Names, handles, the Woz Jobs connection....
now about that last question ;)
what was the second whistle that was used for phreaking? :)
In fact last morning, when hte NYC outages hit, we had another outage jsut a few hours later. But heree nobody thinks a second thought about it.
I keep telling locals that we're I come from (germany) a power outage of a few hours in a major city would be in the news for weeks, and never forgotten, and they can't even imagine what the heck I'm talking about.
After hte NYC incident my girlfriend mentioned that now she has a bit of an idea of what the heck I keep talking about ;)
I'm still hoping that this might wake up the local "authorities" to the fact taht powercuts 1-3 times per week are NOT normal and AVOIDABLE and ADMAGING to the economy. If I count the lost hours of work and the downtime of sites I host locally I get sick.
And of course when the telcoms routing stations have no power then my websites or offline too...
NYC puts it back into perspective, and shows that in a modern society there is no need for a powercut, and saeguards should be in place to prevent it.
SN
But NYC was special. Huge numbers of workers rely on electric subways and trains. Masses of tourists in tall hotels (like me last week). Windows don't open in many. Most American's live in homes with hot water heaters that hold many gallons of water. But NYC hotels and offices wouldn't have those except in the dark basement.
A city-wide power outage of a few hours is very rare in the U.S. too. During storms it is common to lose power for brief periods. Happens once or twice a year to me. We have flashlights, candles. Water still flows, toilets work. Can still drive anywhere.
A good question is whether gasoline can be gotten out of in-ground tanks if outage lasts for a few days.
Any Iraqis here?
No need for terrorists here ... we've managed to do to ourselves what they've been planning for a decade.
and, what's even worse - you may have pushed back the schedule of global warming for about a month or so. <snip>
Besides - remember how birth rates shot up after the last west coast outage? Did you go out and buy a couple of shares of toys'r'us?
[edited by: lawman at 5:28 pm (utc) on Aug. 18, 2003]
[edit reason] TOS 16; Foo Charter Violations [/edit]
Cost me an estimated $2000 .. O well, Im sure it cost others more..
You can't get the power companies can you?
I think a lot of people realized that they should keep non-perishables in their houses.
So, our power use is excessive. We should all know that. I wish the blackout had taught us not to use so much of it. But the blackout wasn't caused by overload, we don't think. (Funny how nobody can or will pinpoint the cause or accept even possible responsibility for the outage... Too afraid of being sued, most likely.)
Instead of trying to become more energy-efficient, we are going to update the grid so that we can use still more energy. Yes. Fabulous idea. Let's consume *more* power. But close the Indian Point nuclear reactor because it pushes down property values and besides, it threatens NYC-- put them upstate where the local yokels don't have enough clout to sue us. rant, rant, rant.
Oh, and here's another little tidbit. When the Erie Loop went down, Buffalo (a couple miles from Niagara Falls) still had power. Why? Buffalo doesn't use Niagara Falls hydroelectric power-- that's export only. Buffalo is powered by... Coal.
Oh well. In another 50 years we'll all be either underwater or under glaciers. Should we start taking bets on which?
;)
I can't figure out why so many people/companies in the northeastern United States and Southeastern Canada haven't taken even the simplest step of installing backup power systems in the event of electrical failures.
OK... I'm sure power demands there are a bit excessive for a battery backup at the electric company, and an individual in a high-rise apartment isn't going to be too excited by the idea of a diesel generator chugging away in the closet... But there's no reason grocery stores and large companies shouldn't have fuel cells, battery banks or generators in the back room.
A lot of the lost revenue from this outage -- especially in the internet community -- could have been prevented with a little planning and some backup equipment.
Our corporate lan lost power and gracefully shut down between 4:15 pm and about 10:00 pm. Our backup plan was for us to switch to the co-location site where we have reserve servers at 6:00 am the following morning if power was not restored. That was unnecessay.
Before 9/11 we had a fairly active consultancy practice helping people prepare for disasters. Most of those plans were still in place and the operations people were able to recover.
The downturn in business has just about wiped out all consulting to small and medium size companies in the NY/NJ area. Some businesses that we know of worked through the weekend to recover.
When the power goes out here in Fairbanks, the grocery stores don't have to pitch every last bit of perishable food on the shelves. They have backup power systems.
>>>backup power
Like opening the doors?
During the winter though, you need the backup power to keep the heat on.
No air, no fan, no clock, no tv...... worst of all.... no internet.
Luckily I was flying out of Buffalo (Buffalo was open) to a trade show in Chicago, which is where I am posting from now.
My site was down for several hours. It is hosted with MCI/WorldCom/UUNET in Toronto.
The bright side..... sales picked right up where they left off. So from a sales point of view we had very little damage.
Flying back home in another day, from what I am reading online we are supposed to use reduced power in Ontario. That with the oncoming heatwave will be a real pain.
I am not looking forward to seeing the mess that is my fridge and freezer.
The northeast learned last week that they don't work without electricity! (actually every toilet works once)
I think the electric eye system would be a fine "back up" system for people who don't have the manners to pull the handle themselves, but building a toilet without a manual flush is kinda like building a car without a gas pedal, assuming the electronic cruise control buttons are all you need... You're just ASKING for trouble.
LOL... Thanks. I needed a good laugh!
Not in Cleveland. Ask the passengers that were stranded at Cleveland's Hopkins International airport. The airport barricaded the bathrooms because there was no water for the flush. Stranded passengers were just told 'sorry, our bathrooms are out of order'.
