What Eastern Canada / the US Northeast Looks Like Tonight

[mbarrick]

Normal	Tonight

Images based on this map of the outage from CNN and this composite image of the Earth at night from NASA

Comments

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

that's amazing...though it's more amazing and more than a little pathetic a power grid servicing that many people could be so used to capacity and interlinked that one going down can take them all down...and that it's happened twice in the past and they are too stupid to have done anything to prevent it from happening again...it's not very promising for the more important issues in our world getting solved and/or not repeating former mistakes...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

At the very least we should do something about these cascade failures jumping the border. All three times now it was an overload in the States that has taken out our power.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

they said the first one was a power failure in ontario that took out new york, that's the '65 one...it makes you wonder if it's got something to do with the deregulated market and the fact that the people who make the power and the people who run the grid are entirely different entities and companies...it's definitely a warning for us against deregulation and connecting to the california power grid...they would take us down, it would be inevitable...quebec has it right they have isolated themselves...it's amazing that ontario often imports power from the united states side of the grid, apparently on days like yesterday when the system is stretched to capacity (25000 megawatts) they have to import up to 3000mw from the states...hard to believe for a country that produces as much power as we do...though i'm sure it has something to do with companies selling power to the highest bidder, obviously new york and detroit, rather than supplying our needs first...exactly what would happen here...it's part of being in the grid, i've read they would be compelled to sell it to california if they are the heaviest user...scary...

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

It's the same thing here as I understand it. We sell so much to California that on occassion we buy from Alberta.

That's just bass ackwards.

[valerian.livejournal.com]

Gah. We should take back New York and the Ohio valley. Then cut the power for 48 hours. I just wanna see Bush grovel for a change.

[seymour-glass.livejournal.com]

that's pretty sad...but i guess profit is what ultimately matters these days...never mind looking after those to whom the power belongs...what is also frightening is it is likely many areas will be without power for days...that's mind boggling...the monetary hubs of both countries shut down...and if too many people gobble up the power too quickly they could send it down again...a couple of the nuclear plants in ontario won't even be up for at least a few days...

[diapholom.livejournal.com]

http://www.livejournal.com/users/phanatic/171680.html

Bwwwa ha ha ha ha ha

[mediavictim.livejournal.com]

"We shall destroy all the power to the Eastern seaboard, blanketing New York in Evil blackness....
unless the pay us a heafty ransom"


"That has already happened....."

"shit"

"Throw me a fricken bone...."

Re: Bwwwa ha ha ha ha ha

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

ROFL! Too funny!

Yes

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

How the current grid works (or doesn't) isn't relevant to my assertation that something should be done to prevent this sort of failure from crossing an international border. You'll note that Hydro-Québec had the good sense to extract themselves from this grid. It's not that they are disconnected entirely. At the moment they are feeding a great deal of power into Ontario and New York, proving that it *is* possible to trade power without leaving things open for a systemic failure like this to jump the border.