General: August 2003 Archives

Rich Galen writes that the recent blackout in the northeast was the equivalent of a snow day without the hassle of cleaning up the snow. The article is an antidote to some of the panic-mongering about the national electrical grid:

* The North American Energy Reliability Council which tracks such things has determined that, including last week, there have been seven grid failures since the big one on November 9, 1965.

* None lasted for more than a day. ...

* Stating it the other way, the power grid (which was described by former Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson as being like one in a "third world country") has been up 99.949 percent of the time over the past 37 years. ...

* When you get on a commercial airplane you expect to get off in the city your ticket suggests you should be going to, right? You know what the actual percentage of getting on a commercial airplane and getting off in your expected city is? No?

* 96.6 percent according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

* Where's the outrage? Where are the Congressional hearings? Where is the wall-to-wall coverage? Where is ... Ok, you get the idea.

He's got a link to his "Secret Decoder Ring" page, which has a NOAA satellite image showing the extent of the blackout.

Sobering to think there's a one in 30 chance of winding up in the wrong city at the end of the flight.