Major power surge in NY? (Blackout is in NYC, Detroit, Ottawa and Toronto, per Fox News)

8-14-03 | Joe Hadenuf

[Joe Hadenuf]

Hannity station went dead for about 20 seconds. Said he had never seen anything like it.

[Fledermaus]

I wonder when the reports of store owners jacking up prices will start coming in.

[Smogger]

ABC: federal government and electric regulatory commission very worried about cyber security and we will need computer forensic experts to determine why the three software packages failed. Expert feels it's ridiculous to say it's definitely not terrorism.

f*ckem! They keep offshoring this critical infrastructure to software sweatshops in India and h1b visa holders. I don't really have much sympathy for them.

[mhking]

According to CBC, portions of Ontario, most notably Burlington, ON, have power back.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Really? We are watching three TVs and all went black for about 3 seconds here on the west coast. Happened about 4 minutes ago..

[Lynne]

Not necessarily BS. Early on the TV (I don't remember which channel), showed the Manhattan power plant by the river, and they were talking about "explosions" and fire, and showed the stacks. Then the camera panned to New Jersey where there was a fire with white smoke coming out of the building. I haven't heard any more about that.

[null and void]

You're tellling me, I was alway curious why my Dad sits on the computer looking at this site for hours a day...
....and now I know

LOL!

[Ichneumon]

Nope! The Hobbit Hole is pushing 60K posts very hard.

It already hit the max of 65,536 yesterday and they started a new thread.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Totally strange.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Well WHAT WERE YOU DOING with the TV on when you have FR?

Sheesh.

:-)

[Fraulein]

Safe to say looting will definitely happen in Detroit.

[fortunecookie]

Well, I'm glad, that's a relief. We need cool heads to discuss and brainstorm and share knowledge. I just wanted to be sure that all was well.

[Mo1]

People line up to buy batteries for their flashlights at a hardware store in the Upper West Side of Manhattan during a power outage in New York, Thursday, Aug. 14, 2003

And that is the reason why I stayed Y2K ready .. one never knows what might happen

[af_vet_rr]

The specialist on ABC mentioned the worm currently on the internet and said it's a possibility it played a part in the failure of the 3 software packages that were designed to prevent this sort of problem.

If it has anything to do with that worm currently going around, it probably is because some critical machine somewhere was infected and keeps getting the RPC/SVC errors and is constantly rebooting itself. Even with the software packages (firewalls perhaps is what they were talking about), if your OS itself is infected and keeps crapping out, your not safe.

I would hope and pray that the power system/grid computers are on an ultra-secure system and that none of the critical computers have any outside network/internet access (like you see with many banks and the military/government).

Now if some idiot brings in an infected laptop from the outside and plugs right into the network, thereby circumventing most security measures and infects other computers on the net, all of that time/money spent on security is for nothing.

[Dog]

Same time it happened here.

[P.O.E.]

The assessment is not a sign of weakness or non-preparedness, but rather working through the checklists and plans previously prepared.

Surely they could have said something, e.g., check on elderly neighbors who may be affected by heat? Fill up your bathtub? Stay calm? Anything?

Not trying to sound alarmist, but surely on that checklist should be "Things to say at first"

[BohDaThone]

It's NOT "the government came on and in minutes denied any possibility of terrorism." As near as I can tell, 10,000 reporters are running around, badgering anybody who ever drew a government check, trying to get them to say "IT COULD BE TERRORISM!"

Every time some poor schmoe says, "I don't have any evidence of it" they blast out "GOVERNMENT DENIES TERRORISM."

Now, if anyone has some real info, like explosions, planes flying into things, etc., let us know. Otherwise, let the workers try to pinpoint the problem, work around it even if they can't, and get the system up and running.

Look at 1965 and 1977 -- you don't want it to happen -- you work like the dickens to plan for every contingency -- and sometimes you fail. SOmetimes the plan was faulty -- sometime the contingency is too big for the plan (1977 was lightning hitting exactly the crucial junction point north of NYC for the humongous power line from Niagara PLUS, the operator failure to shed load.)

We'll find this one out too, but just like plane crashes, you can't find the answer in real time, always.

[Joe Hadenuf]

Wonder what that's all about?

[Brad’s Gramma]

Transit workers escort riders off of a subway car, in background, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan during a power outage in New York, Thursday Aug. 14, 2003. (AP Photo/Diane Bondareff)

[Dianna]

The idiot on FOX is saying that Bloomberg has said that this was DEFINITELY NOT terrorism, but that isn't what Bloomberg said at all. What horrible reporting!