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Comet McNaught has just made its appearance in the SOHO (SOlar and Heliospheric Observatory) "LASCO-3" field (at about the 11:00 position) -- and it is very bright!! The real-time image is viewable at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3small.mpg. In the next couple of days, the 48-hr MPEGs of the SOHO LASCO-3 field at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3small.mpg should be well worth watching. ~~~~~~ (The above URL is for the small (256 X 256) MPEG. The larger (512 X 512) MPEG at http://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/data/LATEST/current_c3.mpg appears to have a problem at present.)

Phoenix Motorcars has developed what could possibly be the perfect electric car. Classified as a Sport Utility Truck (SUT), this vehicle “can cruise on the freeway at up to 95 m.p.h. while carrying five passengers and a full payload.” The Phoenix Motorcars SUV will be introduced in late 2007, having a range of 130 miles, and can be recharged in less than 10 minutes with an off-board charging unit or trickle-charged overnight when plugged into a 220V power source, similar to the SUT. The estimated cost to recharge the battery pack is a small fraction of equivalent gasoline costs. Phoenix...

All Western Europe touched by the electric breakdown PARIS - All Western Europe was struck Saturday evening by electric breakdowns related to an important failure of the German grid system of electricity, indicated in the night of Saturday to Sunday the Grid system of French electricity RTE. Some five million French, is approximately 10% of the population, were private of electricity on this occasion. "They are approximately 5 million consumers who were private" of current, with AFP a door of RTE declared. They "were gradually réalimentées between 22H30 and 23H00", it added. "Of the similar cuts took place in...

TOKYO - A power outage hit wide swaths of Tokyo and nearby Chiba early Monday, halting train service in some areas, news reports said. DEVELOPING...

News blackout imposed on American arms flights refuelling at British bases By Thomas Harding, Defence Correspondent (Filed: 02/08/2006) The Government refused last night to give details of the flights entering Britain containing American arms destined for Israel. There was also a suggestion that all arms flights via Prestwick airport, near Glasgow, were suspended following pressure from Scottish Labour MPs afraid of the political impact in their constituencies. An Atlas Air Boeing 747 cargo jet at Prestwick Airport Although Government officials have admitted that two flights, carrying GBU28 bunker-busting bombs, arrived at Prestwick the weekend before last and several others came...

Push to declare Queens blackout a disaster Almost a full week of no power (Astoria-WABC, July 23, 2006) - A group of Queens political leaders urged Gov. George Pataki on Sunday to designate a section of the borough suffering from a massive power outage a disaster area, making it eligible for federal aid. "Anywhere else it would be," said Rep. Joe Crowley, D-N.Y., at a news conference in Sunnyside. "If this were an area of 100,000 people in upstate New York, the governor would have declared it a disaster area." A spokeswoman for Pataki, Joanna Rose, said the governor has...

LOS ANGELES -- Flights in and out of three Southland airports have been halted because of a power failure affecting radar and the Southern California air traffic control system.The affected airports are [Los] Angeles International Airport, Bob Hope Airport in Burbank and Ontario International Airport.

Practically all Georgia has remained without an electricity The new misfortune has fallen upon Georgia. As a result of failure on LEP "Imeretia" practically all country has remained without an electricity. Now the power supply system of the country works in an extreme mode. As have informed RBC in the Ministry of fuel and power of Georgia, failure has occured today approximately at 1:00 Moscow time. Under the preliminary information, because of a strong wind the transmission line "Imeretia" connecting power supply systems on which the electric power acts from the Western Georgia in central and east regions of...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Insurgents sabotaged power lines, knocking out electricity across Baghdad area Friday and plunging the capital into darkness on the eve of a landmark vote on a constitution aimed at defining democracy in a nation once ruled by Saddam Hussein (search). For most of the day, Iraqis were hunkered down in their homes, with the streets of the Iraqi capital almost empty hours before a 10 p.m. curfew and the country sealed off from the outside world as borders and airports were closed for Saturday's referendum. The approximately 140-article charter — hammered out after months of bitter negotiations...

A POWER outage at United Nations headquarters disrupted the General Assembly session today, forcing the evacuation of the main building and foreign ministers of the world's five most powerful countries to change their luncheon venue. The power failure, caused by an electrical malfunction in a switch generating unit in the 39-floor secretariat building, led UN security to order all staff except essential personnel and those supporting operations of the General Assembly to evacuate the main glass tower. UN chief Kofi Annan and the foreign ministers of the UN Security Council's five permanent members - Britain, China, France, Russia and the...

LOS ANGELES -- Los Angeles Department of Water and Power officials said an outage Monday afternoon was linked to human error at a receiving station. Power officials reported outages from the San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles. Workers connected the wrong wires, causing a surge of power that led to shutdowns at three power generating stations, according to officials. Receiving stations take high-voltage power from generating stations and convert it to lower voltage. It can then be used throughout the city. Ron Deaton, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said the system is designed...

Another L.A. blackout by Pure Coincidence - Blackouts or Blackmail? Link for cartoon NOT SHOWN: http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/Blackout/blackoutgifs/wright.gif An electricity blackout was reported today Monday Sept. 12 affecting major portions of the City of Los Angeles. The blackout was attributed to a hook-up error by L.A. Department of Water and Power utility crews http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050912/ap_on_re_us/la_power_outage Curiously, the blackout occurred exactly one week after a Field Opinion Poll was released on Sept. 5 showing that public opinion was divided on Proposition 80, which would re-monopolize electricity in California. About one third would vote yes, one third no, and another third are undecided on the...

LOS ANGELES — A major portion of Los Angeles lost power Monday afternoon and officials said early indications were that a power line was accidentally cut. Outages were reported from downtown to the coast and north into the San Fernando Valley according to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. A Los Angeles Fire Department official said it appeared a line somehow had been cut. Terrorism was not suspected, according to police Sgt. Catherine Plows, though the Los Angeles Police Department went on "full tactical alert," meaning no officers were allowed to leave duty. Traffic was snarled at intersections...

Just heard a news flash that a major portion of Los ANgeles has lost electrical power, from downtown to the San Fernando Valley. Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has no explanation yet.

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- A large portion of Los Angeles has lost electrical power.

Sean Hannity just stated that large part of L.A. are without power....

States of emergency often unite families, they make people pay attention to each other and care for each other It is an open secret that people experience a strong need of attention and love from their loved ones during a state of emergency. This peculiarity is common for both men and women, for most courageous, fearless and emotional human beings. Such a desire for intimacy may often end up with a birth of a little one, nine months later, of course. This trend was observed in the States after 9/11 terrorist attacks. New Yorkers, especially women, were utterly busy with...

Just heard on LA County Fire frequency that 1 hour blackouts have been instituted....not sure whats up

Tens of millions of Indonesians have been affected by electricity cuts due to technical problems at a series of power stations. Homes and businesses were left in the dark across at least three provinces, including the capital Jakarta, and transport services were disrupted. Officials said they were still trying to isolate the cause of the problem. But they emphasised that the outage had nothing to do with recent power shortages caused by high oil prices. Indonesia faces an increasing energy crisis, as demand outstrips supply. The government has called people to conserve energy, to reduce demand on the national electrical...