Posted on 08/21/2013 5:41:40 AM PDT by Old Sarge
WASHINGTON — The electric grid, as government and private experts describe it, is the glass jaw of American industry. If an adversary lands a knockout blow, they fear, it could black out vast areas of the continent for weeks; interrupt supplies of water, gasoline, diesel fuel and fresh food; shut down communications; and create disruptions of a scale that was only hinted at by Hurricane Sandy and the attacks of Sept. 11.
~ SNIP ~
One goal of the drill, called "GridEx II", is to explore how governments would react as the loss of the grid crippled the supply chain for everyday necessities.
~ SNIP ~
Most of the participants will join the exercise from their workplaces, with NERC, in Washington, announcing successive failures. One example, organizers say, is a substation break-in that officials initially think is an attempt to steal copper. But instead, the intruder uses a USB drive to upload a virus into a computer network.
The drill is part of a give-and-take in the past few years between the government and utilities that has exposed the difficulties of securing the electric system.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
You are very well prepared, Marcella.
Thanks everyone for sharing.
“Someone I know mentioned that cooking odors are a concern, too. But that seem impossible to eliminate.”
Because the fuel is portable, I could warm/cook upstairs in a closed room and that would further eliminate a possibility any odor could leave the house.
In a massive breakdown, I’m closing my front door, locking it, and not coming out again because I don’t have to. I have a very small footprint compared to others.
There are likely to be a lot of aggressive Skittles/Tea runs, and a smaller but still quite significant number of White Hispanic responses.
I experienced that first hand when some dunce in AZ mishandled some switch equipment and left all of southern CA without power for almost 10 hours. I was locked in a computer room with racks of machines at the time. The power and air conditioning failed, but the racks continued to operate on the UPS. Oh crap. They're going to overheat. Now I'm obliged to open the door and stand guard to protect the machines while the other system admin looks for a way to hook up a keyboard/mouse/monitor to one of the rack machines. Oh joy. When all were shutdown, then the 7 mile ride home through bumper to bumper traffic with no traffic controls was a real mess. The only bright spot was being able to "land split" for 7 miles through dead stopped traffic on my motorcycle.
I have a small UPS in the room that I rent in San Diego. It was sufficient to keep my cell phone alive for access to current status. The Verizon cell network had good power backup and provided continuous connectivity during the outage.
After a hurricane the looters are out before the wind dies down.
“We got along just fine with none of them when I was a kid.” Yeah but does Sears still have that good catalog? I’m not going to use corn cobs again.
I just finished the book “One Second After”. A real page turner- could not put the book down. It really made me think what we would need should we be without power for extensive period of time. What items would be valuable for trade...for food, for ammo, medicine, etc. In the book, they talk about “hardening the infrastructure against EMP” attack..that no one did this, every administration passed the buck...
Great book....get a chance..read it.
Hydro-power in a bucket: http://knowledgeweighsnothing.com/how-to-build-a-hydroelectric-generator-free-pdf-plans/
(No, I haven’t tested it. Yet.)
“I think I’ve mentioned this before, but it’s worth repeating. Wearing a damp sheet is like wearing your own air conditioner!”
That is a good tip when power is out.
I wish someone could tell me why all the peole who work for obama, or his puppet masters, do what they do. Biden, the Clintons, boner, McConnell, Pelosi, Reid.....all supporting the destruction of this country.
bfl
It fits you, but seriously, tone it down a little bit on the thread policing.
Yikes, your link has the Waterbob sale priced at $30.
Here, CTD has ‘em in stock for half that:
http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/CAMP-20
In North Carolina, a company is manufacturing wood pellet processors [turbines?] that generate electrity. Brush wood, dead wood, etc. can be used to power electricity. And our local factory, Huber, is powered by tree bark!
The term “war on coal” will catch on when electricity rates skyrocket and/or we have a blackout caused by lack of generating capacity due to coal powerplants closed by regulatory fiat. It’s coming.
$20.60 at Amazon, Prime eligible. I think I shall buy two.
Normally, I found, when hurricane season starts, the bags sell out. I'll use the Cheaper Than Dirt link from now on, plus a poster said Amazon has them for $20.60 and if you are a Prime member there, shipping is free. I'll use that link from now on, too, if they remain on Amazon and that goes for Cheaper Than Dirt, too.
pfl
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