Entries this day: East_side Work

East side

1:14pm JST Friday 15 August 2003

I hear that the eastern seaboard of the US is out of power. Wonder what's up with that?

comments

Name: Ma

Email: ellisfile *redacted*

Subject: power outage

Comment:
Northeast Struggles As Power Returns

By LARRY McSHANE, Associated Press Writer

Appliances crackled back to life and light bulbs again blazed across most of the Northeast following the worst blackout in U.S. history, though getting electricity back didn't help those in Cleveland enjoy clean tap water or allow New York rs to ride their beloved subway.

The lingering effects of Thursday's dramatic power outage stretched into Saturday as millions struggled with both the m ndane — resetting VCR clocks — to the life-threatening — boiling tap to ensure potability.

Some customers in the Cleveland area, upstate New York and New York City received the unkindest cut of all: Their power was restored and then promptly turned off due to rolling blackouts needed to conserve electricity.

Officials in Michigan warned that the whir of air conditioners and the glow of televisions might not return until the e d of the weekend as the cause of the massive outage remained a mystery.

About 50 members of the National Guard helped distribute 7,600 gallons of drinking water in Cleveland. Residents of Cle eland and Detroit, battling low pressure, were told to boil water before drinking or cooking with it.

Canada and the United States formed a joint task force Friday to investigate what caused the blackout — which knocked o t service in parts of eight states and Canada in just nine seconds — and how to prevent it from happening again.

While New Yorkers and virtually all the 1.4 million Ohioans who lost power were back on line, about 50,000 customers in Michigan were still in the dark early Saturday.

The failure of electric pumps led to a run on gasoline and Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm signed an executive order to expedite nearly 1 million gallons of gasoline from western Michigan to the Detroit area.

In Connecticut, residents heard an emergency plea from the governor to cut back on power use after a state transmission line that feeds the southwest part of the state failed early Friday.

The call for conservation echoed across each state affected by the blackout. "If you don't turn them off, they will go off," said Long Island Power Authority Chairman Richard Kessel.

Chris Bowen, 47, of Syracuse, N.Y., said he and his family would try to heed the plea. "We'll probably leave the air conditioner off tonight when we go to sleep. We played cards by candlelight last night and it was fun. Maybe we'll do that: again."

President Bush (news - web sites), during a tour of a California national park, said part of the problem was "an antiquated system" to distribute electricity nationally. "It's a wake-up call," he said.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he received a call from Bush offering congratulations on the city's handling of the crisis. Crime in the city was actually down compared to an average evening, he said.

"I think all New Yorkers have done their part," Bloomberg said.

The New York City Council finance office estimated the blackout cost the city up to $750 million in lost revenue — up to $40 million in lost tax revenue and up to $10 million in overtime pay for the first 24 hours.

The city's subway system, the nation's largest, began moving after midnight, and by dawn trains on all lines were running with minor disruptions.

Despite plunging several of the nation's largest cities into darkness, the outage resulted in few reports of vandalism or increased violence. There were at least three U.S. fatalities.

In New York fires, a 6-year-old was killed and a 40-year-old man suffered a heart attack. A 42-year-old woman in Connecticut died in a blaze sparked by a candle. Her husband and 10-year-old son were badly burned.

In Canada's capital of Ottawa, police reported 23 cases of looting, along with two deaths possibly linked to the blackout — a pedestrian hit by a car and a fire victim.

More than 50 assembly and other plants in Canada, Ohio and Michigan operated by General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group were affected, leaving tens of thousands of workers idle.

The restored power also left people wondering whether meat in the now-warm freezer was still good. "The sniff test is probably the most effective. When in doubt, throw it out," said Tom Heinen, co-owner of a chain of 15 Ohio supermarkets.

As for the cause of the outage, which happened almost instantaneously across the Northeast at 4:11 p.m. EDT Thursday, officials remained in the dark.

Investigators focused on a massive electrical grid that encircles Lake Erie, moving power from New York to the Detroit area, Canada and back to New York state. There had been problems with the transmission loop in the past, officials said.

A young Connecticut couple, meanwhile, was enjoying an addition to their family. They made their way through chaotic streets Thursday to Greenwich Hospital to have their first baby.

The hospital managed the delivery with the help of generators.

"Everyone keeps saying you'll remember where you were on the outage of 2003," said Dan O'Neill, whose wife, Kara, gave birth to a healthy baby boy early Friday morning. "It was a blackout and he has one of the blackest heads of hair I've ever seen."

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Work

12:58pm JST Friday 15 August 2003

Yesterday Yukiji helped me get to a travel agency, but I still don't really feel like I can get all my connections connected for my trip to Osaka et. al. with janette.

I got pissed off today when Rich came in and was all, "HI. A little piece of advice, don't say the book is wrong; I wasted five minutes of my lesson correcting a student on an error you made yesterday."

I silently crushed my aluminum drink bottle as he spoke to me. "hmf."

Several minutes later I was like, "okay," and gave my opinion:

That's ridiculous, but it's what the book says should be spoken in that situation. Fuck that. My name is still Rob, so the last line oughta be "He said his name is Rob."

Carla agrees with me that's it's dumb (the book), but what's SUPER dumb is telling the students that this fucked up book is the all high and mighty fucking bible of English. It's a shit book.

"We have enough trouble getting the students to use the book as it is, so don't tell them it's wrong."

At first I was like, I will never concede this point, but then I talked to Phil who suggested that the book is simplifying the language for the students. So I don't have to say that it's wrong, but it's being simplified. And he showed me a page in his (thicker) book that showed the nuances. You rock, Phil.

I copied the page and I'll use it as my guide to augment the FUCKED UP (oops) book if I get to that lesson again.