Tuesday, 31 July 2012

14 Responses to Tuesday, 31 July 2012

1. Chuck Waggoner says:

   31 July 2012 at 11:09

   It seems no one has any idea of the cause, but more than half of India is without power for the second day. Over 600 million people are without electricity. Imagine—more than twice the number of people in all of the US.

     Chuck Waggoner
2. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

   31 July 2012 at 11:24

   I didn’t know there were 600 million people in India who had electricity to start with.

     Robert Bruce Thompson
3. Chad says:

   31 July 2012 at 11:47

   I didn’t know there were 600 million people in India who had electricity to start with.

   I read in one article that a recent census in India indicated that 30% of Indians live without power in their homes anyway.

     Chad
4. Robert Bruce Thompson says:

   31 July 2012 at 11:51

   I think I remember that the population of India is about 1.2 billion and that roughly two-thirds of the population is rural. Call it 800 million. I’m surprised if only 30% of Indians don’t have electricity. I’d have assumed that it was most of that 800 million.

     Robert Bruce Thompson
5. dkreck says:

   31 July 2012 at 11:56

   How will I be able to contact my bank?

     dkreck
6. Ray Thompson says:

   31 July 2012 at 12:49

   That means that a large part of tech support for software and computer companies is also down.

     Ray Thompson
7. pcb_duffer says:

   31 July 2012 at 12:57

   I would assume that most of the ‘hi tech’ companies have on site generators for just such an occasion. I seem to recall the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake serving as a wake up call.

     pcb_duffer
8. Chad says:

   31 July 2012 at 14:35

   Anyone from India with means has their own private power generators and water distillation and storage tanks. You, of course, meet a lot of Indian immigrants in IT and after speaking with most of them, they never trust the public electricity or water supply. Blackouts are common and the water is undrinkable 24/7/365.

     Chad
9. ed says:

   31 July 2012 at 16:45

   if it turns out to be a STUXNET variant or descendant it’ll get ugly for US/India relations. if I were China or Russia or Iran it’d be something I might try to pin on us.

     ed
10. jim` says:

    31 July 2012 at 20:30

    LOL, India will get by just fine even with a power-cut here and there. You guys really amuse me sometimes.

      jim`
11. OFD says:

    31 July 2012 at 20:33

    “… the water is undrinkable 24/7/365.”

    Ours would be, too, if we bathed and shat in it, did our laundry in it, and floated corpses downstream in it.

      OFD
12. Chuck Waggoner says:

    31 July 2012 at 21:24

    600 million is “here and there”? I guess what I have a hard time imagining, is how we would cope with the same kind of massive power outage here in the US. Nearly everything I do is dependent on electricity: cooking, fridge, everything related to work,—and most especially, heating.

    I suspect I could cope with no air-conditioning should the outage hit in summer, as I could always sleep out on the porch. But were it below freezing in winter, I have no way whatever to heat the place without electricity—even though the boiler runs on natural gas. There is a hookup for a generator (which I sold), so I suppose I could go out and buy one before an outage occurs, but if it does occur and I have none, I am out-of-luck. Imagine, no power to pump gas into your car; no electricity to run cash registers where I need to buy a generator; no traffic lights anywhere;—and ultimately, no water when the pressure from the water company finally gives out.

      Chuck Waggoner
13. Miles_Teg says:

    31 July 2012 at 21:59

    Sleep on the porch? Don’t you have mosquitoes in Tiny Town?

    I tried that a few years ago. No air conditioning, ceilings low enough to touch without going up onto tip toes, a major heatwave. I couldn’t sleep inside the house so I lay on the back porch for a while. It was only a minute or two before I heard mosquitoes singing their song.

    The next day, Sunday, I ended up going to work and sleeping on the floor for a few hours. Mercifully the air conditioning was running.

      Miles_Teg
14. Chuck Waggoner says:

    5 August 2012 at 17:07

    No. This super-dry, drought year, there are no mosquitoes. In fact, no insects of any kind. Even my pet earwig died a strange death in the kitchen sink.

    After the downpours of the last week, ants have once again appeared on the sidewalks, but no bees or flying bugs of any kind.

    I just hope the mosquitoes died before they could lay eggs for the next generation. We need to exterminate mosquitoes altogether. Not nearly enough purple martins around anymore.

      Chuck Waggoner