North-Eastern US Blackout

by Lady Lee 66 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Prudence

  Rayzor,

  I saw outlines of people, lots of them, walking in the middle of the street, street corners, and lots of drug-related jargon. The area: Queen & Sherbourne - is not a pretty place. One of the poorest and drug riddled areas of the city. You will/can get mugged, raped and murdered there, and it has happened. So here I am on my bike, and they're saying things like: 'get m', 'here's one'...so I had my trusty muscular legs ready and I was ready to give them ALL a good hoof. I yelled at one crackhead, as I dogged around him/her, as they made an attempt to grab at me. Freaky!

  I'm so glad you are alright! I think my heart rate just went up as I read your account. I bet it was very FREAKY!

  Take Care

  Prudence
• 

  RAYZORBLADE

  Knock on wood: ok, don't!

  But, I experienced, since the big blackout: 2 more rotating ones.

  Right now, all is well, but one never knows.

  It seems to me, that things are slowly and surely working themselves back up to 100% operational capacity.

  I can't comment on the Canadian Bethel, whether they have 100% electricity, but maybe a few on here may know and let us know.

  Other than that, it's 90% around here. Some of our lights around the apartment complex are not working, as well as the lights outside our individual doorways.

  The supermarkets nearby are still closed. Traffic lights were working as of midnight.

  We'll see what the rest of the weekend holds for us up here in Toronto.

  Prudence: no kidding, I was laying bricks cycling through that area...let me tell you, but I made it!
• 

  ballistic

  Does anyone have the ACTUAL reason for the outage yet? I'm guessing they don't want to highlight possible weak points to potential terroists.

  And Rayzor, what's the difference between a 'hoodlum'?? and a hooligan? , I bet those cold beers were the best you ever had, yes?
• 

  RAYZORBLADE

  Hey Ballistic: I think you know the meaning of hooligan. Yes, I've been to the U.K.

  Hoodlum: usually 'criminal element' folks that come out that are generally prone to criminal activities at such times: snatch and grab; pickpocket; etc., but some people would equate the meaning of both terms as: the same. Not as obtuse as a hooligan (in our interpretation).

  Me, I kind of look at it differently.

  Hooligans: tend to want to start fights, are loud and obnoxious and can be set-off by 1 beer it seems. They tend to be mooks, suburban wanks, white middle-class young adults.

  Ballistic: check the Yahoo.com site.

  If you read the Yahoo.UK site, they focus, as expected on USA only. NO mention of Canada hardly at all, surprising considering over 10 million Canadians were out of power.

  If you're remotely interested, CBC has some info on the cause of the power outtage:

  http://www.cbc.ca

  I think now, the U.S. newsmakers are reporting about a problem that originated in Ohio, which triggered; within 6 seconds, North America's largest blackout.

  50-60 million people were without any electricity. Some areas are still without power, and Toronto is not, as of this a.m., 100% fully powered. (Subway/streetcars/trams/LRT: not working).
• 

  pettygrudger

  Well, ours is finally back (sort of) this a.m. What a mess!!! We had a blast personally - just shored up & "camped" at home for 36 hours - brought out the ole cooking stove, boiled water & just had fun! Watching Nicholas adjust to a world w/no video games or t.v. - that was also very nice. Got lots of family bonding time, and although it's been quite humid, I think we "suffered" through it quite nicely.

  The weird thing here was how crazy everybody went. Within 2 hours, there were fights erupting at our area home depot over the "last" generator (neighbor saw it), for the last 36 hours there has been 1/2 mile back ups at all our gas stations (we are 2 counties away from Detroit - and out of the 3-county detroit area that has 74 gas stations, only 5 were pumping, so our county got flooded w/everyone from those areas - GREAT for local business!). I commented to hubby that if this is people behave during a "black-out" I'd hate to see how they acted at Armaggedon! I don't think we've moved out into the country far enough!

  I'm glad it didn't go on for "weeks", as we aren't as prepared as we'd like to be (garden not growing, etc.).....but it was a nice adventure.
• 

  Scully

  Mayor Predicts Baby Boom, Slams Candles

  TORONTO (Reuters) - Toronto Mayor Mel Lastman predicted that a surge in births may be seen in nine months after the blackout that struck Canada's largest city, but he advised citizens against using candles in any get-togethers in the dark.

  "I guess in nine months we're going to see the biggest baby boom we've ever seen," Lastman told a news conference on Friday, responding to the state of emergency in the city.

  It is widely believed that the birth rate rises after times of crisis, but many experts dismiss this phenomena as urban myth.

  Lastman also asked people to use flashlights instead of candles in any future brownouts, as well as to conserve energy.

  "Please continue to conserve energy by turning off your air conditioner and not running your dishwasher or washers or dryers... this will hurt my son's business."

  Lastman's son has taken over the retail appliance business built up by his father.

  The mayor, criticized for being slow to appear during this crisis and for a lack of leadership when Toronto was struck by the SARS virus earlier this spring, has a history of colourful comments.

  The millionaire mayor and former furniture and appliance salesman once threatened to kill a reporter, implored the Spice Girls to stay together and called in the army to help dig the city out of a snowstorm -- much to the outrage of the rest of snowbound Canada.

  08/15/03 12:46 ET

  I'll let you all know what happens at work around the end of April/beginning of May.

  Love, Scully
• 

  JH

  It's been 2 days now and my internet connection is not back. I have to post from another computer. No e-mail, nothing.

  My internet provider is www.netrover.com and it's dead.

  Due to the power outage in Ontario on Thursday, August 14th, Netrover is currently offline. We are working diligently to restore service, and things should be back up and operational over the next couple of days. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and understanding.

  Another couple of days without internet.