Power outages

[Mr.Mom]

I hear ya.....up in the sticks part of the state we lose it a lot...

I have a small genset for camping that I run a few things with....and a propane (wood stove type) heater so we can hunker down for awhile need be...still a PIA....but the kids love it.....

I recently heard that if another country detonated a nuke at a high enough altitude above this country something about the energy waves it would create (or something to that effect) would take out all the ability to produce electricity in this country.....

Imagine that?....the whole country with-out electricty for an extended period of time......stock up on the ammo.....

Talk about loot'n, thiev'n, and animal like behavior.....

[JohnR]

The cost per meter to go underground is exhorbitant compared to above ground to install. The cost per meter underground is exhorbitant compared to above ground to repair.

Lots of new communities, when planned for from the outset, go underground. Retrofitting existing infrastructure would be staggering in cost.

I remember Germany had it's utilities placed underground, damn the cost, so that it would support the military in case of war and suffer less damage that would occur than had the utilities been located above ground. But they also build homes of concrete 30-40CM thick to protect occupants and have mechanical or electrical roller shutters to protect your glass.

They also have/had a higher degree of worry of a ground war fought on their soil... Ahhh, to go back to the safe days of the Fulda Gap

[Bigcat]

I love my wood stove,it has bailed us out more then once here on the Cape

[spence]

Originally Posted by Mr.Mom

I recently heard that if another country detonated a nuke at a high enough altitude above this country something about the energy waves it would create (or something to that effect) would take out all the ability to produce electricity in this country.....

The Electro Magnetic Pulse.

I think most first strike nuclear war scenarios with the USSR began with a high altitude blast over the USA to shut down unprotected command and control electronics. Like, how much canned tuna do you have under your bed?

I'm not sure if any nation outside of Russia would have the ability to do this today. It's not very easy to get a powerful nuke up that high.

But if you bank on MAD it's pretty moot anyway. A launch like that would almost have to come from a nation state, in which case we would turn them into glass within the hour.

-spence

[JohnR]

Yeh - EMP...

Figure a few more countries than just Russia could do EMP.

India, France, UK perhaps (though dount France and UK going Nuke on us). But seriously consider PRC capable of doing so...

Anyone remember the movie The Day After? Was played around the Superbowl in 85 I think? It was kinda eery at the time being a teenager, going to school at HQEUCOM in Germany, watching this movie at the O'Club at Patch Barracks and hearing the reports of Soviet tanks fighting Nato tanks in Germany....

[Flaptail]

hOW THE HELL DID WE GET TO NUKING SOMEONE FROM GETTING POWER LINES UNDERGROUND INSTEAD OF OVERHEAD?

ps The Fulda Gap was rendered indefensible at the end of WWII, with airpower and ICBM's and Short range missiles the only thing the gap would be good for was sending in tanks to look for the few, if any survivors, not that you could do much for them anyway.

[spence]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

hOW THE HELL DID WE GET TO NUKING SOMEONE FROM GETTING POWER LINES UNDERGROUND INSTEAD OF OVERHEAD?

Well, powerlines act like a giant antenna to transmit the EMP

I'd love to see powerlines go underground, it would dramatically improve my waterview, but the cost would be prohibitive.

-spence

[Karl F]

I would love to see all the utilities undergorund, but, I also realize the cost would be thru the roof. would be the ultimate solution I think, but won't happen.. any time soon.

What really Frosts My Onions, is, we pay a premium for Electricity, Phone, and Cable, and they are relying on worn out, patched up, (pathes on patches, is what more than one technician has told me) lines and equipment, and I can almost say the days we have uninterupted service, are less than the days we have some kind of trouble.. I get "brown" spells from the electric, can watch the lights dim and brighten.. phone, (why I still have a land line, is beyond me, but wife insists) goes static more often than not, cable... don't get me started on that.. they installed amplifiers in the house, and on the street, no charge, last time out, due to poor signal.. (crappy old patched wires)...

For what we pay, they should all string brand new high tech, state of the art stuff....

Big trouble too, in my town, and most on the cape is the feelgooders..
that won't allow trees to be limbed back away from roadside, and power lines, like they did years ago.... so...

Wind Blows= Interuppted service

[JohnR]

Originally Posted by Flaptail

hOW THE HELL DID WE GET TO NUKING SOMEONE FROM GETTING POWER LINES UNDERGROUND INSTEAD OF OVERHEAD?

My fault

ps The Fulda Gap was rendered indefensible at the end of WWII, with airpower and ICBM's and Short range missiles the only thing the gap would be good for was sending in tanks to look for the few, if any survivors, not that you could do much for them anyway.

The Fulda Gap is a section of territory between the former East German border and Frankfurt, (West) Germany. Named for the nearby town of Fulda, the Fulda Gap was of immense strategic importance during the Cold War. It was one of two obvious routes for a hypothesized Soviet attack on West Germany from its bases in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. (The other obvious route was via the North German Plain; a third, less likely route, involved an attack through Austria up the Danube River valley.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fulda_Gap

[Bigcat]

The Fulda Gap is a section of territory between the former East German border and Frankfurt, (West) Germany. Named for the nearby town of Fulda, the Fulda Gap was of immense strategic importance during the Cold War. It was one of two obvious routes for a hypothesized Soviet attack on West Germany from its bases in East Germany and Czechoslovakia. (The other obvious route was via the North German Plain; a third, less likely route, involved an attack through Austria up the Danube River valley.)

My son was in the 11th ARC,and there job was to defend the Fulda.
They were told that their life expediency would be about 45 seconds if the Russians attacked. and that was in a M1A1