fyi...i spoke with frank [Archive]

Deviant

08-14-2003, 07:30 PM

Side note:
My belief is that electricity outages tend to happen in the heat of the summer, because more establishments utilize air conditioning than before. Down South, all homes are expected to have it, so neighborhoods grids have been designed that way for a long time.

To get back to the topic, anyone who can readily afford an HT, can afford the solar panels to charge it. It doesn't take much.

BruceWright

08-14-2003, 07:36 PM

Yeah, but who in Manhattan can afford the SPACE to put those panels?!!

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

GadgetmanKen

08-14-2003, 08:02 PM

Blame it on Mars. Its the closest it will be to earth for many, many years in the future.

Geez, it looks like PT will be the only one to show up for work tomorrow, because of his solar panels to charge his HT.

Does Frank have solar panels too?

I only pray this isn't a terrorist plot in the works. Seems to me that this could be a prime time to attack again during all this confusion and power outages. Hit us when we got our pants down, sort of. They could have been waiting for this. I would only hope security is at max at the power plants right now, too. Good luck to all you on the East coast. My prayers are with you. Man what a mess on the news.

Wouldn't be surprised if the security code goes to red after this.

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

Neelix

08-14-2003, 08:12 PM

Phil's not affected. He lives in Seattle.

-------------------------
Fear not, for even though I come from the Forbidden City, I surely do not agree with the rules.

BruceWright

08-14-2003, 08:15 PM

OMG KEN!!!!!

You're right!! We should all panic!!!

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!! EVERYBODY PANIC!!!!!!!!!!

PANICING IS THE ANSWER!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!

"They" aren't waiting for this. "They" wouldn't be able to get 3 blocks in this traffic. All airports are shut down, and people aren't in the high-rises.

Security at max at the power plants? What for? They're turned off anyway to keep from overloading the system. The whole thing has to be re-booted and load-balanced to come back up.

This ISN'T Terrorism. "They" aren't that sophisticated. Plus, an attack that causes no deaths isn't very effective as a terror tactic.

9 months from now, I predict lotsa new babies!

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

GadgetmanKen

08-14-2003, 08:40 PM

Yeah, I forgot Pt is in Seattle.

Bruce, Calm down Please.

I'm not trying to panic anybody. What makes you think they are not sophisticated enough? What makes you think that with all their secret ways to communicate to each other that they couldn't have been waiting for something like this? What makes you think that they will strike with airplanes again? With the power plants down getting messages out to the public would be futile, at best. With them down, keeping them down wouldn't be that much harder. Being without power for more than a few days makes a lot of people hungry and anxious.

As I said : quote:Good luck to all you on the East coast. My prayers are with you.

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

Jeff Allen

08-14-2003, 08:54 PM

Gee, I wonder how foolish NY Segway riders look now?

Onward!
Jeff Allen

"In a car I'm thinking about where I am going, on my Segway I'm thinking about where I am."

BruceWright

08-14-2003, 08:56 PM

I know you aren't TRYING to panic anybody!

But you know, fear is what causes problems in this kind of situation. Calm is what solves them.

Why don't I think they are sophisticated enough? Because they aren't.

Because it's stupid to fight a terrorist war by knocking out power. That's how you start a real war, not a terror strike.

See, terror is about the few terrorising the many. You do that by killing people in a visible way that causes people to fear that they could be killed in the same way. They strike cafes, tourist attractions, methods of travel, things with symbolic significance.

Striking a power plant? What does that do? 99 times out of a hundred that would do nothing. Powerplants go offline all the time.

Somehow controlling the power grid and shutting it down, what does THAT do? It kills a couple of grandmothers who lose air conditioning. That's not terrorism.

Rolling a Ryder truck up to a Federal Building, that's terrorism.

Now being afraid of something like this is like being afraid of your shadow. These power outages hit once every few years. No sense in jumping out of our skin.

You want to talk about panic? That's exactly what "they" want. They want us to panic, when they haven't even had to lift a finger.

"Fear is the main source of superstition, and one of the main sources of cruelty. To conquer fear is the beginning of wisdom." -Bertrand Russell

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

citivolus

08-14-2003, 09:02 PM

<center>Windows has encountered an error and cannot continue.
Fatal exception 0E occurred at 1603:DF2FE391 in NGG
Module name Niagara Mohawk. Press any key to reboot.

OK.</center>

--
swiftly flying

BruceWright

08-14-2003, 09:09 PM

BTW, I take my whole outlook on fear and terrorism from the old Twilight Zone episode called "The Monsters are Due on Maple St."

It was about a power outage. And all the residents of a suburban street worrying about it. They are afraid that it is the work of invading aliens. Eventually everyone starts panicing and accusing each other of being aliens. Soon, everyone is battling each other, getting their guns out, and we pull back and see that the aliens are watching the whole thing from their saucer, merely turning off the power caused the humans to turn on each other, and they just need to sit and wait.

See, it was fear and suspicion that did folks in. Not the fact that they had no electricity for a few hours. That can't kill people.

And it's how I look at terrorism. Terror can't kill anyone. Attacks can, but not fear.

Unless we let the fear take us over, and we run scared from every little thing.

Like people being afraid to fly now. Sure, they'll drive cross-country, which we know is more deadly.

So fear kills more people than airplane attacks.

And that's why I refuse to fear them. If I start fearing every little thing, "they" have gotten the response they wanted.

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

opti6600

08-14-2003, 09:17 PM

I'm going to laugh my butt off if this is related to the RPC vulnerability...some schmuck's server that hasn't been patched in five years running NT4 probably ran one little component that happened to be extremely critical...whammo.

lmao...i wonder if the microsoft guys are running around trying to figure out if this was their hardware? hehe

---------
Let's just take the safety labels off of everything and let America's problem sort itself out.

GadgetmanKen

08-14-2003, 09:34 PM

quote:Because it's stupid to fight a terrorist war by knocking out power. That's how you start a real war, not a terror strike.

Seems like half their work is already done there.

quote:
See, terror is about the few terrorising the many. You do that by killing people in a visible way that causes people to fear that they could be killed in the same way. They strike cafes, tourist attractions, methods of travel, things with symbolic significance.

Yeah, like the twin towers. 3,066 Dead, a few my eye.

quote:
Striking a power plant? What does that do? 99 times out of a hundred that would do nothing. Powerplants go offline all the time.

My power goes out all the time. Last time after a tornado it was out for 42 hours before I got my power back on. Darn near whole town went out. Lost food in fridgerator and freezer. Not enough dry food to last, no hot water, no lights, no micro wave, etc. Whole area damaged by tornado, took my wife five hours to get home, normally twenty minutes. Traffic jams everywhere. After the second day we were getting anxious.

quote:
Somehow controlling the power grid and shutting it down, what does THAT do? It kills a couple of grandmothers who lose air conditioning. That's not terrorism.

No power for a long while and staying that way, and not being able to get it back online, people die because of greed and assault and lack of power, and food. They cut the power in wars to stop the propaganda, communications and create kaos and disorder.

I'm not afraid, just concerned. The ones who last are the ones who stay level headed use thier wits, and remain calm. Don't you agree?

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

pkradd

08-14-2003, 09:42 PM

I lived in NYC during the blackout of '65. If people behave like they did then, all will be well. New Yawker's tend to rise to the ocassion (as they did on 9/11). Hope all the other affected cities get their electricity soon. Latest reports indicate things may start coming back on line during the next hours. Hopefully, things will be back to normal within the next 12 hours. Good luck everybody.

This just in. Canadian and U.S. officials say a lighting strike hit the Niagara Falls plant on the U.S. side and caused the blackout. Geez, don't they have any lightining rods or something?

BruceWright

08-14-2003, 09:51 PM

OMG!!!!

The TERRORISTS CONTROL THE LIGHTNING NOW!!!

Nothing to fear but fear itself. ;)

The few I was speaking of was the 20 terrorists terrorising hundreds of millions of Americans. I don't consider the 3,000 lost on 9/11 few, it's far too many by any account.

But smoking-related deaths killed 100 times the number of people killed by terrorism in 2001.

A little perspective about the dangers in our lives.

-Bruce Wright

Segway: Vehicle of Dream

GadgetmanKen

08-14-2003, 10:30 PM

quote: Gee, I wonder how foolish NY Segway riders look now?

I saw a Segway at the Fair the other day, in a crowd a Segway is mute (whats the point) your stuck shoulder to shoulder, in slow traffic. Not my idea of fun.

Bet all the East Coast seggers wish they had the Stirling version of the Segway now.

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

defenbaugh

08-14-2003, 11:05 PM

quote:Originally posted by GadgetmanKen

quote: Gee, I wonder how foolish NY Segway riders look now?
(whats the point) your stuck shoulder to shoulder, in slow traffic. Not my idea of fun.

You'll understand when you get your HT.

Follow your bliss,
Ron

http://www.defenbaugh.org/Segway/segway_ht.htm

GadgetmanKen

08-14-2003, 11:18 PM

Ok, you're not exactly shoulder to shoulder considering your about a foot above everyone. But still going nowhere, none the less. What am I missing besides the obvious (Segway)?

"Wouldn't it be cool, if?...is like Folgers in my cup"

defenbaugh

08-14-2003, 11:35 PM

A Segway rider has all the advantages of the walker with none of the disadvantages, e.g. fatigue, etc. Example, the old man you saw at the fair. He probably couldn't have walked the midway. On the HT he can "walk" to his heart's content, that is, until his wife gets tired of laying the "carpet" over the obstacles.

Follow your bliss,
Ron

http://www.defenbaugh.org/Segway/segway_ht.htm

PoloAk

08-15-2003, 12:16 AM

Well I for one am really happy to hear that Frank is okay.

And when Frank reads this he'll wonder what the hell is wrong with us :D

And this is totally not a terror thing. This all happened because of the United Nations-Olympic Commitee Conspiracy.

See, everytime the Olympics are held in the US, foreigners get their butts whipped because of the "secret" rules the O.C. put forth. The level of winning is strictly determined by the level of money the hosting government pays the UN to support undisclosed military actions around the globe. The real dastardly thing, though, is that not all hosting countries will pay up to the UN.

So the Greeks, in whose country the olympics are going to be held next summer, are using their secret technology (stolen from the Ancient Egyptians) to attack foreign nations and debilitate their athletes. They refuse to pay the UN to win, so they are attacking member nations to keep them in line and secure victory for the Greek competitors!

All those Greek myths? They're cover ups for the all-powerful technology the Greeks stole. The don't want us know that they can control the weather!

This is just FURTHER EVIDENCE of the superpowerful weapons levied by the dastardly Greeks! Beware! Lightening is just their first course on this menue of destruction! Next will be floods and plagues and death!!!

Keep your eyes open . . . .

CZWMDV,

Kelsey

dexter

08-15-2003, 12:22 AM

>>This just in. Canadian and U.S. officials say a lighting strike hit the Niagara Falls plant on the U.S. side and caused the blackout. Geez, don't they have any lightining rods or something?

They should rebuild the power plants and elevate them all on Segway tires. Everyone knows that 4 inches of rubber tire will insulate the stations and make them invulnerable to lightning strikes.

[:p]

Dave C.
me: www.idexter.com
work: www.idealjacobs.com
play: www.nyline.org

Brooster

08-15-2003, 03:02 AM

Got a message from Frank on my phone machine at 11pm Eastern Time ... he's home and fine after walking home from the city ... still has no power, but will post when he can.

Brooster

08-15-2003, 07:16 AM

The power starts coming back gradually in various areas. Quite a few New Yorkers partied, and enjoyed the darkness. Fortunately the outage did not last too long, in my area it was exactly twelve hours.
The subway system will be down for a few more hours, buses will be running, free, but it will be a chaotic day. Indeed it's going to be good to use Segways today - if you have enough power left in your batteries, of course.

quote:Originally posted by pkradd

I lived in NYC during the blackout of '65. If people behave like they did then, all will be well. New Yawker's tend to rise to the ocassion (as they did on 9/11). Hope all the other affected cities get their electricity soon. Latest reports indicate things may start coming back on line during the next hours. Hopefully, things will be back to normal within the next 12 hours. Good luck everybody.

This just in. Canadian and U.S. officials say a lighting strike hit the Niagara Falls plant on the U.S. side and caused the blackout. Geez, don't they have any lightining rods or something?

http://www.neuroprosthesis.org/blogger.html

Stan671

08-15-2003, 09:34 AM

I had to stay at work here in NJ even after the power came back on because the power company (in an effort to reduce the load on thier plant) would not turn us (one of thier biggest customers) back on right away. We have our own generators, so we just stayed independant.

Almost all of our servers crashed when the power went out because the UPS's did not hold long enough for our generators to come online. Because the UPS batteries are too old and the generator had trouble starting up. The irony is that sitting right next to each UPS were new batteries ready to be installed to replace the aging ones. If the power outage would have waited a day or two, I would have had the new batteries in place and the servers probably would have held long enough.

Anyway, I took this opportunity to install all of the new batteries. And then I got to ride my Segway home from work in the dark. The street lights were lit by this time in NJ and I have a light on my Segway, but riding at night is especially fun.

Stan Dobrowski

GlideMaster

08-15-2003, 10:15 AM

<center>Glad to see all of the east coast gliders are OK.</center>

larryKay

08-15-2003, 12:31 PM

Here in midtown NYC, the power is still out. 10:30 AM..
What a party last night. A street fair became areality as all the local restaurants, delis etc, were openin front of their establishments.

One deli filled a bathtub with ice, and stocked it with beer, soda and water and sold out in moments. My sons who live in the area in a low rise building had water ( hi rise buildings do not have water in a blackout; they need a pump to fill the rooftop tanks) and ran a hotel for all their friends.

Up here in Westchester, the power came on in my neighborhood after midnite..hopefully everything will be ok later.

My dialup worked throughout the blacktop ( still a good reason to keep landlines ) cell phone was out most of the time as cell towers are powered. the cable was out, no tv or broadband.....used the auto, but not the Segway...

Larry

geekfactory

08-16-2003, 01:01 AM

Glad Frank is ok.

The rest of us NY'ers seemed to survive, too - in case anyone was interested. :)

ftropea

08-16-2003, 01:06 AM

I don't think it's any offense to the other NY Seggers..

The thing is, if something should happen to me.. there is some question as to who'll maintain the site. I think it's time to put some emergency plans in place. I think we'll need to have Admins positioned globally and at least one protected in a bunker, buried deep inside a mountain.

It's on the to-do list!

BTW - I'm glad you're OK Peter! :-D

So how did the other NY Seggers manage?

Regards,

Frank A. Tropea

[/sc] Admin - "Keep your wheels on the ground!" - Contact Me (segwaychat@segwaychat.com)

ddabney

08-16-2003, 01:30 AM

I was at LaGuardia when the lights went out, and would have loved to have had my HT with me, if only to try to chase down some of the Northwest Airlines employees, almost all of whom seemed to vanish without a word. It also would have been nice to have one to cruise nearby hotels looking for shelter last night.

(We ended up renting a car (no mean feat), driving to Washington National, and flying home from there.)

Before the blackout, however, I met a nice young lady on the street who wanted to give me a massage--she must have thought I looked tense. Who says New Yorkers aren't friendly?