[babystrangeloop]

Imagine a US blackout in which the lights don’t come back on
By: James Jay Carafano / Special to The Examiner / August 15, 2011

Without warning, the lights went out. It was Aug. 15, 2003. A cascading power failure plunged the northeastern United States and Canada into a massive blackout.

For more than 55 million people, it was an object lesson in what life is like without electricity. Luckily, the lesson was short-lived. Most services were restored within 24 hours.

But what if the lights had not come on the next day?

What if it more than just the lights had gone out? What if every major component of electro-infrastructure, from GPS satellites in space to the Internet in cyberspace, had been fried? What would life be like?

William Graham, Ronald Reagan’s former chief science advisor, offers a chilling description of the consequences in the documentary film “33 Minutes.”

“Medical services wouldn’t be available because they need electric power. Telephones wouldn’t work. The traffic lights would stop working. Big traffic jams. Transportation would be shut down.

“Electronic fund transfers wouldn’t work, so you wouldn’t get your paycheck. You wouldn’t be able to use your credit card.

“Food stocks would run out very quickly. Everything we know about life today that makes it convenient and efficient would be shut down,” Graham said. “There would be a real challenge to keep our population even alive, let alone strong and viable.”

Unfortunately, this nightmare scenario is a real-world concern.

[babystrangeloop]

Snooki’s 2012 Predictions: Blackouts & Pandemonium!
Access Hollywood - NBC Universal, Inc / August 15, 2011

LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

“Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi foresees a grim future when she looks ahead to 2012 – and it has nothing to do with a pickle shortage or the inability to tan.

“The economy is really scary because 2012 is coming,” the pint-sized reality star recently told the Wall Street Journal (yes, Snooki chatted with the Journal!).

“I feel like the first thing that’s going to happen… is a blackout,” she said of the coming new year. “And then everyone freaks out and the world goes crazy.”

[Cloud9]

Solar flair or a properly placed nuke could do it. Should that happen, the major questions of life will be sorted out for millions in less than a year.

[babystrangeloop]

Solar flair [sic] or a properly placed nuke could do it. Should that happen, the major questions of life will be sorted out for millions in less than a year.

We do not need such events, simply count the rate of world-wide manned space trips over time. Then you will know which side of the bubble we are on.

So many things rely on electricity today, take chickens for example. Did you know that chickens die in thirty minutes when the power is lost?

Power cut leaves 117,000 chickens to suffocate in factory farm
The Local Europe GmbH / August 16, 2011

The chickens would only have survived around 30 minutes without ventilation.

[timmac]

Well if the power goes out and stays off than I am loading up my motorhome and heading to Pstarr house and camp out there, I will bring some beer and you cook us up some beer brats..

OK Mate..

[Bill Hicks]

Snooki’s 2012 Predictions: Blackouts & Pandemonium!
Access Hollywood - NBC Universal, Inc / August 15, 2011
LOS ANGELES, Calif. --
“Jersey Shore” star Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi foresees a grim future when she looks ahead to 2012 – and it has nothing to do with a pickle shortage or the inability to tan. ...

So I guess we're safe until at LEAST 2013.

[babystrangeloop]

So I guess we're safe until at LEAST 2013.

What kind of prediction is "everyone freaks out and the world goes crazy" anyway? It's more like an observation.

[AgentR11]

We lost power for a week a while back and nothing interesting happened....

[babystrangeloop]

We lost power for a week a while back and nothing interesting happened....

Try harder next time.

[AgentR11]

The point is that there is no reason to suspect that everyone will "go crazy" when the lights go out.

It will take a prolonged outage, and the distress will build very slowly.

[babystrangeloop]

The point is that there is no reason to suspect that everyone will "go crazy" when the lights go out.

It will take a prolonged outage, and the distress will build very slowly.

Unless it happens while everyone is in an elevator.

[peeker01]

There are hundreds of thousands earning their living in the electricity business, not to mention the millions of stockholder in utilities, and the thousands of millionaires trading the utility stocks. Do you really think the country is going to go dark and STAY dark anytime soon, just to placate your silly doom fantasy? No, I don't think so. Less than 1% of this nation's power is generated with oil, so find a different crash scenario.

[babystrangeloop]

Do you really think the country is going to go dark and STAY dark anytime soon, just to placate your silly doom fantasy?

What if I ask them nicely?

[rangerone314]

An 1859 Carrington event could destroy a lot of electrical infrastructure, not to mention disrupt the credit system truckers use for fuel.

Life would start sucking real fast when people run out of milk, bread, and potable water.

[Lore]

An 1859 Carrington event could destroy a lot of electrical infrastructure, not to mention disrupt the credit system truckers use for fuel.

Life would start sucking real fast when people run out of milk, bread, and potable water.

Not to mention toilet paper!

[rangerone314]

Not to mention toilet paper!

I'll manufacture poison-ivy-based toilet paper to sell to the rich.

[tsakach]

Without warning, the lights went out. It was Aug. 15, 2003. A cascading power failure plunged the northeastern United States and Canada into a massive blackout.

For more than 55 million people, it was an object lesson in what life is like without electricity. Luckily, the lesson was short-lived. Most services were restored within 24 hours.

But what if the lights had not come on the next day?

I was in the Detroit airport on Aug 15 2003 when the power failure occurred. After they cleared out the airport I found myself looking around for food, water and shelter. The power outage lasted for three days in Detroit, where I was holed up in a small motel room witnessing the collapse of the infrastructure.

Many people were stranded in Detroit because all the gas stations were inoperative. Then, only a few hours after the power outage, the sewage treatment plant backed up and they were advising people not to use the water. Everything was shut down, stores would not sell food, refrigerated items started to spoil, cellular towers went offline and so on.

It was in many aspects a real eye opener for me, since I became aware of the fact that many fundamental components of the infrastructure are not designed to handle a power outage lasting more than a few hours. In addition, it is apparent that most people do not have on hand more than a few days worth of food supplies. One could sense that things can cascade into chaos quickly if basic needs for food and water are not met.

[Alan Cain]

So many things rely on electricity today, take chickens for example. Did you know that chickens die in thirty minutes when the power is lost?

I thought they ate corn? Where does the plug go? Do they have screens?

The power plugs in behind them.

Surely you knew that!!

The little ones have screens you can write on - the "chicken littles". The big ones are put into banks, or batteries, and they mass assemble little food pills.