Public Safety Power Shutoff 10/9/19

[lbpesq]

Oh, yea, and unplugged electric, too.   Also used the time to order a Bridge Doctor from Stewmac to try and deal with some belly bulge on an old Daion D-18 copy I’ve been meaning to spend some time on.

Bill, tgo

[keith_h]

As I like to look on the positive side of things, power outages are great for seeing the sky as our ancestors did. With all of the light pollution no matter where you are today it is near impossible to see just how big our universe is. Once you do you can see why they were in such awe of the night sky.

[lbpesq]

To add more insult to injury, it was overcast last night.  No stars.

Bill, tgo

[pauldo]

Keith that is a brilliant... no light pollution.

Bill that is a sad reality. 

It is humbling to look into the night sky and see the swath of the Milky Way, the planets, and constellations and then reflect on how we place ‘importance’ on our daily activities when in reality we are insignificant in the eyes of the universe.

My brother put it something like this:
We are surviving on an onion skin of an environment that is wrapped around a rock that is hurling around a giant fireball that surrounded by an infinite number of galaxies. 

[lbpesq]

I’ve always thought of our solar system as a single molecule in the corner of a giant ashtray in a room in a giant mansion in a large city in a large country on a really big planet, etc.

Bill, tgo

[David Houck]

... or the Arquillian galaxy on Orion's belt.

[cozmik_cowboy]

I’ve always thought of our solar system as a single molecule in the corner of a giant ashtray in a room in a giant mansion in a large city in a large country on a really big planet, etc.

Bill, tgo

Well, I guess what Bill's passion (besides law & guitar) is, eh?

Peter (who's always gone with the "molecule in the leg of a table" line of thought)

[hieronymous]

We got our power back on Thursday night, but still no internet/tv. Not such a big deal, but I don't NEED it for work, I can always check email on my cell phone and use internet at the temple office. For someone that works from home I can see it being more than just an inconvenience - for many people it was a real financial hardship. One person even died!

[garyhead]

Ok....here's a scenario maybe a local can explain.....Home wind / solar power generation.  Don't those folks feed their excess power back into the grid?  So, PG&E cut their power off to prevent their wobbly outdated transmission lines from breaking starting a fire.....aren't those lines still energized from consumers that generate their own power?  From a legal-team standpoint......We cut Our power.....that fire started from Rate-payer generated electricity.

I ended up bypassing the Bay Area / Napa Valley on this current road trip....Not going to reserve a room only to find no power there....no gas pumps working.....

As someone mentioned up thread......Not All power lines break in a hurricane.......and Not clearing right-of-ways is an act of gross negligence.

[keith_h]

Ok....here's a scenario maybe a local can explain.....Home wind / solar power generation.  Don't those folks feed their excess power back into the grid?  So, PG&E cut their power off to prevent their wobbly outdated transmission lines from breaking starting a fire.....aren't those lines still energized from consumers that generate their own power?  From a legal-team standpoint......We cut Our power.....that fire started from Rate-payer generated electricity.

I ended up bypassing the Bay Area / Napa Valley on this current road trip....Not going to reserve a room only to find no power there....no gas pumps working.....

As someone mentioned up thread......Not All power lines break in a hurricane.......and Not clearing right-of-ways is an act of gross negligence.

They shouldn't be. I can't say what the specific requirements are in CA but around here you are required to have a transfer switch and other safety measures that cuts the connection to the power company lines if there is no power on them.