Power out in NY and elsewhere? - Page 6

lord of the mark · August 15, 2003, 15:07

Quote:

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

I'm not condoning the attitude Tingkai's taken here, but you don't pull a phone out of someone's hand. You go find another one.

IIUC there were lines at ALL nearby payphones.

In a situation like this, I would suggest politely asking the person to hang up. If she refused, I would ask again, a little louder and more forcefully this time. And still louder, and still louder ......

KrazyHorse · August 15, 2003, 15:07

I am ashamed, though. They're looting and there hasn't been a hockey game in 3 months.

KrazyHorse · August 15, 2003, 15:10

Quote:

Originally posted by lord of the mark

IIUC there were lines at ALL nearby payphones.

In a situation like this, I would suggest politely asking the person to hang up. If she refused, I would ask again, a little louder and more forcefully this time. And still louder, and still louder ......

I'm not saying I wouldn't get a little rude. But I would stop short of assaulting somebody. They have a right to use the phone for as long as they want. This isn't a life-or-death situation; it's an ease of mind situation...

Soul Survivor · August 15, 2003, 15:56

Its absolutely amazing how people here have handled the situation...

Restaurants with gas stoves making food as fast as possible, stores selling batteries and flashlights at a DISCOUNT - even for free in some cases. No looting, no criminal activity, people talking with their neighbors, gathering around radios and portable TVs. People worked late, some people even went to work when the power was still off this morning.

It took nearly 24 hours for them to get the power back on where I live. It could have been a lot worse. Travel is hell, but I've got nowhere to go.

I don't think the situation could have reasonably been any better over here.

New York

Proteus_MST · August 15, 2003, 16:34

Quote:

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

I'm not saying I wouldn't get a little rude. But I would stop short of assaulting somebody. They have a right to use the phone for as long as they want. This isn't a life-or-death situation; it's an ease of mind situation...

But it depends how long this person has been hanging on the Phone.
Giving an hourlong Live-Report of the Situation in Town over a Payphone could drive even the most friendly person mad

Caligastia · August 15, 2003, 16:38

The power just came on about an hour ago here in NYC. Thank God, I finally get to take a shower!

Sava · August 15, 2003, 17:07

oh yeah, you know how this has sucked for people affected by the blackout? Iraq hasn't had power or water since the war began... just thought I'd mention that.

Hot Mustard · August 15, 2003, 17:09

Hi Beta!

As Beta knows, I live/work in Toronto as well. I was at a client's office (20th flr.) in downtown when the power went out yesterday. We shut down servers on UPS' and then milled around for a bit before the emergency lights went out and the evac siren came on. Walked down the pitch black stairs.

Downtown was interesting - it was calm mayhem - thousand of people exiting buildings with no where to go and no way to get there. After confirming my suspicion that the subway wasn't running, I started walking in the direction of my wife's office (1 hour by foot). Once there I found that she had head home long ago, and I got to our apartment in another hour.

Since we've been house-sitting for my cousin this week, we had little in the way of food in our apartment. So we gathered up what cash we had on hand and headed out again, hoping to find a place serving food (a hot dog vendor at least), and thinking of getting on a bus headed towards my cousin's place if possible, because our clothes, some food, and our car, were at out there. (We take the subway into the city each day.)

We got here about 2-3 hours, and 3 buses later. We were actually quite lucky with buses, managing to get on the first one at a point where many people got off (or the driver wouldn't have let more people on), and not having to wait long where we had to change buses.

The neatest thing I saw yesterday was normal citizens directing traffic at large intersections. Some of us on the bus cheered them through the windows whenever we passed one. I hope they get some recognition for their selfless efforts. One guy in particular was manning a very large intersection (Warden and Eglinton) quite flawlessly. We were concerned for his safety because he was wearing dark clothing and had no reflective gear or flashlight.

Gatekeeper · August 15, 2003, 17:43

Quote:

Originally posted by Sikander

Quote:

Originally posted by JohnT
Knoxville TN checking in.

God, it's like T-3.

**zzzhhh** This is ... **zzzhh** ... the South Dakota Civil Air Patrol ... **zzzhh** checking ... **zzzhh** ... what the hell's going on? ... ***zzzhh** ... nuclear bombers are taking off from Ellsworth Air Force Base!

Caligastia · August 15, 2003, 18:02

Quote:

Originally posted by Sava
oh yeah, you know how this has sucked for people affected by the blackout? Iraq hasn't had power or water since the war began... just thought I'd mention that.

Eat your sprouts, there's starving children in africa.

Sava · August 15, 2003, 18:10

Quote:

Eat your sprouts, there's starving children in africa.

Tell that to corporate farmers who destroy excess food to keep prices high and the Republican legislatures that support subsidies to them.

SlowwHand · August 15, 2003, 18:18

It isn't just Republicans numb nuts.
It isn't just Republicans who store cheese and grains either.

Imran Siddiqui · August 15, 2003, 18:20

Quote:

Tell that to corporate farmers who destroy excess food to keep prices high and the Republican legislatures that support subsidies to them.

Of course Sava will ignore that the biggest proponents of destroying excess food are the family farms and their biggest supporters are the Democratic Party, which keeps winning in the MidWest on its pledge of farm subsidies

.

Sava · August 15, 2003, 18:25

Quote:

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Quote:

Tell that to corporate farmers who destroy excess food to keep prices high and the Republican legislatures that support subsidies to them.

Of course Sava will ignore that the biggest proponents of destroying excess food are the family farms and their biggest supporters are the Democratic Party, which keeps winning in the MidWest on its pledge of farm subsidies

.

Sorry, that's not true Imran. The biggest offenders are the corporate farmers who get the vast majority of agricultural welfare. The unions and family farmers in the midwest support the Dem's who try to give their constituents what they can in order to survive.

Republicans = Corporate interests--- the big guy
Democracts = Organized Labor interests--- the little guy

I know that having people who are INFORMED about reality stifles your party's attempts at keeping people ignorant. So I understand your opposition to me.

Caligastia · August 15, 2003, 18:27

I don't give a ****. EAT YOUR F***ING SPROUTS!!!

Imran Siddiqui · August 15, 2003, 18:29

Quote:

that's not true Imran

No, that's 100% true, Sava

. The biggest subsidy people in Congress are Gephart and Dachle. Farm subsidies and ethanol subsidies are huge issues for Midwestern Democrats to back. You just can't say that's false without being thought a bigger idiot that you already are

.

Quote:

Democracts = Organized Labor interests--- the little guy

I guess I'll have to tell Davis, Gore, and the other Dems to leave the party because of all the Enron money they took

. I guess the trial lawyers are also the 'little guy', huh?

Quote:

I know that having people who are INFORMED about reality stifles your party's attempts at keeping people ignorant.

If that's true, I've yet to meet anyone from your side who we can call 'informed'

.

Inverse Icarus · August 15, 2003, 18:43

i just got my power back an hour ago, making it about 26 hours without poly. sheesh.

Dom Pedro II · August 15, 2003, 18:48

Hey, I got my power back around 4 this morning, but we didn't get internet back till about an hour ago.

Sava · August 15, 2003, 18:59

Quote:

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
No, that's 100% true, Sava

. The biggest subsidy people in Congress are Gephart and Dachle. Farm subsidies and ethanol subsidies are huge issues for Midwestern Democrats to back. You just can't say that's false without being thought a bigger idiot that you already are

.

Yes, and their subsidies go to small farmers... Republican supported subsidies (which are larger) go to corporations. Get a clue.

Quote:

I guess I'll have to tell Davis, Gore, and the other Dems to leave the party because of all the Enron money they took

. I guess the trial lawyers are also the 'little guy', huh?

Big deal. Enron gave money to everyone. But they gave MORE to Bush. In fact, they were the largest presidential campaign contributor of all time in 2000 with the money they gave Bush.

Quote:

If that's true, I've yet to meet anyone from your side who we can call 'informed'

.

And that's the way Republicans work. They try to discredit their opposition instead of debating the issues. They call people opposed to the war "traitors and treasonous" rather than trying to prove their point. I'm just glad more people see through your bullshit than the people who believe it.

Imran Siddiqui · August 15, 2003, 19:27

Quote:

Yes, and their subsidies go to small farmers... Republican supported subsidies (which are larger) go to corporations.

Yes, Democrat subsidies go to small farmers

. Unions only represent small farmers

. Continue with your fantasy.

Quote:

And that's the way Republicans work. They try to discredit their opposition instead of debating the issues.

You mean to say that you are a Republican then?

I haven't seen you debate an issue since you've been here

.

I'm just glad more people see the facts (which is why the Republicans control the government) rather than believe your lies and crap

.

Sava · August 15, 2003, 19:37

you are hopeless Imran... hopefully one day you will wake up... until then... I don't know what to say to you.

GePap · August 15, 2003, 19:43

FINALLY!

I got my power back by about 9am, but I have not been able to connect online until now..must have had problems with the local server.

Luckily I was in my building when this hapenned, so I did not have to figure out how to get back. My sister had to walk 180 blocks home.

Spiffor · August 15, 2003, 19:49

Welcome back Ge

GePap · August 15, 2003, 19:54

Thanks.

The funny thing is that I went silent (as LoTM mentions) cause I left my computer and went to the gym, not cause of the blackout. The power went off in my area when I was in the gym.

After a while news got boring. The funny thing is that the only time I ever listen to radio is at emergency times (9/11, yesterday), but after a while even radio news get boring, speically since they don;t know what actually happened. At least tnohign really bad happened, though sleeping without AC was uncomfortable.

Dom Pedro II · August 15, 2003, 19:58

It sucked for people in subways and high-rise buildings like my dad... but all in all, it wasn't so bad.

A good story to tell people about.

I got pissed when Bloomberg compared this to 9/11... it affected more people in a physical way than 9/11 but still.... 9/11 was a tragedy! This was an inconvenience.... a shameless attempt to look like Rudy on his part.

Boris Godunov · August 15, 2003, 20:01

As said in the other thread, got power about 1/2 hour ago. 27+ hours without it.

Sava · August 15, 2003, 20:07

hahah welcome back guys!!!

Dom Pedro II · August 15, 2003, 20:22

I had an interesting time of it in Bergen County...

Actually, it was a very scary experience for me at first because the power went out in the house, which apparently happens often since I've gone to college so I didn't think much of it at first. I figured it'd only last a second. After a few minutes, I called my mom and told her.

As I was telling her, the lights went out where she was.... and she's in the next county so I was really confused. Then she said she turned on the radio and there were no stations. I started getting worried because I remembered that on 9/11 the radio stations and tv stations were knocked out by the WTC being hit.

I was trying to think what the hell could've knocked out the power in two counties.... I had visions of a nuke or something, but that was obviously ridiculous since considering that I can see the Empire State Building from my house, any larger explosive device detonated in New York would be pretty obvious to me very fast...

the lights and appliances came back on, then went out again. Came back on, went back out... on and off two or three times before they stopped completely.

But nonetheless, I was worried... (and frustrated). My dad works in the city and I was concerned. I didn't realize the house line still worked since I tried to make a call on my house line and the phone didn't work, but that was because it was cordless. I said the hell with it, grabbed my wallet and went outside....

I started down towards downtown figuring I'd stop in at 7-11 and get a drink since it was so hot... stupid me however, I had no cash, only my ATM card. But A) I had no idea how bad this was and thought maybe it'd be solved by the time I got there, and B) I didn't know that these businesses didn't have back up generators, and C) I didn't really stop to think about it

.

On my way to the 7-11, I saw a fire truck parked out in front of a building... I figured it had to be related. When I got closer, I overheard one of the firemen asking if they were supposed to be on stand by for further orders.

I also heard the fire horn? I guess its a horn... blowing alerting all of the fire stations in the area... (they had to, the station radios were out). They haven't used that thing in years... only to let people know when its 6 PM.

So I'm like "Alright, twenty minutes after the power goes out and they've got every fire department in the surrounding area on stand by... what the hell happened? Is this 9/11 all over again?"

I decided to walk down to the gas station I used to work in to see my old boss Tim. Lots of firemen and police officers come in there, so even with the radios and tvs dead, I knew he'd have the info. On the way, however, somebody had a portable radio blasting outside their house and I overheard the words "Niagara Power Station" and "not an act of terrorism". Which I didn't even need to know that last part once I knew it wasn't a bomb.

Anyway, so I went to the gas station anyway, and chatted for a bit. Then I headed up to Main Street.

About that time, I realized how useless my ATM card was. It was weird seeing the 7-11 dark in daylight... I mean it was BLACK inside in spite of the bright sunlight. By this point the downtown was choked with people on the sidewalks. All the store owners were outside, and people were playing... apparently, somebody had decided to open up with the hose because the street was soaked and there were a bunch of teen girls where were equally drenched...

It was cool... I wish everybody were so open normally! Normally the street is pretty dead.

I went to my friend's house which took me onto Route 46. I've never WALKED on Route 46 before but this was one time when I'd sure rather be walking than driving! What an absolute mess. It was backed up for MILES in both directions. I was easily getting ahead of the cars... and I actually had this little race going with some woman in the car next to me.

I went to Hackensack next once I had secured some wheels. We went to this pizza parlor and man, they were shooting out pizzas like crazy. As soon as one went in, another came out. They were doing GREAT business!

I dunno, I found something somewhat romantic about the whole thing... seeing how people get along when the fit hits the shan.

And let's give it up for the Police and Fire Departments! I know at least in Bergen County, the were ON THE BALL!

Caligastia · August 15, 2003, 22:05

Quote:

Originally posted by Sava

you are hopeless Imran... hopefully one day you will wake up... until then... I don't know what to say to you.

In others words "You win Imran".

Sava · August 15, 2003, 22:08

In other words "you are so immersed in your fantasy world that I won't waste my time arguing with you, Imran"