h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Currently the official theory (according to _The Washington Post_) is that the blackout origionated in Ohio, neare Cleaveland.

Also, I just wanted to complain about the biased treatment the blackout received in the US media--the press acted like NY City was the only important place affected. 90% of the coverage focused on things in NY City.

Furthermore, they refered to the blackout as being in the "New York area" or "along the Eastern Seaboard".

Since when are Detroit, Toledo, Cleaveland, Toronto, and Ottowa along the "Eastern Seaboard" or in the "New York area"? It would make more sence to describe it as being around Lake Erie, Lake Ontario, and parts of New York and New England.

You're right about the bias. Cleveland was hit harder than NYC.

But some of the points they use to explain why the blackout happened was in to reference to two NYC blackouts in the 1960s and 1970s.

Yup, I have to agree with you, R. GR. But then I live in Ottawa, so my view of the media coverage has probably been a little biased in the other direction. But when I've looked at other sources of news in the world, such as the BBC, and it's a little more balanced.

I'm going to do my best to balance this entry to make it neutral with respect to that sort of thing.

Cheers!

My guess is that because all the big US news corporations are in NY, the people in charge of them are only interested in New York.

It actually reminds me a of a Simpsons episode in which there is rioting in Springfield and Kent Brockman (the local news anchor) says to the helicopeter reporter "I think what everyone really wants to know, Arnie, is 'Is my house all right?'.".

I remember that one

Actually, my local news show (Which is completely worthless) covered NYC more than Ohio, which is where I live

sorry to tnterrupt but as you live in ohio i just wondered if you ever ran into a charachter who goes by granma hank

Nope

I think another reason for the oversaturation of NY news about the blackout (besides the major news organizations being in NYC), is that Manhattan poses different problems in a blackout than other areas. Not only are there millions of people there during the day, but it's an island. That many people enclosed in that small a space with very few ways of getting off, run into more problems than a "landlocked" city. If the trains aren't running, all the people that use them to head home to Long Island, New Jersey, and points north are all on foot! There are 8 bridges and 4 tunnels out of NYC, and that's it. It's tough funneling that many people through those few spots. All those people streaming across the bridges or waiting thousands deep in line for a ferry made for good news pictures. That's what the news agencies want.

Don't they have ferries?

I agree that it was a combination of many news centers being in New York and the overall effect on the populace probably being greater. While I'm sure it was a hassle everywhere, I doubt there were millions of people in Cleveland who found themselves homeless for the night.

Now that power has been restored, I notice there is more discussion in the news of Cleveland's water worries. In the aftermath, the people there were more effected. Hence the majority of coverage moved to them.

New York does have ferries, but they don't run often enough to get a significant portion of the people off the island. When the local subway union threatened to strike last year, the ferries were discussed as a possible stop-gap measure. Even with the addition of many boats from nearby areas to increase route frequency, the recommendation was for most people to stop commuting to work until the strike ended.

I'd guess that over half the commuters to the city use the subway/train system. It's less expensive by far. But asking a person to walk from Manhattan to another state is pretty impractical. I understand the train stations were so crowded that it was hard to find a reasonably large spot to sleep on.

what it's coming down to, so far, is a couple switches that were supposed to trip during the huge power surge and re-surge either weren't activated or didn't trip.
i can imagine the chaos in NYC, an island isolated with folks from three states trying to get home.
personally, i was at a local mall with about $20 of audio connectors in my hand when the power went. the emergency lights didn't go on, so i coulda walked out, but just put the items on the counter, told the teenaged employees (who were searching for a flashlight in a Radio Shack store) that i wasn't stealing anything, walked to my car, stopped into the favorite watering hole (there ain't nothing like a cold beer) where a bunch of us proceeded to attampt to deplete their coolers as best we could.
there was a brief interruption for me when the parmacist at an area grocery store passed along the information that his store had emergency lights on, where i obtained four bags of ice, some canned goods and a 12-pack of my favorite cold refreshing beverage. after securing the contents of the freezer and refridge, i later built a campfire by the pic-a-nic table and listened to my transistor radio (i got batteries, too) and power was restored some eight hours later.
and over and out.

whoops, that's pharmacist and patrick saved me about $100 in frozen food--the store sold out of ice in an hour. i owe him a cold refreshing beverage or two.
abd

Yhea, Ny, Ny wasn't so bad, I should know I was there. When I heard what had hapened in Ohio I was thinking,'man we are so lucky'. I was on vacation so I was so glad that we had a place to stay. I am so glad we were in our room. One word electric keys, yet New york wasn't hit hard. It was calm and I looked cool, I swear about 1,000,000 people camped out in Central Park. Oh well, I think that news companys should Pay more atention to more than just the home town. Ohio was hit much harder with water full of human, well you know, I really was glad when power came back to the grid, the whole grid. I have learned to not take things for granted this summer, I lerned not to take air conditioning or any kind of toilet for granted. The toilet is a whole other story from a camping experience.You don't wanna know. Oh well, If we can't decide who did It I will blame it on aliens or gremlins or some scret conspiracy that the government had. Highly unlikely stuff. Oh well, I hope the world doesn't end yet, I am not done with it... Peace!

just a random wandering---what was a skibumb doing in NYC? anyway, the focus is still narrowing into a couple 'fail/safe switches' and those of us old enough to remember that movie know what happens in the end.
i'm 55 miles NE of cleveland, on the lake and it's pretty safe to swim now, no more than the usual poop in the waters.
the electric keys in hotels--that's another one i hadn't thought of! you've got a hotel room, you gotta walk the stairs....and you can't get in!!!
i guess some new tork-ites got some exercise that day.

My husband's family's from Lorain, several! Where are you?

me? i'm in ashtabula, an hour east of cleve-burg.

That sounds vaguely familiar to me ...

on the lake an hour from cleve, an hour from erie, an hour from youngstown.
p/~

on the lake an hour from cleve, an hour from erie, an hour from youngstown.