http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index919.htm
There are so many mysteries . What about this one ?? N3RF
http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index919.htm
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n3rf (imported)
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Re: http://www.whatdoesitmean.com/index919.htm
I can't speak for the foreign parts of this, but I can comment on the New Zealand information. It's mosty factually true, but slanted.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark ordered an investigation on "Monday after much of Auckland, the country's biggest city, was blacked out for nearly eight hours by a winter storm that brought down a critical power line.
Some idiot had run an earth line over high voltage lines and then the power distribution company had not maintained it properly. It broke in the wind and shorted out the main power feed.
There is also considerable debate going on about how a city of a million an a half people doesn't have redundant power feeds. Politicians are blaming the company, the company is blaming the politicians for making it imposible for them. Business as usual.
In the power company's defence the government has been meddling and has arbitrarily forced them to reduce their prices. It seems that they cut back on maintenence and replacement in an effort to survive.
About 700,000 people were said to have been directly affected by the failure which closed shops and businesses in the city centre, made hospitals cancel all except emergency services and caused a traffic gridlock as 300 sets of traffic lights were knocked out.
Gridlock is nothing new here. We have a city that's grown to three times the size of the city the motorway (US: Freeway) system was designed to serve. For 25 years the politicians have watched the city grow while putting off funding roading improvements. We're finally funding some upgrades, 20 years late. The power cut came at 8:30 AM, the height of the morning rush hour. Yes, the traffic lights going out made gridlock worse than normal, but nothing strange.
I'm a computer software developer, so can't do much with the PCs off. We sat around in the quiet and near dark for a couple of hours and when we realised that electricity wouldn't be around soon, went home. Traffic was flowing pretty well by then.
Power was also cut to about 19,000 customers in the South Island's Canterbury province, which was hit by the heaviest early-June snowstorms in 50 years.
Authorities warned power would not be restored to some rural areas, where farmers strived to rescue their animals from up to one metre of snow, for four days.
The snow storms down there were heavy, more like August (late winter) than June. Don't forget this is Winter in the southern hemisphere. Many farmers were caught out as they hadn't yet moved their stock to winter pasture.
I think in the end that the power was off for over a week in some remote places. Lines broke from having too much ice on them??
Roofs were blown from houses and windows smashed in the capital Wellington which was strafed by winds gusting to 130 kilometres an hour
Wellington is famous for high winds. It's in the "roaring 40s" and gets the trade wind. Add to that the local geography where there's a north-south mountain range with a gap that acts as a funnel. Right in the tightest point of the funnel, there's a gap. The gap is Wellington.
I distinctly remember worse winds during the 19 years (79-98) I lived in Wellington. The storm in question was a southerly dumping cold wind that felt like it was coming straight off antartica. When you're talking wind Wellington always suffers worse in southerlies than northerlies.
Basically the storm was strong but hardly unique.
while the main international airport in the South Island at Christchurch was closed by snow.
Yeah well, it snowed. they probably just waited for the snow to stop & cleared the runway. Christchurch is coastal so they probably aren't geared up for heavy snow.
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark ordered an investigation on "Monday after much of Auckland, the country's biggest city, was blacked out for nearly eight hours by a winter storm that brought down a critical power line.
Some idiot had run an earth line over high voltage lines and then the power distribution company had not maintained it properly. It broke in the wind and shorted out the main power feed.
There is also considerable debate going on about how a city of a million an a half people doesn't have redundant power feeds. Politicians are blaming the company, the company is blaming the politicians for making it imposible for them. Business as usual.
In the power company's defence the government has been meddling and has arbitrarily forced them to reduce their prices. It seems that they cut back on maintenence and replacement in an effort to survive.
About 700,000 people were said to have been directly affected by the failure which closed shops and businesses in the city centre, made hospitals cancel all except emergency services and caused a traffic gridlock as 300 sets of traffic lights were knocked out.
Gridlock is nothing new here. We have a city that's grown to three times the size of the city the motorway (US: Freeway) system was designed to serve. For 25 years the politicians have watched the city grow while putting off funding roading improvements. We're finally funding some upgrades, 20 years late. The power cut came at 8:30 AM, the height of the morning rush hour. Yes, the traffic lights going out made gridlock worse than normal, but nothing strange.
I'm a computer software developer, so can't do much with the PCs off. We sat around in the quiet and near dark for a couple of hours and when we realised that electricity wouldn't be around soon, went home. Traffic was flowing pretty well by then.
Power was also cut to about 19,000 customers in the South Island's Canterbury province, which was hit by the heaviest early-June snowstorms in 50 years.
Authorities warned power would not be restored to some rural areas, where farmers strived to rescue their animals from up to one metre of snow, for four days.
The snow storms down there were heavy, more like August (late winter) than June. Don't forget this is Winter in the southern hemisphere. Many farmers were caught out as they hadn't yet moved their stock to winter pasture.
I think in the end that the power was off for over a week in some remote places. Lines broke from having too much ice on them??
Roofs were blown from houses and windows smashed in the capital Wellington which was strafed by winds gusting to 130 kilometres an hour
Wellington is famous for high winds. It's in the "roaring 40s" and gets the trade wind. Add to that the local geography where there's a north-south mountain range with a gap that acts as a funnel. Right in the tightest point of the funnel, there's a gap. The gap is Wellington.
I distinctly remember worse winds during the 19 years (79-98) I lived in Wellington. The storm in question was a southerly dumping cold wind that felt like it was coming straight off antartica. When you're talking wind Wellington always suffers worse in southerlies than northerlies.
Basically the storm was strong but hardly unique.
while the main international airport in the South Island at Christchurch was closed by snow.
Yeah well, it snowed. they probably just waited for the snow to stop & cleared the runway. Christchurch is coastal so they probably aren't geared up for heavy snow.