People become dumb ZOMBIES during a blackout. Do yourself a favor and read this post.. It will only take a few minutes.
The TV, movies, and media sells a zombie apocalypse as a bunch of dead people walking the streets as cannibals trying to feed on alive humans.
I witnessed a zombie apocalypse, and that is when normal human beings lose logic, common sense, and their self-preservation and survival instincts kick in at the expense of you, me, and everyone else.
I was on a trip visiting with some friends when a major transmission line that linked FIVE (5) cities went out. It darkened these 5 neighboring cities for only 4 hours. The stupidity began about 30 minutes into the blackout.
When the electricity dies, even during the daytime, it stops entire cities. Worse than that, it stops people from thinking sensibly. This is a real problem that needs to be recognized and steps taken to fix it.
Will it be fixed? NO !! So get ready for what to expect the next time a major blackout hits your city.
Most people take electricity for granted. No one worries about it. If the power goes out, as long as you have a flashlight with some batteries, a candle, and a good book to read, you're okay, right?
WRONG.
If you are stuck in traffic, you'll quickly realize how people change their driving habits when there are no traffic lights. Every intersection becomes a 4-way stop intersection. The problem is that these types of 4-way stops only work in low volume residential streets.
You can't take 8 lanes of traffic, 2 in each direction (North,South,East+West), with 8 cars, doing a 4-way stop for more than a few minutes before traffic jams begin. Every single time a person takes 3 extra seconds at the intersection to decide whether or not to proceed. This small hesitation by each driver adds 3 extra seconds to the line of cars behind them.
3 seconds with 15 cars in line, is 45 extra seconds for the 15th car.
Now 45 seconds doesn't sound like a long time, does it?
Try this experiment. Drive somewhere in the middle of a busy road, stop in the middle of the road, and put your flashers on for 45 full seconds. How much chaos can begin to erupt in 45 seconds? In traffic, 45 seconds is a very, very, long time.
So in a matter of an hour, you have gridlock. Everywhere. Ambulances can't get through. Fire trucks can't get through. Nor can police. Either can you, as a driver stuck in traffic.
So what do you think police do when there is gridlock an hour into the power outage? That's right, they get out into the middle of major intersections and start directing traffic.
Incase you missed it, the keyword was "start". The police "start" directing traffic an hour into the power outage after traffic has become a severe problem.
That means it takes them another hour to get traffic flowing.
In this 2 hour window, you have people running out of gas, fender benders, road rage, and other nasty things going on. People's patience are at a minimum.
THAT'S JUST TRAFFIC!
Try getting gasoline. Try pulling money out of your account. It's impossible.
Here's some questions for YOU:
1. During a blackout, why don't banks have generators? Computer server datacenters have diesel generator backups. So do hospitals. Why not banks?
Is it because banks can't afford it? Is it because money isn't important?
2. Why, in every major city, does not at least ONE gas station have a manual gas pump? We ran on manual gas pumps for a very long time in the early days of the automobile. I believe that every major city should have 1 or 2 gas stations that have a standby "manual" pump that can sell exactly $20 of gasoline during an emergency. This will fuel ambulances, police cars, or the waiting public. In the event of a disaster, gasoline becomes an extremely important commodity.
Is it because oil companies can't afford to install a manual pump? Is it because the government can't give them a tax credit or incentive if they do?
I COULD GO ON AND ON ABOUT THIS - BUT I WON'T.
I will leave you with one last situation that caused me to write this post..
AFTER the electricity came back on, I happened to be at a gas station. Cars were "camped" at the pumps that ran out of gas. When the city power came back, people clapped and cheered. The same energy and excitement you'd see after an earthquake when they pull a survivor out of the rubble.
...and then it happened..
The clerk of the gas station quickly ran out side, locked the door behind her. With a bright cheery smile she announced to the crowd. "Sorrrryy.... but the computers have to boot back up again and sync with the head office. Even though the power is back on, we have to wait another 1/2 hour for the pumps to work".
...and if that wasn't stupid enough..
A woman came up to her, and said, "Could I at least buy a bottle of water from you? I'm so thirsty."
The clerk beamed another big smile, and happily said... "No, I can't. There is no way for me to ring it in."
ARE YOU KIDDING?
She has cash in the drawer. Even if the bottle of water was $2 or less, it is sitting right there. Even as a good gesture of customer service, give her a bottle of water.
A solar calculator didn't work here. Writing down the sale (and ringing in the sale after the computers booted) didn't work here.
Common sense, and humanity didn't work here.
That woman remained parched for the next 30 minutes even after the hydro came back on, because the employee couldn't figure out how give water to her without a computer.
ALL OF THIS HAPPENED IN ONLY 4 HOURS.
Imagine a week? A month? A year.
Zombie apocalypse? I don't fear that..
All I fear is when the power goes out for an extended period of time, people get down right stupid and no one is prepared for this..
Shocking as this is.. it is a world wide epidemic because of the dependence on computers and electricity.
Without electricity, we'd all dehydrate or starve each other with water or food sitting right in front of you because a clerk is unwilling to sell it to you without scanning it in first.
This is only going to get worse.
Remember, next earthquake, natural disaster, riot, blackout, war, anything. If we lose hydro or computers, the whole system stops. Immediately.
Your comments? Do you care? Am I talking about something rarely thought about?