Sean: 停電

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Posted by Sean:
停電
http://whiteperil.com/posts/1155555308.shtml


   Aw, man--so it's like, [1]this morning, I'm steering the barge as
   usual, minding my own business, when all of a sudden these power lines
   jump right out in front of me:

     A massive blackout Monday cut electricity to 1.4 million homes in
     Tokyo and surrounding prefectures, temporarily paralyzing
     transportation systems and trapping dozens of people in elevators.
     Officials of Tokyo Electric Power Co. said a crane on a barge in
     the Kyu-Edogawa river hit power lines at the border of Tokyo's
     Edogawa Ward and Urayasu in Chiba Prefecture around 7:30 a.m.,
     cutting electricity to 14 of the capital's 23 wards as well as
     areas of Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures.
     Power was restored at 10:44 a.m. as temperatures climbed above 30
     degrees, according to TEPCO.

   My office is closed Mondays, and Atushi was here for a pretty busy
   weekend, so I slept in this morning. I do recall surfacing vaguely at
   8:30-ish to wonder whether the two hours for which I'd set the air
   conditioner to keep running some time after the sun was already bright
   had elapsed already; but the clock next to my bed is the traditional
   kind, and I didn't think to try the lamp. It wasn't until I came into
   the living room and noticed all the LED-display clocks blinking at me
   that I realized the power had gone out. And even then, I figured it
   had been something local until I opend up the Nikkei and saw [2]this.
   The looks of incredulity on the faces of NHK reporters was a sight to
   behold, too. Personally, I found my attention drawn by this detail:

     TEPCO said there are two power lines, one of which is supposed to
     act as a backup in case the other goes down. But both were damaged
     by the crane.

   I'm no systems engineer--and I can see how they can't be across town
   from each other--but doesn't having the redundant power lines close to
   the lines they're backing up kind of maximize the possibility that
   they'll both be damaged at once?
   As someone I know through the office pointed out this afternoon, who
   needs terrorists?

References

   1. http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200608140132.html
   2. http://www.nikkei.co.jp/news/main/20060814AT1G1400X14082006.html