Network Blackout 183
An anonymous reader writes "Renesys put together a special report on the effects of the recent blackout on routing and network reachability on the Internet. It includes a cool animation of networks dropping off the internet (presumably as a result of the power outage). It is interesting to see how localized some of the outage was--networks in New York state right up to the Vermont border go dark while everything on the other side of the border is quiet. New York City obviously gets clobbered."
I can see my house from here. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I can see my house from here. (Score:4, Funny)
Map of UPS battery exhaustions (Score:4, Interesting)
You don't have backup power on your home LAN? Pffft, and you call yourself a geek.
From what I know, this failure happened from New York City to Ohio in a matter of under a minute. So, I guess the dots are more representative of the average lifespan of the (formerly) fully-charged batteries in one's UPS.
As for me, I was dead in the water. At home, it was instantaneous (I'm too cheap to buy a UPS for a site which is just for my personal amusement); at work, it was 10 minutes of standing there in the server room listening to the frantic beep-beep-beep of UPSes all around me, and then rushing around to connect low-power LCD monitors to the servers that someone else forgot to connect to the UPS's shutdown signals... (of course, this after the realization that the emergency generator is running, but not actually even connected to the servers... [grumble])
Dude.... (Score:2)
You've got to be kidding....
I hope that it was someone elses negligence & not yours! I guess I'll stop complaining about the 50 l-users who ignored my emails on Jul.28 - Aug.1 warning them of the impending RPC vulnerability worm that would destroy their data.... (well, it didn't destory their data, but they did ignore my warnings & they did get the worm!)
KVM Switch Loathing, IIS in Ironic Places (Score:5, Interesting)
You've got to be kidding....
No.
I hope that it was someone elses negligence & not yours!Yes. In fact, I did learn something: there's a very good reason that I hate KVM switches.
Solution (probably falling on deaf ears, but I shall try anyway):
Heheh... Yeah, I know the type.
Along those lines, how's this for bitter irony? The Canadian government's "Office of Critical Infrastructure Protection and Emergency Preparedness" [ocipep-bpiepc.gc.ca] runs IIS on Windows 2000. (Note also the subjects of a couple of the bulletins on their site...) Somehow, this reminds me of doctors who smoke, or mechanics who don't change their oil.
My tax dollars at work. [sigh]
Re:KVM Switch Loathing, IIS in Ironic Places (Score:2)
I don't get it. Why do you hate KVM switches? Just connect an LCD to the KVM.
Re:KVM Switch Loathing, IIS in Ironic Places (Score:2)
actually the bulletins appear to be a WARNING to the general public. Just because a site is on IIS doesn't mean it immedatly crap. Unless you know for 100% that the server is NOT patched and resionably secure; none of us can make an option either way.
Having said that, I would imagine that the seismology agencies in Japan are in seismically correct buildings... Isn't that exactly the same? It's not like they control the threats to the infrastructure, all they can do is provide information to civilians an
Re:Map of UPS battery exhaustions (Score:5, Insightful)
At my last job we had similar problems. The system was heavily dependent on JMS, so there were rundandant JMS servers. Unfortunately, the first time the primary one on the production network went down under load all the client systems had to send tons of JMS messages around as part of the recovery process, which created a snowball effect that took down the secondary server and many of the other clients too. And then of course the clients started coming back up and sending out JMS messages to announce the fact.... (It turned out to be a bug in the JMS client that eventually got fixed, but it wasn't pretty while it was happening.)
Moral: if you haven't tested the redundancy / failover / power failure mechanism, it might as well not exist.
Mirror (Score:2, Informative)
For the "Deregulation was the problem" nutjobs (Score:3, Informative)
Some of the finger pointing in the national press has been at deregulation -- if it weren't for deregulation, we would be better able to control and manage the grid. This misguided contention is incorrect in a number of ways.
First, the "deregulation" that has occurred in electricity has primarily been in opening up wholesale markets for power generators and their customers (i.e., utilities), enabling people in Manhattan to continue consuming power (and clamoring now for more regulation) without Con Edison having to build more power plants on the island itself. The existence and growing vitality of wholesale electricity markets has created substantial value in the past decade, through encouraging generation where it is cheapest and sales of power to where it is most needed.
But this limited amount of market liberalization has left the industry in an awkward place. Generation is largely governed by market processes, but transmission and retail distribution remain heavily regulated. The investment decisions of transmission owners and the retail rates that they can charge to their end customers all hinge on rate cases that are decided by state-level regulators. The rates that regulators allow take into account changes in costs, required investments, and the payment to the utility of a rate of return on the assets they own. For much of the past decade this rate of return has been substantially lower than what utilities could earn from doing other things with their money, so they did not invest in building much new transmission capacity or in upgrading existing lines. Nor did a regulatory environment that is a relic from the 1930s, constructed to govern and control local, vertically integrated utilities, either have the incentive or the wherewithal to force the utilities to invest in transmission assets that would carry power to customers in other states.
This lack of investment in the infrastructure that carries the product exchanged in growing, vibrant wholesale electricity markets has become a problem -- not an overnight problem, as those who follow the industry have been concerned about transmission capacity for at least five years. The numbers offered this weekend suggest that electricity volume has increased 30 percent while transmission carrying capacity has increased only 15 percent. This fact illustrates the mismatch between the dynamic markets for wholesale power and the rigid, maladaptive set of state-level regulations and incentives that govern transmission investment decisions.
Markets adapt to changing conditions. The existing electricity regulations do not, and because of that, the transmission infrastructure has not adapted to the increased demand on it from the increasing vibrancy of wholesale electricity markets.
So how do we proceed to ensure that a blackout of this magnitude does not happen again? There are four things that can relieve the strain on the grid. The knee-jerk reaction of many people is "build more wires!" More wires will increase the carrying capacity of the system, and in some cases transmission owners can add lines to existing paths. But this approach faces some serious obstacles -- such construction is expensive and time-consuming. Most importantly, though, getting new lines and towers sited is increasingly difficult, as people and communities object to having such large structures near them or strung overhead.
A second option is to use new technologies, such as high-temperature superconductors and sophisticated computer switching, to upgrade the capacity of the existing power lines. While also expensive, this option gets around the NIMBY issues that accompany the siting of new lines.
A third option is to build
Re:For the "Deregulation was the problem" nutjobs (Score:3, Interesting)
Interesting story. CNN and a bunch of people on NANOG (www.nanog.org) were speculating that this outage was caused by the msblaster worm. This story backs up at least the feasibility of that.
This is why we need that Martian Nuclear PP (Score:5, Funny)
Re:This is why we need that Martian Nuclear PP (Score:2, Funny)
Re:This is why we need that Martian Nuclear PP (Score:2)
they're all MADE IN TAIWAN!
--Russian cosmonaut, from Armageddon
What's that I see? (Score:5, Funny)
Apology (Score:5, Funny)
backup? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:backup? (Score:5, Funny)
We prefer the rat on a wheel approach to power backup. It usually works, we just forgot to feed them so it failed on such a wide spread application
Re:backup? (Score:1, Informative)
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:5, Interesting)
Apparently not around my neck of the woods... I had fun doing traceroutes as the power came back up and seeing how far I could get as more and more routers along the way were returning to service.
Of course, I had to wait for MY neighbourhood's power to come back up as my UPS died about 4.5 hours into the blackout; my wife won't let me add the additional 300lbs of batteries required to last a full 24 hours. :( Still, I was up and running before connectivity in my area was restored.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:5, Funny)
Seriously, you've got to get out more.
Re: I have to get out more... (Score:2)
Well, to be fair, government officials were all over the radio telling us NOT to go out at the time, since there were no traffic lights, street lights, gas stations, etc up and running.
Honestly, traceroutes are not my everyday source of entertainment!
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:3, Insightful)
Why would you want it all in batteries? Use the UPS to tide you over until you can fire up the gas/diesel generator. Those you can get pretty cheaply (well, compared to 300lbs of batteries) and are useful for other thin
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Me and 1200 of my friends work on a castle for our SCA event in Clinton, BC. Power tools are a must.
Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:5, Insightful)
Apparently not around my neck of the woods... I had fun doing traceroutes as the power came back up and seeing how far I could get as more and more routers along the way were returning to service.
Yeah, same up here in Ottawa, Canada... I was awakened early on Friday morning to the sound of my servers POSTing; my power was back in under 12 hours. I was lucky. :) (Made sure to double-check that hdparm was set to spin down the drives, that and killing the A/C were my contributions to energy efficiency.)
Of course, I had to wait for MY neighbourhood's power to come back up as my UPS died about 4.5 hours into the blackout; my wife won't let me add the additional 300lbs of batteries required to last a full 24 hours.I don't have a UPS (well, I do, I got one free, but it's broken and I haven't had time to troubleshoot it - anyone got schematics for an APC Back-UPS Pro 280?), so your mileage may vary. If the UPS runs off 12V batteries, you might be able to:
Note that I don't know how the UPS's inverter will handle running at rated load for longer than the internal battery is capable, nor do I expect that the UPS will have much noise suppression on the battery leads - after all, batteries themselves are pretty much noise-free electrical sources and alternators are not.
Re:Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:3, Funny)
Snowblower Couch Racing (Score:5, Funny)
You wouldn't be that guy from the redgreen show by any chance ?
Steve Smith? No. But we are on first name basis (no kidding!) and I wear lots of flannel. He once did something on the show which really reminded me of snowblower couch races with friends, and I can't remember if I told him about it or not...
(Snowblower couch racing? You scoop sofas, mattresses and box-springs from the garbage and store them in your backyard. You buy beer and sharpen the ice-cutters on your snowblower. Then you invite over some friends with their own snowblowers and see who can demolish the upholstered furniture the fastest. Truly a good reason to own a snowblower in a warm climate.)
Re:Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:2)
I picked up a Sola 300 UPS for $10 with 2 dead batteries, so bought 2 12v car batteries. I killed the first UPS after about an hour of testing (at the rated 300 W load), because the main transformer got too hot and burnt out one of the windings. The transformer retained a heckload of heat for several hours.
So I bought another $10 UPS, and this time drilled holes all through the c
Re:Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:2)
I like the lawnmower idea, and would only add one thing to it - if you run the 12V output of the alternator through an inverter to create AC, then plug the UPS into the inverter you get line conditioning at the inverter inputs (because they're usually designed to run in a car, which has an alternator, which has the noisy DC), plus you don't have to hack open a perfectly good UPS.
You do lose a bit of power converting AC-DC-AC-DC-AC (Mower Alternator - Car Inverter - UPS Inverter - UPS Battery - UPS Inverter
Re:Quick and Dirty LIVE UPS Recharging Ideas (Score:2)
Except that UPSs (at least some of them) don't like the power produced by inverters. I have a customer with an alternative powe
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
I know we are talking about places like New York, but does nobody have a car??? That beauty is probably 100x the power of your UPS battery, and it comes connected to a mobile, gasoline-powered 12V generator, on wheels.
If you don't like doing some wiring yourself (to the UPS), 300watt power inverters are under $50, which is more than enough to keep all your lights on, and a TV, radio, possibly computer+monitor, etc
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:3, Funny)
Cars are designed to haul themselves and your ass around, not keep your little server farm running.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Everyone seems to read their own meaning into what I say...
I wasn't even suggesting hooking up your car to a UPS, but hooking up the car's BATTERY, and when that runs low, recharging it with your car... No matter how much load you have comming off the UPS/inverter, it can't possibly damage your alternator.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
But, all in all, the alternator would be under some massive load with anything more than a computer setup and a television (*maybe*) connected to the battery. It's just too much juice... especially for some of the not so new cars that have factory alternators that really suck.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
I wasn't suggesting having a computer, radio, and TV on, I was suggesting lights, and one of those. I think that would be obvious by the "300watt inverter" statement.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
would light the room as bright as a normal household light.
That, along with a crank-powered radio, and your set. All part of the usual household "emergency plan".
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Not much cheaper, doesn't allow you to run other devices, and is a lot of work for something you'll be using less than once every 5 years.
Indeed, mine is very powerful, but it doesn't use normal gasoline, and most stores where you can buy fuel for it are going to be shut-down in a power outage.
I like my coleman lantern very much, but I only use it for camping, because you have much more fle
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Not much cheaper, doesn't allow you to run other devices, and is a lot of work for something you'll be using less than once every 5 years.
eh? I picked mine up for like 30 bucks or so, probably less considering I'm cheap. It's not alot of work to use, just screw on the propane tank (5 seconds of work), light a match, turn the handle and boom.. light. Admittedly you can't plug electrical appliances in, but then again our goal isn't t
Problems with auto electric generation (Score:3, Informative)
An altenator is different from a generator in that the supplied field is electromagnetic...it depends on another voltage source. This source is supplied (initially) by the battery or residual magnetic field when you start up the car, and is varied by the regulator. When your car needs recharging, the regulator ups the current or voltage in the altenators field wire, and your car cranks out more volts and recharges the battery. When the battery is mostly
Re:Problems with auto electric generation (Score:2)
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
You'd loose that bet. In fact, you aren't even close.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:2)
Interesting though... I was thinking about geting a Viewsonic monitor (because of the 3-year warranty). This may be a very good reason not to.
Re: Don't backbone routers have backup? (Score:3, Insightful)
You want fuel cells, not batteries.
Agreed (Score:3, Interesting)
Anyone in the affected areas care to comment on what happened? Did you guys just exhaust your UPS capacity, or do you just have it for orderly shutdown?
There's boku generators still floating around from all that Y2K kerfluffle... you could probably purchase some cheap failover power just about anywhere...
Re:backup? (Score:3, Informative)
I know it's too much to ask here, but I would suggest you read the story.
Re:backup? (Score:4, Informative)
Uh, yeah, thanks, we never thought of that.
UPS's run out of juice. Generators run out of fuel. Generators turn out to be less than perfectly maintained and fail after a couple hours. Budgets get trimmed, maintenance gets overlooked, blah blah blah it's never a perfect world. If it was, engineers would be replaced by algorithms.
Companies that are dead serious about power reliability run generator tests every day, and when lightning is detected within miles we automatically start up all the generators and run off them. Yes, we actually go OFF THE GRID every time a thunderstorm rolls in, and in Atlanta that's many times a week. Of course, we've got millions of dollars an hour [turner.com] running through our facility so heads would roll if we weren't this paranoid.
I believe we keep our tanks fueled up for 3 days of continuous service, and we pay a premium to guarantee that when the shit hits the fan, WE get refueled first.
Of course, hardcore multiply-redundant (and *tested*) systems are something that elude the typical IT crew staffed by DeVry grads.
Re:backup? (Score:2)
> > hour running through our facility so heads
> > would roll if we weren't this paranoid.
> I heard someone throw out a figure once, I don't
> know how accurate it is, but supposedly HSN
> potentially looses $365,000 per minute that it
> is off the air...
Yeah, that was actually a typo on my part -- I
meant millions of dollars a minute
[puffs up chest]
keep in mind (Score:2, Interesting)
Woohoo Toronto (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Woohoo Toronto (Score:1)
Re:Woohoo Toronto (Score:2, Interesting)
-Malloc
Re:Woohoo Toronto (Score:2)
The Toronto Public Library systems were out for a while though. Libraries here are still closed. Those were I suppose the only major servers that did go out.
Add One More... (Score:1)
-theGreater Pessimist.
just got off the phone with verizon (Score:1, Offtopic)
the good news is that they told me it should be fixed in 4 hours (that was two hours ago).
Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:2)
Silly question: Will IPv6 make the Internet more stable? Will it allow the tier 2 providers to trade routes more easily?
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:2)
I think his point is the decision is political, not technical. It doesn't matter if IPv6 makes it easier, because the Tier 1 guys don't want it to happen. But, you know, privatized telecom is good for us, ain't it?
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:2, Insightful)
Well, yeah, the computers survived but the power grid that runs them and their environmental support got hosed.
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:5, Informative)
-B
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:4, Insightful)
So yes the original setup of the internet was to survive stuff like this. As indeed it did. In areas not nuked it continued to work just fine.
The entire point after all was for the network to survive even if a big hole was punched into it. We just saw that happen. And talked about on the net while it happened showing that the bits around the hole kept working.
Re:Origins of the Internet - no power, no work ? (Score:2)
If this blackout had effected all of US / Canada like a Nuclear attack would, would any of the Net worked ?
If a tree falls in the forest
It stops on Saturday! (Score:2)
redundancy (Score:5, Interesting)
oh yeah, the cell network here was down for a good while after the lights went out. well not down, just full. i thought they learned on sept 11, that there wasnt enough capacity on the cell networks. but you know, i could be wrong.
Re:redundancy (Score:2)
What went out, where, when? Just because your cable modem couldn't connect, doesn't mean the internet was out ;-). I suspect you had something better than that to test, but what?
Maybe your ISP/hosting provider is just an economy service, and doesn't have any long-term power supply.
Although, I really don't know why so few had power... A car/truck is a 12-volt generator, and an uninteruptable power supply
Re:redundancy and surge capacity (Score:3, Informative)
We had a presentation last night from Tom O'Rourke [pbs.org] on the critical infrastructure affected by Sept 11 2001.
The main point to come out of it is that most critical infrastructure is commercially run. They are designed to run and handle typical peak loading.
And there is a difference between redundancy and surge capacity. Redundancy allows you to co
Re:redundancy (Score:2)
if you're complaining about it, you should consider getting a second upstream so that your network doesnt have a single point of failure
Re:redundancy (Score:2)
Damn straight. Although to be fair my cable modem worked just fine once the power came back on. Unfortunately My roommate f'ed up his UPS so we couldn't test it during the outage.
Canada did not fail (Score:2)
Re:Canada did not fail (Score:1)
Re:Canada did not fail (Score:2, Interesting)
The line is actually right beside my house. The block on the left was dark, humid, black Ontario power. On the right (and in my house)... bright, cool, soothing Quebec power.
So I strung up a couple hundred feet of electrical cable, pulled out the coolers, invited over all the neighbours, and drank cold beer all night.
On another note.. did anyone else notice how many more of the stars they could see that night?!?
Re:Canada did not fail (Score:2)
Re:Canada did not fail (Score:2)
Renesys Corporation... (Score:1)
Wouldn't "real-time...monitoring" = DoS?
Go Canada!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Slashdotting animation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Slashdotting animation (Score:3, Informative)
Did y'all notice *how* *small* that animation is? Someone else here put it together. I didn't know that animated gifs could compress that much.
Florida??? (Score:3, Interesting)
Old Nodes (Score:3, Funny)
Oklahomah had a node go down too..WTF? Ya got me on that one...Can't even make a joke about that..
Re:Florida??? (Score:2)
Canada was still alive (Score:2, Funny)
the only thing that did NOT go down during the power outage up here was our telephone system. i'm not sure about our other net conenctions tho, i know my home cable connection went down, that's cause cable was out in certain areas, tho in other areas the cable was f
Surfing at work (Score:2)
45 minutes after the power went out we were still surfing the web listing to what we could from winamp radio stations, our phones are standard call center VOIP lucent stuff.. they worked fine i was calling friends in ottawa (im in toronto) letting them know what cnn.com said.
nice to know that if the power goes out i have to walk down 11 flights of stairs, but i can still work (in the dark, no AC) on my computer and use my phone..
Re:Surfing at work (Score:2)
Should be obvious, no?
speaking of network blackouts (Score:5, Interesting)
14th 4:35 - Most of us decide to call it a day and go home
14th 4:30 - I'm in my car, I realize the blackout is bad when only 2 or 3 radio stations are working and the no traffic lights are. I know it was going to be a fun drive home - thank god i live 15 mins away.
14th 4:45 - I hear the blackout expands to parts of the States. me: OH FUCK@#$@#$
14th 4:50 - My sister sms's me on my cell telling me her and my mom are stuck in the subway - they need help. Like I care, I have my own problems , traffic is a mess and there are hundreds of psychos out.
14th 5:00 - I get home, look for a battery powered radio and listen in.
14th 5:30 - I get a call from my sister - they're stuck somewhere downtown. I just wish them luck.
14th 7:00 - I realize there are no candles in the freaking house, time to look for those puppies.
14th 8:00 - Sister & mom arrive home. me: LOL
14th 11:30 - I go to bed & pray the blackout lasts until the middle of the next day, that way I get an extended weekend -wohooo, back to bed
15th 7:30am - Wake up, lights are still out - no work, home free! wohoo, back to bed.
15th 11:30 - Receive a call from my boss, asking me where the fuck i was since they got power at the office but there is a lil "issue".
15th 12:30m - Got to the office, problem: No Internet connection, seems one of the ISP's switches went bye bye after the black out. Our main app server is down. No power you think? Nope The colo company hasnt been paying their bills and WorldCom used the blackout to pull the plug on them. Server is up and running but no outside world connection. FUCK@#*$.
15th 1:00pm - We think , no biggy let's use one of our other servers and restore apps and data from backup. HA! yah right - Turns out a DNS servers for our backup machines had died and the backup script had stopped working 10 days earlier. Great.
15th 2:30 - We wait to see if Worldcom is nice enough to plug the box back in.
15th 4:30 - Yah, it ain't happening - 20+ clients are without website and apps.
15th 5:00pm - Boss and I drive downtown to the WorldCom building to download data physically off the Box.
15th 5:30 - Stop for gas - HA! huge lineup.
15th 7:30 - Get into the server room, ha! the fucking cage where our box is is locked and the key is not working. One of us climbs the cage and goes into it, runs an ethernet cable from the box to the laptop. So picture these, 4 geeks inside a server room, three sitting on the floor , one inside a cage like some wild animal. I should have brought a camera. Let the tar'in begin.
15th 9:00 - Download is completed, our asses are sore from sitting on concrete, necks hurting, and WorldCom employee happy that we're finally leaving.
15th 9:30 - We're downtown wondering how the fuck we're going to upload 2gig+ worth of data and source code to our spare server.
15th 10:30 - Since there is no inet at the office and our home's cable is too fucking slow (Rogers cable sucks!) , we decide we bring out the ghetto in us. We walk up and down Yonge street asking Internet cafe's if they could lend us some bandwith!!!. Yes, you hear me right, we were begging for bandwith in internet cafes.
15th 10:45 - We decide we're hungry, so we stop at a sushi bar. After we're done we realized it might not be a good idea to eat fish after a blackout. Fridges not working aand all. Too fuckin late.
15th 11:00 - Found an internet cafe that will let us connect the laptop to upload.
15th 11:30 - Realize we can't do shit since the computer is in Korean , have all Win settings locked and the guy taking care of the place has no clue.
16th 1:30am - I'm at my boss's house uploading 2gig+ data , will take about 27 hours. Ask me if I cared about the clients at this point.
16th 1:35 - I leave and head to my friend's place where they're having beers & bbq'in on my friend's balcony. - My weekend Begins.
Network Blackouts? Yah they suck.
Re:speaking of network blackouts (Score:2, Funny)
Nebraska, eh? (Score:2)
Atari / Missile Command (Score:3, Funny)
anyone? Anyone? Bueller?
(sigh)
you know... (Score:2)
Even here in Minnesota...
W32.Blaster the cause of the blackout? (Score:2, Interesting)
To: dave
Hi Dave -- for IP.
There's an article from Heise Security in Germany at [1], which raises
some interesting questions about whether W32.Blaster could be to blame for
the blackout. Some translated points are at [2] -- quote:
that article found out:
- The Niagara Mohawk power grid which seemed to got overloaded first
is owned by National Grid USA.
- National Grid is listed as an important customer
Re:W32.Blaster the cause of the blackout? (Score:2)
And if that 1300 MW can't get there by the direct route, why then the automatic system is going to reroute it around Lake Erie, resulting in a sudden swap of direction as the current goes the other way. That's what is known to have taken
Perhaps... (Score:4, Funny)
MjM
Groovy. Gear. Mod.
Why Boston? (Score:4, Interesting)
Satellite View of the Outage (Score:3, Interesting)
Here is a nice satellite pic comparison of the Northeast before and during the outage from Natural Hazards [nasa.gov]
Re:Summary (Score:2, Funny)
Seriously though, this has to be one of the stupidest articles ever. It's like putting together a report on "the effects of a gas shortage on cars". Duh! Then again, micheal submitted the article, so I guess we shouldn't be too surprised.
Re:Florida? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Florida? (Score:5, Informative)
There are some interesting, precise tricks that you can play by sending various kinds of packets (usually UDP) and using detailed latency information about each hop of those packets, along with a provider network map, to get closer to the physical location of a particular IP address. We didn't do that for these maps.
Re:looks more like (Score:1)
Re:Random Noise? (Score:2)