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http://www.reuters.com/article...nel=0Haven't heard anybody mention the outage, or maybe you're still without power. lol!Did you guys survive? Hope everybody is out of the dark now.

Yep, caught it at work, gotta love them back up generators!!! The power was back within minutes.My mom works at Progress Energy and she said if one power company goes out like that, it'll take many with them, that's why it was so bad.

I have to say, good ol' Florida Power and Light strikes again.....It was an enginner error...

Quote, originally posted by silvrhawk7 »It was an enginner error...As are most power blackouts/meltdowns.

That's a shot below the belt! Specifically since I work in power and I'm an engineer.I guess I'd need some concrete data that indicates most of these errors are engineers' faults. Three Mile Island was due to operator error and insufficient instrumentation that had been cut due to budgetary constraints. Chernobyl was the result of an engineering test, but most of those involved at Chernobyl had little to no experience in nuclear power. The Northeastern Blackout of 2003 was caused by overgrown trees.Some here have ranged from birds to environmental (heat) to (most commonly) equipment failures...Stuff happens, but without those engineers, we'd be without power. (and I'm off my soapbox)

Quote, originally posted by engineertwin2 »That's a shot below the belt! Specifically since I work in power and I'm an engineer.I guess I'd need some concrete data that indicates most of these errors are engineers' faults. Some here have ranged from birds to environmental (heat) to (most commonly) equipment failures...Stuff happens, but without those engineers, we'd be without power.Let me rephrase... most power blackouts/meltdowns are human error. ie. chernobyl, Three Mile Island. Just let the computers designed by the engineers do thier job. better?

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Let me rephrase... most power blackouts/meltdowns are human error. ie. chernobyl, Three Mile Island. Just let the computers designed by the engineers do thier job. better? Much better. Sorry to be the whiny pants of the group.

In a totally unrelated blackout, we had a tornado blow though Lake City on Friday morning, March 7th. It totally destroyed several of the buildings down at my work, knocked down power lines and snapped off power poles (hence the blackout), and managed to batter up my faithful '06 Vibe a fair bit. 3 dents in the driver side doors, 2 in the hood, plus various scratches and such all around. Oh, and something blew into the rear drivers side tire and cut the sidewall. All told, a little over $2800.00 damage (to my car - about half a million to our buildings). I've got it scheduled to go into the body shop on April 14th. Hopefully, it will come out as good as new. It really pained me to see this, as I'd had my car a year and a half, and this was its first "scratch". But we all survived okay with no injuries, and of course that's really what matters. Cars can be repaired or replaced.

Glad to here you're okay.

Thanks. Yeah, things did get a bit intense for about twenty or thirty seconds. There were probably about 30 people or so in the main building, plus a few people out in our (lumber) yard. The thing more or less missed the main building by about 60 feet or so, but took out several of the outbuildings, demolishing one totally, and tearing roofs and sidewalls off several others. A UPS truck that had just driven out our gate fifteen seconds earlier got flipped on its side (driver was okay), several other people lost car windows and had crushed roofs. Of course the damage was worse elsewhere in town. Several homes were completely destroyed, and two people lost their lives. Makes you stop and think, and count your blessings.

Quote, originally posted by VforVIBE »Let me rephrase... most power blackouts/meltdowns are human error. ie. chernobyl, Three Mile Island. Just let the computers designed by the engineers do thier job. better? Wait a mnute now...I am an operator and have seen many plant trips due to computer software & hardware problems. No matter what the problem is you can say it was "human error", since humanes make the equipment that makes (or does not make) electricity.All in all we have a very reliable electrical grid in this country, and it will only stay that way if we continue to invest in the infrastructure.

Quote, originally posted by JohnC »Wait a mnute now...I am an operator and have seen many plant trips due to computer software & hardware problems. No matter what the problem is you can say it was "human error", since humanes make the equipment that makes (or does not make) electricity.All in all we have a very reliable electrical grid in this country, and it will only stay that way if we continue to invest in the infrastructure.You guys are killing me.