Half of India loses power

brianlux wrote:

They say this was caused by an aging power grid. Ours is even older. It's just a matter of time. This might be a good reminder to replenish stored water, check the dates on batteries and stock up a few more canned goods. I'm not going to stock up years and years worth of supplies. If things ever get that bad here I'll burn my credit card for fuel. But a few weeks worth of extra emergency supplies is wise.

I have a gallon of water in my storage room. :? And fresh water sources surround my home.
... a natural disaster (specifically, a massive earthquake) is more my concern... I should be okay; probably just needs a week's worth of canned goods and I'm set. It pays to be an avid camper; that gear is useful. ... No power grid issues in my neck of the woods luckily. But where there are issues with that, I thought they were taking care of it because of that black out in the East some years back (2008??). Wasn't that their wake up call? Didn't that kick start them into moving towards upgrades or something? I don't know what's going on with California ... I thought the issues there were more a political scam than crumbling infrastructure! ... I guess the message here is that this whole issue ought to be more in the forefront though! If the grids are still at risk of failing everyone should get updates on that regularly.

peacefrompaul wrote:

I saw this on Twitter

Yeah... Just to clarify, I didn't mean that the story was blacked out or anything. I was just surprised it wasn't top breaking news, like extensive coverage. That's all. I mean, I found the story on the BBC and posted it here. I know it was news. Just not big news like I would have expected.

I'm glad I'm not trying to drive in Eastern India today, that's for sure. Can you imagine? 600 million people losing power... hard to imagine really. I've read further though, and found that Indians use less power per capita than pretty much anyone else in the world (that use any). I also found out that Canada uses the most by far. Way more per capita than the US. :oops: Not sure what that's about... heating maybe??? Or do we gobble it just because we have so much hydro power? It is cheap as hell. My electric bill is around $25/month.

brianlux wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

It is cheap as hell. My electric bill is around $25/month.

:shock: How do you do it? That's impressive! I turn everything off I can including power to the TV (I call the the "electricity vampire" and basically only use it to watch videos), turn off the computer, rarely dry clothes in the dryer, turn off lights not in use, etc, etc. and yet I still average more than that. How do you keep it so low?

I don't do anything at all. It's just that electricity costs next to nothing here! We've got water coming out of our butts up here, and all we use is hydroelectricity.

DS1119 wrote:

Just wondering how much aid gets sent to the US when we have natural or other disasters? How much aid does the US send out yearly across the entire World? Also, why would I really care if India loses power? Do they care when I do? :fp:

I don't think the US needs aid so much, do they?? Although I do know that millions in donations comes from Canada when there is a major disaster in the US. We donated tons and tons of money as well as rescue workers and equipment for Katrina... soooo...

You don't have to care if you don't want to. But I did not realize that charity or aid or caring was a one-off kind of thing! :fp: Not sure why you're even talking about aid though. No one said anything about aid, and this was not a natural disaster or anything, and everyone is basically fine over there. It's just a big deal when 600 mil lose power because of bad infrastructure. I really don't get where you're coming from generally here. Seems off topic. :?

Also, the US's economy is affected by what goes on in India. In a global economy shit like this actually does matter. India is the third biggest economy in Asia, and the fastest growing. I suggest you should care that they are having massive infrastructure problems, judging from how much a few smaller economies in Europe can affect the US economy.

DS1119 wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

DS1119 wrote:

Just wondering how much aid gets sent to the US when we have natural or other disasters? How much aid does the US send out yearly across the entire World? Also, why would I really care if India loses power? Do they care when I do? :fp:

I don't think the US needs aid so much, do they?? Although I do know that millions in donations comes from Canada when there is a major disaster in the US. We donated tons and tons of money as well as rescue workers and equipment for Katrina... soooo...

You don't have to care if you don't want to. But I did not realize that charity or aid or caring was a one-off kind of thing! :fp: Not sure why you're even talking about aid though. No one said anything about aid, and this was not a natural disaster or anything, and everyone is basically fine over there. It's just a big deal when 600 mil lose power because of bad infrastructure. I really don't get where you're coming from generally here. Seems off topic. :?

Also, the US's economy is affected by what goes on in India.

Well you posed the question about why it isn't a bigger stroy about 600 million people of India losing power. In pretty frank and obtuse terms...why would I care? Just keeping it real.

I just edited my last post to suggest why maybe you should.

DS1119 wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

Also, the US's economy is affected by what goes on in India. In a global economy shit like this actually does matter. India is the third biggest economy in Asia, and the fastest growing. I suggest you should care that they are having massive infrastructure problems, judging from how much a few smaller economies in Europe can affect the US economy.

We donate billions and billions of dollars Worldwide annually for special "considerations". People who think the US economy, government, country, etc. is ready to topple need to get their head out of their ass. How many foreign military bases are there in the US? How many US bases in other countries? First step is we cut off the aid...then let's see how strong these econmies are. Next step we go to battle and just start building US citizens vacation homes across the World.

In all seriousness about your original post. The avergae American, myself included, will read about something like this and move on. It's in our nature. We kind of have a do it yourself or move out of the way attitude. Sorry if India's infrastructure can't keep up with their growth. We grew here in the US and kept up. Are their social problems here...sure. No one system is perfect. But for me to crawl out of bed...flip on the computer...and really get wrapped up with the power issues in India....not happening.

I honestly still don't understand why you're talking about what you're talking about. it has nothing to do with the topic at hand (who said Nothing about the US toppling... anytime soon (it will eventually but not in our lifetimes, probably). Except for the American attitude about the rest of the world... which isn't really funny. It's just ignorant, given that what's going on in other countries has a HUGE impact on its economy and politics.
I kind of agree about foreign aid though. All it does is create cultures of dependence. But seriously, why are you still talking about aid??? It has NOTHING to do with the topic at hand!

I would like to pint out that j had no intention of suggesting that anyone should get "really wrapped up" with something... but it does matter to you and me still. It doeshave impact, so it's not something to just not give any thought about either. Seriously, my comment about how it wasn't big news wasn't meant to be such a big a deal. My main poi tnwas actually to poi t out the news story, and discuss that (since it matters). The part about the level of coverage was just a spur of the moment after thought, which I now regret!