Heat waves snap grid; storm brews in Gulf
If you aren't reading this, chances are you live on either the Left or Right Coasts - both of which are suffering heat waves and the resulting blackouts this week. The loss of oil-fired generating capacity is straining the system, and it's compounded because people are not fleeing the cities for the mountains and the beach as they used to do for relief.
Blackouts in the offing on the East Coast next week, too, even if the heat wave breaks. As you probably heard already on the news, the Kingston Power Plant in Tennessee is nearly out of coal, due to a daring diesel theft that left its source mine unable to load coal for four days. So Kingston has banked its fires and power output is down until the coal trains are running again. All for the want of a horseshoe nail...
FELIX THE CAT-4?
The storm poking along out in the Gulf has a name now - Felix - and they say it's very likely to drop in on somebody in America next week. Of all the things being said in New Orleans right now, the two printable ones are "the levees still aren't ready" and "oh no, not again." And the 2007 storm season has just begun, folks...
NEED TO CATCH UP?
If you're just now coming to this website, here are three quick ways to catch up: Life in L.A., blog by warnwood - Life in San Francisco, videos by kalwithoutoil - Rural Life, by rdy2rte. All three of these people have been posting regularly ever since the beginning. If you want a talented newcomer, we have many, but try drewkitty's latest. Or our favorite Prudent RVer.
STAY OR GO?
Warnwood lays it right out, people. This is the question of today. Will the center hold?
STAY GONE - OR COME BACK?
Planning on bugging out? Listen to the people who have tried it. Trilobyte ponders the isolation that distance brings to rural Kansas. RockLobster brings up an interesting question: who will bring country wisdom (about growing food and making do) back into the city?
ARE YOU INSIDE?
We love it when people give us the inside story. I've been reading mtalon_wwo since the beginning, and youporkchop of course, but here's one I missed somehow until today - megawatt_seller.
WHAT ABOUT HAWAII?
That's what MonkeyWithoutOil wants to know, and it's a hard-hitting question. What happened to the O'ahu Sustainability League? Anybody know what's going down way out there in the Pacific?
Monkey, by the way, has given us one of our best images to date, complete with accompanying Biblical wisdom. All our lamps have gone out, indeed.
IS IT ALL BAD?
That's what people are asking us. Are people getting together or going it alone? Pooling resources or commandeering them? Whatever they're doing, show us -- in your videos, images, blogs, emails and phone calls.
THIS JUST IN
A reporter on TV said that fuel stations in Charlotte are no longer selling fuel on credit - cash only. What might that mean?
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