Blackout in NYC

Sunder sunder at sunder.net
Mon Aug 18 10:14:26 PDT 2003


Yup.  I got the fuck out of NYC as fast as I could.  Walked for about 3
hrs incl. over a bridge. :)  Made sure I got there before dark.  I
outwalked the busses!  That's how bad traffic was for cars.  

The bars were already happy places at 5pm with lots of crowds in front of
them extending out into the streets... this is probably one of the major
reasons it was so civil.  The other was that the outage did not occur
while it was already dark, and the third likely due to the previous "Get
the fuck out of NYC" when the WTC turned to dust.

At work we are still experiencing outages as our ISP is down because their
ISP is down.  Even more fun, our phone system goes through the ISP, so 
that's down too.  This is what you get when you pay the lowest price you
can.  I expect this is the same reason this outtage occured in the first
place.  Everyone cutting corners, etc.  (See my previous rant.)  My fault
for working for a small .com rather than a big company, but no one is
hiring sysadmins these days unless they're wet behind the ears and are
willing to take $40K, or they're outsourcing to the likes of EDS.

I've got lots of fun exposure to EDS outsourcing quality of service -
those guys are total morons.  Asked them to reboot one machine, and got
back 30 emails saying "not my dept."  Took about 4-5 hours to get a
machine rebooted when it should have taken less than 5 mins.  On another
occasion they couldn't figure out how to get their internal and external
DNS to point to the same host...  and they actually have an entire DNS
dept! To quote Homer, D'Oh!

Hopefully IBM's outsourcing gig is better.  To anyone thinking they can
outsource IT and/or systems admins,  I wish you the best.  You'll need
it.  In the end, you get what you pay for.  Every fucking time.  No
exceptions.  Sure, Raj is cheaper than me.  But that's the level of
service you should expect too, 'cause you'll get it!

I won't comment on the previous NYC outage/riots as I wasn't in NYC at the
time.


----------------------Kaos-Keraunos-Kybernetos---------------------------
 + ^ + :25Kliters anthrax, 38K liters botulinum toxin, 500 tons of   /|\
  \|/  :sarin, mustard and VX gas, mobile bio-weapons labs, nukular /\|/\
<--*-->:weapons.. Reasons for war on Iraq - GWB 2003-01-28 speech.  \/|\/
  /|\  :Found to date: 0.  Cost of war: $800,000,000,000 USD.        \|/
 + v + :           The look on Sadam's face - priceless!       
--------_sunder_ at _sunder_._net_------- http://www.sunder.net ------------

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003, Tyler Durden wrote:

> Sarad wrote...
> 
> >For a moment think of all the iraqi's with  power
> >grids taken out now enjoying the 120+ farenhiet sun. A
> >few hours of luxury was gone and it was breaking news
> >in bbc.
> 
> Although I appreciate the sentiment, your not really getting this. The 
> timing was such that long-term impact was minimal. But if the blackout had 
> come earlier in the day, and lasted for a few days, that outsourcing 
> operation you work for might have been affected (ie, closed). Wall Street is 
> here, for one, and Wall Street these days needs power.
> 
> Also, NYC now just assumes that power will be there. In 1975 the riots were 
> fairly interesting...the wrong set of conditions could have made this MUCH 
> more interesting (I was on a plane that landed a few hours after the 
> blackouts began. I made my way to my residence as quickly as I could just in 
> case things were going to get interesting again...)
> 
> As for the racist undertones in BBC and Amercian newfocus, I totally agree.





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