power out across entirity of Argentina and Uruguay - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: sleemanj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2019, 01:57:27 pm
content: https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiNWh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmJiYy5jb20vbmV3cy93b3JsZC1sYXRpbi1hbWVyaWNhLTQ4NjUyNjg20gE5aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmJjLmNvbS9uZXdzL2FtcC93b3JsZC1sYXRpbi1hbWVyaWNhLTQ4NjUyNjg2?hl=en-NZ&gl=NZ&ceid=NZ%3AenIs this the first time an entire county has gone dark, infact, two countries?

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 16, 2019, 05:51:30 pm
content: I think september 28. 2003 outage affected all Italy and neighboring south of Switzerland.I'm really curious if we're going to hear some real facts about that incident or just bogus

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2019, 01:22:35 pm
content: I am old enough to remember the great Northeastern US blackout of 1965, and the mayhem that followed.It is amazing how the social fabric immediately rips apart without something as simple but essential as electrical power.And a repeat, mostly in the greater New York City area in 1977.And of course the after mentioned 2003 Italian outage.Would love to see a post-mortem analysis of what happened this time.

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 17, 2019, 02:16:23 pm
content: Today I guess at latest when the last mobile phone cell goes down, the world as we know it would stop existing.After reading Marc Elsbergs novel 'Blackout' last year, I took some precautions which cover essential needs at least for 5 days. In summer there'd even be electricity from our solar island; woudn't like to imagine it in winter like Argentina now.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 08:52:38 am
content: I found this an interesting read:https://www.raeng.org.uk/publications/reports/living-without-electricity"In December 2015, life for more than 100,000 people in Lancaster reverted to apre-electronics era. A flood at an electricity substation resulted in a blackout overthe entire city that lasted for more than 24 hours. Suddenly people realised that,without electricity, there is no internet, no mobile phones, no contactless payment,no lifts and no petrol pumps. Although these dependencies were not difficult to see,few had thought through the implications of losing so many aspects of modern lifeat once.Three months after the event, Lancaster University brought togetherrepresentatives from local organisations with policy makers and power systemspecialists. The conclusions of the workshop are summarised in this report. Thefailure of the power supply in Lancaster was an important reminder that things willoccasionally go wrong and we must learn the lessons from such events."

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 10:09:41 am
content: Another interesting aspect is the electric grid as target for cyber warfare. While Argentina was in dark, the NYT released information about planned US cyber attacks against the russian grid.So, not only we have to ask us about the intrinsic problems of the grid but also about threads from outside; the blueprints for sabotage are long time in the drawer, not only of official authorities but likely in the ones of other evildoers as well.I don't consider myself as a prepper, but to have at least everything needed for some days is essential today; the society and the economy simply got too vulnerable due to modern communication networks. And now some of our politicians even want to ban cash money - what would be the last resort in case of a longer term outage - I don't know who they actually work for; but it's certainly not the common citizen but rather the financial institutions and other blackboxes like FB with their Libra.

author: Electro Detective
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 10:27:23 am
content: bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-48652686"The outage occurred as people in Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local elections, delaying voting in several regional provinces."Someone wanted to win at any price

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 01:06:47 pm
content: Quote from: HB9EVI on June 27, 2019, 10:09:41 amThe last time that the EFTPOS system was out & I wanted to use my card, they dragged out one of the old mechanical devices they used with credit cards years ago.The bloke placed it in the machine, pulled the top bit over--- "Snork! Snork!", handed the card back, & I was on my way!The biggest problem is that people have lost the "folk memory" which allowed them to live without electricity.Every time there are blackouts, we hear of house fires because people are unaware of the dangers of candles, & think they can leave them unattended for long times, or worse, attended by children.When I was a kid, we lived without electricity----we had a "mantle" type "Aladdin" brand lamp for the kitchen/ family room, & ordinary kero lamps for elsewhere.As backup for outside, we had hurricane lamps & electric torches (flashlights).Candles were very much a last resort, instead of the first as is too often the case, now.Heating & cooking were with wood as was water heating (big kettle on the stove).We didn't starve, were warm iin winter, were fairly well dressed.The difference was, we had to do this, were set up to do it efficiently, & knew how to do it.

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 03:04:14 pm
content: Lucky guy, you were... I haven't seen that device in who knows how many years; maybe one >10 years ago in slovakia; haven't had the pleasure to see it in CH for a long long timeTill 2013 I lived for more than 10 years in the southern swiss alps; we had a flimsy electricity installation which work, let's say most of the time; but in regular intervals the grid operator fiddled on their network (all around in the valleys were dams with power plants underneath) here for 3h, there for 5h; in winter after snowfall it was quite common to be >24h without current.To my luck, I had wood heating and always a 12l pot of water on the flames; water supply was to my memory always functional due to the pressure coming from the reservoirs situated much above the village (all mountain source water without need for treatment) - a backup installation in the bath tub assured a warm shower every evening - also without current; emergency lighting was already at that time coming from leds and solarpanels.

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 05:03:47 pm
content: Quote from: vk6zgo on June 27, 2019, 01:06:47 pmI completely agree with the rest of your post. But with respect to credit cards, to use those mechanical card "readers" the cards themselves had to have embossed numbers to make a print on the paper voucher.Nowadays, all the cards that I have, no longer have embossed numbers. Allegedly to prevent fraud, which I think it helps somehow. But it requires reading by full electronic means.

author: richard.cs
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 05:14:14 pm
content: Interesting, in the UK I've never yet seen one without embossed numbers.

author: HB9EVI
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 05:53:41 pm
content: somebody told me once, that only cards with embossed numbers are actually credit cards; the non-embossed are debit cards only e.g. VISA vs VISA electronI don't know if that's really like that...

author: jmelson
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 07:13:58 pm
content: Quote from: HB9EVI on June 27, 2019, 05:53:41 pmNope, my debit card is ALSO embossed. But, if your card goes bad, our bank can make a new one in the branch office, and it will NOT be embossed.I guess they have some kind of color printer that prints the whole bank logo and card number and exp date on some plastic that is then laminated to a blank card, then the mag stripe is programmed. And, I'll bet the machine that does that is locked in the vault every night.Jon

author: langwadt
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 27, 2019, 07:24:59 pm
content: Quote from: jmelson on June 27, 2019, 07:13:58 pmthe mag stripe is just the same numbers as on the card so ...

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 28, 2019, 03:29:20 am
content: Quote from: HB9EVI on June 27, 2019, 05:53:41 pmMy card, which I normally use as an EFTPOS/ Savings card (in Oz,the EFTPOS machines distinguish between "Debit" & "Savings") is a hybrid, in that you can use it for credit transactions, too, & it is, of course embossed.From memory, the places I've seen the mechanical "reader" were all petrol stations.Most were in the country, where it is not unheard of to lose the EFTPOS connection, but the last one was in the city.

author: pranit patil
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: July 06, 2019, 08:28:09 am
content: Argentine President Mauricio Macri has promised a full investigation.Argentine media said the power cut occurred shortly after 07:00 (10:00GMT) on Sunday, causing trains to be halted and failures with traffic signaling. The blackout was prompted by a failure in an electrical grid that serves both Argentina and Uruguay. The outage occurred as people in Argentina were preparing to go to the polls for local elections, delaying voting in several regional provinces. Parts of Paraguay and Chile were also affected, a state energy company said.latest technology updates in electronics