I thought I read somewhere that some Grid testing was to occur today throughout the country?? Any truth to this?

Thanks

-- LALA (LaLA@LALALAND.com), December 26, 1999

Answers

Most folks here dismissed this as a hoax.

-- Anonymous999 (Anonymous999@Anonymous999.xxx), December 26, 1999.

Some limited tests were attempted, with disastrous results. I don't have any details. You won't hear about this on the news, though, I can assure you of that. . . .

-- (mm@horek.org), December 26, 1999.

Some limited tests were attempted, with disastrous results....

Sounds like someone is trying to act like they know, but they dont. Please dont try to stoke the flames here, its too late for this sort of crap.

-- hamster (hamster@mycage.com), December 26, 1999.

I would think that any extensive testing might not start until Monday or Tuesday. This is something that would be done with full staffing incase any problems arise. Doubt if anybody has full staff over a Sunday Holiday weekend. This is only a guess however. One of the questions I posted a week ago which was never answered was the question about software/hardware upgrades on the power grid. My assumption has been that remediated code and hardware have already been put online months ago and in use. That means the trigger date for failure will still be on or shortly after 12-31-1999 (exception being a 7 day read-ahead failure). Some on this forum have suggested that the "fixes" have been done on mirror systems (but dead-ended) and will be taken live sometime this week (prior to the roll-over). This in my mind constitutes a much higher probability for failure than the 1st stated scenario. Anyone working on power infrastructure out there to enlighten us?

-- richard shockwave (vission441@aol.com), December 26, 1999.

I personally dont see any reason for testing at this time. First of all the rollover hasnt occurred and second it wouldnt accomplish a thing. And if the secrecy has been in place to protect corporations they certainly woulndnt want the scale tipped yet.

-- Susan Barrett (sue59@bellsouth.net), December 26, 1999.

You can test the grid on a Moday, a Tuesday, a Wednesday, but never on a Sunday, a Sunday, a Sunday.......................

-- Butt Nugget (catsbutt@umailme.com), December 26, 1999.

definite troll here, ignore!

-- rumdoodles (rumdoodles@yahoo.com), December 26, 1999.

hamster:

Where did you get the quote from?

-- Interested Spectator (is@the_ring.side), December 26, 1999.

thanks rumdoodles, for holding my hand through the troll attacks...

-- (cavscout@fix.net), December 26, 1999.

Butt Nugget, ROTFL! I eagerly await the video.

-- David L (bumpkin@dnet.net), December 26, 1999.

Well, the power shut off from 8:30 am to 9:05 am in one part of Grand Prairie, TX this morning, then went off from 9:05 am to 9:40 am in another part of Grand Prairie, and so on and so on, until the entire city had lost power for 35 minutes each section. I was at my parent's house and they called my grandmother (in another part of town) and an aunt and uncle in another part of town, friends in another part, etc. We finally pieced it together and figured out that each part of the city lost power for 35 minutes. When I left to go back to my city, my dad was going to call TXU Electric to find out what that was about, but the number was constantly busy.

Ah, well.

-- preparing (preparing@home.com), December 26, 1999.

We just got back from a run to the Big City (Muskegon [g]) and while unpacking the groceries, the lights suddenly got *noticably* brighter. They hadn't been flickering, nor did they seem dim.

I said "hmm, either was undervoltage, or is overvoltage" and dashed for the DVM. 121.9 volts. So, it was undervoltage. Don't know how low, or how long. FWIW, it's nothing I've noticed before. I *have* noticed more flickering than I'd like over the past few months, but this is something new. (Also, we didn't have any major appliances going, nor for that matter do they create any dimming/brightening when they *do* run. Whatever caused it was external to the house.)

-- Ron Schwarz (rs@clubvb.com.delete.this), December 26, 1999.