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Let there be darkness

nephalim

Psychic Vampire
How many people here were in the blackout? I don't think many...you can't imagine what it's like being in manhattan and all of a sudden *boom* NOTHING works! The lights go out, all the stores close and millions of people are forced out into the streets. Then the streetlights go out and with the massive amounts of people on the streets cars go into gridlock. The subways stop moving. Well, it was alot more immediate than that. Without power the subways are pitch black, and people stuck on trains are forced to climb to safety, in fact people were forced to climb through tunnels from the middle of the river and climb up onto bridges. You could forget about using your Cell Phone, not even the land lines were working after an hour or so. I had to get home, to queens, which turned out to be about a 4 hour walk. The pedestrian traffic was so intense that at points people stopped moving. Good semaritans were directing traffic, but cars didn't get anywhere for several hours. I honestly didn't think i'd make it, but I did. I'd have to say that at least one cool thing happened - you can't imagine what it's like to look at the New York City skyline and see nothing but pitch black buildings and for the first time ever (since 1977 at least) - a sky full of stars.

It's amazing how many things are reliant on electricity, you really do take it for granted. Our whole food system is reliant on electricity, you can't cook or keep food without it. I imagine several million tons of ruined food will be going out with tomorrow's garbage. At least here in NYC water was flowing, and I hear that raw sewage was dumped into the East River (which then found it's way to the ocean where people where swimming,) but in Cincinnati there was no water to the entire city - and anyone with well water wasn't getting any either. I feel bad for the people who couldn't walk home like myself, but walking for 4 hours wasn't fun i'll tell you that much. The worst part i'd have to say was the total lack of proper communication - the information age turned into the 17th century in 8.5 seconds.
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
Yes, but didn't it happen 4 in the afternoon when daylight is still plentiful? To be honest, it's good that things like this happens every now and then. It reminds us of how vunerable we are and maybe, just maybe Joe Average might start thinking about how little it takes for everything to collapse.

I feel for those who got caught in subways, elevators and similar. But a lot of what happened got worse when people started to occupate the streets. I do understand that NY:ers have been through a lot and that perhaps they acted in a state of fear for a situation they never want to relive.

One person is smart, two persons are inutive, three persons is a crowd, and we all know crowds are stupid...
 
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nephalim

nephalim

Psychic Vampire
Remote said:
Yes, but didn't it happen 4 in the afternoon when daylight is still plentiful? To be honest, it's good that things like this happens every now and then. It reminds us of how vunerable we are and maybe, just maybe Joe Average might start thinking about how little it takes for everything to collapse.

I feel for those who got caught in subways, elevators and similar. But a lot of what happened got worse when people started to occupate the streets. I do understand that NY:ers have been through a lot and that perhaps they acted in a state of fear for a situation they never want to relive.

One person is smart, two persons are inutive, three persons is a crowd, and we all know crowds are stupid...

Yes, it did happen at 4 in the afternoon, so we did have plenty of daylight - in the immediate time, however it persisted until dawn for 90% of NYC, including manhattan. I never stated otherwise. Having daylight was definetely a good thing, while we had it at least, but having everything collapse, including all forms of transportation and communication, was more than enough.

As for the people occupying the streets, we had no choice! Everything was closed down and emptied, and the insides of city buildings were getting very little benefit from the daylight. Unless you are in the city at work in an office building, and even then, you were stuck in the streets. Even hotels emptied their buildings because of safety fears. I am quite amazed to say, quite to the contrary of what you believed, that generally NY'ers didn't panic and took things in stride, not panicking at all really. We walked where we needed to go if we needed to go somewhere, and otherwise just found a spot and waited it out. Contrary to popular belief, most people in manhattan on a weekday do not live there! No looting (I think one or two incidents,) no rioting, no mass panic, even if it was a terrorist attack it seemed the first reaction of us here was to just laugh it off. It seems we've learned to cope with fear and loss of essential services. I'm not going to go on about how great everyone is here in NYC, as it's far from the truth, but considering it's NYC we did quite well.
 

Remote

Active member
Moderator
I should be proud if I was a New Yorker, a lot of brave people stood up and helped others when they needed it the most. So hold your head high!
 

aprentice

Moderator
:vampire: I spent my whole day on long islands beaches (on vacation this week) and when i got home (all sunburned) i turn on the a/c to cool off and get online, then a few mins later everything turns off and my room turns into an oven :p The 100 degree weather didnt help aswell ;P I didn't know that the problem was so widespread, so I hoped in the car and started driving, little did i know there was no street lights, and the roads were like chaos (dangerous move on my part). All stores shutdown almost immediately, and since my part of qns didnt have power for 27 hours, my bday cake melted :X

:vampire: :vampire: :vampire: :sleeping: :vampire: :sleeping:
 

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