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musings of mark since 2001

   Interesting how far the blackout on the eastern seaboard went yesterday. There are calls from Bush and Co. about how third world the power system is, but as usual that’s not the whole story at all. The grid worked just as it’s supposed to, it’s just not been allowed to grow to meet the increase in load. It was 95 degrees in the shade, a Thursday afternoon just after 4:00 with computers and AC humming to beat the band, then the band broke presumably from a lightning strike around the Niagara generators.
   The prime directive of the electrical grid is to keep running, and when some outside influence like being asked to supply an extra 10% more power immediately comes along, it shuts down rather than “blowing a fuse”. Electricity travels fast, but the whole Eastern Interconnect didn’t go down because at some points certain power plants were able to recognize there was a problem with the grid and lock out outside power requests and keep supplying power to their own local grid instead.
   Power plants share their power with others on the grid, the location of the power plant and where the power is needed is not always the same and one plant helps out the others and there is no way around that. There is no real way to prevent something like this from happening again, except to either increase the capacity of the grid or reduce the demand. First time in a long time for some to see the stars, this event high-lighting the dependence on electricity probably will turn out to be a good thing for lots of folks.

   Dog Day Afternoon down at the cove with dozens of dogs running around performing tricks and showing off for the crowd. A big black Newfoundland dog was a popular favorite with the crowd and the judges as well, very well trained. Not quite as well as the Border Collie that herded a flock of three ducks over a little bridge, through tunnels and gates, all three stop for a drink of water in unison, then the dog brings ‘em back the way they came and puts them in their carrying cage. Fun for Brenda too, sure she’ll be getting a dog sooner or later and she needs one whether or not it’s Burns Lake or the Sunshine Coast she ends up in.
   Top that off with the Bowen Island Men’s Fastball League tournament, missed the ending of the final game myself, last I saw it was Fireman 3 and Twins 4. Not many people missed the streakers, the scuttlebutt is apparently someone had mentioned to a certain show off that girls never streaked for what ever reason. It was enough for some sort of dare, and two buddies accompanied her out to the middle of the diamond between innings to create a scene. Not to be missing out on any of the fun the older kids were having, some toddlers also ran out of the infield in their birthday suits, and generated even bigger roars of laughter as they weren’t able to run across the length of the field quite as quickly as the teenagers.
   All attending had a good time, beer gardens both at the dog show and the baseball field (none for me today, had enough for Dee’s BD) kept participants cool and the low tide allowed for lots of running room for the dogs on the beach. Lots of hot dogs and pop for the kids, Union Steamship’s BBQ, and another BBQ up a the baseball game kept the smells coming all afternoon and the occasional cloud was actually welcomed as it turned toasty in a hurry when the sun did come out. A nice day on Bowen.

   Another week in at the pharmacy, it’s going well and we’re about half way through getting the store into the new computer’s database with a target finish date for Labour Day when the Rx computer gets installed. About half way through the summer we’re getting a little respite from the heat (if you could call it that, it rarely gets above 25 here), with a small system swirling around in the Pacific bring some scattered clouds. Lots of hot days ahead though yet.
   Dee had her 40th birthday party last night, a small affair to start, with Brent, Brenda and myself at her house enjoying a few while Dee whipped up a sushi dinner for everyone. I know, she’s the birthday girl but she just loves putting that stuff together. We managed to make it down to the Cove about 11:00 and finished off the night dancing and drinking until closing time. Brent had a few chuckles talking to our new RCMP Officer on the island, she noticed his blind man’s cane and was sure that he needed some assistance. His reply of course was that he was fine to walk home in the dark and he did it all the time, it’s always dark for him She’s a real nice police officer though, watching her work at various times and the way she handles herself and others she’s a nice asset to the island.

   The interior of the Province has exploded into flame as forest fires surround my home town of Kamloops over the weekend. Tens of thousands evacuated and dozens of structures burned and there is no end in sight while the weather stays hot and dry with lightning predicted for the middle of the week. In all, over 450 forest fires are burning in the Province with many of them out of control.
   It’s not too unusual for that part of the country to get dry weather in the summer time, but this year has been exceptionally dry. It’s the same here on the coast in the “rain forest” where some don’t have extra water for their vegetable garden as wells run short.
   Meanwhile, New York is having the wettest summer in memory with 16 inches of rain falling already; only halfway through the summer it’s more than double the average. Maybe that’s why after Bush got into office the NOAA Climate Prediction Center Website went offline. You can still figure it out for yourself that global warming and the ocean currents are what is affecting our wacky weather, they have just made it a little harder to find the information.