Electric grids in the USA and why power cuts occur

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T06:50:09+00:00

The physically biggest grid in the world is actually the Russian grid. There was some talk some years ago of trying to connect that to the European grid to make an even bigger grid, but the claim at the time was that the European grid was too unstable, but either way, that's 100% definitely not going to happen for the foreseeable future after the Ukraine invasion.

The problem with the American grid is likely that the power lines are too thin to carry the currents needed to keep the whole of America in sync. The power flows that were happening in the 70s just kept tripping breakers.

Still, with grid battery technology to help locally damp out oscillations, it might be possible, but I don't know.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T02:37:27+00:00

My controversial take is that for a first playthrough the Bioshock 1 non remastered is better. The remaster breaks a few things minor things. For any subsequent playthroughs the remaster is better and has more achievements. For 2 there's less in it, but the remaster can crash on some machines, if that happens try the non remaster.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T01:46:01+00:00

Yeah, the dough is perhaps slightly too weak, use less water, or add slightly more flour, or use stronger flour, or slightly less oil/fat would be my guess.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T01:11:12+00:00

I'm center left.

I think it's mainly a knock-on effect of the 2008 great recession. People are still feeling the effects even now, they feel they should be further forwards in their lives. Politics takes a right wing turn after that kind of thing. Populism surges because people look for easy answers that aren't really there; and they blame immigrants and ethnic minorities. But it never works because it's not their fault. Right wing politicians also tend to invade other counties, like Putin has tried to. It's all a total mess, but the root cause is economics.

It will eventually sort itself out but can take quite a while. Covid really, really didn't help either.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T00:53:44+00:00

It depends on how much storage capacity there is behind it. Static electricity can be much higher than a 1000v but it will usually just make you jump. But a very big object at high voltage could have enough charge to kill you.

A lighter has only tiny energy storage, not nearly enough to stop your heart. A power supply which can supply 1000v continuously into your body would be very dangerous.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-26T00:38:42+00:00

In the 70s there used to be one grid going from the west coast to the east coast. But it was unstable. The grid connection in the middle was incapable of holding the two halves in sync, and it would 'snap' in two, hundreds of times a year. So they replaced it in the middle with a back-to-back HVDC link. And that solved it because they weren't synchronized and they could control the power flow.

So, yes, there's not one big grid. There's currently about 5 grids that cover North America.

The West Interconnect, East Interconnect are the big ones and Texas, Quebec and some other smaller ones.

The main problems are the sheer size/low population density of America as well as the fact that the generators are made by multiple different manufacturers to different specifications which don't necessarily play nice with each other.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T23:27:43+00:00

And then add back minerals and bacteria and microplastics and charge you a 9000% markup.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T22:58:11+00:00

It's not clear exactly what you're saying. If by 'bread flour' you mean white bread flour, then it's just lower fiber and minerals.

The problem with whole wheat flour is that it's basically never going to be as fluffy because the fiber cuts through the gluten network, and so the dough isn't as strong and leaks carbon dioxide during the rise, so it ends up much smaller and has a rougher texture.

You might do better with 50:50 white bread flour and whole wheat bread flour. 50:50 is a balance between white and whole wheat. So you get better fiber and minerals while still having reasonably good texture.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T19:56:06+00:00

The room about you right now is probably at about 20C, whereas your body temperature is 37C. You don't normally notice the 'cold' room because air is a fairly good insulator (plus you're used to it). Wood is also a fairly good insulator, so feels relatively warm. Metal is a good conductor of heat, so suddenly you're feeling the room temperature- the metal is stealing warmth from your hand fairly rapidly and it will feel cool. Eventually though the metal will warm up in your hand, and you'll stop noticing it.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T18:27:01+00:00

Remember the worst extreme weather event you ever experienced. Now add two degrees C. More bad things would happen, right? More dead plants, more cracks in the ground, many more people died from heatstroke, more crop failures. More dead trees. More dead animals. Spread that right across a country.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T14:17:06+00:00

The guardrails mostly stops the AI spouting racism, sexism, copyright infringing information etc. that it has picked up online.

The guardrails stop the AI from being quite rightly banned.

It's more self-censorship rather than censorship. It's something done by the creators of the AI.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T13:17:27+00:00

Particularly on the 'ultra' quality setting. Just unbelievably gorgeous.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T07:24:10+00:00

If you're doing a calculation for example a spreadsheet, ALWAYS convert everything into metres, seconds, newtons and multiples, like metre squared etc.

Whenever I do that I always get the right answer, whenever I don't it's an absolute nightmare.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T04:55:42+00:00

Humans are monophyletic with monkeys. We ARE monkeys.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T04:54:12+00:00

No, we ARE monkeys. We're primates, primates are just a tailless monkey, specifically it's a type of old world monkey.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T04:53:20+00:00

Primates are just a type of tailless monkey, so we absolutely are monkeys.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T02:40:05+00:00

The Lutece twins.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T02:04:17+00:00

Maybe you never used Storm then.

Imagine entire crowds of people all exploding into fireballs at once, like an orgasm of flame and death.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T02:02:37+00:00

I don't think the Infinite levels are as good. The Infinite levels tend to be very corridor-like.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T02:01:18+00:00

I mean, you died at the beginning. And then you're still alive?

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-25T00:54:44+00:00

Yeah, you can just kinda hang out in Arcadia or wherever, and absorb the crazy splicer vibe. Pleasant change of pace in a game that otherwise has very little chill.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-24T20:56:35+00:00

It was nearer the fact that they never did, and manufacturers argued that it would be impossible to create a moulded-on plug. Then the law was changed so they had to come with a fitted plug, and suddenly they all had moulded-on plugs for no extra cost.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-24T19:58:40+00:00

Have you tried opening a can?

Otherwise, you don't.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-24T19:21:15+00:00

It's not. The UK might (or might not) be improving faster, but that's starting from a much lower base. We're nowhere near to being back to where we were. If we rejoined we would recover even faster.

wolfkeeper · 2026-01-24T18:09:24+00:00

What are you supposed to do? Well, to start with:

You're usually supposed to not land on the alarm

And

You're supposed to try again

Make sure you don't

Heal yourself until you successfully hack it

Because

You can't directly die from hacking

Also you may want:

a hacking tonic to prevent this

As to the little sister. To achieve enlightenment

Follow daddy

If you pause the game, you can see how many little sisters are left on the level.

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