An Al
Qaeda attack on the power grid was my first thought on this eve of the 9-11 anniversary.
When we arrived at Erie's
World of Music at
7:00 PM for Melanie to take her music lesson, we were greeted by employees
telling us all lessons were cancelled due to a power outage. The lights were on
when we left home 15 minutes earlier, and were still on when we got back. Isn't
it odd how a music school can't function these days without power because most of
the instruments use electricity? The acoustic guitars have electronic pick-ups now
just like classic electric guitars, pianos are synthesized keyboards, and even the
drum sets are electronic look-alikes. Having it that way facilitates keeping noise
levels down during the dozen or more instruction sessions happening at any given
time. It can get pretty loud in the WoM basement even with volumes turned down,
which wouldn't be so bad if everyone was playing the same piece in concert, but
the violins are playing Beethoven while the drummers are pounding out Twisted Sister,
the piano is playing Mary Had a Little Lamb, and the saxophones are blowing Kenny G.
Earth Lights from Space (NASA photo)
At around 8:30, electricity went out in our neighborhood. I walked out on the
back porch
(we sit on a ridge overlooking much of Erie) and could see that a wide area was
without power, but there was still some glow to the north and east over the denser
city area. It was the darkest I could recall at this house. My back yard is usually
flooded with light from the neighbor who's dog is afraid of the dark (really annoying
when I have my
telescope out). We pulled out the Scrabble board and started a game by candlelight.
There is a gasoline-powered 1500 W generator sitting down in my garage if needed
at some point to keep the refrigerator contents from spoiling, but for now I'm enjoying
the near absolute darkness that only exists during times like this. The chimes on
my hand-made
grandmother clock struck 10:00 when I decided to jot down a few notes for this
story.
I had forgotten what dark looks like; our only other power failure occurred a
couple years ago during daylight hours. It was almost shocking having to feel my
way along the walls whilst seeking out a flashlight. Even with heavy curtains, blinds,
and shades on the windows, our suburban environment is polluted with so much excess
ambient light that you can function to some degree in any room in the house without
turning on a light. The amount of light that bleeds through my front door glass
is shocking, and this neighborhood is suburban, not urban.
Every house, it seems, has outside lights on from dusk until dawn (mine are all
motion-sensing to avoid that). Every parking lot is illuminated brightly enough
to read a book by. Kilowatt-level lights illuminate streets and highways. Immensely
bright LED billboards flash messages all night long. Commercial buildings are lit
to the max around their perimeters, ostensibly for security reasons. This is why
I can no longer observe star clusters and nebulae that were visible many decades
ago when I first entered amateur astronomy as a hobby. It is also a big part of
why our power grids are so heavily strained. When I read news reports of the bankrupt
city of Detroit turning off a third or fourth of its street lights to save money,
I wondered why so many ever needed to be on in the first place. We have resolved
to find a home with dark skies.
Interestingly, the level of traffic on my street has dwindled to almost nothing
over the past couple hours. I wonder if it because the otherwise drivers figure
the stores and their friends' houses have no power either. Or, is it because their
automatic garage door openers have no power so they can't get their cars out? It
reminds me of a blonde joke about the woman who locked herself in her car and couldn't
find her keys.
Posted September 10, 2013
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