Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Chapter 1069 You said that the timeout is not a timeo

This power supply failure, which came suddenly and was quickly and unanimously called the “U.S.-Canada blackout”, affected a wide range. According to media reports, it reached Virginia in the United States in the south, Ontario in Canada in the north, and the Great Lakes in North America in the west. Region, east to the Atlantic coast.

If you don’t have a specific concept about this, you might as well imagine that from south to north, the U.S. capital Victory Shield is located in the District of Columbia, Wall Street is located in New York, the Canadian capital Ottawa, the Canadian economic center Toronto… and so on, the world’s top metropolitan areas, from Starting at nine o’clock in the morning on Thursday, September 9, 1999, the scenes of “flame-out” one after another were so spectacular! How sour and cool! How horrible!

Historically, the northeastern region of the United States has not experienced large-scale power supply failures. Thirty-four years ago, on November 9, 1965, there was a thirteen-hour power outage that swept across the United States and Canada, covering 30 million people and more than 200,000 square kilometers.

Even this year, there have been large-scale power supply failures around the world. On March 11th in the first half of the year, Brazil experienced a power outage involving Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other places, affecting a population of 75 to 98 million.

However, today is not the same as in the past. Indicators such as economic scale and population more than 30 years ago cannot be compared with the present; and this area where Washington and New York are located is not an exaggeration to describe as the center of the world; Besides, the curious onlookers and those who experienced it in person have two angles and two feelings.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine how the public panic that the end of the world will come after the power outage of the United States and Canada spread like a dark army of dark clouds over the city, and how the government will be wary of the arrival of a terrorist attack.

Of course, the power outage in the United States and Canada will not really completely paralyze the affected area. Not to mention the military, many non-governmental industries have corresponding preparation plans.

For example, the communications industry can still operate as usual.

However, compared with the continuous smoothness of the traditional telephone network, the mobile phone service is temporarily interrupted due to a large number of users making burst calls to home, which makes many lines overloaded and eventually runs out of backup power.

The two largest mobile phone service providers in the United States, Datang Mobile Communications and AT&T, have successively announced that they will do their best to restore communications services as quickly as possible.

U.S. President Bill Clinton made a television speech to the United States on September 9 when the “U.S.-Canada blackout” broke out, defining the large-scale blackout as an accident and has instructed the Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson to be responsible for the investigation. , And promised to restore the power supply to the city within 24 hours, and to restore the power supply to the suburbs within 48 hours.

Regardless of how this Mr. President calms people’s hearts, the reality is that, with the exception of very special and important cities such as Washington and New York, many urban areas will have no electricity on the night of September 9. “Stupid” citizens use candles. Carelessness caused hundreds of fires.

CNN did a very warm broadcast of a video taken by employees of the branch after they returned home.

I saw a cute little girl, pointing out the window, her milk cheered and said: “Mom, look, there are so many stars in the sky!”

The camera turns to the night sky, without the light pollution of the city, the brilliant Milky Way can be clearly recognized by the naked eye.

“This can be regarded as a rare wonder in the city.” The host of the Cable News Network made a happy comment.

…

Soon, the responsible US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson held a press conference to give a lengthy statement on the “U.S.-Canada blackout” incident.

It is universally applicable. First of all, we must pose difficulties and leave room for flickering and shifting.

Bill Richardson emphasized from the beginning: “Since the beginning of summer, the temperature from the west coast to the east coast of the United States has been higher than in previous years, and the hot weather has caused a surge in electricity load.”

Then, Bill Richardson confessed the first results of the investigation, “According to the report of First Energy Company, the preliminary conclusion reached is that on the morning of September 9th, a power plant in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio was suddenly affected by a high-voltage line. Short circuit and automatic off-line shutdown, resulting in a domino effect, which eventually caused 508 units in more than 265 power plants to be shut down and ceased operation, which affected the normal electricity consumption of nearly 50 million people in the United States and 10 million people in Canada. .”

Listening to Bill Richardson’s stubborn “plain” introduction, how could the reporters in the audience be satisfied.

They need the “truth” that is legendary, can be called the ups and downs, and preferably full of intrigue, otherwise, how can they be worthy of such a magnificent “U.S.-Canada blackout” that shocked the world?

When Bill Richardson’s speech came to an end, a reporter immediately jumped out and directly questioned unceremoniously: “Is it just caused by the overwhelming shutdown of a power plant?”

Bill Richardson, who had long anticipated that this situation would be difficult to deal with, carefully considered his words and replied: “I have just said that this is a preliminary conclusion based on the report of the First Energy Company; further, we I will definitely investigate further.”

Another reporter asked sharply: “Mr. President once mentioned in a televised speech that the city’s normal electricity supply will be restored within 24 hours. But as far as we know, this deadline has passed, but there are still Some cities are in a state of no electricity. May I ask, what is causing this?”

An embarrassment flashed across Bill Richardson’s face, and he slowly replied: “It’s undeniable that we mistakenly estimated the technical complexity and operational difficulty of restoring power. It may take 72 hours for all cities to restore power; and some In remote towns, it may take ten days.”

Of course, the reporter has to dutifully ask: “Then, what do you mean by the technical complexity and operational difficulty, Mr. Minister?”

“Including a lot…” Bill Richardson mused and said: “Through preliminary inspection, we found that there are many imperfections in the daily operation of the power company.”

“For example, the environmental clean-up work is slack, and many high-voltage transmission lines pass by without timely pruning of trees;”

“For another example, the power company puts too much emphasis on cost control, and the aging problem of power equipment is more serious;”

“In addition, the computer power management system used on the power network has many models, including the new platform of Fangyuan using the Vientiane operating system of Zheru Software, and the traditional unix computer of General Electric. Invisible, it has increased the technology management out of thin air. The complexity has caused the dispatch assessment of power demand to cut peaks and valleys, which seems very passive.”

Upon hearing that the name of Zheru Software Company was mentioned, the reporter on the scene was shocked, his eyes gleaming and asked: “Since Mr. Minister reiterated that the current investigation conclusion is only a preliminary analysis, then what you have just listed Yes, are the various shortcomings found in the power company also the cause of the’U.S.-Canada blackout’? Is there a factor in the outbreak of the’millennium bug’?”

“We all know that the day the’U.S.-Canada blackout’ occurred, September 9th, happened to be the first time point in the most likely date of the’millennium bug’.”

Bill Richardson flipped through the information in front of him, and then responded with a very conservative attitude, “It is not ruled out that the daily operation problems of the power company that we discovered during the investigation process were one of the reasons that led to the occurrence of the’U.S.-Canada blackout’; As for whether it is related to the’millennium bug’, it is still uncertain for the time being.”

…

The cautious attitude of US Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson at the press conference reflected the various weaknesses of the United States in handling the “U.S.-Canada blackout”.

Metropolises such as New York have effectively re-lit their brilliant lights, but the remote towns below have been delayed and complained.

The accident investigation report came up with a preliminary analysis result, and after dealing with the media, there was nothing to follow.

Seeing that his previous commitments to the American people were discounted, US President Bill Clinton was a little angry.

His term of office is only a little more than a year left. With Congress still controlled by the opponent Republican Party, it can be said that he has nothing to ask for, and he just wants to leave as much political legacy as possible. Unexpectedly, the “US-Canada blackout” that caused a sensation in the world was on display, and it was not handled properly. Didn’t this add another stain to yourself?

At a recent cabinet meeting, Bill Clinton asked Bill Richardson to respond as quickly as possible to issues of particular concern to the outside world even if the investigation progresses slowly. Among other things, whether there is a shadow of the “millennium bug” in the “U.S.-Canada blackout”, you can always rule out the eyebrows!

No wonder Bill Clinton is anxious. You must know that the “U.S.-Canada blackout” triggered a series of chain reactions.

The first thing that bears the brunt is that Wall Street began to have doubts about the stability of the US power supply network, which directly manifested itself in the capital market.

Energy giants, led by Enron, have digitized the energy supply into a dazzling array of financial derivatives, such as futures, so that they can make waves through the pressure of environmental protection on the demand for clean energy.

Now, the “U.S.-Canada blackout” has simply given these energy giants the confidence to be a seller’s market.

More critical is the “millennium bug” issue, which makes everyone uneasy.

Originally since the early 1990s, Tang Huan published an article calling for the entire industry to co-handle the “millennium bug”. Everyone has invested tens of billions of dollars in it, and then he is full of his own computer system security transition to the two thousand years. confidence.

But at the first point in time when the “millennium bug” might occur, on September 9, 1999, there was a “U.S.-Canada blackout”. Who would dare to be so sure?

Don’t be afraid of 10,000, just in case, it describes the current worrying psychology.

National defense, banking, communications, and various public service fields have to raise the level of prevention against the “millennium bug”. How can it be a waste of money.

Now some congressmen have begun to run on Bill Clinton, the “crappy duck” president: can you do it? Is there any relationship between the “U.S.-Canada blackout” and the “millennium bug”? Is it so difficult?

The major mainstream media, as always, stand on the commanding heights of politics, governance, and moral superiority, and condescendingly criticize: Why is work efficiency so low? It will be two thousand years in three months. Is it really going to be paralyzed by the “millennium bug”? During the “U.S.-Canada blackout”, the people in the affected areas showed the highest quality in the world. There was no chaos that took the opportunity to smash, smash and burn during the Brazilian blackout in the first half of the year; but if the “millennium bug” brought the entire United States They are all paralyzed, so who can guarantee that social order will be so orderly then?

If the bureaucrats are not doing well enough, then call in experts.

The media has spontaneously invited 18-way professional elites to provide advice and suggestions on the review of the “U.S.-Canada blackout” and the prevention of the “millennium bug”.

Not surprisingly, the Taishan Beidou and Tang Huan in the field of computer science will definitely not be left behind, and they are still eager to consult.

At this time, the richest man is still staying in New York Gein. Although the airport will not be completely messed up by the “U.S.-Canada blackout”, there are also many inconveniences. He doesn’t want his own Silicon Valley One and is confused. The ground flew up to the sky, anyway, even if he was delayed in New York, he could do a lot of things.

In the face of various media requests, Tang Huan was not generally cautious in his words and deeds.

He also made no secret of why he was so conservative.

I want to avoid suspicion!

Not long ago, Zheru Software Company also offered to continue to suspend the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company in order to help the industry to prevent the “millennium bug”, but was rejected.

This is too relevant!

Originally planned, the United States of America v. Zheru Software Corporation’s monopoly case was reopened on September 9th. Because of the “U.S.-Canada blackout”, it was forced to postpone it for three days, and then it was postponed for another week. The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Federal Circuit And the Ministry of Justice, are secretly holding back there.

How can you talk nonsense in such a delicate situation?

Seeing that the richest man was so careful, for fear that the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company would be unfavorable to his own side, the reporter simply asked directly, “Tang, this time, you want to suspend the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company. How long is it?”

Tang Huan replied euphemistically: “My wishful thinking is meaningless. I hope that all parties concerned can proceed from reality and consider it carefully.”

The implication of the richest man’s words is: I don’t want to waste vomiting, you say, suspend or not suspend the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company!