# 40,000 experience power outage in North Carolina, due to sabotage (4-DEC-22) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** breaking-news\ **Created:** [December 4, 2022, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033 "2022-12-04T23:34:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/61 "2022-12-06T15:19:51Z")
Strongly agree. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/62 "2022-12-06T15:46:54Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > YouTube does allow you to change the playback speed. Go to “settings”. It might be helpful. I do this for a lot of videos I watch, except I use the shortcut keys ( \< and \>) to change the playback speed on the fly. Very handy when watching a video with someone talking slowly. > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > When a transformer fails here, they replace it, overnight at the latest. > Perhaps this county’s electric company doesn’t have a large budget and hadn’t enough transformers on hand. Sure, if a transformer fails in service in the usual way it can be swapped out fairly quickly, especially if it’s a smaller one. But if it’s one of the big ones at a substation, and there are more than one, and the wiring and **[high-voltage switchgear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switchgear)** are all shot up as well, and you have to inspect the entire site inch-by-inch for bullet damage, things are going to take a while. > [@Chefguy](#): > > It would be an easy thing to target transformers and insulators at substations. A few years ago the substation in my neighborhood was significantly upgraded. Part of the upgrade appears to be a heavy-gauge steel-panel wall. Not just a chain link fence that keeps dumb kids out, but a serious barrier that looks like it’s designed to prevent intrusion by a vehicle. Googling, it looks like there’s quite a marketplace for this kind of product. They don’t seem to be generally tall enough to shield the highest equipment at a substation from gunfire, but they could at least limit the damage to equipment closer to the ground. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Hedonia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ann_hedonia/32/319_2.png) [@Ann\_Hedonia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Hedonia)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/63 "2022-12-06T16:25:45Z")
FWIW, the culture war stochastic terrorism Twitter account Libs of Tik Tok made a post targeting the Moore County drag show a few weeks before the performance. > So even if they rule out that one local terrorist, it could have inspired others, ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/64 "2022-12-06T17:01:43Z")
Stuff like that is why [they ultimately decided to limit attendance to 18 and up.](https://www.fayobserver.com/story/news/2022/12/02/organizers-say-far-right-criticism-wont-stop-southern-pines-drag-show/69678089007/) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/65 "2022-12-06T17:20:13Z")
They need to make up their minds: [is a 16-year old a kid or not?](https://www.ageofconsent.net/states/north-carolina) ---
**Author:** ![ekedolphin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ekedolphin/32/10003_2.png) [@ekedolphin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekedolphin)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/66 "2022-12-06T17:25:00Z")
Old enough to have sex, but not old enough to go to a drag show. Tell me, which is more harmful to a 16-year-old? When I was 16, I had motive, will, stamina, and opportunity. The only things that stopped me were the fact that I wasn’t ready to be a father (and you had damn well _better_ be ready to be a parent if you have sex, even if you’re using protection, which we didn’t have on hand), and the fact that, as a Christian, I was raised to save myself for my wife. Which I _still_ am, at the age of 40. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/67 "2022-12-06T20:02:18Z")
That video is a good use of the YouTube ability to play at 1.5x speed. My sister watches a lady from TX and she watches those videos at 2x speed. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/68 "2022-12-06T20:03:46Z")
There are very few videos that I don’t watch at either 1.75 or 2x speed. People just talk sooooooo slooooooooowly. ---
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/69 "2022-12-06T21:25:23Z")
Try that with Legal Eagle, I dare ya. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2022, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/70 "2022-12-06T22:05:55Z")
I usually play him at 1.5, sometimes I slow down to 1.25. I find it easier to listen at faster speeds because otherwise my mind tends to wander while I wait for them to say the next word. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/71 "2022-12-07T12:09:43Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > > Ted Koppel reveals that a major cyberattack on America’s power grid is not only possible but likely, that it would be devastating, and that the United States is shockingly unprepared. > > In the book he talks about large transformers that were installed at many substations a few decades ago. They were so big and heavy that train tracks were installed, and the transformers were moved by train. The transformers are still in use, but the tracks have since been removed. I brought this up several years ago on the SDMB. A few experts here explained that transformers have undergone some of the improvements and upgrades as other electrical stuff. And that the replacements, while definitely scarce, would be more compact and unlikely to need dedicated train tracks. This sounds like a reasonable conclusion, although I know nothing of the specifics. > [@Broomstick](#): > > A lot of our infrastructure is poorly guarded/protected at best. Someone finally decided to take advantage of that. It’s a bit of a wonder it didn’t happen sooner. This dovetails with a particular hobby-horse of mine. A great deal of our modern world sits at the end of an astonishingly fragile supply line. And we (imo) are far more vulnerable to short or medium term interruptions than we like to confront. I admit that spending most of my life in Louisiana and Texas doesn’t really build confidence in government, but I’m not sure any state is that much better off. During the lockdowns, I got curious about our own infrastructure. With a little help from my electrician, I traced (via vehicle and drone) the entire path from high voltage lines to substation to the actual spot the power goes underground, through another series of transformers, and finally to my house. Although some of these are just likely paths, I identified at least one serious vulnerability. The actual pole with transformers where the large cables go underground is next to a busy road, and has zero protection. In fact, the house near those transformers fell victim to that most feared Texas entity, an unguided F-150. If the drunk shitbag had lost control a few seconds earlier, my entire neighborhood would have gone dark, maybe for days. > [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#): > > Frankly, I would be much more concerned that this incident had nothing to do with a Drag Show. Paraphrasing Mr. Clarke: Either it was because of the drag show, or it was not. Both possibilities are equally terrifying. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/72 "2022-12-07T12:14:56Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Ted Koppel wrote a book in 2015 called [Lights Out](https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-Cyberattack-Unprepared-Surviving/dp/0553419986). G. Gordon Liddy, of all people, wrote a short story on a similar premise that OMNI magazine published back around 1990 or so. 8-year-old me, whose parents got me an OMNI subscription because I was interested in sciency-stuff and maybe didn’t have the best judgment about what was appropriate reading material for an 8-year-old, found it terrifying. > **[This Fictional Memo to the President from 1989 Predicted Terrorism in the US](https://vocal.media/theSwamp/this-fictional-memo-to-the-president-from-1989-predicted-terrorism-in-the-us)** > > 'Rules of the Game' by G. Gordon Liddy was originally published in the January 1989 issue of Omni Magazine. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/73 "2022-12-07T13:08:53Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > This dovetails with a particular hobby-horse of mine. A great deal of our modern world sits at the end of an astonishingly fragile supply line. And we (imo) are far more vulnerable to short or medium term interruptions than we like to confront. I admit that spending most of my life in Louisiana and Texas doesn’t really build confidence in government, but I’m not sure any state is that much better off. I really like the Practical Engineering YouTube Channel. A couple of weeks ago he did a video called “How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?”. A lot of our infrastructure is protected against blackouts of limited range and duration by battery and generator backups, but by his estimation life would get very uncomfortable and primitive after a widespread outage of more than a few days: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/_OpC4fH3mEk/maxresdefault.jpg "How Long Would Society Last During a Total Grid Collapse?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OpC4fH3mEk) ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/74 "2022-12-07T13:36:42Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > I really like the Practical Engineering YouTube Channel. Me too! I watch Grady religiously. He just released his video on how a “cold start” of a grid would actually be done, and the equipment used for it. Highly recommend! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/uOSnQM1Zu4w/maxresdefault.jpg "What Is A Black Start Of The Power Grid?") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOSnQM1Zu4w) ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/75 "2022-12-07T15:12:10Z")
> [@Tride](#): > > Try that with Legal Eagle, I dare ya. 🤣 I much prefer to read, but much of the context of what Beau says is in his expressions. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/76 "2022-12-07T15:36:01Z")
With multiple pieces of equipment at two separate locations being shot out, it’s not some yahoo with a rifle but a systemic attack. Whether it’s in connection to the show remains to be seen but the timing and a lack of other flashpoints makes it suspicious. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/77 "2022-12-07T16:15:05Z")
How hard will it be to track them down, or is it nearly impossible? I don’t know if substations have cameras, but even if they do, a halfway decent rifle can shoot the better part of a mile, and it’s not like you are trying to make a headshot, it’d be closer to hitting the broadside of a barn. I really worry about this. Domestic terrorists don’t tend to be too creative, but they are big fans of copycatting. I expect this to become a fairly regular occurrence, as they find how little effort they need to expend in order to severely disrupt the lives of tens of thousands. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/78 "2022-12-07T16:39:32Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Beau is an interesting guy. but geeze I wish he didn’t use video. > He should write a blog or a web site. I would read it regularly.But I’m not gonna sit through 6 minutes of slow-talking every time. > I could read it MUCH more quickly. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Strongly agree. If you view the video on YouTube (commercials!) you can pause the video and read the auto-generated transcript. It’s not great, because it has no punctuation and sometimes misconstrues words, and because the spoken word is not the same as the written word. But I did this with that video, and I think I got most of the message in a lot less time. (He didn’t really have that much to say, except the perps might be open to manslaughter charges if some of the old people in the area died.) I haven’t tried the speeding up thing yet, so thanks to those who suggested it. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/79 "2022-12-07T17:13:11Z")
A Seattle area radio station talked to a now retired reporter, he worked for this station and the affiliated television station for over 30 years. He moved to North Carolina last year. He said the power companies that serve Western Washington and North Carolina have completely different emergency planning. Power companies in Washington plan for outages due to high wind and ice events and have the infrastructure in place to quickly get power back online when things like this happen. The power grid is designed to get power back online quickly to all customers. He said as a reporter he covered similar outages here in Washington that happened in North Carolina, in most cases power was restored to most folks in 2 days or less. He said the power grid in North Carolina is not designed with the same backup infrastructure meaning the power company has to get the substations back online to restore power. He said he hopes to have his power restored by tomorrow but if he gets is back by Saturday he will consider himself lucky. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2022, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033/80 "2022-12-07T17:39:55Z")
When we were living in Carson City an ice storm weighed down the wires enough to snap six poles between us and the last substation, some miles away. I figured it would be a couple days before power was restored but they managed it before dark. OTOH a severe windstorm here in Mesa a month ago knocked out the power for a substantial area, about 10 square miles. We were the last tiny area to get it restored, 22 hours later. It involved at replacing at least two of the pole transformers that do the final stepdown to 110v and restringing some of the 440v wire that fed them. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/40-000-experience-power-outage-in-north-carolina-due-to-sabotage-4-dec-22/976033.md?page=5)