Darkness Visible

“The grid is perhaps the most complex machine ever built, but it was created without a master plan and made subject to the distortions of greed and local orneriness like every other big project in the United States. As a result, we have not one grid but three: the Western, Eastern and Texas Interconnections. Within each area, thousands of utilities generate and distribute power, and the flow is managed by one of 101 regional balancing authorities across the United States … ‘If you knock out nine total substations among those three grids, you can black out the entire United States.'” NYT Mag (Gift Article): What if America Went Completely Dark? (On the bright side, you wouldn’t be able to access the news.)

+ Some Indiana residents have been getting an unwanted preview of what it’s like when things go dark. Gary residents turn to prayer as power outage stretches into third week.