[ On , April 30, 2001 at 01:05:04 (-0400), John R. Levine wrote: ]
Subject: Re: Canada - Land of ice and snow (was RE: California power ... unplugged)
The 1998 ice storm was a predictable once in a century event, although of course you can't predict when in the century it'll occur. The newer electrical distribution infrastructure wasn't damaged anywhere near as badly as the older stuff (newer was built stronger), but the likelihood of such a storm was low enough that it didn't seem worth hurrying along the upgrades. I'm sure this is a tradeoff with which all system managers can sympathize.
and of course there are two ways of choosing when to rebuild older and less reliable infrastructure: a) pick a date and get to it; or b) wait for it to fail..... :-) -- Greg A. Woods +1 416 218-0098 VE3TCP <gwoods@acm.org> <woods@robohack.ca> Planix, Inc. <woods@planix.com>; Secrets of the Weird <woods@weird.com>