journal features

power shortage in Tokyo

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Kokubunji, 2022.03.22

The power generation company has announced that due to damage sustained in the large earthquake last week, the power plants in the north-east part of Japan are at maximum capacity, with zero spare. 0%. The country has two completely separate "grids" that run at a different frequency (50Hz vs 60Hz) and voltage (110v vs 100v). It's bonkers but that's technical debt for you. What this means is that when one part of the power generation grid is weakened, the other can't really help.

Needless to say, after yesterday's fantastic weather, today it's snowing. Going to be interesting.

rand()m quote

In the wake of 9/11, we [in America] have made the decision as a society that we can never again create something in which we can take pride, for fear that someone will destroy it. Moreover, we must suppress any trace of individualism, lest someone have the desire to rise above the bland sameness that protects us. I have, alas, no idea how to recapture our courage.

—Anonymous post to boingboing.net, 2009