……

The sudden, and quickly and unanimously dubbed the "American-Canadian power outage", has a wide range of effects, according to media reports, from Virginia in the United States in the south, to Ontario in Canada in the north, to the Great Lakes region of North America in the west, and to the Atlantic coast in the east. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

If you don't have a specific idea of this, then imagine that from south to north, the capital of the United States, the District of Columbia, the Wall Street is located in New York, the capital of Canada, Ottawa, the capital of Canada, and Toronto, the economic center of Canada...... And so on in the world's top metropolitan areas, from 9 o'clock in the morning on Thursday, September 9, 1999, one after another "flameout" scene, how spectacular! How sour! How terrifying!

Historically, the Northeast region of the United States has not been without large-scale power supply failures. Thirty-four years ago, on November 9, 1965, there was a 13-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 11, the first half of the year, there was a power outage in Brazil involving São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and other places, affecting 75 million to 98 million people.

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

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine how the people were terrified of the apocalypse and how the government ~ government was vigilant for the arrival of a terrorist attack after the blackout blackout spread like a dark army of darkness crushing the city and swallowing the light.

Of course, the U.S. power outage isn't enough to completely paralyze the affected area. Not to mention the military, many civilian industries have corresponding preparatory plans.

The communications industry, for example, is still able to operate as usual.

However, compared with the continuous smooth operation of the traditional telephone network, the mobile phone service is overloaded due to the explosion of a large number of users calling home, and finally the backup power is exhausted and temporarily interrupted.

The two largest mobile phone service providers in the United States, Datang Mobile Communications Company and AT&T, have announced that they will do everything in their power to restore communication services as soon as possible.

On 9 September, the day of the outbreak of the "US-Canada power outage," US President Bill Clinton made a televised speech to the nation, characterizing the widespread power outage as an accident, and tasked Energy Secretary Bill Richardson to investigate, and promised to restore power supply to the city within 24 hours and power supply to the suburbs within 48 hours.

Regardless of the president's reassurances, the reality is that many urban areas, with the exception of cities of great importance such as Washington and New York, were without electricity on the night of September 9, and hundreds of fires were caused by the careless use of candles by "stupid" citizens.

CNN warmly showed a video taken by a branch employee when he returned home.

I saw a cute little girl, pointing out the window, and cheering in a milky voice: "Mom, look, there are so many stars in the sky!" ”

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

"It's a rare sight in the city." The host of the cable news network came to a bitter and happy evaluation.

……

Soon, U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson, who is in charge of the heavy responsibility, held a press conference to make a long statement on the "U.S.-Canada power outage" incident.

It is a one-size-fits-all approach, first of all, it is necessary to put on a difficult position and leave room for manoeuvre.

Bill Richardson began by emphasizing: "Since the beginning of summer, the temperature and hot weather in the United States from the West Coast to the East Coast have led to a surge in electricity load. ”

Then, Bill Richardson explained the first findings, "According to the report of First Energy, the preliminary conclusion is that on the morning of September 9, in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, a power plant was automatically shut down offline due to a sudden short circuit on a high-voltage line, which produced a domino effect, and finally led to the closure and shutdown of 508 units of more than 265 power plants, which in turn 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 "bland" introduction, how could the reporters in the audience be satisfied.

They need a "truth" that is legendary, full of ups and downs, and preferably full of intrigue and intrigue, otherwise how can they be worthy of such a magnificent "USC blackout" that shocked the world?

After Bill Richardson's speech came to an end, a reporter jumped out and asked unceremoniously and directly: "Is such a serious 'USC blackout' just caused by the overwhelming shutdown of a power plant?" ”

Bill Richardson, who had long expected this scene to be difficult to deal with, carefully weighed his words and replied: "As I have just said, this is the preliminary conclusion based on the report of First Energy; Further, we will definitely investigate further. ”

Another reporter asked sharply: "Mr. President once mentioned in a televised speech that the normal power supply in the city will be restored within 24 hours." But as far as we know, this deadline has passed, but there are still some cities that are in a state of no electricity. Excuse me, what causes this? ”

A look of embarrassment flashed across Bill Richardson's face, and he replied slowly: "It is undeniable that we miscalculated the technical complexity and operational difficulty of restoring the power supply. Power is restored in all cities, and it may take seventy-two hours; In some remote towns, it may take up to 10 days. ”

Of course, the reporter should dutifully ask: "So, what do you mean by Mr. Minister, the technical complexity and operational difficulty?" ”

"There are a lot of ......," Bill Richardson mused, "and through the initial inspection, we found that there were many imperfections in the daily operations of the power company. ”

"For example, the environmental clean-up work is lax, and many high-voltage transmission lines pass through the places where the trees are not pruned in time;"

"Another example is that power companies overemphasize cost control, and the aging problem of power equipment is more serious;"

"In addition, the computer power management system used in the power network has many models, including Fangyuan's new platform using the Vientiane operating system of Zheru Software Company, and the traditional Unix computer of General Electric, which invisibly increases the complexity of technical management out of thin air, resulting in the scheduling and evaluation of power demand peak shaving and valley shaving, which is very passive."

As soon as he heard the name of Zheru Software Company being mentioned, the reporter at the scene was suddenly shocked, and his eyes flashed and asked: "Since Mr. Minister reiterated that the current investigation conclusion is only a preliminary analysis, is the various shortcomings of the power company that you just listed also the cause of the 'US-Canada power outage'?" Is there a factor in the outbreak of the 'millennium bug'? ”

"We all know that September 9, the day of the 'Magna blackout', happens to be the first point in time of the most likely outbreak of the 'Millennium Bug'."

Bill Richardson flipped through the information in front of him slightly, and then responded very conservatively, "It cannot be ruled out that the daily operation problems of the power company that we discovered during the investigation were one of the causes of the 'American-Canadian power outage'; ”

……

U.S. Secretary of Energy Bill Richardson's cautious attitude at the press conference reflected the inability of the United States to deal with the "U.S.-Canada blackout".

Metropolises such as New York are efficiently re-lit with brilliant lights, but the remote towns below are delayed and complaining.

The accident investigation report produced a preliminary analysis, and after dealing with the media, there was no follow-up.

Seeing that the promises he had made to the American people had been discounted, US President Bill Clinton was a little angry.

There is more than a year left in his term, and when Congress is still controlled by the rival Republican Party, it can be said that there is nothing else to ask for, and he just wants to leave a sufficient amount of political ~ political legacy as much as possible.

At a recent cabinet meeting, Bill Clinton asked Bill Richardson to respond as quickly as possible to issues of particular concern, even if the investigation is progressing slowly. Not to mention anything else, whether there is a shadow of a "millennium bug" in the "USGA power outage", you can always rule out an eyebrow!

No wonder Bill Clinton is in a hurry, you know, the "American-Canadian blackout" has triggered a series of chain reactions.

First of all, Wall Street began to doubt the stability of the U.S. electricity supply network, which in turn manifested itself directly in the capital market.

Energy giants, led by Enron, have digitalized their energy supply into a dizzying array of financial derivatives, such as futures, in order to capitalize on the pressure of environmental protection on clean energy demand.

Now, the "US-Canada blackout" has simply given these energy giants the confidence to claim to be a seller's market.

What's more critical is the "millennium bug" problem, which makes everyone uneasy.

Originally, in the early 1990s, Tang Fa published an article calling for the entire industry to work together to deal with the "millennium bug", and everyone has invested tens of billions of dollars in it, and then they are full of confidence in the security of their own computer systems to transition to 2,000 years.

However, at the first point in time of the possible outbreak date of the "millennium bug", on September 9, 1999, there was a sudden "power outage in the United States and Canada".

Not afraid of 10,000, just afraid of what if, describes the current worry.

In the fields of national defense, banking, telecommunications, and various public services, we have no choice but to raise the level of prevention against the "millennium bug."

Now some members of Congress have begun to run on Bill Clinton, the "lame duck" president: can you do it or not, whether the "US-Canada blackout" and the "Millennium Bug" have anything to do with it, as for how difficult it is!

The major mainstream media, as always, stand on the commanding heights of political ~ correctness, moral superiority, etc., and condescendingly criticize: Why is the work efficiency so low? There are still three months to go until 2,000 years, is it really going to be paralyzed by the "millennium bug"? During the "US-Canada power outage", the people in the affected areas showed the world's best quality, and there was no chaos of smashing, looting, and burning during the power outage in Brazil in the first half of the year. But if the "millennium worm" paralyzes the whole of the United States, then who dares to guarantee that the social order will be so orderly at that time?

The bureaucrats are not doing their jobs well, so bring in experts.

The media community spontaneously invited elites in the 18th professional field to offer suggestions and suggestions on the review of the "US-Canada power outage" and the prevention of the "Millennium Bug".

It is not surprising that Taishan Beidou and Tang Huan in the field of computer academia will definitely not be left behind, and they are still the sweets of the scramble for consultation.

At this time, the richest man was still in New York. Gain, although the airport will not be completely ruined by the "Magnum power outage", but there are also many inconveniences, he doesn't want his Silicon Valley No. 1 to fly into the sky in a daze, anyway, even if he is delayed in New York, he can do a lot of things.

In the face of various inquiries from the media, Tang Huan is not generally cautious in his words and deeds.

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

You have to avoid suspicion!

Not long ago, Zheru Software Co., Ltd. also offered to continue to suspend the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Co., Ltd. in order to help the industry prevent the "millennium bug" more intensively, but it was rejected.

There's so much at stake!

The originally planned case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software was reopened on September 9, but was postponed for three days because of the "power outage in the United States", and then postponed for another week, where the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and the Department of Justice for the District of Columbia were secretly holding their breath.

In such a delicate situation, how can you talk nonsense?

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 affected by his side, the reporter simply asked bluntly, "Tang, this time, how long do you want to suspend the monopoly case of the United States of America v. Zheru Software Company?" ”

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

The implication of Mr. the richest man is: I don't want to waste spitting, you say it yourself, suspend or not suspend the United States of America v. Zheru Software Inc. monopoly case!