Suggested Reading

Status
Not open for further replies.

KevinM

Senior member
Joined
Mar 30, 2019
Messages
559
Reason
PALS
Diagnosis
06/2019
Country
US
State
FL
City
Tallahassee
Hi all. Given the recent and ongoing tragedy in Texas resulting from an unprepared power grid, I was again reminded of an excellent book written a couple of years ago by Ted Koppel, “Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath.”

Though the cause of the Texas outage is not what is contemplated in his book, I consider it require reading for anyone interested in the nations electric grid system, and the incredibly vulnerable nature of the design and infrastructure. Thought I’d toss it out there for anyone here that has a few hours to read between their 20-mile bike ride and 3 hour game of racquetball. 😀 Kevin
 
I would add that the recent (and probably ongoing) cyberattack on our country, considered the largest in history, adds another layer of resonance to this book. K
 
If you notice on TV when they show cities in Europe, the UK, France, Germany, Italy,
Belgium, Denmark and more…

You don’t see telephone poles along their streets. And many of their suburb areas.

They went underground over the past 20 years.

Yes, they pay higher taxes but… they have health care that puts us to shame,
(Some may grumble about theirs but try and take it away from them to go to
our health system!), some downtown sidewalks are heated, they have traffic
systems that work, even electronic speed signs that adjust to weather conditions.
very few power outages, in some Europe countries basic cable TV is free.

Here we have streets with telephone poles with 8 – 12 wires strung on 2 or
three stacked on two or three side lanyards… some places both sides of the
streets. And… a lot of poles are 20 and 30 years old. (The ones where I live
are.) Then the wires hanging from the poles going over to buildings and
homes.

Where else do you see telephone poles with unsightly runs of wires many
times on both sides of the streets? Third world countries.

In this country people want this, demand that, complain about services, bitch
about traffic BUT… we want it for free!


“Raise my taxes?” “Absolutely not”! “Cut social programs”! (Until some
misfortune should befall and they’re the first to sign up) “We demand more
tax credits.” and it goes on. The path to becoming a third world country.

Are we really the “Greatest Country in the World”?

We could be if we were willing… to pay for it. The money has to come
from someplace to pay for all the wants, demands and complaints.

Our government incoming revenue has been flat for the past 15 years…
*could you live on the money today you had coming in 15 years ago
if you're on a fixed income or have had no raises?

At Wal Mart a can of Bush’s Country Style Beans has gone from $.97
cents to $1.97 cents in just the past 5 years.

I didn't even mention the demand for stronger cyber attack defense...
that'll take big bucks too... holler for it, demand it, but "don't raise my
taxes. It should be free." "I pay my taxes!" But they don't mention their
tax return check, all the deductions they took, the tax credits they got.

In the end, many didn't really pay any taxes or very damned little....
just like the millionaires they go off about.

Whatever.... :)

PS. During the last Bush administration I had my taxes prepared, paid my
taxes (no refund) before April 15th. About October I got one of those
death threat collection notices from the IRS I had to sign for from our
Mailman. They said I owed $3000.00 dollars in back taxes. Called my tax
preparer... after a week got an "Ooops" looks like you'll have to pay it.

Called a tax lawyer.. Said he'd look it over.... another week. Told me....
"Pay it... it isn't worth fighting." Ok, I put it aside for another two weeks.
Got another death threat collection letter from the IRS I had to sign for.
Geeze... I felt like Al Capone. Sent them a damned check thinking the
government might shut down if they don't get my $3,000 dollars.

Next year If you all remember (or were old enough to remember) President
Bush sent everyone a tax refund check from the overage President Bill Clinton
left the country.
 
Last edited:
thanks, al, for the reminder of how our infrastructure differ s from t hat of europe. lived in france and germany for a total of eight years and never experienced a power f ailure during that time.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top