TheAgitator.com
Have You Hugged an Electrical Engineer Today?
Monday, August 18th, 2003One last thought on the blackout. It may sound a little goody-goody and boosterish to say so, but I think not nearly enough recognition has been given to the rank-and-file folks who got the power back on this past weekend, from linemen to systems engineers. These are people who help keep the thin veneer of civilization from breaking down utterly. In all the squabbling over Canada and Enron and deregulation that I’ve seen on the blogosphere, there’s been too little simple gratitude toward them.
So: thanks, guys.
I am reminded of something the great libertarian Rose Wilder Lane said in her inexpressibly brilliant little book, The Discovery of Freedom:
The energy of heat, cold, storms, floods, drought, is the deadly enemy of every human being… Everyone must constantly be defended against these enemies. Farmers and sailors and doctors always know this. Linemen know it, and engineers, chemists, truck drivers and railroad men and oil drillers and sand-hogs and construction workers and airplane pilots and weather forecasters– all the fighters who protect human lives in modern civilization, and keep this civilization in existence. These men, who know the human situation on this earth and stand the brunt of it, enable others to forget it.
Goddamn straight. Engineering is one of the most unheralded and underappreciated fields around. But, it’s also one of the most well-paid, so you take what you can get.
Thanks for the very kind words, Nick!
I just shake my head at all the politicians and pundits who are pointing fingers at the utility companies involved — blaming the blackout on their greed.
Don’t they get it — these companies do not have any interest in compromising reliability. If the power does not flow, they do not get paid.
I was a college co-op in the planning department of a municipial utility. These companies put a lot of resources into planning and analysis to prevent blackouts like this from happening.
Like any human endeavor, however, stuff happens — and you can bet there are hundreds of engineers right now working their tails off to get to the bottom of this, as their managements wait with baited breath.
BTW, a lot of my career since my college days was spent designing generator controls. Be afraid … be very afraid :).
Relying on the Competent
Nick Weininger, writing at Radley Balko’s group blog, The Agitator, says: It may sound a little goody-goody and boosterish to say so, but I think not nearly enough recognition has been given to the rank-and-file folks who got the power…