Remember the final offer is never the final offer.

  • Tervell [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalf_sniper_attack

    The attack, in which gunmen fired on 17 electrical transformers, resulted in more than $15 million worth of equipment damage, but it had little impact on the station's electrical power supply

    Prior to the attack, a series of fiber-optic telecommunications cables operated by AT&T were cut by the culprits.

    Henry Waxman, a ranking member of the United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, stated that the attack was "an unprecedented and sophisticated attack on an electric grid substation with military-style weapons. Communications were disrupted. The attack inflicted substantial damage. It took weeks to replace the damaged parts. Under slightly different conditions, there could have been serious power outages or worse."

    Who did this and why isn't clear, one theory I heard is it actually being government spooks testing out how much damage they could do (hence there being plenty of damage, but not enough to actually cause a severe outage - they just wanted to see if it could be done, but knew it's not a very good idea to actually cut power). So it can be done, but it'd probably be fascists or CIA psychos (but I repeat myself) doing it.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      "an unprecedented and sophisticated attack on an electric grid substation with military-style weapons."

      A bunch of yahoos with AKs light up a power substation and it's "sophisticated", as though literally any cowboy and his buddies couldn't have pulled this off drunk with no planning.

      I'd bet against the feds doing it. They reputedly did attacks like this in Latin America during the various dirty wars, and taking out electrical grids is pretty standard during invasions, so I imagine the spooks have had practical experience doing it outside America. And they could just do a training exercise and have engineers work out what kind of damage rifles would do. My bet would be towards fashy survivalists and Amon Bundy types.

    • Vncredleader [he/him]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I remember Brace saying he is fascinated by this story. The idea that we can on some level shoot the electricity and internet that seem so unkillable. With how shit our infrastructure is, there is some advantage there