I wonder if they're this smart?
Aug. 27th, 2011 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
womzillaSo the rain from Irene is coming down in earnest now, and it's very dark outside as a result, which got me thinking about the power failures that are likely over the next 24 hours.
There's a historical pattern that wide-scale urban blackouts lead to panic rioting if they occur at night. It's been obvious for the last couple of days that the hurricane was going to hit the NY metro area after nightfall on Saturday. I found myself wondering if part of Mike Bloomberg's extremely strong buildup of the threat of the hurricane was designed more to make sure that people were hunkered at home, and stocked up, for a nighttime blackout rather than for the flooding and wind damage.
There's a historical pattern that wide-scale urban blackouts lead to panic rioting if they occur at night. It's been obvious for the last couple of days that the hurricane was going to hit the NY metro area after nightfall on Saturday. I found myself wondering if part of Mike Bloomberg's extremely strong buildup of the threat of the hurricane was designed more to make sure that people were hunkered at home, and stocked up, for a nighttime blackout rather than for the flooding and wind damage.
