Digital Medication

No doubt you’ve seen the storm crossing the net these last few days (and weeks, months, years) concerning the possibility that Chinese hackers have planted code in our power facilities giving them the ability to remotely shut down our grid at their whim. Well, this isn’t my obligatory pseudo-opinion, instead I’ll just share a little bit about the area I live in. We are one of the windiest areas in the entire US, and the concentration of wind farms in our are is a testament to that fact.

Despite the seemingly endless supply of renewable energy around here, the power goes out quite frequently. Sometimes it makes me think about how it must have been to live in the early days of the electrical age when just the slightest breeze might knock out the power for days. It gets pretty crazy around here this time of year with winds peaking at 80mph on a near daily basis. Not only does the wind have a habit of kicking off the power, it also tends to kick up a lot of dust. On days like today, the visibility drops and going outside is almost equivalent to being willingly sandblasted…

Now here’s where the FUD comes in… I read a bunch of these news articles concerning the threat posed by malware at our power stations, and I also know from years of experience that the wind gets strong here and knocks out the power…. but can you guess what first came to mind when the power went out the other day? Howling winds and all, part of me still couldn’t help but remember the articles and that cast doubt in my mind about the cause of the outage. Now, I consider myself to be a very free-thinking adult with half a brain, and at least half an education, but think about every one else for a second. Ok, stop.

You just put more effort in to it than most. Congrats, now ignore the FUD and go back to your American Gladiators.

Wow, I haven’t had a Bill Hicks moment in a while. Feels good bro.

Also, here’s a great comment from a user named tehowe on digg:

The fair and balanced media has rediscovered botnets and hackers. What next, EMP? Surely this technology is well within reach of the turrists and foreign agencies. All computers henceforth must be stored in a secret cloud-top Colorado mountain complex with ninja assassin guards.

Great insight from a 10 year old. Better grammar and spelling than most digg commenters too!