Great. I go away for a long weekend in the country and you guys go and have a blackout. I know absolutely nothing about complex technical stuff like power generation, which is why I teach English. This morning's interview from Fox with the US Energy Secretary, Spencer Abraham, is pretty informative. It's not quite "Power Generation and Distribution for Dummies", which is what I'd really like to see. I'll bet Den Beste has something up like that; that's one place I'll definitely be checking during the next few minutes.

What pleasantly surprised me is that there were very few reports of looting and violence, and what there was happened in Detroit, surprise, surprise, and Canada. The overwhelming majority of those who lost their electricity seem to have behaved very civically with a "we're all in this together" spirit. At least that's what I'm putting together from the TV news and the Vangua.