UK General Election 8th June: Shake it all about?

[Doktor Howl]

Not to mention all that lost foreign direct investment.

I wouldn't invest in the UK right now, not with Boris "fuck business" Johnson as PM and a government committed to pants-on-head idiocy in the world of trade.

Worst part is, you're going to see a short bump that Boris will crow about.

For example, I just ordered a shit ton of sensors out of Sheffield, but that is to tide me over until I find an available replacement elsewhere.

[Cain]

Yeah, exports will do well as the pound weakens and people will mistake that for economic expansion.

Unfortunately, everyone seems to forget that we are an island and need to import things as well.

[Doktor Howl]

Yeah, exports will do well as the pound weakens and people will mistake that for economic expansion.

Unfortunately, everyone seems to forget that we are an island and need to import things as well.

It's also important to remember that England invented the phrase "it stands to reason" specifically so that politicians could bugger them more easily.

[altered]

Watching a major European power burn to the ground on the back of its own ignorance, hatred, and incompetence: It's the most fun you can have outside of doing it yourself.

Seriously though, you and Junkie need to get the fuck out of there, Cain. And any other PDers who will end up caught in the poo tsunami. Brain-in-a-jar style if need be, I hear Stanford is making great strides.

You're all too used to modern amenities like ballistic knives, video games, trains, and aspirin, and the lack will bring out the latent Yeti-strain rabies in you. No one is prepared for that pandemic, or the resultant massacres with improbable weaponry.

[Cain]

No, it's fine, the collapse in the value of the pound means holidaying in the UK for UK citizens will be more affordable than ever.

Because we're not paid in pounds.

[Doktor Howl]

No, it's fine, the collapse in the value of the pound means holidaying in the UK for UK citizens will be more affordable than ever.

Because we're not paid in pounds.

That was a great 1400 comments of hilarity.   

[Faust]

Today the UK grid dropped to 48.8Hz, the normal operating parameters are 50Hz, with an excursion being classified 49.7 and an extreme event being 49.3
I dont think it has ever gone this low, I don't know why they are running more risk (cost saving / to feel needed / reduce carbon / some brexit madness, all of the above?)
A little bit further and the grid breaks into 16 regions, which is very very hard to put back together

[Cain]

The BBC is being quite vague on this

The BBC understands that two power supply plants - one a traditional gas and steam-fired power station in Cambridgeshire, the other a huge wind-turbine farm in the North Sea - failed at about 16:00 BST.

National Grid described it as an "unexpected, and unusual event".

An additional factor may have been capacity problems at Britain's largest single power station in Yorkshire.

The sudden drop in available power caused protective measures to kick in that immediately cut electricity supply to a section of the National Grid network.

[Faust]

At work we have seen that they are running with less inertia (what stops the frequency moving), you might have seen the story about record period without coal, it was a lot of renewable, which doesnt have much inertia.
We used to see about 12 frequency events a year, since about june it is about 3 a week, we know why it is happening, but not why someone would choose to run that level of risk, especially because the three biggest frequency deviations since 1970... have all been since June.
I imagine it comes down to money somehow, but I don't see how, the next one could be the big one

[Doktor Howl]

At work we have seen that they are running with less inertia (what stops the frequency moving), you might have seen the story about record period without coal, it was a lot of renewable, which doesnt have much inertia.
We used to see about 12 frequency events a year, since about june it is about 3 a week, we know why it is happening, but not why someone would choose to run that level of risk, especially because the three biggest frequency deviations since 1970... have all been since June.
I imagine it comes down to money somehow, but I don't see how, the next one could be the big one

Is the system air gapped?

[Faust]

At work we have seen that they are running with less inertia (what stops the frequency moving), you might have seen the story about record period without coal, it was a lot of renewable, which doesnt have much inertia.
We used to see about 12 frequency events a year, since about june it is about 3 a week, we know why it is happening, but not why someone would choose to run that level of risk, especially because the three biggest frequency deviations since 1970... have all been since June.
I imagine it comes down to money somehow, but I don't see how, the next one could be the big one

Is the system air gapped?

This was gridwide. If you are thinking stuxnet or something naw, this risk was highlighted to them and they didn't seem to care

[Cain]

I do wonder if it was stress-testing related to a no-deal Brexit.

[Faust]

It could be that, the UK can at times be importing 40% of its power to cover local demand, which is of course governed by the ISEM and ECJ. The no deal prep list for that is worryingly thin. It basically says "We wont have a way of buying or selling power if we are not members of these but were going to pretend we are and hope no one complains" 
Other worrying parts: France owns the interconnect, they talk about "making arrangements with the interconnect owners". If there is no mechanism for them to get paid for the power they provide, what then?
If the UK has to operate without import we could be looking at rolling blackouts every month or so.
Similar issues for NI. NI cant operate outside of the all island market (as its a continuous system as part of the integration allowed through the good friday agreement). The only option is to switch it off.

[Junkenstein]

A couple of contacts at national grid describe it as "really fucking weird". The outage shouldn't have hit the areas listed at the same time and the alleged cause of failure described as "bullshit". No one's saying malicious or external actors but it looks like the whole system is held together with glue and hope.

Which does describe my experience of Ng sites.

[Cain]

I get the impression that an awful lot of national grids all over the place are badly maintained. I remember reading papers and books from the early 2000s about vulnerabilities in the US grid and supply, which was based on earlier studies going back to the 1980s.

The only reason terrorists aren't attacking them all the time and proving the problems are the same reason they don't do anything else smart, they think everything can be solved by bombs on streets.