January 6, 2006
National Overload the Circuit Day
Yesterday at lunch, we were interrupted by the Uninterruptible (not, apparently, a reciprocal arrangement) Power Supply for one of the computers near the back balcony.
“Beep.”
“Did the power go out?” someone asked.
I looked up at the sky: blue. At the trees: still.
“I hope not. What would make the power go out on a day like this?”
“Maybe they’re doing work on the lines. Or maybe it’s like, National Overload the Circuit Day, and everyone just turned on their vacuum cleaners.”
I kind of like the idea. National Overload the Circuit Day. Let’s take all that national unity (or, more and more, lack thereof), and apply it to something truly wasteful and destructive. They’ve got all those Flex Your Power PSAs, and we could. Flex until the power lines arc to ground. Flex those utilities right into the ground.
And if this is a success (however defined), we could move on to National Low Water Pressure Day, and, if we’re really ambitious, National Signal the Wrong Turn Day.
