OT - Gas to hit 4.00 -- UPDATE Now predicted to hit 5.00in twoweeks

[Shane Hathaway]

JStay at mediageneral.com wrote:
> My parents lived in Northern VA at the time and were one of the few that
> still had their power.  We just brought all our perishables up there.
> Luckily, it happened over a weekend if I remember right, so by the time
> we got back our power was back on.  I only wish I could afford a
> generator - not having power sucks, and others were not as lucky as we
> were!  Then there is affording the gas to power the generator... (back
> on-topic in the off-topic conversation)

I'll add one more interesting thing that happened.  Some people who had 
generators connected them into their house wiring.  Their hack worked a 
little too well: since transformers work both ways, people effectively 
pumped high voltage into the power lines.  Then, when utility workers 
worked on the supposedly dead power lines, they got electrocuted.  I 
heard rumors that some even died.

Since this group has a number of people who are capable of making the 
mistake of connecting a generator to their house wiring, I just thought 
I'd explain one reason it's a bad idea.  At a minimum, don't forget to 
switch off the main circuit breaker before doing it.

Shane