Every day the tech world makes life easier and more confusing. Do any of us really know how this stuff works? We cannot exist without a functioning internet. At alarming speed, the basic needs for human existence are food, water, shelter and now electricity.
Sure, electric power has been a human need since the days of Benjamin Franklin, but with the internet it is a vital necessity that would leave us lifeless if it was cut-off. Whether that is good or bad or somewhere in between is not relevant. The relevant point is that few of us have considered the risk of losing access to electricity.
One of my “side-hustles” is advising companies in the electric infrastructure industry. My advice is financial and has nothing to do with their work. As a result of that connection, I have a feeling that the whole system is vulnerable. This is not news. Most people with any knowledge recognize the great vulnerability of the electric grid system. It’s not terrorists, although the system is not well protected, mostly it is the overall age of the total infrastructure.
In the 1950s government thinkers (no that is not an oxymoron) decided the largest vulnerability for USA security and commerce was a poor highway system that traversed the country. From those first thoughts huge amounts of money were spent on designing and building the interstate highway system. That system may have changed the country as much as anything that has ever been done.
The same approach needs to be focused on our electrical distribution system. My layman’s advice has been to focus on small units of energy production and improved storage of power. I won’t go into the details, because they are boring—but believe me this is a big problem that needs attention.
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In the fourth grade Miss Smith told me I was the best artist in her class. I was a little bit surprised but immediately believed her, after all she was the teacher. From that point up to my initial year in college I thought of myself as an artist. An artist who didn’t produce much but none the less; I was an artist—ask Miss Smith.
I enrolled in college and was immediately told I had to have a major. I tried to tell them I was only avoiding the draft and was not really interested in much and for sure had no idea about a major. They insisted. So, I became an art major. Of course, that meant I needed to take some art classes. I enrolled in art appreciation (how hard could that be?) and a drawing class. After reviewing the supply list for the drawing class, which was going to cost me a month’s rent (which wasn’t all that much) I was considering dropping the course.
I didn’t drop the class and after only a few weeks wished that I had. The instructor was never going to be my buddy. He yelled at people, me included, about artistic sense and how many of us were obviously not in the right class. He acted offended that we were not better at what we were studying to be better at. It was a personal affront to his whole being that he had to be around such talentless ingrates. After a few weeks of this haranguing, I was giving thought to enlisting.
Around the third week, Mr. “I’m So Wonderful” art instructor had to leave school due to some emergency that was never explained. He was replaced by an older woman who looked lost, scared, and usually didn’t show up for the classes.
Several people in the class gave me good advice and were instrumental in my becoming a better artist, although I’m sure Mr. I.S. Wonderful would still have given me an F. Despite Miss Smith’s opinion, that unpleasant experience was probably the first time I was a “real” artist. If you are required to suffer to become an artist, I was now in the club.
Ted Clifton's Grain of Salt Commentary 