Amazon.com
Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.de
Amazon.ca
You've been warned!
Mea Culpa
Posted October 29th, 2009 at 06:55 PM by kater
I should have a sign up around here saying 'Here lies he who is rubbish at keeping a blog'. Seriously you should see my personal one, it's updated about once every two months and I paid 10 bucks for the name to boot.
It's dark here in the UK now at the time I usually have tea, about 5pm. I love it, runs in the dark with your breath pluming out in front, nary a soul on the pavements because it's too sodding cold. Long nights in the comfy chair reading and writing.
It's really helped me get my write on recently, my comics work is back in full swing thanks to healthy doses of Warren Ellis' Come in Alone. I don't know why the dark proves such a boon but I find my thought processes sharper and ideas flow more freely sans light.
I wrote this though for some answers if possible. I'm writing a piece set in the U.S., a small desert town somewhere south but nowhere specific and one major detail is eluding me (my google-fun is weak I confess) How does the US electrical system work and do they run, any of, it through underground cables? If anyone is clued in or happens to be a you know, electrical engineer or something
, save me from rubbish link hell. I'll put your name in the story as a reward.
It's dark here in the UK now at the time I usually have tea, about 5pm. I love it, runs in the dark with your breath pluming out in front, nary a soul on the pavements because it's too sodding cold. Long nights in the comfy chair reading and writing.
It's really helped me get my write on recently, my comics work is back in full swing thanks to healthy doses of Warren Ellis' Come in Alone. I don't know why the dark proves such a boon but I find my thought processes sharper and ideas flow more freely sans light.
I wrote this though for some answers if possible. I'm writing a piece set in the U.S., a small desert town somewhere south but nowhere specific and one major detail is eluding me (my google-fun is weak I confess) How does the US electrical system work and do they run, any of, it through underground cables? If anyone is clued in or happens to be a you know, electrical engineer or something
, save me from rubbish link hell. I'll put your name in the story as a reward.
Total Comments 5
Comments
-
Somewhere south, eh. Well, for purists, there are deserts in south Texas and across the border. But Texas doesn't normally count as south. South is reserved for the gulf states and their neighbors east of Texas. For the U.S., the deserts stretch from west Texas across to San Diego.
Most of the desert power grid is above ground carried from generating stations via power lines supported by concrete trees standing a hundred or so feet high. They are magnificent sights winding across the wide open spaces, the only straight lines to be found. Well, the gap from one pole to the next is straight but the lines have slack in them to withstand the winds.
Power to desert homes also usually comes across lines supported by telephone poles or thinner poles depending upon the distances to be covered.
The power to our house comes down the primitive road via telephone poles and then buries itself as it crosses the road and burrows up to the house.Posted October 30th, 2009 at 11:49 AM by Hereford Eye 
-
Thanks Dan, I'm not that fussy
Are there any underground power lines or is just too cost prohibitive? My story involves a buried alien artefact that was broken when it crashed into our planet and is now, a thousand years later, booting up to send a signal to its creators to come pick it up. In order to contact them, because of the damage, it needs an external power source it can subvert. Underground power lines are obviously a very convenient answer if it doesn't make a reader from the area say 'hold on that ain't right'. Any further assistance or thoughts greatly appreciated.Posted October 30th, 2009 at 07:47 PM by kater
-
Strange, I am doing a bit of research into power cables, though I am tempted to move my time line in one effort from 1920's type society to a victorian type...
Posted October 31st, 2009 at 08:12 AM by Holbrook
-
I'm no expert on the topic, just giving you what I've seen. I know of no underground power lines as the terrain to be crossed, from the damns in the mountains down to the valleys makes underground cost prohibitive as well as an engineering nightmare. The trees go up and down the hills, across the canyons and gullies pretty easily.
If the artifact was buried near one of these concrete trees then extending a probe up the tree to the line would be within the technology as its the same kind of bridge necessary to burrow underground to the line.Posted October 31st, 2009 at 09:28 AM by Hereford Eye
-
No I understand that's great, it gives me an area to focus on. It may simply come down to the fact I'll have to write it in and hope no-one calls me on it, obviously I'd like not to do that but it's the best solution as the draft stands. The artefact is buried under an abandoned petrol station just off an interstate at the edge of a small town. So I'm wondering if powerlines in the air above gasoline pumps isn't the smartest idea and that would mean petrol stations might have underground electric cabling. I will google harder.
Posted October 31st, 2009 at 07:27 PM by kater
