Rich Galen on Friday’s night’s severe weather from Indiana to Maryland:

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley pointed out correctly that this derecho did as much damage as a hurricane or a major snow storm but unlike those weather events there were not many days advance warning to pre-position repair equipment, but only a matter of a few hours. …

It also made me wonder about the future of the “smart grid” we are supposed to be so eagerly awaiting.

A fully integrated electrical grid will be vulnerable to computer hackers – private or government-sponsored. If losing power from a storm can be this disruptive to this many people, imagine what an organized attack would do to huge sections of the country. …

It was a good reminder that the distance between the 21st and 19th centuries is not nearly as far as we sometimes think it is.