Chinese academic paper discusses how to take down US grid

[Atash Hagmahani]

Probably not all that hard. Large segments have gone down from natural causes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/world/asia/21grid.html

[The Future]

Important to note the author's words that the intent was to seek "ways to enhance the stability of power grids"

Years ago I met the author of Lights Out and from his book it is clear: the grid is massively undermaintained and the funds required to make it reliable are not forthcoming.  Much moreso that fuel even, electricity is central to the modern way of life.  Your life savings are only digital information on a server somewhere.  No electricity means no gas stations, no ATMs, no hospital, no running water, no hot water, no elevator, no fridge, limited light, heat, no web, no phone, no tee vee, no....

[Atash Hagmahani]

Well, having lived through a several-week blackout as the result of an unusually strong windstorm for this part of the world, I can tell you that the really big deal is that payment systems go down. Some stores could run the cash registers and a few emergency lights on generator backup, resulting in the store being operated until it pretty much ran out of merchandise.

And yes, with the gasoline pumps out of commission, you don't go anywhere. If we'd have had some gas (petrol) in storage, we might have been able to make it to the next part of town that still had electricity. I suppose that if it went down over a large enough area, even more of the system goes down--for example, phone lines.