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Without electricity, digital z
<br /> era turned into the dark ages
<br /> By Susan Warren "When you get to the point where you can't '
<br /> and Melanie Trottman - 1
<br /> wall Street Journal wash your hands,you can't go to the 1 I
<br /> bathroom,you can't get a drink o water '; .1
<br /> Fbeena irerpart of less, y g f )
<br /> ode,the digital dream has in a tall building above the fifth floor,you're , 1.
<br /> been a w wireless,cashless, '
<br /> instantly connected society. getting into some not-so-humorous things."
<br /> But when the lights went out in —Ralph Wyndrum,engineer -
<br /> the northeastern United States,
<br /> the Electronic Age blew a fuse.
<br /> When you are unplugged,even things,"says Ralph Wyndrum, he arrived at LaGuardiaAir-
<br /> very simple tasks became f n- who has spent his life design- port,New York hotel sales
<br /> possible. ing electrical systems and is manager Greg Kooser,37,took !
<br /> Weary travelers at Detroit now a vice president for the In- the first bus that came along— 1 ;
<br /> Metro Airport couldn't coax stitute of Electrical and Elec- to Stamford,Conn. '!
<br /> water from the bathroom sinks tronics Engineers Inc.,a pro- At a darkened Marriott Ho-
<br /> because the electronic"eyes" fessional association. tel,it took an hour for the desk
<br /> didn't work Companies with Shirley Saunders of Queens clerk to check him in manually, a
<br /> electronic cash registers tried found a grocery store that used and hours more before hotel II „
<br /> to make do with paper,pencil an old-fashioned cash register. staff could escort him to his a -'
<br /> and,sometimes,the calcula- But the cashier couldn't weigh room,guiding him through the 3 1
<br /> tors built into cellphones.Ho- her potatoes and yams because pitch-black halls with a glow- v 1
<br /> tels had to dislodge guests be- the scale was electronic. stick.The electronic door locks II
<br /> cause electronic keycards and Back at home,the 65-year- were down,so staff had to use a 3
<br /> locks couldn't be programmed. old Saunders,a retired nurse, master key to open rooms for it
<br /> Phones fancied up with caller found matches from her guests one at a time."It's (t
<br /> ID,built-in answering ma- daughter's 1990 wedding,so amazing how a loss of power d
<br /> chines and cordless capability she was able to see by candle- can ruin your day,"he said. +I
<br /> were silent. light.But she kept walking into
<br /> At Charly's restaurant in the kitchen to check the time H andwritten invoices a .
<br /> Manhattan,the gas ovens were on her microwave's digital n
<br /> working and the pizza boxes clock."I'd say,'Oh,dummy. Cash gained new value,too. 2
<br /> were folded.But proprietor The lights are off.'But then I Long lines formed at pay '+
<br /> George Zamfotis,47,couldn't did it again.Old habits die phones,with some people "!
<br /> make pies because his electric hard." walking away in frustration r;
<br /> cheese-shredder was out of Eventually,she dusted off when their credit cards '1
<br /> commission.He never saw the an old transistor radio.It kept wouldn't work.Automated- tr
<br /> sense in keeping a manual her company through the night teller machines were dead,as t[
<br /> grater around. and reminded her not to fall well. 3
<br /> "We do so much cheese,it asleep with candles burning. Regular old phones worked
<br /> just wouldn't work,"he says. Not havingworkingeleva- just fine—if youwerelucky -
<br /> tors or water pumps in high- enough to have a plain model. n
<br /> New gadgets now necessities rise buildings might be expect- After walking and hitchhiking 9
<br /> ed without electricity.But An- home from his stranded train,
<br /> The toys and tools of the gela Jones,a Manhattan fash- New York energy consultant
<br /> 21st century,from electronic ion assistant,was surprised to Larry Goldstein realized the
<br /> address books to toilets that discover that even her gas-fired three cordless phones in his 3
<br /> flush on their own,weren't stove has an electric ignition to home weren't working.He re- o
<br /> even conceived in the huge spark flame.She could have lit sorted to making calls from the B
<br /> blackouts of 1965 and 1977, the stove with matches,but she bathroom,which had a phone o
<br /> and were far less common in hadn't stocked them. wired directly into the wall. b
<br /> the western failure in 1996. Eduardo Velez practiced an
<br /> This time,with numerous gad- A 'ruined' da I
<br /> ancient brand of retailing to ' II
<br /> of convenience unwork- help keep a RadioShack store '1
<br /> able,many people found With cordless phones dead, in Manhattan opeh.He hand- 3
<br /> themselves lacking simplest many turned to their cell wrote sales invoices and ac- 9
<br /> necessities—such as matches, phones.Some found the net- cepted only cash from custom- 'i
<br /> battery-powered radios,flash- works jammed.Some of those ers.
<br /> lights and old-style communi- who could use their cell The Texas-based chain re-
<br /> cation devices tethered to the phones then remembered they ported strong sales of battery- Ti
<br /> wall by short cords and called couldn't plug them in for re- powered radios,flashlights and ?
<br /> telephones. charging.Some resorted to old-style phones in stores af- d
<br /> "When you get to the point driving around in their cars to fected by the blackout r I
<br /> where you can't wash your recharge their phones,but that Velez reassured customers +I
<br /> hands,you can't go to the bath- yielded another problem:Elec- that regular landlines function
<br /> room,you can't get a drink of tronic gasoline pumps weren't when the lights are offi"I had I
<br /> water in a tall building above working,so empty tanks to explain that telephone lines 1
<br /> the fifth floor,you're getting couldn't be refilled. do carry a little bit of current," 1
<br /> into some not-so-humorous With no cab in sight when he said. " t
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