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Electricity theft bleeds power grid dry, officials say
ABCNews15 ^
| AP
Posted on 01/24/2005 1:13:36 PM PST by hsmomx3
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To: oldcomputerguy
This has nothing to do with being backward, it has everything to do with being poor.
Bottom line is that their poverty is the result of a failed culture. Nothing else. 'Nuff said.
21
posted on
01/24/2005 1:47:04 PM PST
by
broadsword
(It was far beyond anything seen here before!)
To: bowzer313
Extremely, extremely corrupt government and judical system. Sorry to sound like a liberal's wet dream, but the rich really do own it all--the land, the police, the judges, etc. The poor cannot hope to aspire to anything more than being a waiter on American tourists.
22
posted on
01/24/2005 1:48:49 PM PST
by
Nataku X
(You've heard, "Be more like Jesus." But have you ever heard, "Be more like Mohammad"?)
To: bowzer313
"What's the basis of their problem?"
Endemic political corruption which stems from an Hispanic culture. This culture is less civic oriented and more family oriented. It causes people to mostly care only for friends and family and very little for others in the community.
This explains why it is not only acceptable for Mexican officials to be corrupt but practically expected. Lying, cheating, and stealing are somewhat acceptable ways to get ahead if it is done in the interests of ones family. The results are what may be seen not only in Latin America, but Africa, China, the Middle East, and India.
Countries with the least corruption also tend to be the most civic minded, often at the expense of personal freedom. Germany, Singapore, and Japan come immediately to mind. I suppose it's a trade off. The US falls in the middle with some traits of both.
23
posted on
01/24/2005 1:51:19 PM PST
by
monday
To: conservlib
It is as if in mexico, the word "to get", and "to earn", and "to steal" are all one in the same.
To: oldcomputerguy
"I can recall a friend in the military telling me about his relatives stealing electricity in the Appalachians decades ago. The bottom line is that the poor everywhere manage by doing what ever they have to do if not making a living wage."Yup. My granddad went to prison for a year for making moonshine during prohibition in SE Alabama.
25
posted on
01/24/2005 1:53:45 PM PST
by
blam
To: RadioAstronomer
I built a 7 foot high 10 million volt tesla coil. :-) My Tesla coil was more conservative. The secondary was a 2 inch diameter, 30 inch long mailing tube. I spent 7 hours winding the secondary with 36 gauge magnet wire. It looked like smooth copper foil. The capacitor was built with a stack of 12" mirror tiles. Spark gap with 10d nails. Primary with some 12 gauge wire stripped from spare Romex. A 15,000 volt neon transformer was used to excite the primary. I powered it up inside an 8 X 8 foot bedroom at a friend's house. The snaky violet discharges went all the way to the walls. After days of work, the total run time was under 5 minutes. Too much RFI.
26
posted on
01/24/2005 1:55:40 PM PST
by
Myrddin
To: hsmomx3
Mexico is a rather wealthy nation. What a pity it is run into the ground by the elites.
To: hsmomx3
When you don't enforce the law...
28
posted on
01/24/2005 1:58:23 PM PST
by
RobRoy
To: SShultz460
Use direct burial primary line. Shunt primary power line to an "inside the business/home" transformer. The secondary lines off the transformer could then be usable only by the customer who pays for it.
The direct buried primary line would be unusable to the power thieves, unless they had their own transformer, and the knowledge and tools to tap into the primary feed...Highly Unlikely!
To: Myrddin
We used tungsten alloy bolts for our spark gap and power pole transformers hooked to a copper busbar we bent into a coil with plexiglass sheet insulators. :-)
The secondary coil was wound on a cardboard form used to pour concrete bridge columns.
We too only fired it up for a short time. LOL!
To: JDoutrider
thats how they do it for gas lines. ie Regulator at the meter Rarely do you see alot of gas theft.
Ammonia is a diffrent animal because of meth, you'll get idiots doing homemade hot-taps on high pressure ammonia pipelines and installing bleeders so they can steal pure ammonia
To: bowzer313
I once asked that question of a cute girl from Mexico City when I was in college. I didn't get anywhere.
32
posted on
01/24/2005 2:04:17 PM PST
by
DannyTN
To: All
Reminds me of a NY City story, turns out YEARS ago a "smart" landlord discovered that his power meter would operate in reverse if the wires were switched. So if you reverse the wires the meter would count down instead of up. So a landlord would run the meter in reverse a few days. A few geniuses just kept the meter running backwards and the meter read like it was creating electricity.
(they don't run backwards anymore)
In Miami, there are occasional house fires where people use jumper cables to bypass a meter which has been cut off for lack of payment.
To: longtermmemmory
The cultural problem in Mexico is relating to the society as whole which has extreme rich, and extreme poor, and very few in the middle class. I learned first hand about stories during WWII time, when there was lots of poverty and shortages of goods around the world. There was lots of reporting of hungry people stealing bread to feed their children.
Again, to give you an example that is easy to understand; say the average worker in the US makes $2000/month, and the typical rent is $1000/month; then, if the electricity cost to power your a house is $2000/month, then it is practically prohibitive for the average guy, not to mention the unemployed who have no earnings. The politicians realize that people are stealing power because they cannot afford it not because they are thieves? Hence, they look the other way, and don't prosecute the thieves.
To: RadioAstronomer
You clearly had more resources at your disposal. Mine was built on spare change from my lunch money.
35
posted on
01/24/2005 2:13:50 PM PST
by
Myrddin
To: Myrddin; BearWash
How does a Tesla coil work? I have always been curious but never took the time to learn how to build one.
To: bowzer313
The answers I've seen here make me cringe. This is FreeRepublic, I thought posters were smarter than I've seen on this post.
Only one got it right, NatakuX in #22, "Extremely, extremely corrupt government and judical system."
37
posted on
01/24/2005 2:24:29 PM PST
by
Balding_Eagle
(God has blessed Republicans with really stupid enemies.)
To: SShultz460
Or 440 AC triple phased. Lets see who lands on their ass.
38
posted on
01/24/2005 2:27:24 PM PST
by
BobS
To: hsmomx3
So, I take it, standing right in this position would be Nirvana for these folks.
To: RadioAstronomer
If those things work, then why aren't we using them?
40
posted on
01/24/2005 2:30:58 PM PST
by
cyborg
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