Monday, October 29, 2012
Sandy Hits the New York Area, and Maybe Us
10:26 AM | 
Posted by
Billy Ray |
Hurricane Sandy, the "Frankenstorm" about to hit the New York area, could also have considerable impacts right here in Glasgow. We are already getting warnings from cable programmers like ESPN, that we may face extended outages. Though we don't need to board up our windows here in Glasgow, we do need to prepare.
Though our technology normally functions so well that we completely ignore it, the truth is that beaming live television events to cable systems all over the world involves unbelievably intricate devices working flawlessly, and continuously. For example, when you watch a sporting event on ESPN or a live news program from CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox, there are satellite earth-stations, many of which are in New York or other places in the northeast, beaming that programming to a satellite parked 22,236 miles over our heads. In turn, that satellite retransmits that programming down to satellite receivers at cable systems and local broadcast stations in thousands of cities across our land. Hundreds of pieces of technology are involved to make these seemingly simple events appear in our homes.
If any component in that route breaks down, your normal television programming is affected. In the case of Sandy coming in right now, the liklihood of breakdown of the satellite uplinks seems considerable. This is something you should know and prepare for.
Of course, we all know power outages to the folks along the coastal areas is assured. Normally their problems would not affect us in Glasgow, but it is not beyond imagination for us to be impacted. The TVA power grid, to which we are attached, is also interconnected with many power grids that will be greatly affected by Sandy. Though unlikely, sometimes trouble in a neighboring grid can ripple out to cause trouble here. Even if the TVA grid is not immediately affected, we will all surely be impacted by the amount of damage about to be done and the amount of electric power distribution hardware which will be consumed to repair the damage. It is likely that we will have trouble finding some conductor and hardware items for the next several weeks, and that can certainly impact our ongoing work to maintain the electric system here in Glasgow.
Finally, spend a bit of time thinking about how the internet might be impacted by Sandy. The area where the storm is hitting is the point where most of the transatlantic cables depart North America headed for other continents. That same area houses dozens of the servers and routers that make your favorite web sites available to us here in Glasgow. If those servers farms should flood or lose power for extended times, our internet service right here in Glasgow will be impacted. It is time to make plans for that as well.
We hope all of our fellow countrymen along the storm's track have good luck and that the plans they have made are effective. This storm is going to present unprecedented problems for us all. I hope we are all ready.
Though our technology normally functions so well that we completely ignore it, the truth is that beaming live television events to cable systems all over the world involves unbelievably intricate devices working flawlessly, and continuously. For example, when you watch a sporting event on ESPN or a live news program from CBS, NBC, ABC, or Fox, there are satellite earth-stations, many of which are in New York or other places in the northeast, beaming that programming to a satellite parked 22,236 miles over our heads. In turn, that satellite retransmits that programming down to satellite receivers at cable systems and local broadcast stations in thousands of cities across our land. Hundreds of pieces of technology are involved to make these seemingly simple events appear in our homes.
If any component in that route breaks down, your normal television programming is affected. In the case of Sandy coming in right now, the liklihood of breakdown of the satellite uplinks seems considerable. This is something you should know and prepare for.
Of course, we all know power outages to the folks along the coastal areas is assured. Normally their problems would not affect us in Glasgow, but it is not beyond imagination for us to be impacted. The TVA power grid, to which we are attached, is also interconnected with many power grids that will be greatly affected by Sandy. Though unlikely, sometimes trouble in a neighboring grid can ripple out to cause trouble here. Even if the TVA grid is not immediately affected, we will all surely be impacted by the amount of damage about to be done and the amount of electric power distribution hardware which will be consumed to repair the damage. It is likely that we will have trouble finding some conductor and hardware items for the next several weeks, and that can certainly impact our ongoing work to maintain the electric system here in Glasgow.
Finally, spend a bit of time thinking about how the internet might be impacted by Sandy. The area where the storm is hitting is the point where most of the transatlantic cables depart North America headed for other continents. That same area houses dozens of the servers and routers that make your favorite web sites available to us here in Glasgow. If those servers farms should flood or lose power for extended times, our internet service right here in Glasgow will be impacted. It is time to make plans for that as well.
We hope all of our fellow countrymen along the storm's track have good luck and that the plans they have made are effective. This storm is going to present unprecedented problems for us all. I hope we are all ready.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Arrival of Fall Means Some Cable Interruptions
The delivery of cable television
programming bounced off of an orbiting satellite is an amazingly useful
and reliable way to get a wide variety of entertainment, but, twice a
year, it has some hiccups. Over the next several days those hiccups will
affect your television viewing for ten to fifteen minutes per day. Then
it will happen again in late spring as we look forward to summer again.
During the equinoxes, as the apparent path of the sun across our sky moves from the northern latitudes toward the southern ones (bringing with it Autumn), our satellite dish has trouble picking up the signals from the satellites out in space which are transmitting the cable programming. Anyone who has driven by our offices, and observed the giant dish looking at the southern sky, has seen the technology we use to deliver most of the cable channels you see in your homes. Except for about eighteen days per year, that dish easily receives those signals from a number of satellites parked out about 22,000 miles in the sky. Of course this applies only to the cable channels delivered via satellite. The ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and other network channels come in over the air to a conventional antenna and that transmission is not seasonally affected.
On those other days, the sun actually moves directly into a line stretching from the sun, to the satellites and then to our dish behind 100 Mallory Drive in Glasgow, Kentucky. For the time that those three elements line up (normally about 20 minutes per day), the satellite dish is blinded by the sun and cannot "see" the satellite. That results in your cable programming getting sparkles in it, then progressively getting worse until it actually falls apart for a few minutes. Then, as the earth rotates and the satellite reappears from the glare, the programming starts returning to normal gradually.
So, over the next few days, anytime between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. you might see this happening. Do not be alarmed. It just means that Fall is arriving in Glasgow!
During the equinoxes, as the apparent path of the sun across our sky moves from the northern latitudes toward the southern ones (bringing with it Autumn), our satellite dish has trouble picking up the signals from the satellites out in space which are transmitting the cable programming. Anyone who has driven by our offices, and observed the giant dish looking at the southern sky, has seen the technology we use to deliver most of the cable channels you see in your homes. Except for about eighteen days per year, that dish easily receives those signals from a number of satellites parked out about 22,000 miles in the sky. Of course this applies only to the cable channels delivered via satellite. The ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, and other network channels come in over the air to a conventional antenna and that transmission is not seasonally affected.
On those other days, the sun actually moves directly into a line stretching from the sun, to the satellites and then to our dish behind 100 Mallory Drive in Glasgow, Kentucky. For the time that those three elements line up (normally about 20 minutes per day), the satellite dish is blinded by the sun and cannot "see" the satellite. That results in your cable programming getting sparkles in it, then progressively getting worse until it actually falls apart for a few minutes. Then, as the earth rotates and the satellite reappears from the glare, the programming starts returning to normal gradually.
So, over the next few days, anytime between 10:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. you might see this happening. Do not be alarmed. It just means that Fall is arriving in Glasgow!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Get Involved in Planning Glasgow's Future
Where do you like to go for a little vacation? Of the 15,000 folks living in Glasgow, there might also be thousands of different answers to that question, but I am going to guess that most of those places have something in common. I am guessing that those places have beautiful vistas, and shopping, and cool locally owned restaurants. I am also going to guess that those features are somehow connected by pedestrian friendly sidewalks and trails. I bet there are a lot of bicycles around as well.
There is a move afoot to plan similar facilities for us to use when we are at home, right here in Glasgow. If that idea interests you at all, positively or negatively, you need to get involved. The professionals at our Joint City-County Planning Commission are working on a master plan for alternative transportation (often called a “greenway”) in and around Glasgow. As this process continues, they are asking (begging) the public to get involved by coming to some meetings to discuss the plan. The first meeting is on August 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Glasgow City Council Chambers.
The work ongoing right now is in the development of a long-range plan. No plans are actually being drawn to begin physical construction of anything. Rather, the group is working to identify goals and objectives, and gather input from the community on just what forms of alternate transportation plans they would like the local governments to be considering. You can click on this link http://www.glasgow-ky.com/planning/ to go the information already gathered by Kevin Myatt and his team. They would also love for you to click on the link to the survey on the same page and take a few minutes to answer some questions about how you might interact with a Glasgow Greenway.
Thanks for your attention to this very important project.
There is a move afoot to plan similar facilities for us to use when we are at home, right here in Glasgow. If that idea interests you at all, positively or negatively, you need to get involved. The professionals at our Joint City-County Planning Commission are working on a master plan for alternative transportation (often called a “greenway”) in and around Glasgow. As this process continues, they are asking (begging) the public to get involved by coming to some meetings to discuss the plan. The first meeting is on August 2 at 6:30 p.m. at Glasgow City Council Chambers.
The work ongoing right now is in the development of a long-range plan. No plans are actually being drawn to begin physical construction of anything. Rather, the group is working to identify goals and objectives, and gather input from the community on just what forms of alternate transportation plans they would like the local governments to be considering. You can click on this link http://www.glasgow-ky.com/planning/ to go the information already gathered by Kevin Myatt and his team. They would also love for you to click on the link to the survey on the same page and take a few minutes to answer some questions about how you might interact with a Glasgow Greenway.
Thanks for your attention to this very important project.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Beware of the Latest Fraud Attempt
Fraud
Alert
Consumers are being contacted via
telephone, fliers, e-mails and text messages and various other means. Scammers request the consumer’s Social
Security Number (SSN), financial institution routing number and
account number in order to send the money to the consumer. In return, the
consumers are given a fraudulent financial institution routing number to use in
order to pay their utility bills through an automated telephone service.
The payment service initially seems to
accept the payment and the consumer receives a payment confirmation
notice. Once the settlement processing
between banks begins, the payment is declined due to invalid banking
information. The consumer’s bill has not been paid and his/her SSN and personal
financial information have been compromised.
Never provide your personal
information and banking information to anyone who may call you claiming to be
from the Glasgow EPB, or anyone else. We do not request
this type of information from our customers to pay utility bills.
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Small Cable and Internet Rate Changes Coming August 1
We are very excited about a couple of big projects we are
working on. One of them will give us a new internet access provider, Level 3,
as we are working with several other Kentucky cities to build fiber into Metro
Nashville to connect to them. Adding another provider to our network will allow
us to continue ramping up our internet speeds for the foreseeable future! This
project, combined with other network upgrades about to be implemented, will
further cement EPB’s position as the unquestioned leader in network speed, and reliability
in our community.
This message also comes to inform you
of a small cable television and internet rate increase which will take effect
on August 1, 2012. Our rate for basic cable will increase by $1.50 per month
and our monthly rate for the digital tier will also increase by $1.50. We know
everyone hates rate increases, as do we.
However, try as we do, the spiraling demands for payment from the
broadcast stations in Bowling Green, Nashville, and Louisville, and some cable
channels such as Fox News make it impossible for us to avoid them.
On the same date we will also be
increasing our internet service rates by $1.50 per month. This small adjustment will allow us to
continue our investments in our networks, equipment, and personnel to keep your
EPB services very fast, and to provide the kind of customer service you expect.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
June Means Summer Pricing for EPB Power
Glasgow EPB belongs to you. There are about fifty folks that run the EPB for you, and we know that one of the main things you want us to do in running the business is to constantly look for ways to cut expenses. This is one of our central goals and we work hard to achieve it, but we have one single expense that represents about 80% of all of our costs, and we cannot control it. That expense is our power bill from TVA.
One June 1, the TVA wholesale rate goes into its summer mode wherein the energy we purchase from TVA on weekdays, between noon and 8:00 p.m., is more expensive. That means we need your help to achieve the goal of reducing this expense. We need for you to recognize this Time Of Use rate and respond by changing the way your home or business uses electricity.
You will, again, start hearing and seeing reminders from us. There will be commercials on cable television and other media outlets. The main Glasgow Homepage will feature a graph in the upper right hand side of the community’s total energy consumption for the present day. We will do all of these things throughout the summer peak months of June, July, August, and September in our attempt to enlist your help in accomplishing the goal of reducing expenses. This is a job we cannot do on our own.
You can help in many ways. If you install a programmable thermostat you can pre-cool your home or business in the mornings on weekdays by driving the temperature down to 69 degrees or lower. At noon you can tell your thermostat to allow the temperature to drift up to 77 or 78. This will make a huge difference in our energy costs. Additionally, you can avoid the use of the big appliances like the dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, range, and oven on weekday afternoons before 8:00 p.m.
Remember, starting June 1, we need your help in reducing electric usage between noon and 8:00 p.m. for the rest of the summer months.
One June 1, the TVA wholesale rate goes into its summer mode wherein the energy we purchase from TVA on weekdays, between noon and 8:00 p.m., is more expensive. That means we need your help to achieve the goal of reducing this expense. We need for you to recognize this Time Of Use rate and respond by changing the way your home or business uses electricity.
You will, again, start hearing and seeing reminders from us. There will be commercials on cable television and other media outlets. The main Glasgow Homepage will feature a graph in the upper right hand side of the community’s total energy consumption for the present day. We will do all of these things throughout the summer peak months of June, July, August, and September in our attempt to enlist your help in accomplishing the goal of reducing expenses. This is a job we cannot do on our own.
You can help in many ways. If you install a programmable thermostat you can pre-cool your home or business in the mornings on weekdays by driving the temperature down to 69 degrees or lower. At noon you can tell your thermostat to allow the temperature to drift up to 77 or 78. This will make a huge difference in our energy costs. Additionally, you can avoid the use of the big appliances like the dishwasher, clothes washer, clothes dryer, range, and oven on weekday afternoons before 8:00 p.m.
Remember, starting June 1, we need your help in reducing electric usage between noon and 8:00 p.m. for the rest of the summer months.
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Monday, March 12, 2012
Glasgow Graffiti
The Glasgow EPB wants to recognize the local artists in our area, by offering an opportunity to be seen by over 7,000 people each day! The website www.glasgow-ky.com has come to be known as the homepage for the entire city of Glasgow, and with it so has the iconic Glasgow banner logo. For years, the duty of designing and updating the logo has been handled by the EPB, but now we want to use this banner to showcase the talent of our local artists from preschool to senior citizens. Let us see your interpretation of the Glasgow logo in whatever medium you prefer – paint, crayon, chalk, pen and ink, or computer design. The only requirement is that the word “Glasgow” be incorporated in your design – use your imagination!
We hope to have enough entries so that a new design is featured frequently with the name and brief information about the artist. So, pull out those paint brushes, crayons and pencils and turn Glasgow into art!
To download an official entry form click here and to download a template which you can draw on, click here.
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