Month: April 2012

Power cut

Most of Cyprus experienced a major power cut today.  Cyprus Mail reports that it was due to a malfunction at Dhekelia power station.

A malfunction at the Dhekelia power station in the early morning hours caused a major power failure, which affected most of the island.

The Electricity company (EAC) said a unit at the Dhekelia station failed at 4.45 am triggering the collapse of the whole system. At the time, Dhekelia was supplying the whole island with power.

It is unclear what caused the initial failure.

Since last year’s explosion and power cuts, a lot of people, including yours truly, have been wondering if any changes were made to the management of the infrastructure.  Last year made it clear that there was no disaster recovery plan of any kind.  And while 9 month is not a lot of time, given the complexity of the problem, it looks like nothing changed.  We are still at the stage where a single mistake or malfunction can throw the country into darkness.  With summer approaching and electricity demand going up, I think we’ll see more of these cuts and blackouts.

Microwave Dave & The Nukes – Road Runner

Here’s a blues band that gets me moving and shaking and singing every single time – Microwave Dave & The Nukes.  I’ve got an album of theirs and pretty much every single song is full of energy.  I couldn’t find any official videos, so here’s a semi-street performance video of their Road Runner.  But you can get some of their music in good quality mp3 format.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VGf0u-xOYU]

 

Reduction of roaming prices in EU

Cyprus Mail shares some good news:

CYPRIOTS and other EU nationals on the move will now enjoy cheaper roaming charges under a deal struck yesterday by the European Commission and its lawmakers.

[…]

Under the new deal, charges on calls made while travelling in other EU countries cannot exceed 29 cents per minute and calls received while outside the home country should cost no more than 8 cents per minute.

Sending a text message while away has a ceiling charge of 9 cents per minute and accessing the internet, 70 cents per megabyte.

Currently under Cyta’s monthly-pay plan, roaming charges within the EU cost 41 cents per minute for an outgoing call, 12 cents per minute for a received call, 12 cents per text message, and 73 cents per megabyte for internet access. The new charges should reduce the cost of a call significantly for people using their mobile phones within the bloc. On outgoing calls alone users will save 12 cents per minute with the charge dropping from 41 cents to 29 cents.
By 2014 yesterday’s newly-agreed caps should go down by almost another third except internet costs, which would drop to 20 cents per megabyte, reports from Brussels said.

Ignoring the actual numbers, that’s music to my ears.  I hope mobile Internet will go cheaper faster than that.