Richard Norman <rsnorman at mediaone.net> wrote in message
news:rvVm5.17922$%P2.1619744 at typhoon.mw.mediaone.net...
[snip]
> Perhaps an analogy might be to consider the overall energy use by
> television sets during the political conventions vs. during a "normal"
> evening. Specific subpopulations might change their television usage
> during this time, and other subpopulations might change which specific
> channel is being watched, but the overall energy consumption in a large
> city probably doesn't change by a detectable amount.
> [snip]
In the early days of television, I lived in a small town where there
was only one TV station accessible and no cable or satellite. When there
was a commercial break in a popular program, the water pressure would
decrease, because everybody flushed their toilets at the same time.
Perhaps the small-town analogy would be like an abnormal person who
focused all his attention on one thing. ??
