This probably indicates how warped my media consumption habits have become: although the article originates from one of my hometown newspapers, I didn't come across it until it showed up on Technorati's radar:
Towering design flaws
The usual suspects -- politicians, regulators, deregulators, utilities, and environmentalists -- were promptly rounded up when the Aug. 14 blackout lost 61 billion watts of capacity in nine seconds. Yet the real culprit was none of the above -- just as in 1965, 1977, and other regional blackouts that I described in a 1981 report for the Pentagon, Brittle Power: Energy Strategy for National Security (http://www.rmi.org/sitepages/pid533.php).
The real cause is the overcentralized power grid. Its giant machines spin in exact synchrony across half a continent, co-ordinated by frail aerial arteries and continuous, precise technical controls. Usually, it works well. But every few years by mishap, or anytime by malice, it can fail catastrophically.