WHO COULD HAVE SEEN THIS COMING? Solar-Powered California Warned to Unplug for August Eclipse.

State energy officials are warning residents to click off all lights they don’t need and unplug all electrical appliances when 62 percent of the sun disappears over Los Angeles during a partial solar eclipse that is expected that day.

Nobody is warning of blackouts. But then again, nobody knows what will happen.

“When the sun goes away, so does the energy that powers our renewable solar panels. If millions of Californians turn off appliances and power strips to unplug from the grid during the eclipse, we can let our hard-working sun take a break,” said Michael Picker, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

Pre-modern societies trembled at unforeseeable eclipses, and in postmodern California it’s pretty much the same story.