The Power! The Power!
Posted on February 17, 2008 Posted by John Scalzi 22 Comments
Power went out here just short of 11am and only now resumed. I am happy to report we did not have to eat any of the domestic animals in the ensuing, thankfully short-lived civilizational collapse.
Hope you all likewise managed to avoid the apocalypse.
The mutants are coming! Break out the jerky and ammo!
Had I only known, I’d have turned off a light in solidarity. I’m a really supportive kinda guy.
For future interest, Coleman makes some pretty awesome camp lights nowadays.
Last time our power was out for four days we bought two, and just one was bright up for my grandmother and I to sit in the living room and read at night. They take 8 D batteries, but it’s totally worth it if you’re tired of sitting in the dark.
I am happy to report we did not have to eat any of the domestic animals in the ensuing, thankfully short-lived civilizational collapse.
Well, that’s a relief…
Reminds me of that ’70s science miniseries Connections by James Burke. In one of the episodes he talks about the night the power went out through much of the northeast because of a simple relay switch that malfunctioned. People were trapped in elevators and subway trains, but simply sat and waited in the assumption that the power would come back on eventually.
The point he made in the episode is, what if everything stopped and never started again? How would people react to a fundamental breakdown of civilization? The answer is many people would die — starved because they don’t know how to survive in the wild, murdered because they’re not strong enough to defend themselves, etc.
So, all in all it’s a good thing the power came back on. Let’s hope the alternative never comes to pass…
So far here, only a couple brown outs. We’ve had the clingy, hangy, and very slippery type of freezing rain all day, so I wouldn’t be surprised if a couple power lines go dow[connection lost]
Dude!! You tellin’ me I didn’t have to have that apocalypse? Crap. Now I gotta put back my flashcards of the apocalypse. There I was instructin’ the younguns on the critical difference between zombies (ugly, slow moving, eat people), Mutants (ugly, fast moving, eat people), and senior citizens (It’s ugly, slow moving, get social security, don’t eat people, uuuusually . . . .), and how to tell them apart, (hint, see who reacts when the ss check is late . . . or who gets mad when you don’t take your xmas lights down in time . . .)
I believe the Ghlaghghee Fan Club will disapprove of your insinuation that your cats can be used as a food source.
umm… Moveable type had me as:
Arrow Quivershaft.
Now, not to urinate on anyone’s good handle, but I might resent the implication your blog is making about me and bodice rippers. (Though whether this would be the name of a hero or heroine, I submit to debate.)
Okay, MT strangeness aside, I was going to congratulate TexasPatrick on the apocalypse flashcards. Need to add that to my EOTWAWKI kit.
Boy… isn’t this awkward…no offense meant there #7.
Brett L @ #8…it happens to me quite frequently, being misnamed, so I definitely think it’s an MT bug of some type. It hasn’t happened in a couple of weeks, but when it does, I’m usually quite amused by the nickname (or mishmash of recently used nicknames) it gives me.
None taken, Brett.
“Power went out here just short of 11am and only now resumed. I am happy to report we did not have to eat any of the domestic animals in the ensuing, thankfully short-lived civilizational collapse.
Hope you all likewise managed to avoid the apocalypse.”
Speaking of which, have you read “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling?
With best wishes,
– Tom –
Kohler makes really nice automatic backup generators. Voltage and frequency stabilized to be kind to master’s nice electronics. Runs off the 500-gallon LP tank. Did I mention that increasingly utility infrastructures in the U.S. are getting creaky and we’re getting all this wild weather these days?
Just sayin’…
Dr. Phil
The wind has been pretty vicious today in SW Ohio today … that’s probably the culprit. I’ve already got the generator filled up, since the wind meter at the local airport is saying 20mph+ with up to 35mph gusts.
Oh, and it never hurts to check out back-up power sources. Couldn’t afford a generator, battery-backups didn’t have enough power, so we found a batter pack that does everything we want–can run the blower for the (gas) hot water heater off it, run the refrigerator every few hours to keep it down to temp, and it can be charged off a car battery.
Not great for the apocalypse, but if that comes, we’re heading out of town anyway.
HA! I think you’da gotten eaten in the power going out, son. Them cats is mean looking at Kodi looks hungry for flesh. You wonder how ZeusTempKat survived in the wild; wonder what he live don before then?
John, if only you used a Mac, this wouldn’t have happened.
That’s what happens when you auto-install patches for the toaster…
John H.
I’ve been reading S.M. Stirling’s The Change novels that hinge on just this plot point – all at once, electricity and explosions (and apparently all other high-pressure technology) ceases to work. Is not pretty.
I is taking notes…
TexasPatrick
Dude. Please tell me those flash cards are real. Saving throw vs shiny just rolled up a natural 1, with an additional -5 on ST vs stuff involving zombies. Seriously, epic fail of, well, apocalyptic levels going on over here.
*slobber*
I’m a big fan of end-of-the-world stories and S.M. Stirling’s series is just another in a long line. Charles Sheffield’s Aftermath series deals with a similar problem but set in the middle of the 21st century, the near future. If you think blackouts in the present are bad, imagine when EVERYTHING is run by computer chips which is rapidly becoming the reality.
As you should know, cat is the other white meat, after all.
I’m being a broken record, but remember what I said about “Cryanthology?”
I suppose it is too soon to have the windmill in the backyard I suggested?
One serious suggestion for people concerned with electrical outages is a voltage inverter instead of a generator. You hook it up to your car battery and let your car generate the electricity. This takes advantage of the large gas tank cars have.
Pay attention to the wattage though. The tiny cheap ones won’t handle much more than a computer or very small light. The big ones can handle large appliances such as freezers or furnaces.