Had a note from my friend Gaye at www.backdoorsurvival.com overnight that gets us into a whole frenzy of thoughts this morning:
Seems up in the (drop-dead gorgeous) San Juans Islands yesterday there was another internet and phone problem and Gaye had to drive over to the other side of their island to get her site updated.
There was even an article about it on San Juan Island Update over here. (The outage, not Gaye’s midnight ride to pick up connectivity at the ferry landing…lol)
But that gets us to a pretty interesting point to ponder: Namely, how many “on-ramps” to the Internet does a person need to keep on hot standby these days?
At the moment, we’re down to only three: One on each of two phone lines and a third via what used to be WildBlue but which is now called Exede. (Why they changed their name is still a mystery, other than maybe they ran out of the old stationery, or something, but I digress…)
Sitting here even with three wireless routers to select from, I sill miss our old higher-speed private microwave connection. Unfortunately that went away due to trees (on the property of others) taking the signal down so far the connection became useless.
I had mulled around having my attorney send letters to the property owners between me and the microwave tower and I’m sure that could have gotten the trees topped, but then we’d be talking about who pays for the work and that sort of thing. Seemed like driving to a hot-spot would be our back-up, though not our choice, too.
Still, in the event of a major disruption to life – everything from a global subsidence event to massive quakes to martial law – how many on-ramps do you have?
Assuming the ‘net stays up, itself, of course.
One of our nightmare “worst case” scenarios is that in the current flood of illegal immigration will be used as cover to sneak-in a dozen, or so, 3-man teams highly trained in communications disruption. All they would need to do is identify the key fiber optic switches of the Internet and pull the plug.
Without bank card processing, given how the feds have been attacking cash by making it unwieldy to use not to mention having banks do paper trails for almost anything over about $1,500, or so for fear that money might be used for some illegal purpose, Am,erica would collapse in short order.
The problem, though, as you can see, is not solved by just having a multiplicity of on-ramps at your home.
As Gaye found out last night: You can have robust home computing and a dig-up can still take out service. The last night the Islands lost internet service, a year or two back, was due to an undersea earthquake triggering a rock slide that sliced the cable.
I may have to send here a note about how to put up a 150-foot tower and shoot from her home over into Canada for a backup system…or get one of these Excede things. But even these have limitations, not the least of which is bad weather when even these go out.
The correct answer to this morning’s question is therefore “One can never have too many on-ramps to the ‘net” but in addition to that “Ever think about life without electronica?”
The UK had a nation-wide banking outage Wednesday. So the possibility is not entirely out of the question..
Another Prepping / Electronica Note
Oilman2 spotted a great post on the Swiss site Offiziere.ch which has the interesting title “U.S. Army: We have no idea how to wage war in Megacities”
The main takeaway by OM2 is the predominance of electronica in megacities is a major reason why the dot-mils and politicos want those internet kill switches. Can’t have communications disrupting MOUT mobile operations in urban terrain, now, can we? It’s fun to be “doctrine literate” by also quite worrisome at times. Times like since NORTHCOM…ahem…
Gee, What Did I Write?
Got an email that had me looking at the Peoplenomics site to figure out what I wrote..
Issue # 667-B June 21, 2014 post information close to worth $40/year subscription.
Ah! Holistic Backup Energy Systems…. There’s a lot more in back issues (that go back to 2001). Try doing a a Master Index search on “robust” and you’ll find even more notes on robust home power systems.
Although it’s a little late to be thinking about such things if you’re scrambling to load up on supplies prior to Arthur showing up. Tell ‘em Hi for us…
The Kid with the Typo Gene
I have to admit being proud as hell of my kids…each is going off doing really neat things. Although I saw on my son’s FB page that he’s apparently inherited my “typo gene…”
George wrote: “I love my life because I am now doing things I used to only dream about. Like being a legit and proficient medical professional, traveling all over the world, being a skydiver and almost becoming a private pilot (I would have become a pilot however skydiving is WAY more fun than flying a piloting an aircraft, my dad George Ure Sr. would disagree but anyways).
The point is that all of these major accomplishments (and more) were at some point shthere were all just dreampade them come true by first believing in them then taking aggressive action to make them all a reality. I had to learn”
There were a lot of other good answers to Amber Swanger’s request “Someone tell me why they LOVE THEIR LIFE!!””
G-2’s got a decent collection of skydiving pictures on his page over here…
Say, that’s something you could do this weekend if you haven’t made plans yet: Get thee to a skydiving center and jump. (Send your experiences/pix if you actually do it…I’ll be the guy polishing the old airplane…)
I don’t wanna hear no whining about “I didn’t do anything on the Fourth…” If you do, you might as well hold us a sign that says “I have no imagination, no vision, no aspirations, no goals and I really am a useless eater…”
What a person does at work defines their paycheck. What they do in their free time defines their soul.
And just remember the Texas oil saying “If it flies, floats, or (that other F-word), you can rent it or lease it.
God Bless America on the Fourth
And to help with the patriotic theme of the day, let’s all work together to limit elected officials to Two Terms
- One term in office
- One term in prison
No, I’m not bright enough to think that up. But I am bright enough to share it…
Drop by tomorrow for a really long post/debate with a reader who doesn’t like my view on immigration.
And in the meantime, write when you break-even, or hear of a party us old fogies can get to…
George george@ure.net