Internet Outage!

[crow]

Yesterday, for several hours, internet access went out, all over southern B.C.
I did the usual diagnostics, wondering if my machine had glitched, then the router, then the modem...
A call to my provider showed they were inundated with calls.
A call to an off-island friend confirmed she had access.
Then she called back, after actually checking what she had initially assumed, and said she hadn't.
I remembered reading, earlier that day, of current solar storms bigger than the Earth...
Leaving me with the thought: "What if it never came back, ever, again?"

I have a life where, apart from habitual preferences, and accustomed ways of operating, it really wouldn't affect me, or my wife, very much.
But could that be said of the larger population?
How would this scenario affect you?

[lafindumonde]

There is a large US-based "survivalist" movement based around this focus. It has become large enough to be mocked by the mainstream media (e.g. "Doomsday preppers") if that means anything.

There are even conferences now.

If you ignore some of the sillier paranoid manifestations, what it really comes down to is rediscovering and learning what our grandparents knew (but our parents no longer thought was important) - basic gardening, canning, hunting, and preparation skills. As far as I know, the Mormons are the only ones who made this a central part of their religion.

Here's a bunch of websites:

http://offgridsurvival.com/survivalwebsites/



Personally, my life would be dramatically effected and made much more difficult in a disaster/SHTF type scenario. My lifestyle is centrally dependent on electricity, gasoline, food supply chain stores and the internet.

[lafindumonde]

The survivalist community is a bit of a comedy. It has taken what was basic life skills for our grandparents and turned them into trendy hobbies. Such as "living off the grid", or having a "preparedness garden" or a "SHTF stockpile"

My Grandpa grew up "off the grid" and his protein sources were entirely from fishing and hunting. Gardening was a diet necessity. Canning and having a pantry was simply how you lived. It wasn't a hobby for bored city folk.

[Humanicide]

The survivalist community is a bit of a comedy. It has taken what was basic life skills for our grandparents and turned them into trendy hobbies. Such as "living off the grid", or having a "preparedness garden" or a "SHTF stockpile"

My Grandpa grew up "off the grid" and his protein sources were entirely from fishing and hunting. Gardening was a diet necessity. Canning and having a pantry was simply how you lived. It wasn't a hobby for bored city folk.

Well, don't you think that's a better use of their time, possibly teaching skills like that to their children, than fucking up in all other sorts of ways that modern people can?

I think the whole "survivalist" movement is a bit funny, and perhaps unnecessarily paranoid, but I do admire their drive in terms of "being prepared".

[crow]

Good point. Being 'prepared' is a lot more difficult that it might at first seem.
It takes foresight, commitment, and determination.
Good conservative qualities.
A bit of paranoia notwithstanding, which is entirely understandable, given the state of things.