Yesterday was pretty typical. There were a dozen things I wanted to blog about. Most days I just get up and walk away, don't bother to post anything. Blogging takes time, energy and I like to do a bit of research rather than just shoot from the hip. Right now, I'm going to do a little shooting from the hip.
From youth scouting to volunteering for Red Cross to Civil Defense, I was taught to "be prepared" and that has served me well. A bit of foresight, the ability to see future possibilities allows one to prepare for alternatives. Diving under a desk when you live in Ground Zero is just plain silly, always was. Having the ability to get through a few days or even a couple of weeks without electricity, not silly. I remember "before" the Internet (actually, I remember when many didn't have phones or had party line phones but that's another story). Before, now how did we function back then? I'm not really sure. I am sure that we'd nearly all have trouble functioning without Internet NOW.
Back when the Internet was starting up, there were warnings for us to make sure it stayed "safe" from hackers, from becoming too dependent, too fast. Oh, well. Those warnings were dismissed; those giving the warnings became the marginalized fanatics if they persisted. We don't want to hear that the sky is falling even if it is. Then comes the day when the sky is falling and it's for pretty sure. The mainstream media picks up the story. If you missed 60 Minutes this past Sunday, you really should go watch the segment on cyber attacks. They're saying our electronic "Pearl Harbor" was in 2007 and there's been at least one worse attack since then. Criminals have stolen ginormous sums from banks. Any wonder we're paying double digit interest rates on loans? Who knows what fingers they have in the stock markets which really are merely a matter of faith and trust. Back up above 10,000? Invest, INVEST. Why? So there can be more manipulation, more illusory wealth snatched away along with real wealth? By whom? Criminals? The greedy? Is there a difference?
And then there's the possibility our electrical grid will be knocked out. Not because of Y2K but because hackers have finally figured out how to do it. Oh, yes, indeed they have. And smart folks we, we decided to deregulate electricity so the competition drives prices down and the companies scrimp to make their profits. They haven't maintained the infrastructure as anyone who's lived through a tremendous storm alone can attest. When that power goes down, it may not come back any time soon. So far, they just seem to be playing, tinkering. They've knocked out power down south, way down south, in Brazil (which has power as a government project but they didn't do maintenance either). Whether yesterday's outage there was from hackers or something else, the story will give you an idea of what it's like to be sans power for a bit, along with a glimpse of the problems an outage can cause. Here in the Houston area: "Several communities southeast of Houston were without power early this afternoon. The cities of Friendswood, Alvin and League City suffered an outage around noon." Did it ever come back on? Was the outage just small company...? Hackers? We know the grid is haphazardly intertwined so does it matter? Enough small outages or a cascading failure of poorly maintained structures? We may be without power for an extended period of time no matter the cause and havoc will surely ensue for some.
Given the ever declining economy and government imposing additional taxes on those who can still pay just to try to keep those who can't alive ('cause governments didn't plan for a rainy day either), can you even afford to put together a "go kit" or lay in supplies? My mother always said that urban myths and science fiction had SOME basis in fact and history, you just have to look for it or wait for science to prove it up. Perhaps we should all pay a little more attention to the marginalized fringe. They may have some points worth considering. Foresight v. hindsight; which can we afford least?
Signed: Chicken Little, alive and kicking, TOLD YOU SO (and who is that man behind that curtain over there?)