Lighting does seem to be key. No matter what the emergency, if power is out, and night approaches, lighting is the weakest link of all--it seems so many things still need to be done after dark and one lonesome candle just doesn't cut it for many tasks.
Lighting is also on my mind a LOT right now. Today I meant to call Kansas Wind Power, but will tomorrow, as the guy there has been a sort of alternative energy guy for decades, literally, and he said he rides his bike into town rather than drive, and has two "baskets", one on each side of rear wheel.Lighting does seem to be key. No matter what the emergency, if power is out, and night approaches, lighting is the weakest link of all--it seems so many things still need to be done after dark and one lonesome candle just doesn't cut it for many tasks.
ilinda, you have brought up a really important point...
There have been so many tops posted on lighting including really cheap inventions and jerry rigged things...but time to repost and make things clearer now.
I would like to gather them up...time I learned how to rig it up...
Also would be good to know 4-sure, what things to buy to guarantee battery charging...
I thought I had posted one ad about a battery operated lamp for sale guaranteed for 20 yrs... That would probably be 20 yrs of light, nighttime use...
Important to keep the leds going too for food growing inside.
Here are some reports on in-progress development of new magnesium batteries, which will not be explosive like the lithium ones. Volatility is caused by liquid electrolytes that travel back and forth between poles. Magnesium batteries will be designed using solid-state semiconductors rather than liquid electrolytes.Magnesium batteries do have more appeal than Lithium.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/12/01/magnesium-batteries-safer-more-efficient-than-lithium/
https://oilprice.com/Alternative-Energy/Renewable-Energy/The-Biggest-Threat-To-Lithium-Ion-Batteries.html
When these arrive in the marketplace, I plan to send every lithium battery in the house to a hazardous waste center...
A few years ago we were staying at a motel in St. Louis and just before bed around midnight, the power went out. Well, no problem we thought, but decided to walk down the hall and get more ice or something like that.
On our way down hall, with flashlight in hand, we could see people looking fearful, and actually coming out of their rooms (!!) to see what happened to the power. One guy even asked us nervously, "where did you get the flashlight?", as if it would be an abnormal thing to carry a flashlight when traveling!
This was an accidental lesson for us and a reminder to keep in the back of one's mind that we're totally or mostly dependent on others when we travel away from home and even something as seemingly minor as flashlight, matches, blanket, etc., are requirements for road travel, when not carrying the "bugout bag".
Thanks Ilinda, for a good reminder to keep even a modicum of personal necessities in the car and in our purses (for the ladies). Even just a few bandages, wet wipes, flashlight, a functional pen and paper, map book, clippers or small scissors, magnifying glass for detailed maps, a few antihistimines, tissues or paper napkins, a little trash bag, some coins, and a blanket in case of winter car trouble, most of which could fit in the glove box or console.
Other items? :)
Barb, Do you pack heat? ;)
Our grid is so rickety that it probably won't require much to take it down, regardless of who does it! :-X
I wonder whether blackouts would happen simultaneously everywhere at once, or if there might be roving blackouts enabling people in various locations access to some fuel, food and other supplies, however unreliably?I'm no expert in this stuff, not even rated at amateur level, but it all reminds me of the warnings we've all seen about the DANGER of opening an old-fashioned TV due to the potential shock from the capacitor. Aren't they sometimes capable of delivering, like 10,000 volts of electricity? All at once. That is the problem. If only someone could figure out how to tone it down and have it trickle out...well, you know, like a battery.
Also, it seems that earth changes may be accompanied by new, perhaps volatile, energy sources that could be harnessed, if only we knew how with any degree of safety. Examples would be polar plasma streams, awakening geothermal fields, surfacing magma, new bodies of water, higher winds, etc. Thoughts?
so the obvious question is, are they actually preparing everyone for PX flyby?
Has anyone ever heard of a situation like that before?
What a sad story. I had not kept up with the details of the Venezuelan crisis, but it appears that most people there are between a rock and a hard place. If they migrate, what will they eat and where will the stay? On such short notice there may not be enough resources to sustain many of those migrating.
...May their migrations occur in such a manner as not to overwhelm local rural populations and ecosystems within safe havens. May the resources of safe locations be supernaturally stretched, as needed, in order to facilitate the inclusion of Venezuelans migrating from other parts of the country...
It's good that you're keeping track of this and documenting it Max - someone should also add mention of the numerous other major cities and countries that have experienced blackouts recently:
Whether the power is being cut systematically for some unknown purpose, or is a random or natural occurrence (due to astrophysical cycles?)
This is definatley a new kind of “warfare” taken to a whole new level of sophistication ..
'Course, I don't usually have a reason to be any place that has subways, elevators, etc. :-XR.R. that's a good thing. :)
800,000 Californians To Lose Power After Midnight! ???I don't understand the part about the "effort to avoid starting a wildfire..." Are they saying that just having electricity flowing through the wires is conducive to wildfires? Or is there something implied that some of us are missing?
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/800000-californians-lose-power-after-midnight
Nearly 800,000 customers of bankrupt utility PG&E will lose power starting just after midnight as the embattled utility launches a (long-overdue) effort yet to avoid starting a wildfire in extremely dry and windy weather.
Does this sound like practice for M. L.?
The more we talk about these things, the less likely that they'll take place, because now there's scrutiny.
California complaining that the radio repeater towers have been taken down, just as Common Sense Show had reported earlier, meaning that ham radios are rendered inoperable.
Do I understand correctly Max that there is a workaround for when the repeaters are down? Could you explain in simple terms how that is possible, for people like me who are ignorant about this niche?
So this device is a back-up to the ham radio that each operator is recommended to have on hand?
Technologically Assisted Disaster Capitalism
In 2009 we experienced an "inland hurricane", our first, and within the 88-110 mph straight-line winds of the hurricane were "funnel cloud spin-offs". Long story short, hubby was out of town, and I was on the farm, indoors, and heard and felt the wind and rain escallating, then the power went off, and not too long after that, I heard up above what sounded like a freight train in the process of accelerating--think "choo choo". It sounded a lot like a very loud automatic washing machine that was out of balance, and that's when I realized it sounds like they describe a tornado--close up. The "choo choo" sound got louder so I grabbed the cat and ran outdoors, and literally tossed him under the porch, then I joined him, and held on to one of the porch posts, while being pelted with torrential rain.
Here’s What Happens When You Go Without Power for 7 Days: You don’t really realize how much you need electric power, until you are left without it!! :-[
https://thegratedepresion.home.blog/2020/01/10/what-happens-when-you-go-without-power-for-7-days/
I don’t know if you’ve ever lived through a major power outage, but I have. I live in a hurricane zone, so I guess it’s no surprise that I would end up suffering through a hurricane sometime. The one I got wasn’t one of the big, sexy ones which brought in FEMA agents and lots of non-profit agencies to help us recover, but it was bad enough that it took a week for our power to get back on, so we could put our lives back together.
You don’t really realize how much you need electric power, until you are left without it. As a society, we are addicted to electricity. Pretty much everything we do uses electricity in one way or another, even activities which we think aren’t electrified.
When the power goes out, you really notice it; and the longer it is out, the more things it affects. Life gets harder rather quickly, as we wonder how we are going to do even the basic necessities for survival, let alone the day-to-day activities we are used to.
Looking at the way things are in California right now, this may be something we all need to get used to. The rolling blackouts they are having right now are due to a series of errors, some made by the power company and some by the government.
The government blames the utilities for not properly maintaining their lines, while the utility companies are blaming the government for forcing them to invest the money that should have gone into that maintenance, into expensive green energy projects.
When the Power Went Out
I first noticed that the power went out when my computer suddenly shut off. This wasn’t the first time that had happened to me, as power outages in the middle of a storm are fairly normal. I figured that the power would come on in a while and in the mean time, I could have a snack and watch the rain.
Later that Day
Thank God, the lights came back on. We have power once again. Things are starting to settle down. Where it was looking like we were going to have High Noon in the streets of our neighborhood just a few hours ago, things look civilized once again. People have put their guns away again. Some food trucks have shown up and I see smiles on faces once more.
So that was my experience. I’m glad it wasn’t any worse. But what about you? Have you lived through something similar? Have you had the lights go out? How did you handle it? How did your neighbors? What did you learn that you were doing wrong?
The biggest questions are, what will the people do when they make that final realization that the power is not coming back any time soon? Will they turn on each other just because they are angry and don't know what else to do? Will those who run out of fuel for their generators turn on those who still have fuel? (My guess is yes, they will.) At some point, will the last two households with generator fuel have a duel to see who uses the last drop of fuel? Or will the first few to run out of fuel get together and begin to gang up on those with fuel, one by one, until nobody has fuel? It is difficult to know exactly what would happen, but my best guess is that it will not be pretty.
What did we learn? One thing is, that all a generator does is give a person a false sense of security. It only prolongs the inevitable in the case of a very long term outage. It also perpetuates dependence on "The Man" for survival. The outage made us more aware that we need to hone our skills for outdoor cooking, with which we are already familiar, but skills can get rusty. Time to practice using fire-sticks.