Ngah!

[Ewobbit]

Lost electricity for awhile. Confusing as hell. Apparently the people in the front half moved and the electric company cut us off. And then charged a whopping deposit because there was no record and they needed us to bring in a notarized copy of our lease (again) and blah de blah de blah. However, we still had water which is through the same company. (Don't ask me. I'm still confused as hell.)

TIRED of Peanut Butter. (No food that needed refrigeration or cooking survived.) And ready for freakin' snow again before we got the AC going. (Only high 80s, thank God, but damn it! And screw your dry heat! A freakin' convection oven is dry too.)

Naturally all my notes were on computer and couldn't access them to do any writing until just a couple of hours ago. And naturally I had a ton of ideas while I couldn't do a damn thing with them. (Once I started reading over the stuff I was working on as the guy was cutting power, I trashed it. Starting over from scratch.)

I did however get a chance to finish re-reading Butcher's Dresden Files and P.N. Elrod's stuff (while the sun was up mostly although did a little reading by flickering candle. ) So glad we've still got a couple hundred real books and aren't totally reliant on electronic media.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Lost electricity for awhile. Confusing as hell. Apparently the people in the front half moved and the electric company cut us off. And then charged a whopping deposit because there was no record and they needed us to bring in a notarized copy of our lease (again) and blah de blah de blah. However, we still had water which is through the same company. (Don't ask me. I'm still confused as hell.)

TIRED of Peanut Butter. (No food that needed refrigeration or cooking survived.) And ready for freakin' snow again before we got the AC going. (Only high 80s, thank God, but damn it! And screw your dry heat! A freakin' convection oven is dry too.)

Naturally all my notes were on computer and couldn't access them to do any writing until just a couple of hours ago. And naturally I had a ton of ideas while I couldn't do a damn thing with them. (Once I started reading over the stuff I was working on as the guy was cutting power, I trashed it. Starting over from scratch.)

I did however get a chance to finish re-reading Butcher's Dresden Files and P.N. Elrod's stuff (while the sun was up mostly although did a little reading by flickering candle. ) So glad we've still got a couple hundred real books and aren't totally reliant on electronic media.

Dresden file time is never wasted time!

 

[BuckyDuckman]

Lost electricity for awhile.
<snip>
So glad we've still got a couple hundred real books and aren't totally reliant on electronic media.

During a power outage, I once caught myself reading a TV Guide by candlelight. My dear wife was nice enough to point out how ironic that was. Glad you've got your power back.

 

[Hypoxia]

During the not-uncommon power outages in our remote mountain hamlet we light candles, read actual paper by warm light, listen to the local classical station on a hand-crank radio, fuck, eat granola bars, and think about driving somewhere. If the phone lines are still up we can run laptops off the UPS for a bit. Our new housecar (and its generator) will change the dynamics a bit. We'll just pretend we're campering in the driveway. Or drive away.

 

[JKendallDane]

So glad we've still got a couple hundred real books and aren't totally reliant on electronic media.

I had a friend look at me like I'd grown a third eye when I mentioned I had nearly 500 real books in my library. "But why when you have the internet and all those eBooks available?" was the question he added.

I simply looked at him and asked, "And how many times over the last 20 years have we been without cable, internet, cell towers, or any power for ten days to two weeks after a hurricane? I can only reread those dozen copies of Reader's Digest so many times before I start quoting them."

I'm still not certain he truly understood.
.

 

[sr71plt]

Then there's the point that I hadn't even heard the word "Internet" until 1997 when I was informed that, as my office's product officer, I was going to have to start moving an international news agency to Internet communications. I had bought and shelved a whole hell of a lot of print books by 1997. I still haven't managed to read all of those yet.

 

[TxRad]

Ah yes, what to do when the power cord is cut. Hundreds of plot bunnies, at a modest estimation.

 

[Ewobbit]

I think that's one of those things people can't quite grasp until they are in it and going "ok, I'm bored."

As far as driving away from it... According to the Americans with Disabilities Act, I'm still licensed. Of course, if you read the fine print down at the bottom, if I should get in accident I can be charged the same as DUI. Eh, no thanks. I'll sit out on the porch with my therapy dog tied to my ankle and read by sunlight. (She's in a snit since I'm back online.)

However, after reading Golden Cajones' thread, I'm kicking myself for not re-reading Goodkind instead of Elrod.

Can't regret Dresden though. Hey, MagicaPractica... is it just me or is the stage all but set for Molls to vamp on Dresden since she took over as the Winter Princess and he's the Winter Knight?

"What are you doing with those handcuff keys?"

"Think about this one before you answer. Are you sure you want to know?"

 

[Hypoxia]

We used to carry boxloads of library materials when we went offline camping. Now we take tablets, laptops, portable drives overloaded with texts, etc. But we've only tossed maybe a ton of paper. We've much more to occupy us. And it's always useful for campfire tinder or erosion control in the gully.

 

[sr71plt]

Alas, I still lug around paperbacks.

 

[Handley_Page]

Well, If the power goes out,
there's always the fall-back method: Pencil & Paper.
(never been know to fail).

 

[oggbashan]

Well, If the power goes out,
there's always the fall-back method: Pencil & Paper.
(never been know to fail).

For writing in space, the Americans devised a pen that would write in zero gravity.

The Russians took pencils.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Ah yes! Back in February 1977 it snowed here in Tampa. And while it snowed a clown lost control of his car and hit a power pole near by. No heat or light for several hours while the mess is removed and replaced.

We had 3 kids on that occasion. We buried them inside sleeping bags then made child #4 to keep ourselves warm. Any port in a snow storm. Child #4 came along 9 months later in November 1977.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, If the power goes out,
there's always the fall-back method: Pencil & Paper.
(never been know to fail).

Now if I could get someone who can decipher my handwriting for me--even when I haven't written it in the dark.

 

[Handley_Page]

Now if I could get someone who can decipher my handwriting for me--even when I haven't written it in the dark.

Well, good sir, the answer is, as usual, PRACTICE

 

[sr71plt]

Yeah, right. I'll add "writing legibly in the dark" to my list of things to do--at the end of the list.

 

[Hypoxia]

I took drafting / mechanical drawing classes in middle school. I learned how to print legibly. Next to the prior year's typing class, it was my most useful life-training. Writing implements and paper notepads are always with me... as is a little voice recorder for when writing is hazardous. Like driving.

*Really* portable voice recorders are great. In the last two decades I've burnt through two reporter's cassette recorders, two microcassette models, and I'm on my third digital voice recorder. Don't leave home without one. And extra batteries, of course.

My dad was trained in Palmer-style handwriting, absolutely beautiful script, flowing, lucid. That was ancient history by the time I reached school. No handwriting for me, thanks.

 

[Handley_Page]

I took drafting / mechanical drawing classes in middle school. I learned how to print legibly. Next to the prior year's typing class, it was my most useful life-training. Writing implements and paper notepads are always with me... as is a little voice recorder for when writing is hazardous. Like driving.

*Really* portable voice recorders are great. In the last two decades I've burnt through two reporter's cassette recorders, two microcassette models, and I'm on my third digital voice recorder. Don't leave home without one. And extra batteries, of course.

My dad was trained in Palmer-style handwriting, absolutely beautiful script, flowing, lucid. That was ancient history by the time I reached school. No handwriting for me, thanks.

I'd never heard of Palmer or Spencer, or their hand-writing methods, but I was taught the shape of the letters very similar to Palmer. Then I caught Polio. Kinda ruined my penmanship. . . .
But I suspect a manual typewriter might also help in the candle-light.
And there's always block capitals for those whose cursive isn't quite up to snuff. . .

 

[R. Richard]

I still had power this morning., However, my Internet modem died.

 

[Bramblethorn]

For writing in space, the Americans devised a pen that would write in zero gravity.

The Russians took pencils.

Not quite! This one gets told a lot as an illustration of government profligacy, but the truth is very different.

Initially, both US and Soviet space programs used pencils of one variety or another. (NASA used high-quality mechanical pencils that cost $128 a unit, which does seem excessive, especially for the 1960s.) But pencils of any kind are a menace in space. They shed little bits of graphite that float around and get in people's eyes, or drift into important electronics and short them out, or they catch fire in the high-oxygen environment. After Apollo 1, NASA did their best to avoid having anything flammable in their craft.

The Fisher Pen Company saw a business opportunity, spent about a million dollars of their own money (not public funds) and developed a pen that was safe for writing in space.

NASA bought four hundred of them, at a bulk rate that ended up about $2.40 per unit, about a fiftieth of what they'd been paying for pencils. And not just NASA; the Soviets bought a hundred for their space program, because they didn't like pencils either.

Meanwhile, Fisher got a great marketing angle, and I assume they made their investment back by using the publicity to sell their pens to the public. It was a big success all round, and it's sad that it got distorted into a caricature "wasteful government spending" story.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/13103/russians-didnt-just-use-pencils-space

 

[sr71plt]

Not quite! This one gets told a lot as an illustration of government profligacy, but the truth is very different.

There's a lot of that going on.

 

[Hypoxia]

I envisage Soviet cosmonauts with yellow #2 Fabers or their Russki equivalent shoved into cheap pencil sharpeners, bits of wood and carbon floating in null-G -- but of course they had little vacu-bots swimming around inhaling the debris. Or maybe a babushka with a whisk broom (and chrome-sucking lips so the cosmo-boys aren't lost in buggery).

Then I envision a baghead space program. No pens or pencils; crayons will do. (I recall the tale of Erich Siegel's submission of LOVE STORY to the Library of Congress rejected because they don't accept manuscripts in crayon.)

For the best of both worlds, one can purchase hand-scan-pens that digitize text as they write. That's easier than hand-transcribing audio files.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Not quite! This one gets told a lot as an illustration of government profligacy, but the truth is very different.

Initially, both US and Soviet space programs used pencils of one variety or another. (NASA used high-quality mechanical pencils that cost $128 a unit, which does seem excessive, especially for the 1960s.) But pencils of any kind are a menace in space. They shed little bits of graphite that float around and get in people's eyes, or drift into important electronics and short them out, or they catch fire in the high-oxygen environment. After Apollo 1, NASA did their best to avoid having anything flammable in their craft.

The Fisher Pen Company saw a business opportunity, spent about a million dollars of their own money (not public funds) and developed a pen that was safe for writing in space.

NASA bought four hundred of them, at a bulk rate that ended up about $2.40 per unit, about a fiftieth of what they'd been paying for pencils. And not just NASA; the Soviets bought a hundred for their space program, because they didn't like pencils either.

Meanwhile, Fisher got a great marketing angle, and I assume they made their investment back by using the publicity to sell their pens to the public. It was a big success all round, and it's sad that it got distorted into a caricature "wasteful government spending" story.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/fact-or-fiction-nasa-spen/
http://mentalfloss.com/article/13103/russians-didnt-just-use-pencils-space

When I was a larval civil engineer I was warned about the perils of pissing off government contractors. Politicians depend on the bribes and kickbacks they get from contractors, and the fool who makes a better, cheaper mousetrap fucks the politician and himself.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Can't regret Dresden though. Hey, MagicaPractica... is it just me or is the stage all but set for Molls to vamp on Dresden since she took over as the Winter Princess and he's the Winter Knight?

"What are you doing with those handcuff keys?"

"Think about this one before you answer. Are you sure you want to know?"

I hope so, it'd be about damn time.

 

[sr71plt]

A. Who says that government buyers worry all that much about pissing off government contractors, other than B. they're going to have to give the project to some government contractor or the project isn't going to get done.

As usual, you're just blowing hot air. Bribing does go on to some extent (like, right, it isn't going on in the private sector too), but it's also tracked down a lot of the time. The last governor of my state is in the slammer over a bit of rah rahing for a vitamin supplement manufacturer.