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If you're talking about a major extended outage, I would worry about having books to read, food to eat, other humans to interact with, music to listen to, and a

by biztos 4y ago

If you're talking about a major extended outage, I would worry about having books to read, food to eat, other humans to interact with, music to listen to, and a way to exercise or at least move around outside. As a hacker you will also want some minimal low-powered computer to mess around with, because it will calm you down. Oh and a multi-band radio that also does short-wave and is crank-powered so you can keep up on the apocalypse! Remember that if an Internet outage extends for long enough (days?) in most of Europe then parts of your society will start to fall apart and lots of people will be completely freaking out, especially in the cities. (If it's a part of Europe that had wars fairly recently, people will probably not freak out as much.) Thus your goal is to stay physically and mentally healthy. As a thought exercise, imagine going a week with no Internet, no mobile phone, and a lot of chaos on the streets: stores and gas stations mostly closed, possibly looting, etc. How exactly would you get through that? I guess that's the prepper version. The "half-day internet outages and I want to keep working" version is just have lots of documentation downloaded, plenty of source code too, and don't forget to take breaks: restoring your ability to concentrate is itself a work task.

exitb 4y ago
Portable shortwave radio is a good idea and doesn't really need to be crank-powered. These things sip power and can last a couple weeks of moderate daily usage on a single set of batteries. A box of double-A batteries (which you should have anyway) can last you months. A good receiver with a bit of antenna can easily give you access to radio stations thousands of kilometers away, as well as amateur radio operators.
- LinuxBender 4y ago
  Adding to this there are portable shortwave radios that also play mp3/wav files. Most are not great quality but useful if that's all one has. I have one in front of me made by XHDATA. D-328
- tpmx 4y ago
  Small shortwave radios with built-in antennas are next to unusable in urban/semi-urban areas these days, unless there also is power outage shutting down all of those local emitters of RF noise. Witnessed that last winter when we had a six hour power outage - the SW/MW radio could suddenly receive quite a few broadcasts again. And then you realize that these days mostly China and some american religious organizations invest heavily in shortwave broadcasts.
  - tpmx 4y ago
    I should add that it was possible to find the BBC WS on medium wave, iirc. During the power outage, that is. Not before or after. Location: Southern Sweden
- mod 4y ago
  A small solar charger designed for camping (charging phones) might make this pretty self-sufficient.
0127 4y ago
Some shortwave radios (like the TECSUN PL-380 I got off amazon), also support external power via USB. I almost prefer this over the crank charging some have That way, I don't need to worry as much about batteries, adapters, etc. and I can pretty easily find or make a 5V supply to power everything important
- wlesieutre 4y ago
  A solar USB charger is handy to have if you're setting up this kind of kit
nonameiguess 4y ago
Jeez, dude. I had no Internet access for four days and rolling blackouts with only 2 hours a day of electricity for two weeks, and no hot water or water at all for the first day, during the Dallas ice storm two years ago. Roads were unusable and we received no deliveries for a week. It was annoying, but we were fine with no special preparation or extra supplies. A few days with no Internet is not enough to bring down civilization.
- biztos 4y ago
  > Jeez, dude. I hopefully stand corrected. I didn't mean to suggest it would bring down civilization, just that it would cause more havoc than you might assume. During the Texas blackouts was mobile internet available? Phone service? Was there food for the people who didn't receive deliveries? Were you confident the government would restore service soon? I grew up with frequent blackouts and I'm completely unfazed by anything on a 24-48-hour scale. But -- and I hope I'm wrong! -- I see many societies growing more fragile and I would worry about what an infrastructure failure like that might mean to people who live much of their lives online.
StanislavPetrov 4y ago
>As a thought exercise, imagine going a week with no Internet, no mobile phone, and a lot of chaos on the streets: stores and gas stations mostly closed, possibly looting, etc. After superstorm Sandy here in New York I was left without power, heat, internet, gasoline or hot water for 2 weeks. Books, a crank radio, several thick blankets, an LED lantern and many batteries proved critical to making it through.

by biztos 4y ago

exitb 4y ago

Portable shortwave radio is a good idea and doesn't really need to be crank-powered. These things sip power and can last a couple weeks of moderate daily usage on a single set of batteries. A box of double-A batteries (which you should have anyway) can last you months. A good receiver with a bit of antenna can easily give you access to radio stations thousands of kilometers away, as well as amateur radio operators.

LinuxBender 4y ago
Adding to this there are portable shortwave radios that also play mp3/wav files. Most are not great quality but useful if that's all one has. I have one in front of me made by XHDATA. D-328
tpmx 4y ago
Small shortwave radios with built-in antennas are next to unusable in urban/semi-urban areas these days, unless there also is power outage shutting down all of those local emitters of RF noise. Witnessed that last winter when we had a six hour power outage - the SW/MW radio could suddenly receive quite a few broadcasts again. And then you realize that these days mostly China and some american religious organizations invest heavily in shortwave broadcasts.
- tpmx 4y ago
  I should add that it was possible to find the BBC WS on medium wave, iirc. During the power outage, that is. Not before or after. Location: Southern Sweden
mod 4y ago
A small solar charger designed for camping (charging phones) might make this pretty self-sufficient.

0127 4y ago

Some shortwave radios (like the TECSUN PL-380 I got off amazon), also support external power via USB. I almost prefer this over the crank charging some have That way, I don't need to worry as much about batteries, adapters, etc. and I can pretty easily find or make a 5V supply to power everything important

wlesieutre 4y ago
A solar USB charger is handy to have if you're setting up this kind of kit

nonameiguess 4y ago

Jeez, dude. I had no Internet access for four days and rolling blackouts with only 2 hours a day of electricity for two weeks, and no hot water or water at all for the first day, during the Dallas ice storm two years ago. Roads were unusable and we received no deliveries for a week. It was annoying, but we were fine with no special preparation or extra supplies. A few days with no Internet is not enough to bring down civilization.

biztos 4y ago
> Jeez, dude. I hopefully stand corrected. I didn't mean to suggest it would bring down civilization, just that it would cause more havoc than you might assume. During the Texas blackouts was mobile internet available? Phone service? Was there food for the people who didn't receive deliveries? Were you confident the government would restore service soon? I grew up with frequent blackouts and I'm completely unfazed by anything on a 24-48-hour scale. But -- and I hope I'm wrong! -- I see many societies growing more fragile and I would worry about what an infrastructure failure like that might mean to people who live much of their lives online.

StanislavPetrov 4y ago

>As a thought exercise, imagine going a week with no Internet, no mobile phone, and a lot of chaos on the streets: stores and gas stations mostly closed, possibly looting, etc. After superstorm Sandy here in New York I was left without power, heat, internet, gasoline or hot water for 2 weeks. Books, a crank radio, several thick blankets, an LED lantern and many batteries proved critical to making it through.