4 ms·

Six Days in the Dark

44 points by firexcy 1y ago

mock-possum 1y ago
I’d be curious to hear what his wife’s daily blogs would look like - especially as he’s talking about ‘dad-mode, protector, provider’ - what roles did she feel compelled to occupy? If he felt like he had to step up to shield her from stress, what did she feel in turn for his sake? (Honestly it’d be interesting to hear from the kids too)
- prmoustache 1y ago
  Yeah this was an uncomfortable read. That guy write as if he is the only one in his family able to plan and act and as if his wife and kids are some kind of useless piece of shit. His wife probably knows better than him what is really valuable to keep in case of emergency: food in cans instead of 2 additional power hungry fridge and freezer. Whike I am not into child labour, non toddler kids won't lose their childhood if they have to provide manpower, help and learn about responsibilities during a specific event once in a while. On the contrary these can be good teaching moments.
don-code 1y ago
A few years ago, I had a three-day power outage. Unfortunately, at the time I worked for an e-commerce company, and Black Friday was in two weeks - not the time for me to be off work. (Mind you, this was 2021, and temporarily returning to the office was questionable at best at that time). Most of my neighbors seemed to have up and left. The immediate neighborhood was quiet. I ventured out and saw what had happened: a large tree had come down, taking the power lines and the road with it. So I assumed the recovery process would be something like: 1. Remove the tree - one company on one schedule 2. Re-pave the road - another company on another schedule 3. Put the telephone pole back up - the phone company (the poles are owned by Verizon in my area) 4. Restore electrical cables - the power company And I realized that this would not be a quick process. I threw a 100-foot extension cord out my second floor window, and hooked it up to the 400-watt inverter in my car. (Yes, I know this is terrible for my engine. The silver lining was that somehow the folks at BMW made an engine that got up to operating temperature while idling.) The other end got plugged into the three monitors and laptop on my desk. I hotspotted my phone, and... just kept going at Black Friday readiness. At one point, I got an interesting sideways glance from the CEO on a Zoom call, as if to say - "Why are you wearing a jacket and fingerless gloves indoors? Do we pay you enough?" I'm just glad the smell of not showering wasn't transmissible through Zoom. Although I lost most of the contents of my fridge, and I ended up eating a lot of peanut-butter-and-jelly and protein bars, I did find some ways to keep it interesting during the day. I put my moka pot on the charcoal grill for coffee in the morning, and at one point I made a grilled-ish cheese on top of the engine block. I used a handheld flashlight and an LED lantern for light after the sun went down. And I did treat myself to dinner with friends all three nights, charging up two UPSes at their homes while we went out, so that I could in turn run some other appliances without running the car. I seem to recall at one point watching the 10:00 news on TV thanks to those UPSes. I would not have wanted this experience with a family like this person did, for sure, but I actually found it somewhat fun and interesting.
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
  Could you tell me more about why the car shouldn't be used as a generator, why an engine might not warm up at idle, and how you kept jelly at room temperature? Thanks
  - reillyse 1y ago
    Jam is generally shelf stable. The sugar is really good at killing bacteria (deprives them of water iirc).
    - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
      Huh! If "shelf-stable" means "refrigerate after opening" then yeah. But I'm confused whether it's "refrigerate optional" like ketchup https://www.marthastewart.com/8269604/should-you-refrigerate-jams-jellies https://www.marthastewart.com/8269604/should-you-refrigerate... > You can technically store opened jams and jellies at room temperature—but only in a cool, dark place and for about a week after opening, says Lee. Here's why: Jams and jellies have high sugar and acid levels, which protect against spoilage. But there are still certain microorganisms, called osmophiles, that are resistant to these conditions and can cause spoilage over time,
      - swiftcoder 1y ago
        I grew up on a boat with no refrigeration, and we kept open jars of jams for several months. As long as you don't contaminate it (don't use the same knife for multiple condiments!), it's generally fine. Same thing with jars of Mayonnaise - that one gets you strange looks.
      - unsnap_biceps 1y ago
        Jams and jellies existed before refrigeration and were used to preserve fruit year round. Root cellars kept things cool and you would just inspect your food before eating. Pickles is another thing. They used to be stored in a big barrel and people would reach in and grab a room temp pickle, safe and preserved. Today, they're always fridge after opening. It's safer, but it's a spectrum of risk, not binary.
mk_stjames 1y ago
Post wants to talk about money spent and smart ways to prepare... and then goes and links the portable battery system used and it is a 4kwh battery+inverter+solar charger combo with a few 200W solar panels that costs... get this.. $4399. These stupid 'home battery' units are just stupidly, stupidly marked up for what they do. You can buy a ~5.2 kwh 48v battery for <$1000 these days, a hybrid solar charger inverter capable of a 6kw AC single phase output (same as the linked battery system) for ~$500, and a a load of used solar panels off any number of sites for next to nothing. People are getting fleeced by these cutely packaged battery inverter charger boxes with fancy displays and USB-C chargers, all being pushed by youtubers. If you are even mildly technically minded, you can build a more capable system for 30% the cost of these things. They are relying on people just not knowing how much LiFePO4 storage batteries and hybrid solar inverters have come down in price and how easy they are to setup.
- AStonesThrow 1y ago
  A few years ago, I purchased a "solar backpack" because I thought the idea was really rad, and I live in Phoenix, so the thought of trekking through the urban jungle with a solar panel on my back and perpetual, unlimited sun power to my laptop and two phones, that was irresistible! So the reality was like this: really awesome power bank included with decent backpack. The power bank has plenty of connectors and adapters to plug into virtually anything. Power bank is juicy enough to power a laptop for a couple of hours, or a smartphone for all day long. Rugged construction there. The backpack is kind of unwieldy but has some nice pockets and it's totally electronics-aware. You don't want to stash a drink or food anywhere in this thing. There are plenty of grommets for threading the cables you'll need. The solar panel is like the worst feature of this "solar backpack". Of course, imagine the low surface area you'll get on a backpack. Now imagine how long it takes to charge a quite beefy power bank with that. It took me 3 weeks of all day long, in the clear winter sunlight, with a zero load, to go from zero to about 90%! Three weeks! So clearly this solar power source is inadequate to keep a device going without discharging completely by dawn. But I certainly do appreciate the power bank, and I do keep this around for emergencies, and I basically just plug it into the wall until it's full, then I stash it away and I don't worry about it for several months. The cost was also not terrible. I think the entire backpack set cost $300 or less. Not bad for a good durable backpack plus power bank, really; nevermind the solar component.
thuanao 1y ago
> Whatever you think you need to have saved, know you probably need more. I quickly blew through my rainy-day funds. Huh!? Forget canned food and go-bags. If you only have a few days worth of savings that is an emergency. I hope I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “rainy day funds”
- ianburrell 1y ago
  Maybe he means cash. It is good to have some cash ($100-1000) for outages of credit cards, or just needing cash.
  - prmoustache 1y ago
    There is nothing that justified spending +2000usd worth of stuff for a 6 days power outage if the household had even a limited supply of non perishable food in cans + water. The first 24 hours you finish the fridge, the second one the freezer and then only into the third you really have to start using from non refrigerated food. All his purchases were directed into having and maintaining power which were not really the priority. The silly part is he had still access to takeouts so there wasn't even remote risk of starving
throwaway43271 1y ago
[flagged]
- 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 Hope this clears it up. The changes that Republicans are proposing are going to be a disaster for anyone who is not basically a white straight Christian man who doesn't watch porn. It's shaping up to be a very bad 4 years for people like me and I encourage everyone to vote Democrat in every election they can legally vote in. If you don't believe me ask around and any friends you have who are queer or care about abortion will tell you things are very looking grim for us. In short it is a consolidation of absolute power in the hands of a few rich bullies who are wanting to torment minorities as a distraction while they steal from as many Americans as they can
- mindslight 1y ago
  Fear mongering? This kind of postmodern trolling lost its plausibility on January 21st. We've now got a concentration camp, a blockade preventing imports of necessary supplies, government institutions being destroyed and parted out to the coziest briber, other government institutions turned into skull crackers for a wanna-be dictator, and a deep breakdown in the rule of law as courts' sternly worded letters are simply ignored. If at this point you're really still in post-reality denial that our country isn't in the process of being destroyed by a mentally ill mobster autocrat backed by an anti-constitutional corporate totalitarian movement, then you're the one that needs help. Serious help. We can still defend our country together, but first you've got to join the rest of us in reality.
  - akoboldfrying 1y ago
    None of this seems connected to race. If there was some negative aspect of Trump's reign that was obviously focused on black people, I assume you would have mentioned it, since then you would have been answering GP's question directly, which would have been much more persuasive to readers. The fact that you didn't leads me to suspect that there is no such aspect, and no good reason why OP wrote "As a black man" at the start of that sentence.
roxolotl 1y ago
I’ve spent multiple separate weeks without electricity in my life and never really had that hard of a time. You accept that you lose your frozen foods that you don’t eat in the first day, go to your friends that are on city water, I was always on a well when we lost power, for cold showers and to fill water bottles, and cook food on a grill. If no one has city water you get used to the smell and buy bottled water. Nowadays I have a 40W panel for charging phones. Of course there are some for whom a power outage is life and death because their health is tied to power. Also tornados are terrifying. I don’t mean to trivialize extended power outages. But sometimes accepting the situation and just riding with it is the way to go.
reillyse 1y ago
This all seems like an insane overreaction. I question what gets someone into this level of panic. Just chill out for a couple of days and enjoy reading some books and have an adventure. Unless you’ve got a medical emergency and need to have power for some devices just relax and wait for the power to be reconnected. I get that there are emergencies in the world but not having power at home is an inconvenience.
- nancyminusone 1y ago
  Am I alone in thinking it's a bit silly to be concerned about breathing in 6 extra days of naturally occuring radon, of all things? It's cool that we can get these air sensors things, but they sure give people who worry about numbers some additional ones to worry about.
  - reillyse 1y ago
    I really wonder if there is something else at play here. None of this is normal behavior and it's very strange for it to be normalized. Day 4 no more deliveries but we still have takeout! For real, you can still order food from your local restaurants and you are in a panic about things. Instead of spending $4,500 on a generator you'll never use again maybe just pack the kids in a car an go to the beach for the weekend. Seriously. When I was a kid I enjoyed the days we lost power. Grab a candle and have a laugh in the dark. It was fun. That said, I don't want to be mean. I do think there is a generalized anxiety that is very much enabled on the internet. Like this kind of behavior - basically prepping - is encouraged. I read analysis that suggested that prepping behavior is a way of coping with feelings of inadequacy by imagining a future world where all the person's capabilities will be fully appreciated. "All my guns and dried rice and my underground bunker will make me the most relevant person in the future". Most prepper's visions of the future are unique to them and focus on their skills. E.g. one of us tech types might think we could create a connected network and support wifi for a region and be a source of knowledge or something. Obviously if something did happen all of this would go to shit in seconds but that isn't the point.. Maybe it's all just a fantasy of feeling relevant.
    - 1y ago
nancyminusone 1y ago
It seems so strange to me to remember that seemly most people don't have a generator. Of course,where I live, everyone is on a well, so no power means no water, which means you can't flush the toilet. There's so many generators around that our current generator is one someone else threw out in the trash. I was watching 8-bit guy on youtube cover his experience through the Texas snowstorm a few years back, when he offhandedly mentioned that before that, he pretty much had no power interruptions at all within the last decade. I was stunned. 10 years? We're lucky to make it 10 months.
- rconti 1y ago
  Yeah. Most people don't have a generator because they're on the grid, and no power is not life and death for them. If it _is_ life and death, sure, get a generator.
  - cryptonector 1y ago
    In February, 2021, it was close to life or death for millions in Texas. We probably still don't know how many died.
    - prmoustache 1y ago
      This is overly exaggerated. Access to electricity is a must for a minority of people with medical need but it doesn't account for millions of people in Texas. The key points for survival is access to non contaminated water, shelter and food. Lack of electricity is only an annoyance.
      - cryptonector 1y ago
        I rescued an elderly lady and her grandson who had no power for two weeks, the first week of which saw temps near 0F at night and below 25F during the day. No heat, nothing like parkas, no firewood for chimneys or firepits. I suppose the grandson could have figured something out. I'm sure the lady couldn't have. I don't know how many such households there were.
Animats 1y ago
This is the new normal in the US. FEMA is being dismantled.[1] Until a few years ago, being prepared for loss of services for 48 hours was considered sufficient. That's not enough any more, because there will be much less help coming from outside the area. [1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/fema-payments-staffing-stalled-turmoil/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/fema-payments-staffi...
- dfe 1y ago
  As someone who lived through a flood caused by a hurricane, without power for 10 days, I have first-hand experience with FEMA. Some fat-ass government worker showed up with a tablet, checked a bunch of boxes on an electronic form to gather statistics on all the damage, gave us some information on government-backed loans, then left. This about 2 or 3 days after. I will never forget how absolutely useless FEMA was.
  - unsnap_biceps 1y ago
    That's unfortunate. I experienced a similar length outage due to a hurricane and FEMA had setup a location for the county to get potable water and food. I was a teenager then, so I don't know about any financial help, but the rapid availability of supplies was very welcome.
aryehof 1y ago
My immediate reaction was that I would look to adapt to the new circumstances, rather than try to maintain one’s former ways. Candles, books, single gas burner, board and card games, water and non-perishable food, is all that is required?
reassess_blind 1y ago
Talk about dramatic. You'd think this was a nuclear fallout from this guy's reaction, not just 6 days of no power but can still order takeout. Go on a trip? Read a book?
gorgoiler 1y ago
I’m so grateful for this write up! For all the reading one can do on preparedness, it is hugely valuable to read about a real scenario playing out. I’m curious about the decision to continue relying on frozen and refrigerated food. Reflecting on what I would do — immediately reverting to stable preserved foods and writing off the fridge — makes me wonder if I don’t focus enough on normalcy as to stabilise my family. What’s the point of being prepared if everyone’s morale is crushed from switching to powdered milk? The point about the authors wife being a supply teacher didn’t go where I expected it to. He talks about her income drying up due to her being a day contractor during school shutdowns in the power crisis. I assumed he was going to talk about the blessing of being able to keep school going despite being trapped at home without power!
- unsnap_biceps 1y ago
  We buy meat in bulk and so it's really expensive to lose our freezers. We also lose power for a few days every year or two. It's worth it for us to have a generator to allow us to work and keep the food from spoiling. Plus we start eating the freezers food right away. Shelf stable food is the last to eat because it lasts the longest.
teekert 1y ago
What would be the reason to get batteries that are so much more expensive and have much less capacity than the generator? They’re cleaner and easier to use/maintain. But for quite a short term, right?
- sumeno 1y ago
  They are much more convenient than a generator (at least the portable generators that are typically used in these situations). You can move it around inside where you need it instead of running cords all over your house, they won't kill your whole family with CO2, and you can run them during a storm.
ludicrousdispla 1y ago
Live with only a small fridge and you'll adapt to not needing two refrigerators and multiple freezers that need to be powered by generator when the electricity cuts out.
AStonesThrow 1y ago
Back in my childhood, in the mid-80s, our family had plenty of batteries on hand, as well as a nice little kerosene lamp with extra fuel. We rarely had blackouts, but they did crop up once in a while, and since my father worked for health & safety, we were always totally prepared to weather those little storms. It was kind of fun to do homework by the glow of that kerosene lamp and I sort of enjoyed anticipating the opportunity to light it up! Our home also featured a gas range, so we didn't worry too much about cooking during those times, just eating whatever was in the refrigerator. I do not know about water pumping, except that our basement had a sump pump to deal with flooding down there -- definitely electric. Now fast-forward to my apartment living near Phoenix - on April 1, 2020 there was a fire in my building. Yes, just as the pandemic lockdowns had taken effect, we had an emergency. The fire damaged two units on the 3rd floor, and the fire department damaged at least four more below them. The Red Cross came in to rescue those who were displaced, and the landlady came by to tell me they needed to shut off my power. I was a little panicked, because that meant I'd lose my range, microwave, fridge, all communications, air conditioning; basically everything except water, I suppose. We somehow got by without shutting off my power. But if my power were shut off then I would have some trouble. Living in a 1BR apartment I do not have the luxury of a generator or any significant disaster-prep storage or preservation here. No second fridge for sure! Without Internet access I wouldn't be able to dial up food delivery. So I'd need to consider "bugging out" or temporary relocation. I would probably go to an extended-stay hotel somewhere nearby until the trouble was resolved. There would basically be no need for me to stay in-place without electric power. So I might as well go enjoy myself, as you say. It would be a nice time to see some movies at the theater, enjoy the outdoors, and such. And hopefully my insurance would cover the loss of use at my place.
anonymousiam 1y ago
I don't care for sites that punish you for not allowing their scripts. This one pushes an annoying left-to-right wave of noise over most of the content, while still letting you look.

44 points by firexcy 1y ago

I’d be curious to hear what his wife’s daily blogs would look like - especially as he’s talking about ‘dad-mode, protector, provider’ - what roles did she feel compelled to occupy? If he felt like he had to step up to shield her from stress, what did she feel in turn for his sake? (Honestly it’d be interesting to hear from the kids too)

prmoustache 1y ago
Yeah this was an uncomfortable read. That guy write as if he is the only one in his family able to plan and act and as if his wife and kids are some kind of useless piece of shit. His wife probably knows better than him what is really valuable to keep in case of emergency: food in cans instead of 2 additional power hungry fridge and freezer. Whike I am not into child labour, non toddler kids won't lose their childhood if they have to provide manpower, help and learn about responsibilities during a specific event once in a while. On the contrary these can be good teaching moments.

don-code 1y ago

A few years ago, I had a three-day power outage. Unfortunately, at the time I worked for an e-commerce company, and Black Friday was in two weeks - not the time for me to be off work. (Mind you, this was 2021, and temporarily returning to the office was questionable at best at that time). Most of my neighbors seemed to have up and left. The immediate neighborhood was quiet. I ventured out and saw what had happened: a large tree had come down, taking the power lines and the road with it. So I assumed the recovery process would be something like: 1. Remove the tree - one company on one schedule 2. Re-pave the road - another company on another schedule 3. Put the telephone pole back up - the phone company (the poles are owned by Verizon in my area) 4. Restore electrical cables - the power company And I realized that this would not be a quick process. I threw a 100-foot extension cord out my second floor window, and hooked it up to the 400-watt inverter in my car. (Yes, I know this is terrible for my engine. The silver lining was that somehow the folks at BMW made an engine that got up to operating temperature while idling.) The other end got plugged into the three monitors and laptop on my desk. I hotspotted my phone, and... just kept going at Black Friday readiness. At one point, I got an interesting sideways glance from the CEO on a Zoom call, as if to say - "Why are you wearing a jacket and fingerless gloves indoors? Do we pay you enough?" I'm just glad the smell of not showering wasn't transmissible through Zoom. Although I lost most of the contents of my fridge, and I ended up eating a lot of peanut-butter-and-jelly and protein bars, I did find some ways to keep it interesting during the day. I put my moka pot on the charcoal grill for coffee in the morning, and at one point I made a grilled-ish cheese on top of the engine block. I used a handheld flashlight and an LED lantern for light after the sun went down. And I did treat myself to dinner with friends all three nights, charging up two UPSes at their homes while we went out, so that I could in turn run some other appliances without running the car. I seem to recall at one point watching the 10:00 news on TV thanks to those UPSes. I would not have wanted this experience with a family like this person did, for sure, but I actually found it somewhat fun and interesting.

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
Could you tell me more about why the car shouldn't be used as a generator, why an engine might not warm up at idle, and how you kept jelly at room temperature? Thanks
- reillyse 1y ago
  Jam is generally shelf stable. The sugar is really good at killing bacteria (deprives them of water iirc).
  - 01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
    Huh! If "shelf-stable" means "refrigerate after opening" then yeah. But I'm confused whether it's "refrigerate optional" like ketchup https://www.marthastewart.com/8269604/should-you-refrigerate-jams-jellies https://www.marthastewart.com/8269604/should-you-refrigerate... > You can technically store opened jams and jellies at room temperature—but only in a cool, dark place and for about a week after opening, says Lee. Here's why: Jams and jellies have high sugar and acid levels, which protect against spoilage. But there are still certain microorganisms, called osmophiles, that are resistant to these conditions and can cause spoilage over time,
    - swiftcoder 1y ago
      I grew up on a boat with no refrigeration, and we kept open jars of jams for several months. As long as you don't contaminate it (don't use the same knife for multiple condiments!), it's generally fine. Same thing with jars of Mayonnaise - that one gets you strange looks.
    - unsnap_biceps 1y ago
      Jams and jellies existed before refrigeration and were used to preserve fruit year round. Root cellars kept things cool and you would just inspect your food before eating. Pickles is another thing. They used to be stored in a big barrel and people would reach in and grab a room temp pickle, safe and preserved. Today, they're always fridge after opening. It's safer, but it's a spectrum of risk, not binary.

mk_stjames 1y ago

Post wants to talk about money spent and smart ways to prepare... and then goes and links the portable battery system used and it is a 4kwh battery+inverter+solar charger combo with a few 200W solar panels that costs... get this.. $4399. These stupid 'home battery' units are just stupidly, stupidly marked up for what they do. You can buy a ~5.2 kwh 48v battery for <$1000 these days, a hybrid solar charger inverter capable of a 6kw AC single phase output (same as the linked battery system) for ~$500, and a a load of used solar panels off any number of sites for next to nothing. People are getting fleeced by these cutely packaged battery inverter charger boxes with fancy displays and USB-C chargers, all being pushed by youtubers. If you are even mildly technically minded, you can build a more capable system for 30% the cost of these things. They are relying on people just not knowing how much LiFePO4 storage batteries and hybrid solar inverters have come down in price and how easy they are to setup.

AStonesThrow 1y ago
A few years ago, I purchased a "solar backpack" because I thought the idea was really rad, and I live in Phoenix, so the thought of trekking through the urban jungle with a solar panel on my back and perpetual, unlimited sun power to my laptop and two phones, that was irresistible! So the reality was like this: really awesome power bank included with decent backpack. The power bank has plenty of connectors and adapters to plug into virtually anything. Power bank is juicy enough to power a laptop for a couple of hours, or a smartphone for all day long. Rugged construction there. The backpack is kind of unwieldy but has some nice pockets and it's totally electronics-aware. You don't want to stash a drink or food anywhere in this thing. There are plenty of grommets for threading the cables you'll need. The solar panel is like the worst feature of this "solar backpack". Of course, imagine the low surface area you'll get on a backpack. Now imagine how long it takes to charge a quite beefy power bank with that. It took me 3 weeks of all day long, in the clear winter sunlight, with a zero load, to go from zero to about 90%! Three weeks! So clearly this solar power source is inadequate to keep a device going without discharging completely by dawn. But I certainly do appreciate the power bank, and I do keep this around for emergencies, and I basically just plug it into the wall until it's full, then I stash it away and I don't worry about it for several months. The cost was also not terrible. I think the entire backpack set cost $300 or less. Not bad for a good durable backpack plus power bank, really; nevermind the solar component.

thuanao 1y ago

> Whatever you think you need to have saved, know you probably need more. I quickly blew through my rainy-day funds. Huh!? Forget canned food and go-bags. If you only have a few days worth of savings that is an emergency. I hope I’m misunderstanding what you mean by “rainy day funds”

ianburrell 1y ago
Maybe he means cash. It is good to have some cash ($100-1000) for outages of credit cards, or just needing cash.
- prmoustache 1y ago
  There is nothing that justified spending +2000usd worth of stuff for a 6 days power outage if the household had even a limited supply of non perishable food in cans + water. The first 24 hours you finish the fridge, the second one the freezer and then only into the third you really have to start using from non refrigerated food. All his purchases were directed into having and maintaining power which were not really the priority. The silly part is he had still access to takeouts so there wasn't even remote risk of starving

throwaway43271 1y ago

[flagged]

01HNNWZ0MV43FF 1y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_2025 Hope this clears it up. The changes that Republicans are proposing are going to be a disaster for anyone who is not basically a white straight Christian man who doesn't watch porn. It's shaping up to be a very bad 4 years for people like me and I encourage everyone to vote Democrat in every election they can legally vote in. If you don't believe me ask around and any friends you have who are queer or care about abortion will tell you things are very looking grim for us. In short it is a consolidation of absolute power in the hands of a few rich bullies who are wanting to torment minorities as a distraction while they steal from as many Americans as they can
mindslight 1y ago
Fear mongering? This kind of postmodern trolling lost its plausibility on January 21st. We've now got a concentration camp, a blockade preventing imports of necessary supplies, government institutions being destroyed and parted out to the coziest briber, other government institutions turned into skull crackers for a wanna-be dictator, and a deep breakdown in the rule of law as courts' sternly worded letters are simply ignored. If at this point you're really still in post-reality denial that our country isn't in the process of being destroyed by a mentally ill mobster autocrat backed by an anti-constitutional corporate totalitarian movement, then you're the one that needs help. Serious help. We can still defend our country together, but first you've got to join the rest of us in reality.
- akoboldfrying 1y ago
  None of this seems connected to race. If there was some negative aspect of Trump's reign that was obviously focused on black people, I assume you would have mentioned it, since then you would have been answering GP's question directly, which would have been much more persuasive to readers. The fact that you didn't leads me to suspect that there is no such aspect, and no good reason why OP wrote "As a black man" at the start of that sentence.

roxolotl 1y ago

I’ve spent multiple separate weeks without electricity in my life and never really had that hard of a time. You accept that you lose your frozen foods that you don’t eat in the first day, go to your friends that are on city water, I was always on a well when we lost power, for cold showers and to fill water bottles, and cook food on a grill. If no one has city water you get used to the smell and buy bottled water. Nowadays I have a 40W panel for charging phones. Of course there are some for whom a power outage is life and death because their health is tied to power. Also tornados are terrifying. I don’t mean to trivialize extended power outages. But sometimes accepting the situation and just riding with it is the way to go.

reillyse 1y ago

This all seems like an insane overreaction. I question what gets someone into this level of panic. Just chill out for a couple of days and enjoy reading some books and have an adventure. Unless you’ve got a medical emergency and need to have power for some devices just relax and wait for the power to be reconnected. I get that there are emergencies in the world but not having power at home is an inconvenience.

nancyminusone 1y ago
Am I alone in thinking it's a bit silly to be concerned about breathing in 6 extra days of naturally occuring radon, of all things? It's cool that we can get these air sensors things, but they sure give people who worry about numbers some additional ones to worry about.
- reillyse 1y ago
  I really wonder if there is something else at play here. None of this is normal behavior and it's very strange for it to be normalized. Day 4 no more deliveries but we still have takeout! For real, you can still order food from your local restaurants and you are in a panic about things. Instead of spending $4,500 on a generator you'll never use again maybe just pack the kids in a car an go to the beach for the weekend. Seriously. When I was a kid I enjoyed the days we lost power. Grab a candle and have a laugh in the dark. It was fun. That said, I don't want to be mean. I do think there is a generalized anxiety that is very much enabled on the internet. Like this kind of behavior - basically prepping - is encouraged. I read analysis that suggested that prepping behavior is a way of coping with feelings of inadequacy by imagining a future world where all the person's capabilities will be fully appreciated. "All my guns and dried rice and my underground bunker will make me the most relevant person in the future". Most prepper's visions of the future are unique to them and focus on their skills. E.g. one of us tech types might think we could create a connected network and support wifi for a region and be a source of knowledge or something. Obviously if something did happen all of this would go to shit in seconds but that isn't the point.. Maybe it's all just a fantasy of feeling relevant.
  - 1y ago

nancyminusone 1y ago

It seems so strange to me to remember that seemly most people don't have a generator. Of course,where I live, everyone is on a well, so no power means no water, which means you can't flush the toilet. There's so many generators around that our current generator is one someone else threw out in the trash. I was watching 8-bit guy on youtube cover his experience through the Texas snowstorm a few years back, when he offhandedly mentioned that before that, he pretty much had no power interruptions at all within the last decade. I was stunned. 10 years? We're lucky to make it 10 months.

rconti 1y ago
Yeah. Most people don't have a generator because they're on the grid, and no power is not life and death for them. If it _is_ life and death, sure, get a generator.
- cryptonector 1y ago
  In February, 2021, it was close to life or death for millions in Texas. We probably still don't know how many died.
  - prmoustache 1y ago
    This is overly exaggerated. Access to electricity is a must for a minority of people with medical need but it doesn't account for millions of people in Texas. The key points for survival is access to non contaminated water, shelter and food. Lack of electricity is only an annoyance.
    - cryptonector 1y ago
      I rescued an elderly lady and her grandson who had no power for two weeks, the first week of which saw temps near 0F at night and below 25F during the day. No heat, nothing like parkas, no firewood for chimneys or firepits. I suppose the grandson could have figured something out. I'm sure the lady couldn't have. I don't know how many such households there were.

Animats 1y ago

This is the new normal in the US. FEMA is being dismantled.[1] Until a few years ago, being prepared for loss of services for 48 hours was considered sufficient. That's not enough any more, because there will be much less help coming from outside the area. [1] https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/fema-payments-staffing-stalled-turmoil/index.html https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/26/politics/fema-payments-staffi...

dfe 1y ago
As someone who lived through a flood caused by a hurricane, without power for 10 days, I have first-hand experience with FEMA. Some fat-ass government worker showed up with a tablet, checked a bunch of boxes on an electronic form to gather statistics on all the damage, gave us some information on government-backed loans, then left. This about 2 or 3 days after. I will never forget how absolutely useless FEMA was.
- unsnap_biceps 1y ago
  That's unfortunate. I experienced a similar length outage due to a hurricane and FEMA had setup a location for the county to get potable water and food. I was a teenager then, so I don't know about any financial help, but the rapid availability of supplies was very welcome.

aryehof 1y ago

My immediate reaction was that I would look to adapt to the new circumstances, rather than try to maintain one’s former ways. Candles, books, single gas burner, board and card games, water and non-perishable food, is all that is required?

reassess_blind 1y ago

Talk about dramatic. You'd think this was a nuclear fallout from this guy's reaction, not just 6 days of no power but can still order takeout. Go on a trip? Read a book?

gorgoiler 1y ago

I’m so grateful for this write up! For all the reading one can do on preparedness, it is hugely valuable to read about a real scenario playing out. I’m curious about the decision to continue relying on frozen and refrigerated food. Reflecting on what I would do — immediately reverting to stable preserved foods and writing off the fridge — makes me wonder if I don’t focus enough on normalcy as to stabilise my family. What’s the point of being prepared if everyone’s morale is crushed from switching to powdered milk? The point about the authors wife being a supply teacher didn’t go where I expected it to. He talks about her income drying up due to her being a day contractor during school shutdowns in the power crisis. I assumed he was going to talk about the blessing of being able to keep school going despite being trapped at home without power!

unsnap_biceps 1y ago
We buy meat in bulk and so it's really expensive to lose our freezers. We also lose power for a few days every year or two. It's worth it for us to have a generator to allow us to work and keep the food from spoiling. Plus we start eating the freezers food right away. Shelf stable food is the last to eat because it lasts the longest.

teekert 1y ago

What would be the reason to get batteries that are so much more expensive and have much less capacity than the generator? They’re cleaner and easier to use/maintain. But for quite a short term, right?

sumeno 1y ago
They are much more convenient than a generator (at least the portable generators that are typically used in these situations). You can move it around inside where you need it instead of running cords all over your house, they won't kill your whole family with CO2, and you can run them during a storm.

ludicrousdispla 1y ago

Live with only a small fridge and you'll adapt to not needing two refrigerators and multiple freezers that need to be powered by generator when the electricity cuts out.

AStonesThrow 1y ago

Back in my childhood, in the mid-80s, our family had plenty of batteries on hand, as well as a nice little kerosene lamp with extra fuel. We rarely had blackouts, but they did crop up once in a while, and since my father worked for health & safety, we were always totally prepared to weather those little storms. It was kind of fun to do homework by the glow of that kerosene lamp and I sort of enjoyed anticipating the opportunity to light it up! Our home also featured a gas range, so we didn't worry too much about cooking during those times, just eating whatever was in the refrigerator. I do not know about water pumping, except that our basement had a sump pump to deal with flooding down there -- definitely electric. Now fast-forward to my apartment living near Phoenix - on April 1, 2020 there was a fire in my building. Yes, just as the pandemic lockdowns had taken effect, we had an emergency. The fire damaged two units on the 3rd floor, and the fire department damaged at least four more below them. The Red Cross came in to rescue those who were displaced, and the landlady came by to tell me they needed to shut off my power. I was a little panicked, because that meant I'd lose my range, microwave, fridge, all communications, air conditioning; basically everything except water, I suppose. We somehow got by without shutting off my power. But if my power were shut off then I would have some trouble. Living in a 1BR apartment I do not have the luxury of a generator or any significant disaster-prep storage or preservation here. No second fridge for sure! Without Internet access I wouldn't be able to dial up food delivery. So I'd need to consider "bugging out" or temporary relocation. I would probably go to an extended-stay hotel somewhere nearby until the trouble was resolved. There would basically be no need for me to stay in-place without electric power. So I might as well go enjoy myself, as you say. It would be a nice time to see some movies at the theater, enjoy the outdoors, and such. And hopefully my insurance would cover the loss of use at my place.

anonymousiam 1y ago

I don't care for sites that punish you for not allowing their scripts. This one pushes an annoying left-to-right wave of noise over most of the content, while still letting you look.