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March 06, 2013
I'd much rather have the Internet than electricity — it's not even close
A few months back, during a power outage, I got to talking with some friends about whether they'd rather have the Internet or electricity.
Without exception, every single person I know said "electricity."
Me, it's Internet all the way.
Finally, I'm getting a chance to put my pixels where my mouth is and the answer is the same but even more emphatically: Internet.
My power went out about 8:40 am today under the accumulated weight of 15 inches of very heavy wet snow on power lines throughout central Virginia (as of this writing at 2:55 p.m. there are 72,000 households in the area including mine still without power) but for the first time ever, I knew how to use my iPhone as a personal hotspot to connect to the Internet.
I did just what I do when I'm at Moto Pho Co or Bodo's or Brixx and darned if I wasn't instantly online at very usable speeds (top — time noted in graphic is Pacific; I'm in Eastern Time Zone).
I've been happily posting and tweeting away ever since while my dead silent, electricity-free house slowly cools down, and I am here to tell you that I could happily continue for days this way.
Call me crazy or a fool — just keep me online and nobody gets hurt.
It just occurred to me that this would've been a great shtick for my Google Glass Explorer application.
Oh well — mebbe next time.
March 6, 2013 at 04:01 PM | Permalink
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Comments
Dear Readers, ladies and gentlemen, I feel like I'm addressing a crowd that much prefers old ways to new. Nevertheless, I will proceed.
LindaB: The hotspot NEVER runs out of juice. "How can this be?" you might be wondering. Well. I have two (2) Mophie Juice Packs, powerful batteries that will power the phone for many, many hours. Backing them up is my car, parked right outside my house: I start it up, put it in Park, and charge any and all electronics (including my laptop computer and iPads) needing battery rejuicing via my car's lighter socket and a car-lighter-socket-specific charging cable, which I keep in my car's glove box. It's not rocket surgery.
jo: The fridge is superfluous, as Flautist commented in this thread: Mother Nature provides limitless free refrigeration right outside my door.
joepeach: My Podunk town's suburbs do not have gas lines, so the only possible generators would be those powered by gasoline — no way, too dangerous and I would blow myself up — or a bespoke propane-tank powered iteration. The amount of construction required to make that happen and subsequent despoliation of my property — and the Sturm und Drang accompanying same — are not something I am willing to undertake or accept. Nor need I: I have invented a custom car-powered generator which fits in a box in the trunk of my car which, when I connect it to my running car's battery via special connectors I purchased and attached last year, provides (via a PowerBrite 2300-watt DC-AC inverter purchased from Amazon for $215) way more electricity than I need to run simultaneously my refrigerator, microwave, toaster oven, satellite box, cable box, TV, radio, modem, computer, lamps, electric room heater, and whatever other things I want to plug in, all in the comfort of my main room. So I'm good.
Joao: See above.
Posted by: bookofjoe | Mar 7, 2013 10:40:26 AM
Except eventually your battery dies on your phone then your laptop and you're back in the dark of the middle ages ...
Posted by: Joao | Mar 7, 2013 10:18:32 AM
I've got this indelible image of you, found and frozen, lifeless fingers stuck to the keyboard. Please, save yourself before it gets too cold.
Posted by: tamra | Mar 7, 2013 2:28:54 AM
When it's cold as hell you can always chuck your perishables out in the snow, in plastic containers. Or stick them in a closed-in porch or garage, if you have one, should there be voracious predatory meat-eaty type creatures who'd love an outdoor midnight picnic and find Tupperware no obstacle.
Posted by: Flautist | Mar 6, 2013 8:59:56 PM
Just give up the yearly vacation and buy a nice generator.
Posted by: joepeach | Mar 6, 2013 7:20:36 PM
What do you do about your fridge?
Posted by: jo | Mar 6, 2013 6:13:03 PM
So what happens when the hotspot runs out of juice ?
Posted by: LindaB | Mar 6, 2013 4:40:38 PM
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