Hard News: Big Night Outage
68 Responses
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Russell Brown, in reply to
ETA: Oh and of course the car has multiple charger adapters, including one multi adapter for every kind of phone ever made, although TBH that was less about survivalism and more about getting a good Uber rating.
Very well, then. I am moved by your story and I shall not seek to ruin your life by awarding a mere four stars.
But yeah – I forgot that one in the post. The USB port in our cheap car stereo seems to charge all the things too. We were not going to run out of devices.
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Russell Brown, in reply to
One thing I’ve learned: cook with gas. I’ve always insisted on having a gas hob and electric oven. You can live without the oven for a long time if you’ve got a kettle-style barbecue/BGEgg/pizza oven, and, well, you’re cookin’ with gas…
It drives me nuts that the nice F&P gas hob we bought a year before we renovated won't work without electricity, it really does.
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BenWilson, in reply to
seek to ruin your life by awarding a mere four stars.
Oh no, Brer Brown, not the 4 stars! Anything but the 4 stars!! You can chunder all over me, make me listen to wub wub, even make me put on talkback radio while we wait in the KFC drive through queue....
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A quick web search for beer can stoves will help prepare for the next power outage. Super simple to make and use.
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Or if you don't drink but you do have a cat, you can make a stove out if a tiny cat food tin.
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Yesterday's Tremain
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Hebe, in reply to
Woodburner with cooktop, gives heat, cooking and even some light. And I see one of the Ultra-Low Emission Burners (ULEBs) has two USB charging ports.
Living in an actively earthquaking area, gas makes me nervous, but we’ve caved and bought a double-burner camping stove for cooking outside (lighting the woodburner to cook with or heat water on hot summer days was not the best). Adequate drinkable water seems the key with simply-prepped or ready-made food and coffee and the means to assemble. Make sure the food is things you like, not just baked beans, because it’s no fun eating things you dislike when you’re stressed, scared and need a lot of energy.
‘So then we went to the cafe and had a coffee’ wasn’t my disaster experience – more ‘so then we were trapped at home by the broken bridges and roads’. For others there was no home because it was gone. . It’s impossible to plan for every scenario, and for a long time I went spare trying to foresee all doomy possibilities.
However coffee! Friend gave me one of these … https://m.catchoftheday.co.nz/product/wacaco-minipresso-gr-portable-espresso-machine-464352/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlbCYgqK92gIVUyQrCh3U0grIEAQYASABEgIRpvD_BwE&offer_id=10095961
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BenWilson, in reply to
‘So then we went to the cafe and had a coffee’ wasn’t my disaster experience – more ‘so then we were trapped at home by the broken bridges and roads’.
Yes, I'm not calling the storm a disaster, even though there are still people without power. It's not really in coooeee of a disaster, which is good, since it was a category 2 storm. Any stronger and it would have been called a hurricane quite legitimately.
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Hebe, in reply to
It wasn’t a disaster, but it’s an inadvertent rehearsal for one. an opporunity to learn like hell, for everyone.
And it will be pretty much a disaster for those who have lost roofs and other calamities. -
BenWilson, in reply to
Yes, if we consider the first quake in Chch to have been a forewarning, we just got forewarned.
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Moz, in reply to
consider the first quake in Chch to have been a forewarning
7.1 is a pretty dramatic first warning, especially if it's warning about a 6.2 to follow. Or have I got that wrong the round way?
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nzlemming, in reply to
It drives me nuts that the nice F&P gas hob we bought a year before we renovated won't work without electricity, it really does.
Um, if the gas comes out, you can light it with a match. You may not be able to use the little piezo-electric starter, but you can still light it. I have an F&P Elba hob I put in when I moved here last year (to the gas-fitter's disgust, I might add - he didn't think much of the brand, but then he was an Aussie so YMMV) and I tested it after I read your comment. Worked fine.
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Matthew Poole, in reply to
7.1 is a pretty dramatic first warning, especially if it's warning about a 6.2 to follow. Or have I got that wrong the round way?
Nope, you're correct. February 2011 was technically an aftershock from September 2010.
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Hebe, in reply to
It was more about the effect of the 7.1: it hit Christchurch city, and we sure felt it, but it was centred out at Greendale and fortunately given the magnitude and shallow depth the damage to people and buildings was much more limited.
Many of us regarded that shake as a fortunate escape, for Christchurch when we saw how many of the unreinforced old brick buildings were badly damaged. (It seems incredible now that demolishing the old insurance firm building in Manchester Street caused much protest.)
It was clear we had dodged a bullet. Of course five months later that all changed.When February 22 hit Christchurch had had a rehearsal, and it saved many of us. We had emergency kits, we had the local well piped to the street, we knew the drill, and the emergency services and CDEM and government had much more concrete plans how to respond.
It was even down to the level of my partner and I having a clear emergency plan and having scoped potentially dangerous buildings on his routes around town during his working day: not spending much time in the cafe across the road from his work may well have saved his life when that building crumbled at lunchtime.
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nzlemming, in reply to
My emergency outdoor cooking, which must be worth at least one star point for preparations nerd of disaster.
That'd be choice to hold onto in a tsunami, bro.
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...not going to run out of devices.
It's more that we are caught in de vices,
those jaws have big teeth
they clamp with proprietary 'screws'....beer can stoves
Neat! These looked ingenious, some more doable than others...
And then there is always the trusty Thermette©
I'm hoping to unearth my old Whole Earth Catalogs (and the NZ Whole Earth Catalogues) from my 'Pyramid of Banana Boxes' some day soon - they had some 'great access to tools' - the encyclopedic internet of their day (including the potato-powered radio) - That Stewart Brand was always WELL ahead of the curve and on into The Long Now!
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Ian Dalziel, in reply to
Interesting,...
The capacitive touch sensors detect when you touch the board's pad or an object connected to the board. Humans carry a small electrical charge. When you touch a capacitive touch sensor it will detect this charge.
I've often wondered if hedges could act as proximity alarms...
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Moz, in reply to
if hedges could act as proximity alarms...
hawthorn hedges, certainly :)
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