Humor Things to do during a blackout

Codz

NEA Scout Wrencher
Donator
Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
1
Points
61
Location
Huntsville, AL
Preferred Pronouns
He/Him
I grew up in Ohio. :b
But it gets quite humid and hot in Ohio, mind you, especially when you're out camping all the time! :p

I was born in Arizona actually. I came to Georgia around ten years ago. I still hate the heat though. Honestly, I much prefer extreme cold to extreme heat.

---------- Post added at 09:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:06 PM ----------

Assuming total blackout, I'd look at the stars.

This thread has made me realise that I'm never anywhere without streetlights, which is kinda sad as it makes everything have that cosy, but annoying yellow sodium glow. :(


Over here, we have amazing nightskies. The Milky Way is clearly visible overhead most of the time.:)
 

Eli13

Fish Dreamer
Joined
Mar 5, 2011
Messages
1,562
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Somewhere, TN
I was born in Arizona actually. I came to Georgia around ten years ago. I still hate the heat though. Honestly, I much prefer extreme cold to extreme heat.

I was born in Texas. But I'm with you on that one. You can bundle up for the cold, but you can only go so far (legally) for the heat. ;)
 

Codz

NEA Scout Wrencher
Donator
Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
1
Points
61
Location
Huntsville, AL
Preferred Pronouns
He/Him
I was born in Texas. But I'm with you on that one. You can bundle up for the cold, but you can only go so far (legally) for the heat. ;)

I can certainly agree with that.
 

george7378

DON'T PANIC
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Jun 26, 2009
Messages
1,045
Reaction score
0
Points
36
Here in the UK, I would probably go outside if it's a clear night, and see the sky at its best :) If not (which is more likely), I'd probably read or go to sleep with no lights to bother me.

---------- Post added at 22:02 ---------- Previous post was at 22:00 ----------

Also, I think we should certainly have a 'how would you survive a zombie apocalypse' thread - I've spent many an hour debating that with many people :)
 

insanity

Blastronaut
Donator
Joined
Jun 22, 2009
Messages
1,194
Reaction score
106
Points
63
Location
Oakland, CA
Andy/dbeachy, I hope you guys are both okay. I'm in downtown DC and aside from debris everywhere, we were lucky to have no real outages.

Last year when we had the hurricane, we spent the power outage playing cards and drinking gin.
 

ky

Director of Manned Spaceflight
Joined
Jan 22, 2011
Messages
1,409
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Boynton Beach
Also, I think we should certainly have a 'how would you survive a zombie apocalypse' thread - I've spent many an hour debating that with many people :)
Anyone need a Shotgun? :hunter::hunter::p
 

Codz

NEA Scout Wrencher
Donator
Joined
Jun 16, 2011
Messages
3,586
Reaction score
1
Points
61
Location
Huntsville, AL
Preferred Pronouns
He/Him
Also, I think we should certainly have a 'how would you survive a zombie apocalypse' thread - I've spent many an hour debating that with many people :)

How about something more realistic...nuclear holocaust?:lol:
 

FADEC

New member
Joined
Mar 25, 2011
Messages
1,207
Reaction score
0
Points
0
- go out swimming or bicycling at daytime
- light candles at nighttime, or the fireplace if you have one, and make love
 

Stevodoran

Donator
Donator
Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
867
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
loughcrew
Lets see, I usually, sort out the turf, walk to the castle and climb to the top (has broken stairs) use the quad, cut wood, go on the trampoline, play I spy, and of course put loads of candles around the house.
 

80mileshigh

Addon Developer
Addon Developer
Donator
Joined
Feb 18, 2008
Messages
365
Reaction score
258
Points
63
Location
Melbourne
Website
eightymileshigh.wordpress.com
Some of my earliest memories are of blackouts from power workers strikes circa 1980. We had the advantage of knowing it was coming so prepared with oil lamps and board games – monopoly etc. This may be way too wholesome for you and requires friends or family on hand. Otherwise just do whatever you'd do on a night of camping / hiking. :)
 

DanM

Поехали!
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
1,131
Reaction score
1
Points
38
Location
Chicago
I was born in Arizona actually. I came to Georgia around ten years ago. I still hate the heat though. Honestly, I much prefer extreme cold to extreme heat.

I was born in Illinois and prefer extreme heat to extreme cold. Go figure.

I will say that winter power outages are much worse than summer ones, especially when they ruin your day off school.
 

Thunder Chicken

Fine Threads since 2008
Donator
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
4,327
Reaction score
3,246
Points
138
Location
Massachusetts
We lost power after the hurricane last fall for over 3 days. Thankfully the heat wasn't bad, and it was really pleasant to just sit in the dark on the porch, listening to the birds and animals and the quiet, and seeing the stars. Very peaceful.

A few folks down the street went into bunker mode and had a generator big enough to power half the block. They didn't miss any of their TV shows or video games, but they missed a lot of other things.

We had to husband our ice and keep the refrigerator closed. The second day I had to eat a quart of soft strawberry ice cream for dinner, and had one of the thawed steaks for breakfast on the third day. I'm glad we didn't get groceries before the power went out, but it was just me and my wife so we didn't have a lot to worry about. We basically just chilled out and read books until everything was cleaned up.
 

Andy44

owner: Oil Creek Astronautix
Addon Developer
Joined
Nov 22, 2007
Messages
7,620
Reaction score
6
Points
113
Location
In the Mid-Atlantic states
Without power I can't cook any of my frozen food. But I used this as an excuse to go into DC and eat a really nice dinner.
 

MattBaker

New member
Joined
Jul 9, 2011
Messages
2,750
Reaction score
0
Points
0
If you sit on your pizza long enough...

We had a blackout in the whole city a few weeks ago, during a moonless night. So, headlight, beer that's getting warm and a good book.
 

Krys

Resident Female
GFX Staff
Joined
Apr 21, 2009
Messages
2,156
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Kent, UK
Whip out the candles and hustle my husband with a game of texas hold 'em. Read an e-book until my battery gets low then plug it into my laptop until fully charged and read some more. Start cutting up my fabric for creating my dresses. Give the floors the good scrubbing I haven't had time for previously.
Turn on the gas fire in the living room to cook something for dinner.

In the daylight go for a drive somewhere else..... Maybe take a trip to the seaside.

As for sleeping in humid 37 celsius - no problem. We used to just wet down a towel and lay it on top of us - instant cool down. The trick is falling asleep before all the water evaporates.
 

Ghostrider

Donator
Donator
Joined
Feb 16, 2008
Messages
3,606
Reaction score
2
Points
78
Location
Right behind you - don't look!
Light candles, for starters. We have plenty of 'em and lanterns (bless IKEA, they throw this stuff at you). Should we need power for limited use, we have a couple of powerstations and inverters if necessary. And we have batteries, flashlights, canned food, bottles of water and a nice inflatable bed.:thumbup:
 

Andy44

owner: Oil Creek Astronautix
Addon Developer
Joined
Nov 22, 2007
Messages
7,620
Reaction score
6
Points
113
Location
In the Mid-Atlantic states
So my power came back on around 4 AM, life is returning to normal. So glad I live in Virginia; the power company in Maryland is horrible when it comes to this stuff.

I was able to fill up my vehicle with gas yesterday, and with a car charger for my cellphone and an inverter that kept me in the electronic loop. To be honest, as uncomfortable as it was in my home I would've been fine if only I could've turned a fan on. So I guess I need a battery-powered fan or something. I had lots of bottled water, and need some extra non-refrigerated food.

I have some oil lamps which are really nice to have as they light up the whole room. Candles not so much, but I do have one of those little candle lanterns which I use for packing in to camp.

I went to DC yesterday to hang out with a friend who still had power, and blew a metric crap ton of money on a really nice dinner. When I got home I laid out a sleeping bag on my basement floor, which is the coolest place in the house, and slept until the air conditioner blower came to life and woke me up.

No zombies sighted, although I was ready for 'em.
 

Artlav

Aperiodic traveller
Addon Developer
Beta Tester
Joined
Jan 7, 2008
Messages
5,789
Reaction score
778
Points
203
Location
Earth
Website
orbides.org
Preferred Pronouns
she/her
I have some oil lamps which are really nice to have as they light up the whole room.
Maybe you can get one of these things:
A thermoelectric generator for a kerosene lamp, 90V, 1W.
russlamp1a.jpg


Or a toy steam engine.
Heat the boiler with Ikea heat candles, attach a generator, charge a phone.
 

DanM

Поехали!
Joined
May 23, 2010
Messages
1,131
Reaction score
1
Points
38
Location
Chicago
I'm in the middle of a bad storm right now. I really hope this thread won't suddenly become helpful to me.
 
Top