Some thoughts on what I would call ‘modern warfare’ for citizen preppers. Some of this experience may pertain to urban areas, some perhaps pertinent overall.
Dimitri’s wife is grabbing her purse to go to the grocery store, when he casually says “it’s 5:45.” She just as ordinarily replies, “I’ve got cash.” Dimitri sees the slightly puzzled look on my face and flippantly notes, “they turn off the internet at six thirty now,” shrugs, and goes back to reading his paper.
Perhaps similar to London life during the blitz. Various municipal govts coordinated the shut down of lights and people wait. Others got about doing what they needed to do, sirens notwithstanding.
There is a familiar life amid modern drone warfare, and with the similar control of electricity comes the need to add internet.
When the drones are coming they turn off the internet.
As I contemplate the contrasts in social resilience, my most familiar reference point is life after a hurricane. In Florida when we are dealing with the aftermath of a hurricane, no power, no water, no internet, etc., you adapt to life without modern technological conveniences.
If you’ve ever lived amid the aftermath of natural disasters, you understand the need for a plan and quick adaptation. Do it a few times and adaption becomes ordinary. Horrible in ways, yes; awkward, certainly. But you take things in stride; overcome, figure out the optimal solution and keep moving. However, not everyone is prepared to consider a disruption an ‘inconvenience’ and many people who need consistency to retain stability end up in panic. I think long term readers well understand the reference.
As Dimitri goes back to the paper my mind shifts to stuff I’ve heard in bits and pieces but never given context before.
I think about this U.S. ‘Space Force’ thing, and now realize there are people who have gamed out modern warfare more than we discuss as a western technological society.
My mind also thinks about those reports I read a few years ago about various western govt offices concerned about the ability of Russia to target U.S. satellites. Suddenly I realize cell phone and telecommunication is not their concern.
There’s no internet; the problem is bigger than a temporary outage of Uber. I wonder how the commercial air traffic between Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg is not disrupted. Old school stuff applies. Meanwhile, the kids, lots of them are playing outside as kids do – apparently life amid modern drone warfare is resilient. No one is staring at the sky.
It is very odd to see how quickly a non-technology driven society can adapt to no electricity and no internet as an ordinary part of daily life. An entire nation just figures out the optimal solution, in part because their time between analog and digital has been short. Russians have a totally different context of dependency.
I’m also starting to realize how the flexibility within a non-technological society is an asset in modern warfare. Turn off the internet in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles or any major metropolitan area – how would life be impacted?
I can only imagine the reactions from a generation who has never known life without wi-fi.
It would be a very good intellectual exercise to think carefully about what your life would be like without cell phone coverage or internet services. There are more than a few people who have never learned to read a clock with hands.
In Russia when the drones are coming they turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity. Stores stay open; people do the ordinary things people do, the trains still run, the busses stay on schedule and you can still get a hot coffee and a sandwich just about anywhere, albeit sans Starbucks. Private taxis, Uber equivalents, switch seamlessly to line up at pick-up points without issue. Try to duplicate that rapid on/off precision in Boston, Miami or St Louis… see my point?
Then extend those thoughts to Paris, Frankfurt, Warsaw or Helsinki. Dimitri is thinking about ordering a pizza, while I’m starting to realize why NATO countries are going bananas.
Can Russia beat Europe in modern warfare?
Well, turn off the electricity, turn off the internet and see what happens to social society in Prague, Rome or any region in Europe when the sirens start. Yeah, NATO is going bananas as Putin’s best non-discussed weapon just looms quietly.
Putin’s strongest weapon is essentially a social infrastructure akin to a nation full of people who can live in the aftermath of a hurricane without needing a digital screen to provide directions to the next six hours of their life.
Again, somewhere, in some office complex deep in the bowels of some agency or bureaucracy, someone has ran models of this and yet I cannot find a reference anywhere to ordinary people talking about it.
In the glovebox of every taxi in Russia you will find a paper map; when was the last time you saw one in the USA?
When the drones come, they always turn off the internet and sometimes the electricity.
How would we deal with that…
Think about it.
How would we deal with that?
Wait for it to return, don’t panic and obey any instructions given before hand – don’t shoot, don’t open your door or get in your car, etc; because we’re getting the swamp creatures simultaneously deployed globally (Interpol?) so they too have no way to escape tracking them down; even if they have premade plans to escape capture. All transport systems and computers will be unavailable to facilitate those with advanced bookings. If they are in their bunkers, they too will be flushed out. Does that sound plausible?
I think about Katrina and how people reacted. This is what I expect. This is why I live in a remote location. I don’t desire what society offers. None of the pillars of our society have good intentions. And if things go south then I expect people to burn, loot murder & rape.
There are no virtues & morals among the masses.
They treat God-given wealth of Time, Health, Soul & Offspring as useless.
They value man-made riches of $, status & power.
Americans say if you ain’t cheatin you ain’t trying. They also say it is legal if you aren’t caught. And they say legal > moral.
Covid proved civilized people will turn you in for a donut. Katrina proved uncivilized people will BLM & rape you.
“Jim he is dead”(Dr. “Bones” McCoy from Star Trek). Jim you are so right I agree 100% with your analysis and factual examples to support your argument. Good job!
We started “prepping” during the concerning regime of the Kenyan. They say don’t bother to prep food/water, etc., if you haven’t prepped something with which to protect it.
Very sobering.
My oldest brother with military career and prepper before prepping was cool always said, “No point in having it if you’re not prepared to keep it.” (lots of unsaid words after that point was made…..)
And our (general populace) reliance on technology and government has increased quite a bit since Katrina in 2005–20 years ago.
the real damage from Katrina was in MISS. But all the TV cameras were on the N.O. Superdome. I sat in Houston and watched people go into the Superdome — they didnt take a water bottle, or a sandwich. They expected the government to take care of them. Then when it was over they sat right there (when they could have walked out and started helping with cleanup, but again expected to be taken care of. And again, the TV cameras never pulled back to give a wide shot and show they were not trapped in the Superdome.!!
We in the USA have become slaves to the new social systems and technologies
Nope. One of my adult sons asked me recently what I thought about A.I. and the future of it. He didn’t realize I would wax poetic, but the simple answer is, just turn it all off. Be prepared and turn it all off.
Yep and don’t vape either.😏
Bring back outhouses too.
Just had a conversation last night with friends who had had a young person visiting, and refused going to their outhouse to do what needed done… drove to a “facility” in a nearby town. Amazing.
Yikes. That’s extreme.
Clearly no sense of adventure in that person. LOL!
My grandmother in the 60’s still used an outhouse. As kids we thought it was cool, and loved sprinkling the lime down the hole.
Going down a rabbit hole the other night I found a woman doing a video on using cloth as toilet paper because she figured out how much money her family could save from not buying toilet paper. I bet the youngster would have really flipped if he/she had to use a cloth to wipe.
I had an aunt who never had indoor plumbing, well into the 80’s. As a kid I was mortified but as an adult, no worries 😌
lol. Outhouse, what for? My 4 yr old grandson learned quick in the country, no neighbors or cars, no need to find a bathroom inside anymore…well in the summer anyway!
As long as he’s not pooping near the garden? That’s how we get bacteria infected lettuce, etc.
except some places in the us where peeps don’t depends on the government, power or internet, plus cell phones.
Yes, most of us have but not me. If I am questioned I will say “I’m old and from a different planet called “old school.” End of explanation. My relatives make fun of me but I wonder who will have the last laugh.
You’re right.
And many times, the technology is wrong.
For example, if you use Google Lens to look up the first picture in Sundance’s posting, the AI is telling you it’s near Sofia, Bulgaria. Actually, the picture is taken above Sheremetyevo Airport near Moscow, Russia.
Old computer programming adage, garbage in, garbage out!
Our kids learned to read paper maps before we let them use gps.
Two of them can actually maneuver by paper.
Good luck, number three!
Reading them is easier than folding them.
That is a fact.
Very smart to teach your kids this. My kid with a Bachelors Degree cannot tell time or write in cursive. My other kid with no college degree is able to do both and read a map. lol
How about the ones who aren’t able to count back change? 😜
Yes… encounter them at every cash register.
.
A week or so ago, I paid a $24.25 tab with $40 cash and a quarter.
The cashiers had a surprised look on her face as saw what I was handing her.
‘Oh, there’s a coin, too!” she exclaimed . . .
I had that happen about three years ago–a supervisor had to eventually come over to bail out the ignorant cashier.
I haven’t gone through a checkout since. Using self-check spares me a lot that I just don’t need.
We didn’t let our children have cell phones until they were in high school, and no driver’s licenses until they were 18.
Well,
As an Alaskan, I lived most of my life without any of it.
I hate cell phones.
I despise those walking into telephone poles with their face in one.
And, people keep their brains in them.
Many cannot find there way around this town without their phone.
I tell them to go to some place… oh, it’s down old Seward, and you take a right by that huge boulder sitting onna other side of Klatt…
They have no idea.
And they were born and raised here.
I find it amazing.
Do you live in Reo Linda?😂
Reminders of RUSH… thanks.
Rio Linda, meaning pretty river, is a small town actually built next to Dry Creek. The Great Rush ‘Limboo’ Limbaugh was referring to Rio Linda, California. … I said, “The Great” as Limboo was how Limbaugh was pronounced by some very famous people. … Rush Limbaugh seemed to enjoy the utilization of his mispronounced name, in the pre-recorded comedy sections of his show.
I have actually used the sun to navigate when I was lost. Also even number road signs > east to west. Odd numbers > north to south. My late husband could drive across the USA without a map or cell phone…My daughter can’t drive around the block without help from her cellphone…
Who knew that our road numbering system actually means something important!
only interstate roads follow that east, west & north, south rule
And US highways, and state roads…
What good is life is you can’t get lost once in a while? Half of the fun is just getting away from it all, and the other half is having the wits to find the way back.
In my area (Lehigh Valley, PA):
U.S. Route 222 – north/south
PA Routes 378, 512 – north/south
I’m horrible with navigation in general. I think a lot has to do with the way my area of the state I live in was laid out on a map, or so my husband tells me. “East is actually west in Buffalo”. That statement has thrown me off completely. Very interested to know how the addresses provide direction! Thanks in advance!
We lived there for near ten years and navigated by mileposts and bars. No cell phones and your survival gear stayed in the trunk of vehicle.
In New Hampshire, it’s easy to get lost on the backroads. Really easy.
I used to go out with that intention… no GPS, just a paper map.
It’s amazing what you find/see when you take the road less-travelled.
Just fill up first.
My late husband lived in Alaska for some thirty years.
At least twice he was stranded out in the bush and had to walk out.
Took days, but he did it.
He was a pretty tough guy.
Had a burst appendix but still managed to take all his high school final exams before he agreed to go to the hospital.
Living in your general neck of the woods, Sundance, I have had to deal with 4 major hurricanes in the last 8 years. By far the worst part was being without cellphone service for 3 days.
The inability to phone loved ones was very stressful. No one knew if we were alive or dead.
We could handle everything else for a few days. It would be unpleasant to go much longer. Our society is soft and mostly oblivious to any EMP attack.
Went through a week of that in Western NC last September with Hurricane Helene. No cell service, no WiFi, no water, no septic. I have lived way longer without technology than with it. We didn’t panic, but we searched high and low for an old ordinary battery powered radio just so we could find out what was happening.
Like you say not being able to contact friends and family was the worst.
thats iffin you got water and food.😳
Why wouldn’t you store up cans of food (edible without cooking, take advantage of case lot sales at the grocery store. And don’t forget a couple of hand operated can openers!) and water and a decent water purifier?
They aren’t that expensive and you can learn to make your own at a fraction of the price of a Berkey filter.
Check out YouTube to learn to make your own.
Don’t forget a plastic bucket, lined with a couple of contractor grade trash bags. This is for your personal “output”
Collect the urine separately and pour it around trees.
The solids go into the bucket, cover with some pine shavings or kitty litter.
Double bag it and put it out with the trash once service is renewed.
DON’T flush kitty litter or pine shavings.
Yeah, shouldn’t have to write that, but some folks don’t always think things through…
hopefully starlink puts an end to this issue ever being a problem again
I’m not so sure- looks more like an impending digital prison to me: 🤷🏻♀️
(This is just starlinks – 7k, & they send up more trains of them weekly)
no powah = no starlink.😒
That is why nuclear power is OK to talk about again.
Starlink satellites can connect direct to mobil phones, which run on batteries. Anyone forward thinking enough to subscribe to Starlink service should also be smart enough to maintain a large storage battery that can recharge mobile phones several times.
Not just any old mobile phone though… they need to be relatively recent models to have the tech necessary to. talk to a Starlink Sat.
Read this short but substantive article:
https://netizenpulse.com/starlink-work-with-cell-phones/
Now that would have been great for someone who knows tech! The article lost me completely after saying any phone up to 4 years old. lol. Mines duct taped together to begin with…
I believe that when you subscribe to Starlink, they initially guide you in making whatever phone settings changes are required to connect directly to their satellite network.
I agree with a comment made in another post on this page; I hate cellphones. I intentionally leave mine at home when I go grocery shopping, etc., and only carry it with me if I’m traveling more than an hour or two from home. I hate them.
I called the local “phone” service here (AT&T) and requested a land line be installed, and was informed it isn’t cost effective for them to run home phone lines any more.
I wonder how many other backup solutions we are missing out on because of dependency on “new” technology.
Kinda makes you wonder how people survived before landlines, doesn’t it?
Cute. There is quite a startling number of posts that outline how little some/most? folks ‘connect’ with neighbors and friends, if they consider ‘all is lost’ if their cells don’t work.
I remember the telephone operator who listened in on every call 😎
Riding horse back to the doctor’s house to ask him to deliver a baby or remove an appendix was a fairly common occurrence in those days…
I worked in IT/IS most of my life, and when I retired 10 years ago I told my husband we needed to use only “old timey” things for the rest of our lives.
No smart phones, no wireless anything.
We have old computers that are connected via cable to a box that has wireless turned off. When we walk away from our computers we unplug the internet cable. We have a land line for our old push button and rotary phones, and no Internet connected appliances, televisions, vaccuums, cars, etc.
We have wind-up and solar powered radios, walkie-talkies, solar powered lights always ready to go, along with Bright Betties to light the house, and very basic portable CB (citizen band) radios for listening to and communicating with.
Most of those things are old technology, which make them easy to get without spending a lot of cash.
Where? We picked up a walkie talkie CB online. It had so many gadgets, it got tossed somewhere lol
FWIW, look into the “home connect” options offered by some of the cell companies – basically a cell modem with just a land line coming out of it……
Not as genuine as the real thing of course, but about as close as you’re likely to get
But they’ll pay a 3rd party to patch up the poles that go to nowhere! Lost underground cables yes, but don’t dig them up! Didn’t matter that the huge cable was split in two for over a decade in the river though! Make it make sense!
Those of us who were born in the fifties or before lived our lives like this for a while. When looking back were the trade offs we made to get to today worth it? Probably, but the ledger is only slightly in our favor.
See my comment above about growing up Amish. Not sure it’s really progress…
It is not. It is a cage and the door is closing fast.
I would say, the trade offs were most definitely NOT worth it IMHO, and I was born in 1955 AD.
I agree with you, Guest4Ever.
The only thing I’ve seen that has been a huge blessing has to do with one of my sisters who is deaf.
When she grewup and moved away from home the only way anyone could talk to her was via a TTY (text telephone device), a piece of equipment that a phone handset would rest on, that had a small keyboard and screen that showed what you typed, and what the person you were speaking with was typing. I was the only person in my family who bought a TTY so I could talk to my sister at any time; my parents and siblings only spoke with her via snail mail or by going through me.
The advent of smart phones totally — YUGELY — opened up the world to my deaf sister.
Nowadays she is more connected than I am, and she loves it.
Stories like hers are the only reason I find any worth in smart phones.
I still have my old TTY and think maybe, someday, it just might come in handy to “talk” to other people and not be heard.
Born in 1943. We had a “party line.” Kids today don’t believe we shared a phone with other families.
We had no phone until about 1961, and then we had a party line until something like 1970.
It is stunning for me – Any place that I go to that has a waiting area, I am the only person NOT on a device !
I think many people here can relate to that, myself included.
Thank you !
As a Treeper – to be here with you : I G F T —— Incredibly Grateful, Forever Thankful !
I would definitely miss the Treehouse the most; if the internet goes down.
They have a term for it now, believe it or not.
It is called “raw dogging”.
Ex: When I flew from Miami to Tampa, I raw dogged the flight and never used any electronics.
Just received in the mail today my Dell Figgerits puzzle books.
I have about 30 miscellaneous puzzle books, some from the ‘90’s
I have paperback books, backgammon sets, checkers, cards, battery powered radio and fans, hand-crank flashlight. My garden is doing so-so..thank goodness I like cucumbers.
Point being, I would not be bored. I would miss cold drinks and meat. Nobody would think of entering my property uninvited..shot across the bow.
I think God created cucumbers so even poor gardeners wouldn’t starve.
Cucumbers and squash!
B & C vitamins!
What would you have done on a flight longer than 45 minutes? Say ……. from Tampa to Chicago….. or Miami to New York?
That’s why there is more than 1 book in my carry-on. I often carry multiple cheap paperbacks and just “donate” the ones that have been read to the next waiting area.
Yep.
Yarn is my best friend in waiting rooms. They’ve started lowering the wattage in and frequency of the light fixtures nowadays, sadly.
cellphone borgs.
Same.
Yeap, it’s lovely to be in the real world.
and I make it a point to NOT face the TV. Weird, I know.
I am never on a device in public.
Too easy to get lost in the scrolling and miss an early warning of some bad thing about to go down.
Head on a swivel…
I hope you all have at least one car that is not connected or dependent on internet services. It’s actually scary to think what the manufacturer can do remotely with my late model BMW. Thankfully I have others that don’t phone home, and one that doesn’t even have a computer.
With personal transportation, Old Is Gold. I found a clean 2002 Trailblazer with a rebuilt straight 6-cyl engine, and “restored” i with a complete brake job & suspension rebuild. Under $12K total invested. A smooth, powerful, and reliable ride. And the only electronics are in its ABS and ignition systems.
You might do the same, and sooner rather than later, before 25 y/o vehicles are banned for being noncompliant.
Family is close, i would walk…..
2004, 2005, 2012…no one is turning my vehicles off but me. 😊
Never a bad idea to have decent road atlas map in the car, I try to keep it reasonably current. Potentially helpful if you get out of cellular coverage.
I have a gigantic Atlas of the world book. Naturally, it is decades old, but it is mostly accurate. I don’t throw books away.
Was on a roadtrip from he11 back in 2017, and very much needed a map. Finally was able to find an atlas at a truck stop. The regular gas stations did not have even local/state maps.
Remember the old “Triptychs”? They don’t make them anymore.
I have a whole box of paper road maps, I even have several from my late parents’ many European trips. I struggle to declutter, what am I keeping them for? I have noticed these and most of my old hardback atlases don’t have the newer highways.
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When the ‘newer highways’ are inundated with traffic, blockades, protests, those old maps could help find the ‘back way’ out . . .
I live in Montana.
I don’t think they’ve added a new highway in decades.
I have a 50 state Nat Geo National Parks Map in my F150 with its board screen map syste. The nav map takes awhile to update. Weird feeling to be driving along newly opened interstate road which suddenly ceases to exist on the truck screen navigation map. Meanwhile, google maps keeps giving audio directions. Stopped at a gas station to review the google route.
AAA triptic was great at giving road construction updates and alternate routes. Although I miss those, I find I like audio directions-safer, faster. Notwithstanding the convenience and safety of audio directions, I have found that google does not necessarily give the best route. Son in law has better success at avoiding traffic using WAYS system. I’ve felt that Google was herding me so I choose my route by the cities (and predictably congested traffic) I wish to avoid and note the major roads to be used before driving on. Mountain House freeze dried in a plastic bin under the back seat with 5 gallon water dispenser and 5 gallon empty food safe plastic pail and lid under the truck bed cover with camping gear.extra accessible drinking water inside the truck just in case. So darn hot and humid right now in FL!
I make it a point to always stop at the ‘Welcome to X state’ centers and grab the newest maps that they give out. Sometimes can even get maps of the bigger cities in that state.
I still have a huge pile of Maps in a box in the attic
I refused to throw out over the years
just clutter
I didn’t have any specific reason why but my gut told me hang on to them
for some reason.
instinct I guess
Back in 1986 I graduated with an EE degree and then for years hauled around heavy and expensive text and reference books. I came to my senses a few years later and tossed them all. If our society was suddenly deprived of electricity and internet for any real length of time, the ensuing chaos would result in most of the population dying of thirst and hunger.
I don’t quite ‘get’ your post… you “tossed them all” when you “came to your senses”…. I would think that those text and reference books, would be invaluable, should your scenario occur.
What am I missing?
That society would self destruct before enough engineers got together to rebuild it.
Sort of like the Roman aqua ducts being torn apart to salvage the stones for buildings.
Took a spell to rebuild Western civilization.
However, it likely would have been rebuilt quicker if folks had kept the old manuscripts.
Lots of old books of all kinds stored at my house.
And disease.
Your gut never lies…
With Space Force, when they track drones’ activity and locations; is it possible that such systems could operate independently of the internet, relying on local networks and onboard processing capabilities to track criminals?
Quite a lot of stuff is not dependent on what we might think of as the Internet. No nation state or organization with malicious intent towards the US is going to have their stuff riding over the commercial internet; 90% of the world’s internet traffic passes through US-owned equipment so relying on it isn’t smart.
More likely, anything coming at us is going to be heavily encrypted on a closed proprietary network. Same goes for any sensitive system we’re operating.
It sounds like you are saying when USA provided drones, “owned and operated by Ukraine” fly into Russian airspace that Russia cuts off the electricity and Internet to their own citizenry?
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Or are the “Ukraine drones”, provided by the USA shutting off the Internet and electric power in Russia?
Telecom, Internet and wireless expert here : still actively working every day.
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Russia must still have a Public Switched Telephone Network ( PSTN ) via copper land line.
.
Whereas the USA has virtuously no landline copper PSTN at all because we rely on Voice over ( VoIP ).
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Depending on what is going on, we could set up IntraNets with power provided by home generators.
Still have copper to the house here, but it was direct buried and gets noise issues. My wife got her Amateur’s license and can power her mobile station from the car, so as long as there’s gas.
Pumped by…? Oh, uh, right.
Harbor Freight sells 5 gallon portable gas tanks. May need funnel and tubing to get past newer valves to gas tanks.
Is that what they are working on with the Internet of Things?
The internet of things is one big “Off” switch for all the stuff in your house that is connected to the Internet.
Only problem is, YOU don’t control the off switch.
Guess who does…
Communications must have reliable electric power.Trump Says Generators Will Be Tax Deductible if He Wins.
https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2024-10-11/trump-says-generators-will-be-tax-deductible-if-he-wins
.
I am not able to determine if the generator tax deduction was not included in BBB.
a generator is a crutch.
It can be a lifesaving crutch; my husband is on oxygen 24/7.
Thankfully, that “crutch” keeps the refridgerator and freezer working. (as stated above.. IF gas is available)
A crutch is a good thing to have when you break a leg, or the power goes out and you need to keep your freezer working.
Or American drones targeting Undesirables/Non-Compliants in the U.S….
both
It’s a way of life. Hard copy books, cash in the wallet, wood burning stove, know your neighbors, trust God. Lessons learned from grandparents who lived through the Great Depression. Appreciate the conveniences of modern life, but know they are not guaranteed.
I have all of that and I’m blessed to have it.
Absolutely right about the lessons and skills AZMom! One more step to actually “be ready” is practice! Are your books moldy? Can you read them at night? Candles? Purify water? Do it! Build a fire? Do it! Make some bread? Do it OUTSIDE! Pitch that tent! Sleep in it overnight! Wash your clothes! #1 Priority: KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT OF WHAT YOU HAVE! #2 Priority: Keep family, trusted neighbors and your God very close to you!
And make sure you have plenty of ammo, cause when they find out you have something they’ll come to take it.
Yes, when I began to “prep” a friend told me never to let neighbors know what you have and what you’re doing. No one knows what someone desperate might do in the event of an emergency.
Grew up poor on the west coast with parents that were teenagers in the depression and WWII. Learned how to forage, hunt, fish, heat and cook with wood, grow and preserve food. Taught my son and grandson the same. Hard copies of info in bookcase, am prepped for the next crisis and very important, have cash on hand. Most important, keep your circle tight and tell no one what you have.
The lesson of that depression is that people had no money to buy anything…and if you had money, there was nothing to get!!!!!
I love everything you wrote, AZMom, but especially the last 5 words — “…know they are not guaranteed.”
We should all learn that there are few things in life that are guaranteed. We should all learn what it feels like to want and to need and to suffer to gain basic necessities. Those are the things that make us humble, and those are the things that make us know that nothing is guaranteed — other than the Lord and His good will towards His redeemed.
The only two things (other than God’s sovereignty) guaranteed are death and taxes, and who the heck wants them, anyway!
Do you want to practice……?????
Try camping out in your home……
Easy…….peasy……maybe……?????
what an idea.
If you live where it’s cold, pitch a small tent inside your home.
It will keep you surprisingly warm.
Honestly, I would only miss CTH and ZH. My sanity, my pleasure, my optmism, my hopes and, most of all, people I respect are found there.
woops, dat right. no internet, not cth.😳
Dependence of the internet has become a lot stronger with the covid attack. Lots of people depend on it to buy pretty much everything including food, etc. Its a watchdog, a payee, a way to know how the world turns. Cell phone for most people are doubly important. Seems no one can do anything without a phone to their ear. Most things are electric and, what isn’t, sort of needs it to function. Example gas stove, electric starter.
I do depend on the internet for a large amount of shopping – Semi-rural Colorado – approx 60-70 mile round trip to a Walmart – retired – fixed income, cost of living here is high – can’t afford lots of 60-70 mile trips !
Landline only – Just have NEVER had a need for a “DEVICE” !
Just like me. No cell phone, tried but didn’t like them. Also do just about every kind of shopping on the internist, mostly Walmart. Retired too. Children live in another city, have their own lives and its not been easy. Find myself going back, clothes on the line, even heat my own water. Fans, not air. Seems that its important t. become less dependent but the net is a must
Watchdog? Yes, but also a guide dog. Shaping opinions, telling people what’s ‘safe,’ or ‘dangerous,’ and doing its best to filter information. Trying to turn the world in a certain direction.
We have a gas range, so we can light 5 burners if the power goes out.
But without pumps, will gas get to your home?
Never mind. Surely the pumping stations have back-up generators.
Honestly, I don’t think much of anything will operate if electric is attacked. These bombs, can’t remember what they’re call scare the buzzles out of me.
EMP?
Electro magnetic pulse.
Can be set off by a very bad solar flare or a nuclear detonation.
Not exactly sure what you’re asking. My gas comes through a line and, yest I can turn on burners but not use the oven.
Exactly. We also have a portable Generac generator.
Propane gas is the way to go. Can store enough in tank for at least a year. No pumping required.
Grew up Amish, no electricity no internet. Internet didn’t come until later anyway, but we never did have an outage. Grew a huge garden and canned tons of food every year. Regular gasoline or kerosene, or back in the old days, whale oil was our light source and wood was for cooking and heating. Sometimes coal.
Didn’t have or need cars, phones, TVs, video games or “smart” anything, unless it was someone who was unusually bright.
Yea, I think we’d do fine from here.
Whale oil?
Same – but still am Amish. Ya, we did fine going through covid and it put things in perspective for some. Think we’d be fine unless things got violent.
During one hurricane here in Texas we lost power for almost a week. But we had gas for cooking on the stove and for showers. As frozen food thawed we cooked it. Sleeping in the Texas summer heat with the windows open and the ceiling fan on all night was doable. The occasional late night dog bark or other night sounds reminded me of a kid growing up up north with no AC and open windows. We cleaned up yard debris and fixed roof leaks. But Sundance is right you adjust. But the biggest adjustment was going to bed when it got dark, there was nothing else to do!!! I had a life before the internet and cell phones and I could do it again!!!
Trick #1 – finding that box of candles we have…. in the dark.
Trick #2:
Have a means of lighting those candles, RIGHT BY the candles, and not something else one has to search for, to light them.
😉
My 👓
Have a flash light in every room of the house.
May have been the same hurricane. We were out of power and water for 8 days while our 2 yr old and 8 yr old granddaughters were living with us. Like you, as stuff thawed we cooked it on the grill and since I’m a semi-prepper we have battery fans and transistor radios. The 24′ above ground pool gave us water to flush the toilets and buckets poured over the girl’s heads made make-shift play showers. After 5 days the roads were clear enough to go to our little town (population 308) and the girls were given a choice of drink to get. The 2 yr old chose milk and the 8 yr old a Dr Pepper. We can do it all again except for the pool. I do have 3 small solar/elecct generators no though.
Great story ma’am. I would much rather find myself in a setting like “Where The Lillies Bloom” as opposed to a Democrat run Babylonian cesspool if you lost power/water.
Hope the 8 yr old gets weaned off the soft drinks… deadly.
How come that ceiling fan was working?
Thought off but keyboarded on! Good catch! I find I do this more often at my age! My wife tells me I sometimes say the opposite of what I mean? 💩 happens!
Perhaps this is somewhat related?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/trumps-newimmigration-budget-surpasses-most-worlds-militaries/
That’s just the high price of fixing past mistakes in life! Some mistakes are bad and may rip your heart out, but the mistake America made by believing in the Greatest Hoax by the one known as Barack Hussein Obama will take decades to fix, probably many trillions of dollars and at least 2 generations of youth! Thanks to Trumps perseverance in fighting the DeepState and weaponized government, Trump has caused the Obama Era to crash and burn much like the Hindenburg did in 1937! We can again celebrate America! America is NOT evil from the beginning! Good does destroy Evil in America! America always TRIES ago be fair!
Well now, how many of those nation’s military are up against at least 20,000,000-30,000,000 adversaries without being able to use lethal force?
And supply them with all the comforts they want.
It’s the stuff of Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451 that I read that was NOT on school reading list but almost required reading for Bob Dylan fans in the sixties and seventies when we were not protesting the Vietnam war, etc.
Later on, I even went to CPAC once or twice to meet my friends who were “bloggers” like Pamela Geller and Robert Stacy McCain and even caught a glimpse of Andrew Breitbart holding court in the Marriott bar room, and realized that we all read the same books as teenagers and even went to NYC for “Newport News Jazz” and so on back in the day.
Thus, the idea of negative utopia is seared in my mind and while we (adults with realistic and conservative outlook) try to avoid that outcome I see the telltale signs of 1984 approaching every day. SD I’m so glad you have been able to bring a vision of truth and reality into your writings as we continue the journey.
As I can only answer for myself, I would be as I am now. The chaos is temporary for “we”, other people. Years ago on a site, I cannot remember the name of, it was pointed out that by talking about a subject, be that drones, plandemics, etc, the current false flag, even in a small by comparison group, “the issue” is dis-spelled. Hence, normality ensues quickly.
Thoughts collectively held shape and reshape according to the attention given to the thought, hence the mystical reality the mind of people has created is spell bound.
One sane individual in a group corrects the insanity felt by the “others”. One may call this an “adaptation”, or one may call it, seeing reality closer to how it really is.
These so called sirens metaphorically speaking are a blessing in disguise, albeit for the most part seen in hindsight.
I used maps my whole life including a compass, I’ve trained how to survive. Whenever I visited another state or country, I deliberately got lost to fully grasp where I was.
The wonderful thing about the United States of America, its expanse, and its every blade of grass.
That last phrase, IYKYK…
Yes, I know what you mean and believe, when necessary, every blade of grass will be used.
My glovebox has several maps. I have a 2002 car and don’t won’t a new car with all the technology. I just want a simple car that drives. I’m used to FL hurricanes and have the prep stuff. I would do better than most.
Great read Sundance. Kudos as usual. My perception on many things changed once I realized that Tesla Physics is really being used by our Black Ops, via UAP’s. I see PDJT creating Space Force in part because of that. While we have been mislead with Einstein, they have been using Tesla.
When the internet/electricity goes out in Nazi NATO countries, the Purge will happen, while in Orthodox Christian Russia & its allies, NO Purge.
I look back at the decades long propaganda in the movies and Op Mockingbird about “UFO’s” and see what a misdirection it was all along. There is also more to it than just Tesla. That answer validates the Bible and they cannot have that
Woo crew……?
Nice try sir. Your way behind the times. UAP patents.
I have been talking about it for years. The first thing that would happen during or as a prelude to an attack is that the internet would be turned off.
P.S. if someone wants to mess with us just a little bit, all they would have to do is turn off the EBT cards and watch what ensues.
The chaos that ensues at Walmart from just a few hours of EBT technical problems makes the national news. With crazy videos.
“turn off the EBT cards ” long overdue.
Trump et al are turning off the EBT cards for the illegals! Maybe that’s why some of them are self-deporting rather than being processed through Alligator Alcatraz?!
1. diesel generator/solar battery
2. satellite phone
3. blockchain for internet access
will soften the blow
decentralized and uncensorable, web3 internet
it’s already here, folks
might as well dive in BEFORE the going gets rough…
https://www.infoworld.com/article/2334966/why-blockchain-is-the-future-of-the-internet.html
my first web3, blockchain centric smartphone is scheduled to finally arrive sometime next month
i plan on giving performance updates to treepers in as timely a manner as possible
I’ll be very curious to hear about its crypto wallet capabilities.
Learn how to use a HAM radio or get to know someone who does.
I looked into this once; way too technical for me but hubs bought some books about it.
Find a cheap, portable CB radio. Does essentially the same thing, just not at the same distance or with the same power, but doesn’t need a license to use, either.
If you go the Ham radio solution make sure that you have a transmitter with enough power to give you a range more than a few line of sight miles. Most small transmitter walkies talkies depend upon government powered repeater towers to increase your range. During Helene in Western NC these repeater towers did not function in many areas since they did have fuel for backup power generators to operate the stations. The cell phone networks had the same fuel problems. Communication depended upon Starlink being brought into the area to help cell phone providers to function. Many small communities had only battery walkie talkie radios for emergency communication for a few weeks.
Having been a “prepper” minded person going on 25 years now, I have gamed out those scenarios. I have backups to the backups to the backups. BUT, I like my electricity and my air conditioning. If all goes dark, there is no panic, just a quiet resignation that things just changed and may stay that way. Time to get to work.
Many years ago, as my mindset changed, I gave gifts for all occasions to my children that encouraged them to prepare – a solar powered emergency radio, a “go bag” filled with necessities, a portable water filtering system, etc. As I changed my lifestyle to one of preparedness, I noticed my adult children did too.
Everyone thinks you’re crazy until something happens, like Covid. What? There’s no baby formula or diapers or toilet paper? I have a young relative who now keeps a stash for, what she calls, “Oh shxt!” Good for her. When Helene came through, they had the generator, and they had the extras with which to help their neighbors. She felt empowered and satisfied. Not to say that everyone could have possibly been prepared for that devastation – 1000 year floods and homes swept away. That’s when you realize that your biggest first prep is knowing Who your Redeemer is and being prepared for this life to end.
A lot of people have an excuse of, “I don’t prep because I would rather die than live in a world like that.” The problem is, you often don’t die. You suffer… miserably. In my mind, there’s no excuse to not prepare for no Internet, no electricity, no running water, etc. Thankfully, even my grandchildren are prepared minded. We do everything we can and we pray. Then, we live life in gratefulness.
Thank you Sundance.
“That’s when you realize that your biggest first prep is knowing Who your Redeemer is and being prepared for this life to end.”
Amen, my sister, amen.
Westerners. Even the poorest of us depend on everything from electric lights to cellphones and services. We (collectively, excluding myself and many here) are so distant from life without Internet et al that probably 99% of the western world just can’t imagine that we would ever have to live without all of it, or any single piece of it.
“Eat, drink and be merry, because we (and our stuff) will never die.”
Lol…my hub is so ole school his truck ( glovebox, console….) is full of maps.
He even has a platized McNally Atlas of every state, highway and some roads he added.
He refuses to own a cellphone.
Just an ole marine from Texas
I briefly faced that experience in Spain a few months ago when electricity and wifi got shut off for several hours. First, can’t get the car out of the garage or out from a gated area if it is electrically powered. Second, no cellphones to contact family. Third, people line up at grocery stores for basics but you need cash since POS systems don’t work. ATMs don’t work to get cash. Fourth, if you get food, note that ovens,
Microwaves, electric stoves, refrigerators and freezers don’t work. Maybe use a grill to cook if there is propane. Fifth, lights don’t work so you need candles, matches, etc. Sixth, domestic water, hot water heaters, plumbing etc. Much more. On the positive side it got our kid off the internet while the shutdown lasted.
Re “Third, people line up at grocery stores for basics but you need cash since POS systems don’t work.”
My first instinct was to read that “POS systems” as “Piece of sh!t systems.” Not sure that’s not also applicable, if not more so, than the meaning (point of sale) you meant it to represent… lol
Same thing…
.
Don’t most garage doors have a hand pull to disengage the automatic feature for operating such that it can be opened by hand?
you are probably correct for most garage doors esp in the US. My situation took place in Spain with an electric gate to a home and more complexity involved in getting the gate opened manually.
Water is the most necessary resource. No electricity no well Pump. No water no sanitation.
I’ve been reading Sundance’s admonitions about preparation for long enough that I now think how dependent we are on “grid” water every time I flush the toilet.
Often you read an article from a crazy left city that the refuse doesn’t get picked up, generating a rat and other vermin infestation; living in an urban suburb I’m fully conscious of how dependent we are on weekly services. I never let a week go by without getting every possible piece of garbage out the door, no matter how little we have – who knows when they might come again?
There are some people that can’t back out of their driveway w/’o gps.
I’m one of them but don’t think a GPS would help – I just can’t back up in a straight line no matter what.
Biden tried very hard to drag us back down to the Soviet level.
“Make sure you have the record player on at night.”
It also takes me back to a time in my very early teens when I stayed on a ranch deep into Mexico, we lived by daylight, candles at night, worked the area for what was needed. I had the pleasure of knowing Mexican/Indian adults in their late 60’ and 70’s, traveling for miles with only a canteen of water, tortillas and sandals made from old tires. There was a very old woman, 104 years, who I would help Carry water, two 1 gallon buckets 1 1/2 miles back to her shack, no bigger than a 8×8 room. She did this before & after me.
I was amazed how strong and leathered skin these good folks were and their work ethics was no match to most of the teenagers at that time period, even most adults. When I look around today, I’m disheartened by what I see in this new generation.
Take heart.
The folks who gave us the Roaring Twenties managed to live through the Great Depression and WW II.
Hard times create hard men (and women.)
I still have paper maps in my car. LOL. Maps aside, I was traveling (by car) for work during the 911 era. I started keeping a lot of things in my car at that time and still keep many of those items.
Heck most automobiles won’t run, and if they do it would be with the dashboard blackened, you better know where you’re going.
Over the years we have changed our cell phone service a few times, ditto our home internet. They try and sell you on a package, all services from the same company.
I have never combined services, there have been multiple times I was glad one or the other was still accessible. Even that was crazy-making, I fully expect the day will come when we have to live like we used to.
Yep.
Half the sheeple or more would be like a fish out of water with no internet or no powah.
Russia’s got their sheeple in much better shape to survive.
The role the Spanish Civil War played in regards to the development of strategic and tactical bombing is the role the Russo-Ukrainian is currently playing in regards to drone warfare. Though I do not draw a moral parallel between the two, there was a theoretical and tactical through-line between Guernica and Hiroshima.
Those not paying attention to the advancement of drone technological and tactics in Eastern Europe are missing what the Next War is going to be like.
Besides looting, rape, and murder by the usual suspects (best reason for AK-47), rampant liberal white depression as they can no longer vent and post their hatred of America and smug superiority. Having no reinforced stimulation, this would crush them. Be worth a try for a couple of weeks.
The $711 million dollar question you have to ask yourself is: if you lost electricity and internet where would you rather be, Moscow, or London? Moscow or Los Angeles? Moscow or NYC? Moscow or Berlin?
The Nazi EU nations are set for the Purge, while Orthodox Christian Russia and its allies (the ones not destroyed by their Globalist wars from Bosnia, through Ukraine, to the Middle East) are not. This is reality people. Now PDJT can begin to make America not susceptible to the Purge, but its going to take time as the Uniparties have done so much damage to our country
One advantage about Los Angeles, it’s a place where people can live in a cardboard box or in a tent on the beach all year long. … Some stored canned goods, a source of water along with a water filter, and a set of Bongo Drums for entertainment, someone could live a life of California Idleness without noticing a worldwide catastrophe.
This is an interesting topic, my wife and I live in Florida and have to evacuate for hurricanes. Each time we have been fortunate in that internet and cell service have been available. But this post made me think about the possibility of that not always being the case, so I looked into satellite mobile phones and found this solution by T-Mobile, see here:
https://www.t-mobile.com/coverage/satellite-phone-service
They have developed a technology that incorporates cell tower communications with Starlink satellite communications, and are offering a free trial for existing T-Mobile customers and for those on any other carrier to use their soon to be released beta version. They say the offer will end in July, but I just signed up today and I was accepted.
Could be an interesting solution for satellite mobile phone connections, we’ll see what happens when I get contacted by T-Mobile.
Thank you! We have T-Mobile cells and internet. Their internet is faster than Comcast.
Well, I guess, that people in the path of hurricanes, tornadoes, and flooding do have this social resilience. In Eastern North Carolina, you have all three. A rough rule of thumb is that the everything east of I95 can expect to periodically get their clocks cleaned.
SD, do you of something about to happen?
I grew up on the coast of NC. There are people in the far eastern portions of the state who could survive just about anything.
I know some hardcore libs who decided prepping was a good thing on 11/6/24.
They are not wrong, but it still cracks me up.
My TDS nutters pulled all their stocks during PDJT’s epic presidency and put them back in under the Indian-run autopen illegitimate 4 years of catastrophe,misery, and high treason.
I loved when a Democrat from a nearby Democrat run hellhole stole their car from their driveway
Some worries for sure.
Americans recognize, adapt, improvise and overcome threats better than most.
Always plan for the worse, but don’t underestimate American’s abilities to quickly, analyze, improvise and overcome threats.
Patriotic Americans have the numerical, economic, moral, intellect and armed majorities in America and the best leaders.
In April 2025, Spain had a massive blackout that knocked out power, internet, phones, transit, and payments for hours. It wasn’t war—it was a system failure. But it exposed how fragile Western societies are when digital systems go down. Unlike Russia, where people areapparntly used to functioning offline, Spain’s cities stumbled hard.
If a simple outage caused this much disruption, imagine what happens during an actual conflict.
Never mind maps and toilet paper. No internet = debit/ credit cards rendered useless. There will be a massive run on the banks.How much cash do you have on hand ?
Always carry cash, especially small bills and coins.
Retired from the PO in a small mountain town where the internet, and our ability to accept credit and debit cards, went out fairly frequently.
We could always sell stamps to folks who had cash.
I am going to say with 100% confidence from very personal experience… don’t put any faith in the US Space Force knowing anything about cyberspace or information warfare. There is a reason the cyber mission was removed from Air Force Space Command and that’s because of space officers. Space and missiles are not career fields that lend themselves to the absolutely bizarre and fluid environment of cyberspace. I hate to think of how the career fields are integrated in USSF; I suspect it’s been a political mess.
I was there when it was tried and it was a disaster.
That being said, yes I think there are people who’ve war gamed this out. At least, I hope so.
I did IT for the military for a long time. We have analog everything in my house as a result. We used to talk about it quite a bit in the cyber world, but the military does give priority to kinetic missions and the cyber folks aren’t always included when and where they should be.
anyone know how to build a handheld emp that could take out a drone? anyone who could figure that and sell diy kits would be pretty handy to have around.
Why not spray a fairly high pressure water hose at them to knock them down, and then apply kinetic force with a sledge hammer?
Sometimes low tech is best…