As a great Scottish engineer once opined, “”The more they overthink the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain.” Preparedness is largely about compensating for failures of a particular system…infrastructure, mechanical, biological, etc….in short, it’s about being able to operate safely (if not normally) when something goes wrong with the usual system.
he internet, Crom love it, is the most awesome thing humanity has access to on a day-by-day basis. So, of course, we wind up being dependent on it. Two guys with a shovel, hacksaw, and probably some old cartome.org info, managed to pull the plug on a region’s ecommerce, phone communications, and other services. Without internet access, ATM’s dont pass out money and your local retailer won’t take your debit card…so you need cash, which the ATM just denied you.
This is why its a good idea to keep a bit of cash tucked away, have alternatives for communication, and other ways to entertain yourself.
What’s really interesting about this is that it seems similar to that episode a few years back where someone attacked an electric substation in the desert and wound up inflicting a similar amount of out-of-proportion mischief. All it takes to really screw things up is a small(!) amount of dedicated individuals. Two brothers shut down all of Boston a few years ago, costing millions of dollars and throwing a monkeywrench into a lot of peoples lives. Imagine a coordinated effort by a dozen people in six different states. You won’t overthrow a country like that, but you will sure make life miserable for it. So, as always, be prepared for alternatives when someone crashes the internet..or the local utilities…or the pipeline that brings natural gas to your county….etc, etc.
Love the smell of cash, I try to have some set aside each month. I find it harder to spend cash the older I get, than plastic, which is easily done, far to easy.
My wife was using her debit card daily, try to reconcile with 4 pages of her debit charges.
Now she has a fixed amount of cash, more than the debit card charges and she is very happy. But I told her that’s it, no debit unless I say so.
Cash rules, but I had a cashier in one store ask if a Susan B. Anthony, the brass colored dollar coin and a $2 bill were legal tender of her manager.
What are they teaching kids? BTW 66 in a week
What’s even more amazing, I’ve been on a few preparedness style facebook sites and people were asking ‘how much cash should I keep on hand’ citing this exact story. There were utterly complete idiots stating “I keep at least two grand in my safe” or “I keep at least $500 cash in my bugout bag”. These idiots were telling complete strangers how much money they keep AND WHERE! When people pointed out how stupid they were for saying it, wow… darwin will thin out the herd fast. Since the Y2k days I’ve found 3 types of “preppers” (I hate that term), Doers, talkers and takers, I’m seeing a lot more talkers and takers then doers.
To Commander Zero;
Remember last year when the EBT (Food stamp) system went down nation wide. I reported (typed a few paragraphs) from a local supermarket which I work at (our brand is also in your town) about the trouble we where having. Same scenario but on a localized scale. The mini panic I saw was enough to scare me thinking how these people will do without when everything is gone.
to jh;
People on the internet talking about all the money they keep in their BOB or safe etc, are the same people who have an underground missile silo stocked with 100+ years of food and gear for 500 people and they are ex- Special (ed) Navy seals on Otter team 11. The people typing the stuff probably live in their mothers basement and have nothing to show for their 35+ years of existence. Most of the doers are probably lurking in the shadows and not posting stupid stuff like that.
Cash is something I don’t have laying around. I probably should fix that. With this Internet takeover – I wager if it’s allowed to stand, the Kill Switch is only a ‘national crisis’ away from being pressed and shutting down the whole country if not selected regions…
I was thinking about this very topic the other day. How much of my life involves the internet… food at work is through ATM card. Gas is via ATM card. Bills are all auto paid to either the CC or ATM…satellite/TV, electrical, water, medical, etc.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if the internet dried up, but it sure would be disruptive early on…
I think I’ll write myself a check for cash tomorrow…
Looks like it could be probing to see if X goes down when Y is cut. Tinfoil hat types are saying it’s the gov getting ready for martial law (forgetting that gov can walk into comm centers and throw a switch, but whatever).
I keep a few $k at home for stuff like that. Not gaining much in accounts anyway, and might as well take advantage of the ole gun safe.
There’s two ways of looking at this:
Be prepared – Know what to do when something like this happens.
Be prepared – Know how to make something like this happen.
I read on several blogs that they trucked in heavy equipment to dig it up. Wonder what the real story is.
Well, blogs can be a bit alarmist at times…FEMA death camps, Hong Kong police coming to the US, Trilateral Bilderberger Planet X Illuminati Rapture robots, etc, etc. I’d take everythng, blogs and news, with a grain of salt.