UK crisis analogue prepping?

[andyoxon]

People should stock up on battery-powered radios and torches, as well as candles and first aid kits in order to prepare for power cuts or digital communications going down, the deputy prime minister reportedly said.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/dec/05/britons-should-stock-up-on-torches-and-candles-in-case-of-power-cuts-says-oliver-dowden

Bunker survival kit all sorted? 

We have:
large packet of tealights.
wind-up radio
loads of battery powered lights
analogue phone
camping gas burners with small can gas cyclinders
loads of charcoal/ BBQ kit (for outdoors)

Not much of a food store.

edit.

[Mr Larrington]

I think my grate frend Al already does this, but that’s because he lives in an earthquake zone.

[Jurek]

In terms of food, I probably don't need to leave the house for about a month.
Maybe more.
I have loads of battery/powerpack powered lights.
The means to light the (gas) stove without relying on its 240v igniter.

[Pingu]

In the midst of a cost of living crisis never discount the nutritional value of a candle.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Just you wait until 2038 and we have everything dependent on all those cheap n' nasty IOT devices . . .

[Flite]

It would be more useful if he campaigned for folks to keep their old style landline telephones.
When the electric goes down, the mobile masts stop working, even if you are in an area that normally gets reception.
It's perfectly normal where we live for folks to have extra food in stock in the winter.
In the old days, in heavy snow, a crate of Co-op milk would arrive in the village in the front bucket of the digger from the mine....

[Cudzoziemiec]

Are awe actually talking about doomsday? It sounds more like apocalypse.

Doomsday is judgment day, when God comes back to Earth to sort out who's been naughty or nice. Surprised at andyoxon, of all people, making this mistake! Of course he might not appear in person – he'll probably send the boy (who still hasn't had his hair cut) along with Gabe, Mike and some more of the feathered posse. All you need to prepare for this is a clean soul. Bear in mind that the soul is delicate organic material, so wash it on a wool programme with non-biological detergent or preferably pure soap flakes; Ariel and Fairy work well.

Apocalypse, on the other hand, is a massive disaster coupled with a huge fuck-up. The sort of thing that happens when Trump faces Farage in a presidential run-off; or when it's four in the morning, you've got your third puncture, it's raining stair rods with are no bus shelters in sight, and you have a nagging suspicion you've mistaken SO@X for R@T. In this situation all you can day is hope for a passing rider with a spare tube, but you're already tail end charlie...

[Kim]

Just you wait until 2038 and we have everything dependent on all those cheap n' nasty IOT devices . . .

I reckon this will mostly resolve itself as they get bricked on a 5-year cycle by the manufacturers' cloud services disappearing.

[andyoxon]

Are awe actually talking about doomsday? It sounds more like apocalypse.

Doomsday is judgment day, when God comes back to Earth to sort out who's been naughty or nice. Surprised at andyoxon, of all people, making this mistake! Of course he might not appear in person – he'll probably send the boy (who still hasn't had his hair cut) along with Gabe, Mike and some more of the feathered posse. All you need to prepare for this is a clean soul. Bear in mind that the soul is delicate organic material, so wash it on a wool programme with non-biological detergent or preferably pure soap flakes; Ariel and Fairy work well.

Apocalypse, on the other hand, is a massive disaster coupled with a huge fuck-up. The sort of thing that happens when Trump faces Farage in a presidential run-off; or when it's four in the morning, you've got your third puncture, it's raining stair rods with are no bus shelters in sight, and you have a nagging suspicion you've mistaken SO@X for R@T. In this situation all you can day is hope for a passing rider with a spare tube, but you're already tail end charlie...

Semantically...  or a time when something very bad will happen, according to Cambridge Dictionary  

However, I will for the sake of realism iniate national grid/ digi-comms issue appropriate header phraseology...

[mrcharly-YHT]

Just you wait until 2038 and we have everything dependent on all those cheap n' nasty IOT devices . . .

I reckon this will mostly resolve itself as they get bricked on a 5-year cycle by the manufacturers' cloud services disappearing.

True - but the bricked devices will be replaced by other devices using the cheapest possible microprocessors, still running on 32-bit architecture.

[Lightning Phil]

Just you wait until 2038 and we have everything dependent on all those cheap n' nasty IOT devices . . .

I reckon this will mostly resolve itself as they get bricked on a 5-year cycle by the manufacturers' cloud services disappearing.

True - but the bricked devices will be replaced by other devices using the cheapest possible microprocessors, still running on 32-bit architecture.

No 4 bit RISC chips is the future, I tell thee

[Kim]

Just you wait until 2038 and we have everything dependent on all those cheap n' nasty IOT devices . . .

I reckon this will mostly resolve itself as they get bricked on a 5-year cycle by the manufacturers' cloud services disappearing.

True - but the bricked devices will be replaced by other devices using the cheapest possible microprocessors, still running on 32-bit architecture.

With some horrendous bodge in the timekeeping code, no doubt.

[Polar Bear]

I have a couple of Anker powerhouse devices, a gas cooker and two gas fires that can be lit with matches as well as a couple of trangias converted to gas and a large supply of Coleman 500 cylinders. 

My biggest concern is the not FiL whose flat is all electric.

[mrcharly-YHT]

I have a couple of Anker powerhouse devices, a gas cooker and two gas fires that can be lit with matches as well as a couple of trangias converted to gas and a large supply of Coleman 500 cylinders. 

My biggest concern is the not FiL whose flat is all electric.

Even devices such as your Anker battery packs are at risk.

Networking is seriously at risk, since some, if not a lot, of MAC hardware uses a 32 bit clock.

[Kim]

Even devices such as your Anker battery packs are at risk.

Really?  It's just a battery and a couple of switching regulators, with a bitty little micro turning them on and off and driving the how-much-charge display.  No networking, no RTC.  I'd expect something like that has 8/16bit clock rollovers on a regular basis, and is programmed to handle them without issue.

[grams]

Really?  It's just a battery and a couple of switching regulators, with a bitty little micro turning them on and off and driving the how-much-charge display.  No networking, no RTC.  I'd expect something like that has 8/16bit clock rollovers on a regular basis, and is programmed to handle them without issue.

The bigger camping/household ones inevitably have Fucking Apps.

[Kim]

Really?  It's just a battery and a couple of switching regulators, with a bitty little micro turning them on and off and driving the how-much-charge display.  No networking, no RTC.  I'd expect something like that has 8/16bit clock rollovers on a regular basis, and is programmed to handle them without issue.

The bigger camping/household ones inevitably have Fucking Apps.

Ugh.

[mrcharly-YHT]

Even devices such as your Anker battery packs are at risk.

Really?  It's just a battery and a couple of switching regulators, with a bitty little micro turning them on and off and driving the how-much-charge display.  No networking, no RTC.  I'd expect something like that has 8/16bit clock rollovers on a regular basis, and is programmed to handle them without issue.

I don't know for certain, but would place some money on the usb connection using a standard (cheap) bit of hardware and controller; which means default firmware and *that* somewhere having a clock.

Whether it actually uses the clock or not is another matter.

[Polar Bear]

I have a couple of Anker powerhouse devices, a gas cooker and two gas fires that can be lit with matches as well as a couple of trangias converted to gas and a large supply of Coleman 500 cylinders. 

My biggest concern is the not FiL whose flat is all electric.

Even devices such as your Anker battery packs are at risk.

Networking is seriously at risk, since some, if not a lot, of MAC hardware uses a 32 bit clock.

As far as I know there is no networking or connectivity in the packs.   The spec sheets don't seem to indicate any either.

[rafletcher]

In the midst of a cost of living crisis never discount the nutritional value of a candle.

And best if it’s a tallow one, for emergency use as cooking fat over the campfire.

[grams]

I don't know for certain, but would place some money on the usb connection using a standard (cheap) bit of hardware and controller; which means default firmware and *that* somewhere having a clock.

Whether it actually uses the clock or not is another matter.

Power banks (of the pocket-sized kind) have their own universe of dedicated custom chips that cover all of the required functionality, usually all in one chip. None of those things require more than rudimentary data communication (for PD / QC negotiation, if they're advanced enough to have it) or a real-time clock.

[Polar Bear]

The powerhouse packs are much bigger and even have two 240v sockets on the front as well as an array of usb ports and a 12v "car" socket.  I can charge them from the mains or from a solar panel depending upon the time of year.

[Wombat]

This is mostly standard procedure for us living in the wilds of mid-Wales!

We always keep loads of foodstuffs in, toilet rolls are a years supply anyway, we always have charged power packs, and a tonne or so of logs for the stove.  We have no electricity on Friday due to a transformer change, so we will adopt full measures for the day, including being careful with water (which is electrically pumped from the borehole to the storage tank) but will cheat and go out for lunch at a pub about 20 miles away.  Annoyingly there's an online lecture that Mrs W wants to see/hear, and of course its on friday, and there won't be a download available later. This means I'll have to sit in the pub and twiddle my thumbs while she watches it on her phone with headphones (and I'll have to remind her to shut up and not comment on it!).  Mid-day on a friday is a very odd time to be doing an online lecture!

Hopefully the transformer change will put a stop to the 2 second power cuts we keep getting.  Oh, and a pox on the electricity regulatory folk for making it so difficult to have one's home solar PV and battery system act as a backup.

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

It’ll be like the 70s when we had regular power cuts. It never did us any harm, but this time it’ll be like the Kraken wakes:

In the final phase, the aliens begin melting the polar ice caps, causing the sea level to rise. London and other ports are flooded, causing widespread social and political collapse. The government moves to Harrogate.

[ian]

We ensure the domestic staff are kept well-fed in case there's not enough food to go around after The Event.