[tjwilhelm]

Today, I was reminded of another very important aspect of a "survivalist's" mentality: The abilities to:

[ ] - "face the facts" of the moment,
[ ] - accept and analyze the "immediate reality,"
[ ] - take full benefit of the "immediate reality's" advantages, and...
[ ] - to make the disadvantages of the "immediate reality" irrelevant.

Here's what happened, today:

One of my several full-time jobs is managing a small, rural telephone company. One of my customers contacted me to let me know her phone line was dead. I started testing at the central office switch. I disconnected her line from the switch, and proved the line card in the switch was good. Next, I went to the back of her house. I disconnected the phone line from the house, and the line was fine all the way back to the switch. I reconnected the line to the house, and I noted that something in the house was either shorted or off-hook.

I rang her doorbell and explained that the problem was inside the house (I only take care of everything up to the house...homeowner pays for all repairs inside the house). She refused to believe me.

I took her out to the back of the house. I hooked the test set onto the phone line inside the junction box...dead line. I then said, "OK. Let's leave the test set here and go into the house and unplug all your phones, answering machines, FAX machine, etc." We did that, and then walked back out to the box. She exclaimed, "There's dial tone on the test set!"

I said, "I know. That's because something in the house is bad. Now that everything is unplugged, the problem has been removed and the line works. This proves the problem is inside the house."

She STILL didn't believe me, so I walked her back into the house, "Let's only plug in your simplest telephone." We did, and the phone worked fine.

"Now let's plug the FAX machine back in." We did, and now the phone stopped working.

"There...we just proved that the problem is your FAX machine."

"IMPOSSIBLE!" she said.

We unplugged the FAX and the phone worked, again. We plugged it back in and then the phone didn't work, again. We repeated that FOUR TIMES!!!

As I walked out the door, I told her, "The problem is that your FAX machine has gone bad." All she said was, "IMPOSSIBLE!"

Many people only see what they want to see, and they refuse to look at the things they don't want to see. Do you think she'll be a survivor?

[vthompson]

TJ, I think that you summed it up real well. Some people just refuse to face the facts and it is always someone else's problem rather than their own.
Before my illness, I was an electrician and I ran into situations like that all of the time.

[Slade N. Illinois]

Do I think she'll be a survivor? I don't think people like that should be let back into the gene pool as it is.

[tjwilhelm]

MANY years ago, when my oldest son was about 3 or 4 years old, we were parked in front of the IGA grocery store, while "Mom" was inside, shopping. He was staring at the sign on the front of the store and he said, "One G A."

I said, "Very good! But that's not a one. It's an I. The sign says IGA."

He looked at me, looked back at the sign and said, "One G A."

I said, "No...IGA."

He stood up on the seat, turned toward me, reached out his little arms, and put his hands on my cheeks, holding my face pointing straight toward his, and he glared straight into my eyes..."Dad, I know you WANT it to say IGA, but it REALLY says One G A." Then, he let go of my face and sat back down in the seat.

Fortunately, for my boy, he eventually learned that facts and realities are more important than opinions and beliefs...he's a survivor. Unfortunately, many adults get older in years, but are still 3 or 4 years old, emotionally...for them, tough realities are hard to accept...zombie food, for sure...

[Solar Geek]

I think you have hit the nail on the head - she will not survive as she will insist even as TSHTF that it will all be ok tomorrow. She will not try to store water or food even as her world changes. She will watch CNN and believe the crud they pass as news. SG

[crazydave]

phew - I thought this was gonna be another wake up america you need decent healthcare debates!

TJ just out if interest I seem to remember that your lines carry 5 or 6 volts as standard but how many phones can be attatched to one line as standard? here we have whats called a REN rating, a line can carry up to four RENs worth of devices before you need to fit a booster. a phone, answerphone or fax should be 1 ren as standard.

and also here the exchanges have big backup genny's for a coulple of weeks runtime should there be mains issues, are they similar over there?

[tjwilhelm]

Our line voltage is a nominal 48VDC. Ringing voltage is over 90VDC!

I never heard the term REN, before. We're small and our outside plant is compact, so folks can usually put up to six devices on any pair of Cu.

Our Central Office is the very FIRST totally solar powered digital, Class V end office in the US (we think maybe it was the first in the world). With the the battery pack alone, we can operate the switch for about 10 days. With the PV hooked up and the sun shinin', we can go forever, except in the winter. During the winter we would need to use our LPG-fired backup generator, every once in a while. If that goes bad, we also have a backup-backup generator that runs on gasoline.

In addition to the phone switch being PV powered, so is our internet service, and our emergency radio gear. Our radio is authorized for using the "I Reach" frequencies, and we can connect via radio with the County Sheriff, State Police, Fire, and EMT stations.

We've got our preps and emergency plans covered about as well as they can be.

[crazydave]

interesting, I've seen the 'hacks' where folks get free power from the phone lines but is only enough to charge stuff like phones.

ah - whats the current though? ;)

[Slade N. Illinois]

I thought the point of this story was... awe never mind.. I still think she'll die.

[crazydave]

probably she would die from frustration about not being able to receive a fax from fema, a lot of folks arent technically minded. if we can learn a little more about infrastructure then it might help. you now know that theres a decent sized genny in brit rural exchanges (same goes for mobile towers) which can be a source of power suitable for a commune or rebuilt village. I was curious if there was similar over there and TJ let us know they have a PV setup which would be worth moving if it ever came to it :) I would guess that most mobile towers woudl be set up with a decent backup power supply and they would be easier to find than the regular ma bell ones.

after all why spent thousands on a setup you might never need when you can go pick one up for free.