A Preparedness Week Test

As I sat with my morning coffee, watching the news, my tv and a lights disappeared. A power outage it was, a rarish thing here in Manitoba where the provincial utility is among the most reliable in North America. But it being Preparedness Week, I thought it was a nice opportunity to try out a few things.

First off, I got a fire going in the wood stove before the house cooled off. With cheerful flames casting a warming glow, I decided that the next step was to get a pot of coffee on the boil, as my caffeine levels were not yet up to snuff. Heading to the basement for my percolator, I realized that the basement was a black pit. I retreated upstairs to where my LED flashlight sat on its charger. Grabbed that and ventured back downstairs, grabbed perc and got that going.

I realized that a bit more light was called for, so away I went in search of my new fangled, high-tech, lightweight, rechargeable/and or hand cranked lantern. Flicked the switch and watched in dismay as it came away in my hand. Restraining curses, I made yet another trip downstairs to get lantern number two, my old, heavy, bulky camping lantern that runs on 4 'D' cells. As always, it came through.

As I settled in to read a book by lantern light and sip a hot cup of coffee in front of the wood stove to await the return of power, I was left to reflect on this:

Technology is great. I own many pieces of equipment that incorporate the cutting edge of modern science. I love new fangled toys. That said, as I have always known, the more complex a device is and the more pieces that it contains, the greater the number of possible failure points that device also contains. Backups are neccessary, not just redundancy in the form of more of the same item.

If I'd had two of the same lantern, that might have been ok. But the identical fault may exist in identical equipment. Far better to have a backup that is variant to the primary technology, IMO. And a backup to that, if at all affordable. Had my second (and other) lanterns failed, I had two more options for light, each increasingly simple (oil lamps and candles). I'm pretty sure those would have worked no matter what.

So the lesson for me? Keep it simple. Stick with proven technology. And leave the perc upstairs!

First Posted May 3, 2010 @ MPN