During the week of internet absenteeism caused by a few puffs of wind and falling debris, I had good cause to review a number of books. Given that it is rather difficult to read by candlelight, I probably didn't go through these as efficiently as usual. But I did have a number of interesting reflections. To me anyway.
One was that there are a surprising number of inventions that Americans take for granted, even to the point of assuming them as 'necessities' in a basic standard of living, that didn't even exist 100 years ago, don't exist at all in some parts of the world still, or are being replaced by new forms and new inventions that serve the same purposes. The basic facts of history and the inventive markets that were produced are not surprising (I've known about this sort of thing since I was a teenager). It is the subsequent review of them, in concert, that creates this startling reflection. Some of them even couldn't exist without other innovative processes developing in tandem; such as the current availability of fresh meats or vegetables with the specializing growth of cattle ranches, refrigeration, and canning all going on basically at once and in separate chains of development. I mention that one particularly because naturally without refrigeration, all I had on hand was canned/packaged goods that generally aren't very tasty without cooking (which I also couldn't do what with an electric stove).
I was therefore somewhat surprised, what with our uninformed public, to not see more agitation on the part of that public when the power was out for the better part of a week in many private homes. While I was somewhat disturbed by being removed from my more cosmopolitan concerns in esoteric issues (like the AIG buyout and federal bailouts or news from abroad), it wasn't like the world out there stopped existing. Merely that the direct and immediate surroundings took on a shocking importance, namely in my case that I couldn't really interact and communicate my thoughts with others (being as I am not employed by really intelligent collaborators to converse on weighty issues of the day). But I had to consider the following as causes of concern for others:
1) stoplights, I witnessed a number of major intersections where upon people were drastically confused by the absence of signals directing their meek driving behaviors. I've noted previously the specific absence of signage in other countries and the subsequent improvements in the ability of driving habits. Americans on the other hand did not generally acquit themselves well without civic reminders to treat such intersections as four way stops (really they should be seen as yield signs where stopping is a highly likely option). That people then stopped at any out of function signal was more amusing still, even those without traffic to oppose movement such as three way intersections with shared left turn (where one side should have continued unabated forward).
2) Cable TV. I think people were able to mollify this demand for 'entertainment', such as TV is capable of providing it, by attending movies or organizing communal events (barbecues for example). But considering the amazing near universal capacity of television and its various forms, I'm surprised people didn't complain as much. I guess food is sort of more important than TV. The one movie I attended was naturally quite a bit busier than I would have expected normally (Burn after Reading which had been out a while). I'm not quite sure what to make of this as a social matter in its effects.
Incidentally, I liked the movie and found greater amusement in the fact that several people, at its end, actually loudly proclaimed "What?!", as though they hadn't seen a Coen brothers movie before and therefore hadn't been paying attention as events unfolded. It was a bit formulaic and predictable in many ways, but it was worth the diversion. And Pitt was ridiculously funny as the village idiot sort.
3) Refrigeration. Since there were some dining establishments with power available, people of some means were able to continue eating fresh foods (albeit with some wait and greater expense). But there were still plenty of extension cords running across roads, presumably for at least the personal purpose of cooling food. Since that seems trivially idiotic (couldn't they instead pool their refrigeration units and food for a week?), not to mention potentially dangerous, people didn't really react to this private inconvenience with great esteem.
Things to do instead:
1) read and/or converse with others, spend time with loved ones or friends. I guess people did this. Eventually it gets old for most without the ever present diversions of modern technology. Reading I wasn't all that disappointed with. My options for socializing are somewhat limited.
2) Exercise. I didn't see very many people running or otherwise 'playing outside'. Most of the people picking up debris were either actively employed in that industry or were children employed by neighbours to aid. I was aware there were people who owned chainsaws helping hack apart larger debris for the first day or so, but there are still plenty of trees laying as if discarded on the front lawns of many a property. I myself availed the freedom from discourse to reactivate my exercise regimen with more gusto. I could always use candles to read with and without technological diversions available late at night, it was better to be tired earlier and so use less of the darkness. I can't say that was necessarily more enjoyable, but I survived being up early/ier. If nothing else, the breaking of a comfortable routine was a useful feature of this more primitive lifestyle.
3) Wander around and observe devastation. Plenty of people were doing this the first two days gawking from the middle of roads while others were trying to maneuver their vehicles around these unsightly mobs. I did little of this, being unsurprised when high winds cause a branch or tree to displace. Mainly I saw such things as increasing the amount of work necessary to attend to mowing a lawn or to restore electricity. It is not as though our region is a stranger to the disasters of wind (via the tornado or blizzard).
Edit: I spoke too soon. I noticed some old ladies in wheelchairs 'protesting' along a major thoroughfare with the eloquent phrase "DP&L sucks" on their signs. But there were only two of them. Also, the entire thing was pretty anti-climatic. The (my) power was restored after they played around with the transformer down the street and some associated debris for about 20 minutes. I presume there were some downed lines somewhere along the way that made that possible, but the actual work in my vision was pitifully simple.
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