Technology Will Save You

I live on the gulf coast.  We are in danger (during the hurricane season) of being affected by tropical storm systems.  Keep in mind that a tropical storm, or depression can be more devastating than a hurricane depending on it’s make up.  Hurricanes bring winds, storm surge and flooding, but a good tropical storm can dump as much or more rain per hour than a hurricane. 

This is only one type of disaster.  There are Earth quakes, blizzards, fire, and of course flooding can occur in many parts of the country (United States).  We rely on our technology to inform us of impending trouble, when possible, and certainly to gather information that might save our lives.  Other facets of our technology allow us to communicate with loved one’s and the outside world, outside of shouting distance that is. 

Our technology makes our daily lives easier, at least for those who master it.  Take for example a 40+ year old technology that most of us have used, or still use.  Speed Dial.  Speed dial allows you to assign a phone number to a button on your phone and instead of dialing the seven or thirteen digit number you just press a couple of buttons and presto!   The person you wanted to speak with is on the line!  Well only if you don’t get the dreaded voice mail. 

Have you ever been in the situation where you have to call that same person’s number, from a phone that doesn’t have your beloved Speed Dial?  Yep, you are kind of screwed aren’t you?  Naturally these days most everyone has a cellular phone and the speed dial is on this handy little modern miracle that you carry everywhere you go.  Well have you even ran out of power on your cellular phone?  For many years I have refused to use speed dial because I didn’t want to forget the phone number.  I didn’t want to be in a situation where I had to add yet another layer of necessary technology before I could communicate with the person I wanted to.  There are alternatives.  Phone book, if you can find one.  411 and ask for the number, unless of course it is a cell phone number. 

As our technology grows in complexity so CAN it’s ability to fail.  I think many of you understand, and certainly those of you that have experienced it first hand, that cellular phones are useless for anything but a third rate flashlight or a fun way to speed you’re time playing a game while you are waiting for service to be restored. 

Power outages due to natural or man made disasters, wind, fire, or flooding can decimate cellular phone sites.  The term “CELLULAR” refers to the many CELLS that populate the landscape that consist of radio transceivers with thousands of frequencies at their disposal.  These cellular sites communicate with your cellular phone and they arbitrate what frequencies you will send and receive on to the cellular site.  These cellular sites are close to you, that is why your phone can be so small and run for days on a small battery.  The power output is a fraction of the power output of a simple Citizen Band radio.  There is no direct communication between cellular phones.  All communications must pass through a cellular phone site.  As you move around, say in a fast moving car, you leave one cellular site you are handed off to the next cellular site that has the best signal for your phone.  These cellular sites are tied into the old land line system so you can call not only other cellular users on that cellular service (T-Mobile, AT&T, Verision, etc…) but also Grandma or anyone else that doesn’t have a cellular phone. 

Now with that, less than brief description, can you see several choke points where the technology can fail?  Even the old land line system can fail due to the same problems listed before, wind, fire, flooding.  Over the air television, cable, satellite, or the new IP video delivery system (AT&T UVerse) are susceptible as well.  One thing you may choose to do is to flee the disaster stricken area.  I mean just driving down the road a couple of miles may connect your cellular phone to a working cellular site, right?  This is true, but your are betting on yet another level of technology. 

Our transit system.  The one I am the most familiar with is city, county, state, and interstate road system.  Trains and subways I have little knowledge of.  As I drive to and from work I notice all the small fuel efficient vehicles.  Since I drive a Jeep my gas mileage is ten to fifteen miles per gallon less than those vehicles.  Conventional wisdom would say to get rid of the gas guzzler and get something that is more economical.  I would say that 99 percent of the time a fuel efficient car will provide you with exactly the level of transportation you need.  Automobiles are a robust technology that has been refined over one hundred years.  They will work when logic, at times,  dictate they shouldn’t.  The standard design of the automobile has one flaw, roads.  Most vehicles need some level of improved surface to drive on.  Flooding, fire can cover or damage these improved surfaces.  Even when the road is perfectly fine it can be blocked by tens of thousands of cars all trying to evacuate the area.  Your choice then is to wait for traffic to inch forward, or go around it.  Due to frustration or panic many will try to go “off road” and many will become stuck, making their situation more dire. 

I have dealt with these two areas of potential technology break downs.  First by putting a amateur radio in my Jeep.   This radio allows me to communicate a few miles or thousands of miles depending on the frequency I choose.  It is simple enough to operate that I don’t need to be there, so if something should happen to me my wife or children could call for help.  It has the ability to transmit on broadcast AM and FM frequencies.  The FCC rules clearly state that you can legally transmit on ANY frequency in the time of an emergency.  I’d have to look it up but I am sure it says something about doing so only when you need immediate help. 

I have modified our Jeep.  I have lifted it so I could put larger tires on it.  This increases the distance between the lowest portions of the Jeep body and the ground.  That increased distance means I can drive over larger obstacles.  I have changed the gearing so that the same power that was applied to the stock tires are applied to these larger tires.  Any time you go off a paved surface you run the risk of damage, or getting stuck, so I added two new bumpers that have recovery points.  These recovery points can be easily connected to by another vehicle to pull the Jeep forward or backward and to get it unstuck.  I have added a winch that is capable of lifting 9000 pounds.  I can use this if the Jeep is stuck to pull it forward through or over an obstacle.  I can also use it to free another vehicle, or rip the door off a damaged vehicle to rescue a trapped individual.  Hell, I’ve even used the winch to pull up a dead shrub from the front of our house. 😀 

I have never cared for people that preach doom and gloom.  That disaster is right around the corner and you should buy my book so that you can be the few to survive.  I am certainly not trying to promote that here.  My main goal is to get you to think about what technology means to you in your daily life.  When the media or government promotes a certain idea, going green, for example, the argument can be very logical and persuasive however think it through.  How is following this technology going to affect you, and your family in time of disaster? 

The choices that I have made to help protect my family, I feel they are the best for me.  You may disagree, or you may think like I do, to each his own.  Now that you are thinking about this, and hopefully you are, consider a few other portions of our technology and how it would affect your life if they were gone.  The grocery store, namely food.  Water!  And worse!  What would be worse?  People that want to take your things so they can survive.