When the Net goes down ….
p2pnet news view | P2P:- It’s 3:00 am and the Net is down. That’s because here on Vancouver Island, BC, as in other parts of Canada, the weather is unseasonably cold. Bitter. Brass monkey time.
Shaw, my ISP, says emergency maintenance is underway and I should be back online by 5 am, or so.
Winter and summer, power-outs, blackouts and brownouts, every now and then, are part of life, but it’s a small price to pay to live in a village where pollution is just a word and the only time you hear sirens is when the local volunteer fire crew is called out to deal with a brush fire, or someone is being rushed by ambulance to hospital, 20 minutes away with emergency lights blazing, pedal to the metal.
Usually, by this time, I’m connected to the world. But not today, so far, and I must admit it feels strange to have had my information umbilical chord cut, if only temporarily.
I live in a small village miles away from a major city, but I’ve grown used to having the world at my fingertips. The only time I see a newspaper is when our local freebie, which exists as much as an advertising vehicle as a source of information, arrives on our doorstep and given that almost everyone in Canada is online, the picture is undoubtedly similar for most other Canadians.
That isn’t to say newspapers have vanished — they still serve to keep people occupied on the buses and subways on their way to from work, during lunch breaks and perhaps on the weekends — but they’re no longer primary when it comes to news delivery and distribution. In 2008, they’re secondary, and for me and for millions of other people of all ages and all religions and beliefs, the Net is where it’s at. It’s how we keep up with each other in so many ways while the companies and entities which used to control us from the moment we got up until the moment the went to bed scramble madly, trying to find ways to turn the clock back.
Disgraced Alaska senator Ted Stevens described the Net as a series of pipes, and was mocked. Really, though, he wasn’t far off the mark. We have all kinds of technology which make the transfer of information possible, but when you get right down to it, at its simplest, someone pumps it in at one end and we open the floodgates at the other.
As I write this, I’m keeping an eye on my cable modem, watching the green and orange lights flicker on and off as the technicians struggle to rebuild the connections between the company and its customers and suddenly, they’re all properly alight.
It’s great to be back.
- Depression possible: Canadian PM
- British-Iraqi doctor sentenced to 32 years for UK bomb plot
- Somali pirates launch new attacks
- Arrested mob boss hangs himself in Italian jail
- Ten injured after Whistler gondola tower collapses
I think. 
Cheers!
Jon
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December 17th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Before i go do snow on our 12 car size driveway brrrr I’ll mention this. You are in a unique position to install free wifi to reach the mainland anytime you want. It might not be the fastest or most reliable but it will let you see the world 24/7 or when cable is down. And it doesn’t cost much
http://video.google.ca/videosearch?hl=en&q=cantenna&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#
December 17th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Here in Ottawa, we have 7cm of snow, and a transit strike; so the traffic is pretty much backup from my place to downtown. My internet connection is my only link to work… And my wife gets and sends jobs via ftp and e-mail so if my internet goes down there is nothing for me and my wife to do… Hummm…. where are my wire cutters?
December 18th, 2008 at 1:38 am
Where do you live, Ucluelet? Heh. Shaw’s pretty good, usually they try to minimize service disruptions.
Your last comment made me laugh, though.