Brain Flash! Maintaining a local newspaper during the apocalypse!

[Woodsman]

Okay.

So I've been turning this whole, "What to do when the shit hits the fan" problem in my head.

There's the fear element, there's worries about food and how to take care of people in your community. It's easy to feel overwhelmed and dark.

But if the new reality is going to be where we must live, there's no reason it can't be effectively managed like any other problem. -I'm really not interested in investing in weapons and other fear-based hunker-down thinking. Why not create something amazing?

One of the ways to help keep things steady and safe is to draw your community together.

There's a little newspaper in my town, and people love it; it helps provide a cultural identity; you read it and you're automatically drawn into the local 'tribe' so to speak. I think that can be expanded upon. -But a paper depends on big printing presses and distribution systems and other things which become problematical if infrastructure falls into unreliability.

So I was thinking about back-up plans to keep it running and shift its focus from the light 'New Yorker' style culture rag that it currently is, into a much more useful system to help keep people informed and connected.

Instead of putting out a paper in.., well, the newspaper format that everybody knows, one could instead print off sheets and post them in public places for people to read. I've got a swarthy 11" x 17" printer, and Big Paper has an official sort of cast to it. They could contain articles and information about gathering places, emergency measures, food stores and health services and such, as well as regularly updated local news which would be of value in keeping people informed and feeling part of their community.

Just the act of doing this would send a message; one that says, "We're still here, and if you're reading this, so are you, and hey, isn't that great?"

There are a couple of spots in town with big windows; cafes and the local book store and the post office. People could stop by one of these locations to get caught up on the news and hobnob with others, which would provide its own networking value.

I started looking at the kind of equipment you'd need to enable a newspaper team to maintain this kind of service, and it's not that complicated.

Keeping a couple of laptops and a printer running through power outages would involve some solar panels and a couple of deep cycle batteries and other bits of equipment, and you're off to the races.

So some of the money I'll have arriving over the next little while I was thinking of earmarking for this kind of equipment. I think such a project could be put together for around $1000. -To enable a local news organization to be up and running for as long as there's sunlight and some basic printing supplies.

I'm actually pretty pumped about this. I can envision a number of ways this could really help smooth things out for people here should the normal order of things fall into disarray.

I just wanted to share that idea here and take input if people had any to offer.

My shorthand list of bits and pieces to assemble includes:

-The laptops and software we already have access to
-Solar panels and some electronics needed to use them (I spent the night researching this)
-A couple of deep cycle batteries
-A stock of printer paper
-Some kind of re-fillable ink cartridge solution

 

[Jono]

This sounds like a great idea and way of giving to your community.

You could even collect a load of books on survival etc that can be drawn upon to populate the flyers, depending on what types of challenges your town is facing. I would mention though that it's important to also have the basics sorted first, like access to filtered water, stored food and medicine (to state the obvious).

 

[kalibex]

Sounds like a good idea - just make sure you have enough spare parts (including for the solar setup) for a while in case they're needed.

I do find myself wondering what would be an alternative in case the tech simply isn't available after all...

 

[loreta]

Sounds like a good idea - just make sure you have enough spare parts (including for the solar setup) for a while in case they're needed.

I do find myself wondering what would be an alternative in case the tech simply isn't available after all...

Paper, pen and pencils are very precious items that are needed if no technology is available.

 

[kalibex]

Sounds like a good idea - just make sure you have enough spare parts (including for the solar setup) for a while in case they're needed.

I do find myself wondering what would be an alternative in case the tech simply isn't available after all...

Paper, pen and pencils are very precious items that are needed if no technology is available.

Yeah, but what to use to spread information to as many as possible. 'Town meetings' would have to be much more frequent...

 

[Mark7]

Something like that could make a big difference. Excellent idea. Local neighborhoods and communities will need to work together. Your artistic and writing skills will draw interest, and I am willing to bet people will be hungry for useful info in what will probably be an extreme dearth of media or objective news :)

 

[casper]

Why not create something amazing?

One of the ways to help keep things steady and safe is to draw your community together.

Why not aid (financial or ...) in the construction of Tesla Vardenklif tower?

 

[loreta]

Sounds like a good idea - just make sure you have enough spare parts (including for the solar setup) for a while in case they're needed.

I do find myself wondering what would be an alternative in case the tech simply isn't available after all...

Paper, pen and pencils are very precious items that are needed if no technology is available.

Yeah, but what to use to spread information to as many as possible. 'Town meetings' would have to be much more frequent...

Paper an pencil and a little printer. Think about the Resistance, how they communicated without Internet nor technological gadgets. They printed their information and glued the sheets on the walls, tress, everywhere, door by door, etc.

 

[Woodsman]

I did some budgeting and research, and ordered a few items.

I picked out a folding/portable 100 Watt / 12 Volt solar panel. (I've wanted an excuse to pick up something like that for a long time, but never seemed to be able to justify it).

-A refillable ink cartridge kit and a liter of black ink for my printer. (I think you could probably make your own ink if necessary. I'd need to look into that.)

Also some electronic parts from China for a couple of dollars each. A couple of basic DC/DC converter boards. -A great way to maximize efficiency when running electronics from a storage battery. Often people will plug in an inverter, to turn DC 12 volts from something like a car battery into 120 AC so they can plug their laptop power brick into it. The problem is that, while this works, it's a really wasteful system; a laptop power brick takes the 120 volts AC (wall power) and turns it back into a low DC current again. A lot of power is wasted in this needless step when you can go directly from the main battery which is already a low DC current. The parts I picked up will allow one to step a DC current up or down a few volts to match it with the laptop's needs. You gain something between 30-50% efficiency like this, adding many hours to a battery's life.

I also picked up a butane soldering torch for basic electronics. That won't operate once you run out of lighter fluid, but in the short term, it would provide the means of doing small electronic repairs and such without wall power. Once a battery system is up and running, you can plug in a regular wired soldering iron. Anyway, that was only about $10, and I've wanted one of those since forever as well. I need to pick up a few cans of butane to stick in the cupboard.

Then I ran out of disposable cash.

Deep cycle storage batteries are expensive! You can spend thousands on those things, and shipping them is no joke; they're heavy, and in some cases toxic if they spill. The ones I'm looking at are called AGM batteries, (Absorbed Glass Mat), which are fully sealed and do not need to breathe or be topped up with electrolyte. They cost more, but they're the only kind rated for indoor use. I also need one or two controller parts to manage charging and running electronics from the battery. I think all of that can be done for about $400, which will provide about 24 hours of use time for a single laptop, assuming the sun is completely hidden.

In the end, if all technology fails, it's possible to do everything long-hand with pens and pencils, but... wow. There's a reason Gutenberg is so honored! In thinking through this, I realize just how huge an advantage our desktop publishing powers confer, and how much taken for granted they have become. It would be murder to lose them!

I really like the idea of collecting and posting articles related to basic survival and home-brew technology which could help people in a crisis. I think a great series of articles would be to interview folks who have useful skills, (how to build cook stoves, or keep chickens. How to skin an animal and keep meats fresh), and post that kind of stuff.

(EDIT**** Interviewing local experts would not only serve to share useful information, but it would also subtly cement in people's minds the value of named individuals and the benefits of belonging to a civil community.)

I'm really looking forward to the next chat I have with my friends on the newspaper editorial staff. They're great people and they'd be jazzed about this kind of plan. Also the girl who runs the bookshop. She was talking idly last Summer about how great it would be to run a small printing press in the back of the shop and make literature a more locally sourced kind of thing.

In any case, I think this might be a good way to introduce, gently, other ideas, such as doing a bit of food storage prep work, in a fun way which doesn't cause alarm to the trend setters in my community.

 

[MusicMan]

Sounds to me like you're onto something, Woodsman!
Should SHTF, there may not be a great deal of sunlight to run solar panels: so it might be good to hedge your bets, and put in some wind power as well to give yourself some diversity.
When you get some cash, of course.

 

[Woodsman]

So I bounced my plans off the various people I mentioned earlier and the response was.., not to be unexpected.

Nobody likes to consider that their normalcy bias is just that. But the seeds have been planted, gently. Should things go south, they'll know there is a plan B and all seemed glad that at least somebody was thinking ahead. Just in case.

Discussing this stuff, even in a positive light, is certainly a touchy business.

 

[Woodsman]

Awesome news!

I talked with commercial space people where the little newspaper is set up and asked if I could install a solar power system to run some of their lighting and laptops and such. They were very receptive to the idea. I'm still waiting for parts to be shipped, but it's a GO.

We envision a solar panel out either on the sidewalk or mounted to the front of the retail space, so people will see what we're doing. Hopefully this can generate interest in the project just by having it in public view.

-I didn't sell it on "Surviving the Apocalypse" but instead simply on the idea of using solar energy to run a business. People are interested in this kind of technology today, so it ought to generate attention and hopefully positive discussion, and through this, influence thinking and decisions about other problem solving approaches which may become necessary down the line.

With a basic system installed, just running LED spotlights and maybe one or two laptop stations, it ought to be easy to add further capabilities later on. Rather than just planning and blue-skying, I figure DOING is a great way, (and really the only way) to create real momentum and solutions; to get people comfortable with alternative ways of doing things which are not dependent on old systems which may become unreliable in the future.

The neat thing is that this is all stuff I was going to be doing anyway in one form or another because I'm excited and fascinated by the project, but my own home isn't well-suited to setting this kind of equipment up. It's good to be doing it out in a public space like this, getting other people involved. A fun Spring project!

I'll keep people posted here as things progress.

 

[kalibex]

"...get people comfortable with alternative ways of doing things which are not dependent on old systems which may become unreliable in the future."

I like this "why wait?" philosophy of yours. Very practical.

 

[daddycat]

I'm not sure distributing a newspaper during a hot apocalypse is a good idea. There could be psychos and government remnants trying to take out resistance leaders, like people publicly distributing a newspaper.

 

[Woodsman]

I'm not sure distributing a newspaper during a hot apocalypse is a good idea. There could be psychos and government remnants trying to take out resistance leaders, like people publicly distributing a newspaper.

Well.., I figure there's two vibrations. Fear and.., the other thing.

I can sit quietly on my reserves of food and survival goods and (wishfully) hope that the gun-toting thugs overlook me until my supplies run out and then, with luck, eke out a survival based on the only thing we have left; community.

Or I can attempt to ease into a functional community with fewer bumps along the road by planning ahead, and openly preparing and talking about difficult things; (I think a discussion about why I'm building solar panels in front of a newspaper office is a great way to painlessly lead into discussions of food security). The more people who prepare in advance, the less desperation is out there, the more security I'll personally have, so in a fairly direct way, it's a selfish action. -One less panicked, starving and confused person is one less to worry about having my back turned to, and more importantly, one more I can turn to for support when times get tough.

I've explained my thinking above with regard to this.

The thing which makes a world hellish or utopian is ultimately the people and their collective choices and actions. If I'm going to die, (as we all must), then I'd rather reach that goal post having done my level best to educate myself and others and vibrate the way I'd like to see the world vibrate. Living in fear and distrust sounds miserable. Why do it if there may be another way?

Maybe it'll fail. Fair enough. All there is is lessons.