The Fear of Impending Doom

I would have to say that I am generally a very optimistic person. I am always hoping that the best will happen and try to shrug off all of those preaching impending doom. When all of the talk of global warming became popular, I read Michael Crichton's State of Fear and appreciated his scientific approach to analyzing what is really going on in the world around us. Let's be honest, the scientific community is often wrong, but never in doubt.

Last night I had the chance to attend a Roundtable for Boy Scout leaders. The topic of conversation was winter camping. It was refreshing to listen to the wisdom of others and not be the one teaching the class. Of course I did put in my two cents about the importance of eating a Snicker's bar before going to bed (your body needs fuel to keep warm while you sleep). The primary message in last night's meeting was the Scout motto: Be Prepared.

It is essential to be prepared for realistic disasters. I do a lot of reading on Ham radio forums and there are some preparing for the end of the world while others are worried about a simple 3-day power outage. While I applaud those preparing for the apocalypse, I think it is much more realistic to prepare for the power outage. So what does that mean for the regular computer user? Take a look at some realistic scenarios and plan accordingly.

If you keep important records on your computer that might be useful in the event of an emergency (i.e. medical information, phone contacts, etc.), make sure that you have a way to power your computer in case of an outage. Laptops have the advantage of having a battery without requiring an uninterruptible power supply (UPS). Being able to keep this information on your iPhone (or similar device) is even better.

Lightning strikes have a tendency to destroy computer equipment and so it is a good idea to turn off and unplug your computer during an electrical storm. Unfortunately those inexpensive surge protectors will do little regardless of what their warranty says.

Most importantly you should back up the data on your computer. Katrina-type storms happen once every hundred years. You are much more likely to suffer a hard-disk crash or a dropped computer. If you have your data backed up, then you are that much quicker to being productive in the event your computer breaks. This means doing regular backups as data has a tendency to change. I am missing three years of photos because of a crashed hard drive. I hope that doesn't happen to you.