As Pace Struggles, CTA Claims "No Major Delays" After Doomsday Day One
CTA Doomsday Schedule: Day 2
Calumet Fisheries Wins James Beard Award
How To: Roast a Chicken (If You're an Idiot)
30 Percent Chance Of Hailey
Thousands of Chicagoland ComEd customers are still without power after severe weather rolled through the area on Sunday, the fifth storm in the last 10 days to wreck havoc on ComEd’s systems. We are sincerely grateful that area residents without electricity do not also have to contend with severely cold or hot weather, like the fatal heat wave that recently swept the East Coast.
Regardless, it’s good to be prepared ahead of time in the unfortunate case of a prolonged summertime power outage. Short list: flashlight, battery powered clocks and radio, extra batteries, candles and matches, candlesticks, water and juice, canned food, manual can opener, and cash.
Image via Nick Suydam
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
Cash? Really? I had no idea SOCIETY was breaking down around me...I guess I'll go dig up my gold bars from the backyard. Jesus.
longer list: bottle of wine, playing cards, iPod, nintendo DS. (what the hell else are you gonna do sitting around in the dark? talk? pfff.)
what's so far-fetched about cash? my wallet tends to be on the lighter side, and that plastic doesn't mean anything without power.
NEITHER DOES CASH.
What do you think cash registers run on? Windmills?
And these people have been without power for maybe 24 hours. They have cars, presumably, and can DRIVE to places with power. And then use their credit cards there.
God. It isn't like in Live Free or Die Hard. It isn't like the FABRIC of society is coming apart.
If you can't go 24 hours without power, then you are retarded. It is called, eat all the frozen goods and sit outside and get high.
I was in NY for the 2003 blackout, and lots of places were accepting cash.
I hate you.
seriously, wtf is your problem? too bad you possess a fraction of margaret's intelligence, poise, and capacity for general human decency.
I'm hoping that if I'm mean enough, Queen M will quit and Chicagoist will not longer be the laughingstock of all the -ists.
http://gawker.com/tag/the-internets/?i=396131&t=mean-commenters-are-running-bloggers-out-of-town
Also: Too bad that is a totally unfiar comparison as you have met and spent time with Margaret and you just know my "avatar" or whatever.
This whole persona could be an exercise in pointing out the internet's greatest strength and weakness...or the trade-off between anonymity and democracy.
So, for example, I am not stupid.
And if you people would do your jobs as "writers" more appropriately, my attacks would at the very least become less frequent and delivered with less vitrol.
You're right, Rach. We have spent time with Margaret. So we know she's not bothered by your childish antics when doing the fine damn job that she does on this site.
And, as always, thank you for being the Watchdog of Quality, because you obviously catch all the problems that the other 12,000 to 15,000 fine and appreciated daily readers of this site somehow miss.
Wow. Out of all posts this one provokes the hate?
I don't know whether Margaret is truly intelligent, poised, etc. or if Spav1 is actually not stupid. I do know there have been worse posts to go after than this one (Hot Doug's "sketchy" incident, to go way back). I've read Gothamist & Torontoist pretty regularly and Chicagoist compares just fine to the rest of the "-ist" family. But I guess I'm just a "reader" so what do I know?
Having been through a 36-hr blackout on a July 4th weekend back in New Jersey a few years ago, I can say all the items on the check list are good to have. I would, however, suggest making sure you have unscented candles for the occasion. I just lit whatever I had, mostly crap ones I'd received as gifts, and the smell of all the different scents mixing together was atrocious.
I would just like to add condoms (or some other form of birth control) to the list, cuz what else you gonna do at night when you can't watch tv? talk? piff.
back on topic, I'd like to add that a battery backup on your sump pump, if you have a "garden" floor or basement, is pretty flippin' necessary in a power outage. I speak from experience on this.
Oh, and lots of board games. I recommend Uno.
Battleship. That's a fun game. And Trouble with the Pop-O-Matic Bubble. You can make them drinking games if need be.
And check on any elderly neighbors to make sure that they are okay. Or at least request a wellbeing check if you aren't comfortable checking in on them. Especially if the power is out for a while.
happygrl: right on, good thinkin'. i like that better than sitting around getting high.
Hahahahahahahaha... (breathes) hahahahahahahahaha
There's bad blood between me and Spav, but she's right about most of the things on this thread.
And in her defense, she's actually a lot different in person.
/back to my work cave
Margaret Lyons lies!
Yes she was in the NYC for the 2003 blackout because SHE caused it!
Then used the ensuing chaos to cover the General New World Order Membership Meeting of the Illuminati also attended by Oprah, the Midwest Regional Chair of the NWO Illuminati!
Do you see Lyons denies me the commentator of the month T shirt! I have the facts, I just need an official platform that comes with that snazzy T Shirt!