Posts Tagged ‘media’

National attention to the topic of prepping can be a good thing. And honestly I think that while some media outlets portray preppers as “extremist” or even “fringe citizens”… the attention is still cause for others to pay attention and think about their own preparedness. As this is a movement that is positive in nature is is about self-reliance.

And if anything, preppers are people who are preparing to be less of a burden on whatever emergency services are available during a disaster, leaving more for those who really need it.

“Prepping”: The New American Craze | Gather.

And yet another… reason why old school technology may be the way to go. Here’s the deal, when blocks are put in place, people will try to get around them, and they will. The politicians who are making these bills don’t use the internet like the rest of the world. I think corporations need to accept the technology of the internet and give it up. The narrator makes a great point in that LastFM, Pandora and other online services are providing a great service. The need to collect music from services like Napster (remember those days) is far lower than ever with free streaming music available. Provide a better service and the desire to steal drops. Netflix, Hulu… follow their models.

Update: Check out this article on Lifehacker about DeSOPA, an extension for FireFox to bypass the SOPA protocols.

On average, how much TV do you watch? How much radio do you listen to? And more importantly, who owns/broadcasts the content that you are consuming? As of late this is something that I am becoming more sensitive too. The internet offers more independent sources of news and entertainment than ever before. And back in the day it was drilled into us that if it was on the radio, on the TV or in the paper, it must be true. Not so much so anymore. Consider the sources of your news and entertainment. Consider the values that they are pumping into your home, into the heads of yourself and your family. If you have children, how aware are you of the content they are consuming?

Read the rest of this entry »

If you are like me, you enjoy the luxury of streaming media from Netflix, Hulu and Youtube. They are each great services. What happens when the net goes down? Building your offline library of media (movies and music) can be a life saver in a grid down situation.

First consider the situation you’ll be faced with. Will the use of a DVD player be feasible? Most often when the power is out of service, DVDs are not good use of emergency power. But mobile devices can be charged via solar power and can play ripped media. Consider ripping your current video media with Handbrake and storing it on a SD card. Your media can then be viewed on the small screen. Potable DVD players are fairly cheap as well and use battery power. Read the rest of this entry »