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The day Fairbanks vanished
Today was an ... interesting day at work. Apparently, somehow, the fiber-optic cable connecting Fairbanks to the rest of the world was severed, and we spent the whole day with no phones, faxes or Internet. Even the cell phones were down for at least part of the day. Imagine trying to run a newspaper when the only way you can get in touch with people is by physically driving to their house. No AP wire (although they got a satellite uplink working eventually), the newsroom software wouldn't work and there was no way to contact technical support ...
My God! We would have given anything for a *telegraph*!
Orion told me this evening that the phones at the university were still working, but ours weren't. The Classified department, having virtually nothing whatsoever to do, spent the day decorating for Halloween. At least we (Layout) had work to do -- quite a lot of work, since we were having to scramble around trying to get all the ads for the next day's paper in without being able to contact customers.
It's kind of a sad statement on my life that I kept checking all evening to see if the Internet was back up. Obviously, it is *now*, since I'm posting this. QED. But you know, in a way it was nice *NOT* having it. I wonder if we -- chez Lawlor -- could declare certain days for an Internet fast. Would we get more done? Or would we just sit around staring wistfully at the darkened computer screen?
My God! We would have given anything for a *telegraph*!
Orion told me this evening that the phones at the university were still working, but ours weren't. The Classified department, having virtually nothing whatsoever to do, spent the day decorating for Halloween. At least we (Layout) had work to do -- quite a lot of work, since we were having to scramble around trying to get all the ads for the next day's paper in without being able to contact customers.
It's kind of a sad statement on my life that I kept checking all evening to see if the Internet was back up. Obviously, it is *now*, since I'm posting this. QED. But you know, in a way it was nice *NOT* having it. I wonder if we -- chez Lawlor -- could declare certain days for an Internet fast. Would we get more done? Or would we just sit around staring wistfully at the darkened computer screen?
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Internet fast? *shudder* Don't bother sending me a "Kiss me, I'm a luddite" bumper sticker anytime soon :P
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Egad. I'm sure you guys had it far worse than we did. Newspapers are not generally a life-and-death business.
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Having the option to not have power/internet is sometimes very nice.
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I agree with you -- it's strangely refreshing. I always enjoy the times that I spend at the cabin where I grew up, with no Internet and very limited power and phone service. I just seem to lack the willpower to enforce that kind of ban on myself when there's an alternative.
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