The Internet is Teetering

Yesterday, an "unusual traffic spike" caused a massive internet outage. Even when I logged onto Substack, it was filled with complaints and urgent messages. We've seen several of these outages over the last year, and they're getting worse. It underscores a notion that many of us have started to talk about:

Going forward, these outages are going to happen more often. You can gesture toward a range of reasons, from drought to AI's pressure on the grid, to overworked and overwhelmed staff. One day, we're going to wake up, and the internet just won't be there. Nobody is going to tell us when it's gone for good.

They're not going to warn us.

It probably won't happen out of nowhere. Like most things, it's going to follow a steady decline. Then it'll just sputter one last time.

And that'll be it.

That matters for those of us trying to learn how to survive in a world with endless other threats, from heat waves to fires to floods.

Basically, print books are cool again.

I've spent the last several years learning as much as I can about how to deal with these disasters. My family has also lived through them. Pandemics. Tornadoes. Floods. Water shortages. Fires. Over the last few months, I've been thinking more and more about better, more resilient ways to document and share this knowledge.

So, I'm starting a book project.

You're thinking, "Ugh, is she going to ask for money?"

Yeah, she is.

It's an ambitious project. It's going to collect all the practical information I've shared here, and it's going to drill down even deeper. I'm going to tackle all the uncomfortable questions that even a lot of preppers don't want to think about. And I'm going to speak to people like us, who aren't necessarily going to be bugging out to a rural paradise in the country. I want a reference guide that talks about getting through more than a natural disaster. I want to talk about the early and middle stages of social collapse. I'm not interested in survivalist fantasies. I'm not interested in spending 50 pages explaining the climate crisis. You know all that. Basically, I want instructions and lists. I want something my family can turn to when they don't have the internet to teach us how to bandage a wound or maintain a composting toilet.

I'm not promising survival, just information, written down, explained clearly, with no fluff, ready for you when you need it. I'm taking an academic, journalistic approach. I'm going to recruit some volunteers to help with the research. I'm going to start with things you can do now, and then cover things you can do when you don't have reliable access to running water or electricity.

When it's done, I want to sell the print version at cost.

Most importantly, I want something my daughter can use when I'm gone. She's going to need it. For now, I'm calling it Project C. The C stands for Cassandra, the prophet nobody listened to. I've made a static page for it here.

Let me know your thoughts. It would be nice to get a few hundred backers to launch this project. That way, I'll know it's worth doing.

There's no way we could get 500 backers... right?

I'll keep everyone updated.