SOME DISASTER-PREPARATION ADVICE FROM TEXAS, courtesy of reader Fernando Colina:

And in the good ole Houston, USA, in the aftermath of IKE, telephones, internet and cable TV were down, and cell phones were unreliable due the spike in traffic. The only means of communication that approached useful levels was SMS messaging and good ole AM/FM. Sometimes text messages would be delayed for minutes but they almost always got there. I’m putting my el-cheapo crank-up radio in a pedestal next to my cell phone. They kept us in touch and made us comfortable for 60 hours. And let’s not forget the car charger for our phone. Sure, a generator is great, a car-pluggable DC-AC inverted will do work for small appliances, but a lowly $20 battery charger plugged to your car 12V outlet will power your radios, phones, flashlights, even coffee makers can make the difference between terror and small comfort.

Yeah. I have a bunch of big uninterruptible power supply units for my computers, DSL modem, wi-fi, etc. These will keep the Internet going for days without power — so long as the Internet is up, of course — and also recharge gadgets like cellphones and laptops.

UPDATE: Reader Dale Britton writes: “Say, I wouldn’t mind owning one of those. And I’m thinking Amazon wouldn’t be depressed about selling a few dozen – errr, strike that – thousand of those, I’m sure. You’ll probably sell them 1,000 in Houston alone this week. Link your faves!”

I have several models — this one is the most recent, and features a mute button for the annoying power-off alarm. It’ll run a computer for a while, but it’ll run low-power devices like the DSL modem and router for days. However, since you have to, you know, charge it first, I don’t think it’ll help folks whose power is out now.