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old hand
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In some remote NZ areas I've heard of people tapping into phone and electricity lines so in a sense they could be 'living off the grid'. However, tsuwms poetic version is more akin to what I believe it to be. Off the beaten track, almost.

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journeyman
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Being a house husband, raising the kids, fixing the truck,and making sure the horses are properly shod while the Doctor wife plays with other peoples organs. Not the usual nucular
[sic{GWB}] family. ( Not me, good Lord, not a personal scenario)

Someone who makes rent, washing car windows and/or snatches watches off motorists arms at busy urban intersections during rush hour.

Last edited by R. Eastcourt; 11/15/07 02:28 AM.
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Originally Posted By: tsuwm
#3 should read?

3. living in such a way as not to minimize the awareness of one's identity to government/industry.

-ron o.


Yes! thanks, tff

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journeyman
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Quote:
used ironically, it might mean "outside of reality"


Another example that comes to mind, in both the literal and figurative senses of the expression, is Chris McCandless, the character in Jon Krakauer's book Into the Wild. He was really "out there".

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IMO, I think #3 is confusing means and ends with definitions. If you heard someone was living off the grid, you might assume that #3 was _why_ they were doing it, not _what_ they were doing.

There are other reasons to live off the grid (e.g. to be more green) and other ways to minimize govt awareness (e.g. only work for cash, use someone else's identity).

In the same way that "buying kosher foods" does not equal (have the definition of) "keeping kosher". I have a friend who buys kosher foods because she's a vegetarian and she trusts them not to slip in any gelatin or other animal by-products.

Last edited by Myridon; 11/15/07 04:03 PM.
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Carpal Tunnel
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>Into the Wild.<
This is quite the uncompromising way till the very end.


I've read tsuwms inbreng The Road Washes Out in Spring till page 23. A very poetic and pleasant read.This evening I'll hope to find out for what other life sustaining items the writer is going to prove dependent on the little nearby community. (so far only lamp oil). Maybe 'living off the grid 'needs at least a small community nearby.
(if taken further than water and heating [wood? Anna, you buy?]) :)All I can do is a year round of backyard blackberry jelly. But I buy the sugar.

The FF.Freind
3. living in such a way as not to minimize the awareness of one's identity to government/industry.Is this not the way a lot of illegal immigrants all over the world involuntarily live?

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Carpal Tunnel
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Penny! Good to see you, friend!

My longtime involovement with legal authorities in various forms, plus my even longer-time love of mystery books (and probably action movies, as well), makes my first thought (since as theFF said, no context was given) was people who deliberately make themselves untrackable by any governmental agency: work and pay for everything in cash, never use a credit card or their social security number.

Kind of a tangent (gee I'm setting a precedent Jackie), but I recently read a real-life horror story about people who have postponed paying for something until a collection agency is called; then they pay it off but by that time the collection agency has sold their name/info. to another collection agency, and they then have to try and prove that they've paid...and that this can sometimes go on for years.

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Originally Posted By: AnnaStrophic
...I'm interested in what the expression means to y'all, as individuals, not what the definition is.


It sounds like temporary escape from Fake World. Outside of that context it seems to imply life without a paper trail.


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journeyman
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3. I'm interested in what the expression means to y'all, as individuals, not what the definition is.

1. A short-order cook.

2. Winning enough money at auto racing to pay the bills.

3. A consistent winner of Sudoku contests.

Last edited by R. Eastcourt; 11/16/07 09:58 PM.
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No. 3 was the first thing I thought of but that's probably because our book club recently read The Traveler, by John Twelve Hawks. The book deals with living off the grid, but if you look up the author in Wikipedia, his bio (such as it is) is intriguing:

Biography

Both John Twelve Hawks and his American publisher state that he has never met his editor and that he communicates using the Internet and an untraceable satellite phone, usually employing a voice scrambler. No photograph of Twelve Hawks has ever appeared and all biographical information about his background is based on four sources:

* a 2005 article in USA Today
* a 2005 interview by Rob Bedford in SFF World
* a 2006 interview published in Germany in Der Spiegel
* a portion of a 2007 London Telegraph article about popular writers

Twelve Hawks' initial biography on the Random House website was only one line: "John Twelve Hawks lives off the grid." At some point in 2007, that line disappeared and was replaced with "John Twelve Hawks is the author of the New York Times bestseller, The Traveler.

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