There's actually being off the power grid, and then there's all this other stuff, which I like to call "off the grid" but is actually something else...

My bad. I was confusing the two. In my solar-powered mountain hut in Idaho, I'm probably not going to be able to buy DVDs. And satellite Internet requires a backup land line in order to post data.

anyone in particular to use a computer at the library

My library makes me use my card. Which is tied to my SSN, after years of resistance. Glargh.

My library makes me use my card. Which is tied to my SSN, after years of resistance. Glargh.

Oh, that's annoying. And restrictive.

backup land line in order to post data.

Does it, still? I thought they had full two-way going now?

eta:

Oh, that's annoying. And restrictive.

Yeah, I was pissy.

Oh, and Betsy, the bad is all mine, due to my sloppy language.

The thing that helped the guy I knew here was being a user of people -- someone had the lease on the apartment he lived in, just not him. Same for telephone, etc. He had access to plenty of stuff, but none of it was in his name. And stuff that was in his name, wasn't in his real name.

I think that while "off the grid" mat literally mean "not on municipal power lines", it has generalized quite far, and can now be taken to mean "not signed up on anything that makes one findable." Which includes power grids, but also rental leases, driver's licenses, legal pay, bank records -- but you know, not necessarily the internet.

If your neighbors are not careful about their wireless, it's entirely possible to surf the internet without being on the grid. Weird.

(Of course, how you afforded a computer with a wireless modem, if you only ever get paid in cash, is another question, but let's posit it as so.)

It's kinda like that for me. I had a devil of a time proving to anyone (delivery people, bank officials, license branch) that I lived in the state. Because the property I live on belongs to the church and we pay all our utility bills through them. The physical mail comes to an aggregate mailbox (we do all our normal business through the PO), so most official type organizations, including the phone company initially, refuse to believe that my house exists or that I could possibly be living in it.

It was very tempting to just disappear as an entity. But it makes for tedium in conducting normal business.

You have to have an SSN to do anything tax-related

Or an ITIN, which the IRS will gladly give you, cause you know, anyone who wants to pay taxes ought to be allowed.

I think "fall between the cracks" is an American expression and "fall between the chairs" a Britishism. I certainly know non-Israelis who say it that way. I also like it, because it makes me think of cutthroat games of musical chairs.

it makes me think of cutthroat games of musical chairs.

Ooh! With pirates?