The Door's song "People are Strange" which was playing on Steve's playlist before Jim headed home was running through Jim's mind as he saw the concerned looks on people's faces as he passed by. He thought about the Coriolis effect which causes storms or water going down a drain to rotate one direction in the Northern hemisphere and the other in the south. Coriolis effect is often referred to as part of the calculation for long distance shooting. It is caused by the rotation of a spherical object such as a planet. He wondered what the flat Earth theorists used to explain it trying not to think about the satellites not working.
FM or analog radio waves travel in a straight pattern. If the world was flat all that would need to be done is to put an antenna at the highest elevation possible and put enough power through it to broadcast long distances. AM radio signals operate more like a wave and can sometimes be broadcast a lot further than FM with less power. Satellites are used to bounce signals off of to achieve greater distance of broadcast capabilities. Several satellites are used so there is always one available to bounce a signal off of. The ones you can see in the night sky that appear to be moving fast are in low Earth orbit and the ones that take awhile to cross the night sky are in geosynchronous orbit. All of the satellites out at the same time was a good reason to be concerned. We could still communicate world wide because before satellites we buried cables under the oceans. If a country was planning to invade we would still be able to know about it. Other developed nations likely had the same concerns that we did. Most television signals had switched to a digital broadcasting system but there were some analog systems that had not yet been taken down. Eventually they should be able to restore some sort of television service. A lot of people had gotten rid of their land lines but depending on how long the satellites were out that was about to change. Jim was old enough to remember a time before everyone was glued to their electronic devices. In some ways those were better times.
It seemed like people got out more and had a reason to talk to their neighbors instead of looking up their social media profiles. Jim passed by one of his friend's houses and seen them outside working on removing the paint from his house. He probably wasn't aware that the satellites were out. His long time friend Tom was around the same age and able to operate his life without depending on his smart phone. He interrupted Tom from sanding to tell him to stop out if the phones didn't come back on. Jim didn't know how crazy things were going to get so being out in the middle of nowhere by himself might not be the best idea. Jim and Tom would go shooting together at the range so he knew Tom was a crack shot and would be an asset in defense of the property. Luckily Jim had gotten some cash out of the bank before the shutdown and headed to the grocery store to stock up on supplies. If he waited too long cash might not have the same value. Without communications the stores supply lines might get interrupted. Hopefully Tom would bring a couple more people from town with him if things started getting real bad. The worst case scenario would be like a Mad Max situation but hopefully it wouldn't come to that. One good thing about being from a farming community is that is where the food is grown so there would always be food. If people started venturing away from the city the problems could escalate. Without satellites the world is a much bigger place. Jim thought about some strangers that showed up on horses a few months ago to get some water. They had ridden a few hundred miles and had a few hundred to go on their adventure. What would take a day to drive would take months on a horse or on foot.
He wondered if some hacker mad at the world was able to upload a virus to disable satellites or if an alien invasion was coming. According to the radio broadcasts the entire world was in the same situation. The most profound effects would be on the most developed nation. The good thing was we hadn't become so dependent on technology that we didn't know how it worked. The easier technology is to use the more dependent we become and the less people know what makes it work. Cars are a good example, few and far between actually know how the technology works and are unable to fix it themselves. When combustion engines were a new technology being able to repair it was almost a requirement if you were to rely on it for transportation. Now cars are so reliable and require very little maintenance that it is not practical to understand how they work. You could just call someone normally but that might have changed. After stocking up on groceries Jim made his way home greeted by his dog who was always happy to see him. He unloaded his groceries and inventoried ammo and fuel just in case. It is one thing to have a lot of weapons but they are useless if you don't have ammo. Jim started thinking about how he would need to defend his property if things truly got out of hand. He had a small dozer and could limit access by taking out parts of the road. For now it was just a thought but better to think things out and be prepared. He wondered if others had the same thoughts. Fortifying and defending a location was a sure way to lose without having the numbers and proper defense. It would actually be easier to give up the location and draw out the invaders. Jim made sure everything he might need like generators were in working order. It was too early to start digging holes and camouflaging supply stashed in the adjacent fields.
The neighbors who were a few miles down the road stopped by and introduced themselves. Funny they had lived there for a little over a year and he had never had a conversation with them. Most people feel uncomfortable not being in constant communication with other people. Jim was indifferent but making alliances might be useful. He invited the neighbors in and offered them a cold beer and listened to their concerns and theories about what had happened. Jim told them to stock up on supplies hope for the best but plan for the worst. The world existed long before we went to space and would continue to exist even without satellites. This setback would definitely cause panic among those who rely on the technology. Thinking the world is flat is a major step back in time loosing technologies was just a temporary set back. At least that was the hope.