I woke to a dream where I was chatting about the day's plans while opening a fridge. It seemed a little warm. I opened the freezer and put my hand inside. There was almost no cooling. But I was focused on talking to a couple people, took a "no matter" attitude and moved on. (The freezer was metallic floor-to-cieling like a walk-in, but for one household.)

The dream reminded me that in troubled times, brownouts occur, and freezers can't be counted on to keep food safe.

Countries are pressed to control the amount of power that goes to users. They may shut off at night, lower flow at certain times. Infrastructure problems can cause erratic power flow.

Now that society has smart meters and smart appliances, power can be lowered externally, individually. Smart meters can be hacked, or tapped into.

Who knows if social credit scores might lead to reducing power to those with low scores.

Many prepare for shortage with freezers, thinking they can handle a couple short storm blackouts. This is a reminder that subtle, frequent, controlled temperature changes can occur over longer spans of time. (Dehydrated food is safer.)

Food for thought.