there was a time when my college roommate and I were (gasp) behind on our utility bills and they shut off our power for a week and a half or so.
we did a lot of reading by candlelight. It was actually quite pleasant.
until we realized that no power meant that the contents of the freezer rapidly spoiled. that was not so pleasant. I actually employed the “VapoRub under the nose” trick from “Silence of the Lambs” to do the cleanup after we paid off ConEd…
Compare to Goya’s “Saturn Devouring His Son.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_Devouring_His_Son