Officials say momentary power failures unavoidable

You can buy the battery backup mentioned in the article -- it's called an Uninterruptable Power Supply, or UPS. If you're still using a desktop computer, you need one. (I got mine at Sam's Club.) Laptop/Notebook computers include their own battery, but you still need a surge protector.

You can use a UPS to protect some other appliances, but you may not be able to find an appropriate size. A computer UPS seems too expensive to back up the clock on your answering machine. On the other end of the scale, an ordinary computer UPS doesn't supply enough power for a microwave oven or electrically-heated hot tub. Does anyone know of a practical solution to either problem -- small inexpensive UPS; or a way to back up the electronics of heating appliances w/o spending $thousands to back up the heating function?

In most alarm clocks you can install a 9V battery. That works -- until the battery expires, but you don't know that it has until you see the clock blinking.

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