This article was written by J.D. Heyes and originally published at Natural News.com.
Editor’s Comment: As regular readers on SHTF know, the threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack is quickly rising among the contingencies for war and major catastrophic disaster. Washington is fully aware of what may well be inevitable, and has taken precaution to guard the continuity of the Pentagon and establishment. But the general population is almost completely unprepared for this disaster, which may have origins in a natural solar flare, a nuclear attack by an enemy or a false flag from within.
Either way, there are some basic steps ordinary people can take, such as building a Faraday cage and safeguarding back-up equipment. Preppers can ready a low-tech survival strategy, and should, as the cities and urban population will absolutely crumble into chaos, and many predictions see the possibility that 90% of the population would die as a result of being cut off from modern services upon which they completely rely. Don’t be one of them.
90% of U.S. population could be wiped out with doomsday electromagnetic weapon … Pentagon woefully unprepared
by J.D. Heyes
There is growing alarm among defense planners about the uptick in nuclear weapons development taking place among the various great powers, including the United States, Russia, India and China, as well as lesser powers like North Korea and Pakistan. Missile defense is, in part, to some degree designed to mitigate the threat of a nuclear attack via ICBM.
But the Pentagon is dreadfully unprepared for the fallout from an electromagnetic pulse, generated either from a nuclear explosion over our country, or from an EMP created by a giant solar flare, for which there is no defense, the UK’s Daily Mail reported.
What’s more, the U.S. is not only lagging behind in terms of defending itself against EMP weapons, it is behind in the development of its own design – though Boeing is at least one American defense contractor working on a prototype, the paper said in online editions.
However, the Daily Mail noted that some have suggested that 90 percent of the U.S. population would perish over the course of the weeks and months following a major EMP event that crippled or wiped out the bulk of the nation’s power grid.
But other developed countries’ populations would likely suffer similar levels of casualties if their grids were destroyed as well, which is what makes the development of U.S. EMP weapons such a vital deterrent. In fact, a recent report from The Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments says that the technology is “one of the most critical operational domains in modern warfare.” The U.S., however, has “unfortunately … failed to keep pace” in that battlespace “over the last generation,” it added.
Titled, Winning the Airwaves: Regaining America’s Dominance in the Electromagnetic Spectrum, the report adds that the technology will eventually be as revolutionary as smartphones.
‘Cybergeddon’
“In the same way that smartphones and the Internet are redefining how the world shares, shops, learns, and works, the development and fielding of advanced sensors and networking technologies will enable militaries to gain significant new advantages over competitors that fail to keep pace,” the report says.
Its release follows claims made recently by tech boss and presidential candidate John McAfee, who warned that a “doomsday” electronic weapon would kill 90 percent of Americans, as he urged politicians to consider it the No. 1 threat to the country.
“Experts agree that an all out cyber attack, beginning with an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on our electronic infrastructure, would wipe out 90% of the human population of this country within two years of the attack,” he said in a commentary for the International Business Times. “That means the death of 270 million people within 24 months after the attack.”
As partner site Bugout.news reported Oct. 30, U.S. experts say that the technology exists to protect American grid systems from EMP attack, but that “politics” is preventing the proper measures from being adopted.
We don’t have to remain behind the curve
“The problem is not the technology,” said expert Peter V. Pry, the executive director of the Task Force on National and Homeland Security, and director of the U.S. Nuclear Strategy Forum, as reported by the website. “We know how to protect against it. It’s not the money, it doesn’t cost that much. The problem is the politics. It always seems to be the politics that gets in the way.”
And Cyberwar.news, another partner site, reported that other experts and analysts agree, including TV news anchor Ted Koppel. He predicts “cybergeddon” in his new book – Lights Out: A Cyberattack, A Nation Unprepared, Surviving the Aftermath – if mass damage is done to the nation’s power grid and other infrastructure.
“Imagine a blackout lasting not days, but weeks or months. Tens of millions of people over several states are affected,” said one description of the book. “For those without access to a generator, there is no running water, no sewage, no refrigeration or light. Food and medical supplies are dwindling. Devices we rely on have gone dark. Banks no longer function, looting is widespread, and law and order are being tested as never before.”
As Pry noted, the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments report also states that the U.S. has the technology to get out in front of similar EMP weapons development.
“DoD [Department of Defense] now has the opportunity to develop new operational concepts and technologies that will allow it to ‘leap ahead’ of its competitors and create enduring advantages in EMS warfare,” the report said.
Sources:
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Oh the humanity…. I won’t be able to buy cheap crap from Amazon.
Now THATS funny
If an EMP takes out Facebook, EBT, and iPhones the world would be a much better place. Let ‘er rip…
All fun and games till some thing like this happens. Remember that it is not a matter of if this will happen, it is a matter of when it will happen.
No effort has been made by anyone to protect the world in anyway from an emp or solar flare. What an event such as the Carrington event just 150 years ago, which we are long overdue for happening, would take this country back into the cowboy and Indians days. But guess what? We don’t have a bunch of small farms anymore, we don’t have horses in the amount we would need. Hell we don’t have wagons for them to pull anyway.
In my opinion this is the gravest danger we as a collective whole are facing. Once again because it cannot be stressed enough: It is not an if it will happen, it is a when it will happens.
BigB
A Carrington type event will be patchy and we can prepare for the event as the Helios satellite gives us warning to power down the grid. However, a man made EMP would be totally different and potentially more destructive.
iPhones will work fine
The reason the Pentagon is dreadfully unprepared for the fallout from an electromagnetic pulse, generated from a nuclear explosion over our country, is because they plan to strike first. That’s it. The misconception is, “why should we prepare, we are going to win.”
Russia and China, OTOH, have been making preparations to protect their civilian populations. Russia has an extensive underground bunker system, made for the Russian citizens.
The only thing the U.S. govt is prepared to protect, is THEMSELVES.
Dunno about that one considering that The Secret Service (what’s so secret about it?) can’t even ‘secure’ their badges, firearms and flashdrives with any amount of ‘visible’ grey-matter being used…
Also, if we DID make a preemptive strike you can bet-your-bottom-dollar The USA would be blanketed by ICBMs from Russia, China, N. Korea (via subs?) and perhaps a few from places our leaders have “well supplied” in order to wipe us out at a later date …which, as it seems now, is not on the horizon, but at your doors (soon that little ‘play on words’ will mean LITERALLY AT YOUR DOOR!
Besides, Obama is NOT going to allow the USA to fire nukes at his very best buddies, or even close to where they may be. He’s proven that much over and over and over.
It doesn’t make sense to “nuke” the USA and render it uninhabitable (because THEY wish to use it …or is that wishful thinking on my part?). That pretty much leaves one of two (or both I suppose) things. Start out with a massive EMP followed by a secondary about 15days later, and then put ‘boots on the ground’ to clean up what few remain and kill or ‘intern’ them in FEMA Camps (which I’ve heard that many of are already “in place” and only lack ‘erection’ (a team of construction folks could assemble the entire camp in less than a week (or so I’ve heard)….and there are approximately 100 (??) ‘alleged’ massive piles of materials (pretty much all of them in ‘out of the way’ places (useless desert-like areas,etc).
Should you find yourselves “contained” ….DO REALIZE that help is coming “damned fast” (and you’ll know when The Posse arrives …lol, without a doubt). Just locate ANYBODY with a big, mean looking military weapon that’s an American and STAY RIGHT BEHIND THEM! lol…
I don’t think it will come to nukes because you’re right, it doesn’t make sense. The fallout knows no borders. If it does, most of us are done anyway.
There is 0 fallout from an EMP.
iPhones will work fine, you say? What about the towers? If there was an EMP blast of that magnitude, not being able to access Facebook or Amazon would be minimal compared to the loss of everything else. There would be zero electricity, you wouldn’t be able to pump gas or diesel out of the ground. Without fuel, transport of goods stops entirely and you would get to walk everyone you wanted to go unless you happened to have an available fuel source (and everyone around you somehow didn’t detect it). Without transport of goods, stores nationwide would be out of food in 3 days. Yuck it up, chuckleheads…if this were to actually happen, there would be death on a scale not seen before in human history.
I believe an EMP will be used. Then the attacking army will wait 30 to 90 days and do a red dawn type scenario. With up to a 90% death rate, the country would be weak and confused.
Thor,
the military has been hardening there stuff for the last ten years that i am aware of and THEY believe it will happen OR some one WILL try to make it happen, that is also where the secret space plane has been developed but don’t know more about it, could be it has already stopped some from trying, BUT it is a VERY plausible and possible event!and IF it happens it will be devastating to this country or where ever it happens!
Another article on EMP? HO HUM. I’ll go back to sleep.
Same shit, new day…
Yeah, just more fearmongering. Neither Russia nor China is going to preemptively lay siege to American soil. It ain’t going to happen, I don’t care what the warmongers say. WE WILL STRIKE FIRST. WE WILL PROVOKE ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS.
I think our military is getting pretty fed up with obama…
ht tp://www.dailytimes.com.pk/foreign/22-Dec-2015/us-military-provided-syria-s-assad-with-intel-on-militants-report
ht tps://www.rt.com/usa/326748-us-syria-intelligence-hersh/
I know I think I get it already. We have been emp’d, and cme’d to smithereenies for the past ten years now. Say your prayers varmints.
Don’t think an EMP will ever happen in the USA unless our Muslim -In-Chief decides to create an EMP in Syria to render Russia’s S-400 Missile defense systems completely useless but I doubt Russia’s Military Equipment isn’t without protection.
The US does not currently have EMP capability as indicated by the article. The Russians developed EMP capability decades ago along with the ability to deliver. The Chinese did the same.
Big difference between a nation that has known about EMP from day one and one that is trying to catch up. Personally, I think under heavy EMP attack US ships would shut down and planes would drop out of the sky.
Yes, the USA does have EMP capabilities, in fact the USA is the nation that discovered the EMP capabilities of nuclear weapons detonated miles up in the atmosphere.
Ok enough already. Do a little research on how electricity
works people. A Carrington event would be bad IF it struck the USA. a man made EMP device would disable a city maybe the surrounding areas. But there would have to be hundreds to take out our entire grid. This is a bunch of scare tactics. Think of an explosion. the blast goes up or down.
depending on type of explosive. in a cone shape. Resistance through wires, insulators and miles would reduce the effect
to nothing a few miles from the event. That’s why a nuke is scary. The radiation just keeps circling the globe.
With that note everyone have a safe and merry Christmas.
I believe (please correct me if I am in error?), that The USA MOST CERTAINLY has the ability to cause a great deal of EMPs (anywhere on earth). All any nation needs to do is explode a nice, big warhead about 90 miles over a mass of land. BOOM! One massive EMP with ‘rad’ to boot! I’ve read that China has a satellite “over us” (just in case they may have need for it). I’ve never found confirmation on that one…
Am I wrong? Doesn’t an ‘atomic’ explosion give off the very same wavelengths (+/-)(actually far more) and devastation (electrically) as an ‘EMP’?
a regular Nuke bomb converts a very small amount of its energy into EMF.<1/10 of 1% the majority of the energy is released as heat and light. They are generally of small yield < 1MT. A EMP Weapon is of much larger yield and converts a little more of its energy into EMF. around 1/10 of 1%.
Russia’s S-400 systems are battle-hardened against EMP and jamming technology. They also have satellite tracking capabilities, and an EMP can’t touch that. The U.S. globalists will bite off more than they can swallow.
This is why friends say they won’t prep over a month supplies for bad weather. No use, they say why drag it out since we’ll be dead anyway sooner or later. I have read about emp for years now, and it ain’t going to happen or they would have already done it.
I think that the chance of an EMP is indeed quite low
but a solar flare ???
now that’s another matter entirely
1 in 8 Chance of Catastrophic Solar Megastorm by 2020
h ttp://www.wired.com/2012/02/massive-solar-flare/
1 in 8 chance???
hell
with odds like that
I’d be playing the lottery 24/7
and if you heard that the Carrington event was bad
read up on the Charlegmagne event
something like that will be close to a planet killer for the developed world at least
We have warnings for that as it takes time for the flare to get here.
Ain’t there supposed to be a huge rock passing by us on Christmas day? I read something about that the other day.
ht tp://earthsky.org/space/christmas-eve-asteroid-163899-2003-sd-220
One may wish to remember that “they” have been carefully planning and ‘making concessions’ for decades and decades in preparation for what is about to come to fruition. IMHO I doubt if “they” leave ANY STONE UNTURNED in their quest for domination. If an EMP would not be of much use then why have at least two countries suddenly announced they have a ‘mega-EMP’? Propaganda?
Also, I believe that most any ‘nuke’ brings its own form of an EMP as part of the explosion. Thus, every nation with nukes is capable of creating an EMP (using a sub sitting in say, The Gulf of Mexico, a launch could be made to an altitude of approx. 90miles then boom …life as we know it now ceases to exist, and then steadily declines from that point on …for decades.
I certainly hope you are correct about the usage of EMPs …because the same was one said about the usage of drones (and now they are everywhere doing everything we were told they wouldn’t be allowed to be used for …to include killing you and family).
Equorial
The Germans had a couple of U-Boats in the gulf of Mexico during WW2
Slide a Boomer Sub in the gulf and it can hit any target in the US.
Twenty minutes after the first launch and the whole world changes.
What excites you brave? I thought emp threats, the United Nations invading, Obama refusing to leave office, the government taking your guns and ammo being cut off are all the same as far as whacky things you love to rant about. On that note could you really imagine the government going house to house to confiscate guns? How many shootouts would they have per block and multiply that by the number of blocks in the nation. Wake up old dude and get excited or are you burned out on doom finally?
and what about Wal-Mart????
will they be open???
You never know.
I was in Sherman Oaks Caliornia during the Northridge quake. the entire LA area was blacked out. No power at all. 4 hours after the quake I went to take a walk and look at all the damage. My place was banged up pretty good. Walked up to the business district and low and behold In & Out burger was open for business. The building was wrecked but they had set up in the parking lot and had a line going around the block. Did a rip roaring business for a week until the city showed up and shut them down for no permit. If you didnt have any cash you filled out a voucher and came back later to pay. I was told 95% of the people did come back and pay.
But they had a plan and executed it. Im sure other businesses do too.
and the government’s response during this emergency
was to shut them down ???
not really surprised
there is very little that “government” can do right
IDIOTS
Government at its finest. Im sure that the government now has a rapid deployment force that will make sure that this working without a permit nonsense dosent go on for so long next time.
First responders are very important these days.
Sadly, yes.
Can you just imagine how the non-preppers are going to act when this happens, or if it does happen?
The poor Zombies and Leaches will be lost. Target rich environment.
One EMP and the rest of the world will be TOAST. Large mushroom clouds all over the place. Talk about Global warming!!!
Sgt.
Sgt. How is an emp different than other things we prep for? Or a nuke if that’s what u r saying.
So what has the government/military done recently to protect itself? If we know the danger and the possibility that this can happen why is there no preparation? Anyone trying to survive individually and getting ahead of the situation will probably die anyway by being overwhelmed by the unprepared. The only solution to me would be to relocate to an area less liable to be attacked,either outside the country or an area not affected. Now supposing there are multiple EMPs over lapping each other it may not make a difference. Perhaps find a very rural area with few people and live like a pioneer.
I live in a rural area now. The problem with that is that the locals rarely accept you. You will become their target under some sort of law enacted by them to take from you.
Personally I think you are better off living in a suburb somewhere and digging a nice shelter under your house and have a swimming pool in the back yard for water storage. Keep very quiet and wait for everyone to die.
Ed, I lived in east Simi Valley during the Northridge quake of January 17th, 1994 and I got messed up too.
Also, like you, I now live in a tiny rural town and you’re right about local not accepting you. This is good though in a way because I have nothing to really talk with any of them about anyway. They mostly have low I.Q.’s and barely a High School education. I don’t drink beer either.
Just to let you know that you’re not alone!
I live in a rural area and prep for pioneer lifestyle. Oddly enough, I enjoy that part. Funny things like a manual can opener bought 5 years ago “in case” is all I have now. My whisk replaced my electric mixer, my solar oven replaced my crockpot. My passive solar window heaters replaced propane with electric backup. Berming will add to that. I am not off grid but am sliding in that direction. I am getting where on grid means less to me.
Is there not one person here that has a plan in case of a cyber or EMP attack on the electrical grid?
Sling, Amish could survive. But they will be overrun by idiots that want what they have. The cities will be burnt to the ground. People in the very rural areas will have it rough, but after the first winter it will get better. We will be spending all our time either defending what we have or growing and tending to what we need.
Knowledge won’t be lost. We’ll have power with solar panels and bio generators. There still will be machinery to build parts, move things, or help till soil. There’s a lot of us out here that can show you how to make diesel or ethanol. How to make natural meds (I’ve got the thyroid meds figured out due to family members), farm, list goes on, but everything is possible. It doesn’t have to be all doom and gloom. Spent nuclear fuel melt down may cause some additional issues, but we will survive.
molon labe
W ~ Here’s the thing: no matter how many people will be gone after a year, two years, five years…. there will still be quite a few left who have survived by stealing and killing. Most of them will have grouped up in gangs for the survival advantage.
If one of these gangs becomes aware of your existence, they only have to lurk close by until you (and perhaps others from your household) are outside…. tending crops or livestock, or fetching water, or checking snares… whatever… the bad guys unleash a hail of lead, wiping out most of your family in a split second. Then they storm inside, taking out the kids, the elderly, the ill folks. The bad guys would incur minimal casualties — perhaps even zero casualties. All they have to do is wait and ambush when you are busy with everyday chores.
I can’t think of any way to protect against this indefinitely…. although having geese or peacocks or other large birds around your place could provide at least some measure of early-warning system. Other than this, I dunno. Suggestions, anyone?
I’d imagine there are quite a few that have a plan. I know I do.
It’s been snowing here since early this morning. I’m going to take the cat outside to play in the snow for a while, then I’m going to curl up warm and snug, with some hot coffee and a Tom Clancy novel I haven’t read yet, and thank The Lord for the smallest favors.
Merry Christmas everyone.
BECAUSE I CAN SLEEP WHEN THE WIND BLOWS.
sixpack
Sounds like a wonderful morning.
Merry Christmas.
Merry Christmas Six
I am prepared. well as prepared as i can be. Survival training in the Rockies, hand pump for my well. several faraday cages for walkie talkie/short wave radio and generator.Solar chargers, I can last for a few months until acclimated with the situation. It is a start, I plan for no electricity or communications.
I have a plan.
I have solar. I have windup radios and lanterns. I have computer equipment and hard drives full of information stored properly. I have thousands of books on every subject, plus novels. I have musical instruments. I have games. I have distilling equipment. I have seeds. I have hand tools of every kind. I have nuts, bolts, screws, and other hardware. I have bicycles. I have well drilling equipment. I have notebooks of information I have been printing out from the internet for 20 years. I have many skills.
The list goes on and on.
Yes, I have a plan. The plan is to survive.
Good job. I have information and am practicing my skills and expanding them. Mostly I am all about plants.
Archivist
I have 20 one inch notebooks. Works out to one notebook a year. Have read all the articles and if I thought they were worthy I would copy them. A wealth of information.
Many people have tools to cut wood or plastic. How many of you have the tools to cut metal. Tin snips, files and hacksaws?
It is most difficult to plan for an event that not ONE LIVING BEING has “any clue” about. No EMP tests (of literally “full-size” events have ever been tested, and so “man” truly has nothing but conjecture and supposition and a few scientifically-taken studies about MRE’s (blasts from the sun) to work with.
Thus, nobody here can truly plan for something that nobody has any REAL “hard info” on to warrant them getting though an EMP unscathed. Over and above that, I can honestly state I have taken any and all precautions that I could afford to “try” to lessen damages from such an event in the future. Certainly, it is not the “highest” on my list of concerns …nor is it anyone else’s that hangs out around this speak-easy site.
Sling. I think the entire site is dedicated to prepping and everyone has a plan for if there isn’t electricity fails, water is contaminated, food is scarce, using guns, etc. I guess I am confused by your question. Unless no food, water, electricity etc is harder if there is no electricity. Please explain the difference and enlighten us.
(sarcon) Oh the humanity. The Chinese have a new weapon. They can take over the electric grid, crank up the hz on the grid and use our Christmas lights as antenna for a nationwide EMP attack. It has limited range but there’s Christmas lights everywhere. No city is safe from this. (sarcoff)
Way too much eggnog for me. Have a safe and merry Christmas!
I loved the book: One Second After
yes, it’s a great book!
Pip-Boy and T,
Santa should be bringing me the sequel tomorrow. 🙂
I’m south of Black mountain/Asheville and I had to shake my head several times while reading the orginal. The part were they hired people for food to dig the graves. 🙁
This area has a ton of older diesel heavy equipment that will not be affected by an EMP, the newer joystick controlled stuff, yea probably, because of their circuits. The older stuff like my old Massey will keep on ticking. 😉
Y’all need to understand the components that make up an EMP pulse. The E1 side is what will fry the I-crap stuff.
The E2 is what will take out the long lines (electrical) and the stuff hooked to it, by the induced currents.
Lots of the story is just that, a story. I look forward to starting the new one. It has made me think/look at different things. 🙂
Y’all have a Merry Christmas…
Just remember, the reason for the season.
Excellent book. He now has a sequel out as of September 2015.
Sequel wasn’t so good.
BigB
One year after is also a good read.
Caaaaaall for Super Chicken.
Couldn’t resist Hahahaha!
This is a very old story. But I guess it bears repeating for anyone who’s new to this site.
Everyone will find out the hard way. Including most the people that read SHTF!
Bring it on!
Who cares
I don’t think you and I have EMP to worry about. If you are referring to mainland cities, I agree.
Yea, we most likely will get smoked in one flash when they vaporize Oahu and the DOD SATCOM sites on Haleakala and MaunaKea
I used to work, and hunt on Mauna Kea. There are no DOD SATCOM sites on Mauna Kea, that I’m aware of. The VLBA dish @ 11,000 ft level is part of a civilian observatory spread across the world.
I agree Oahu may get “smoked”. But as the subject is EMP, I think there far better targets on the mainland causing far more damage than screwing up the electrical system for 900,000 people on a little island in the middle of the Pacific. The same weapon used in the Los Angeles basin will kill off 12+ million people.
Have a merry Christmas and pray for peace.
The Sun itself is the most likely source of an EMP.
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/10640850/STALINS_SCIENCE.pdf
And if a foreign power planned to do this, when do you think would be the best time to pull it off?
Well, I would time it in the dead of winter, perhaps when most of the north was in a deep freeze.
It would be over rather quickly for a lot of people!
You will notice Nova Scotia is unaffected, assuming a standard scenario
Just a word to the wise
This is a smokescreen and a distraction: the powers that be won’t permit an EMP because it would interfere with most if not all of their plans to take over our country, something they have already begun to do.
Too many articles on doomsday emp weapons tells me it definitely will not happen.
The political powers that be are in fact powerless against the Creator & Sustainer of every atom, life and planet in the solar system – the pulsar at the core of the Sun. See link posted above to “Stalin’s science.”
Yes, Mr Johnson is correct. If that happens you can bet your ass that 97% of 350,000 people will die the first year from lack of food and services and that the survivors will have left all be city areas. I am sure your all read my previous post..this is extremely serious sh..t..this is now laughing matter.. we as preppers, most of us won’t survive it.. but we preppers in hero’s site, I can bet you asses..that most of us on Here will survive it..
Aka,
HCKS..
“Doomsday EMP Weapon” Could Kill 90% of U.S. Population… And Government Won’t Save You??
The government will kill the remaining 10%…….
My preps are all going low tech instead of high tech. EMI sure, but mainly because I don’t have skills to keep it all running. So little house in the mountains has a garden and rainwater collection but no fancy stuff. If my son and his brotherinlaw are here, it is up to them. One thing about low tech… you are amazingly invisible.
Im going low tech too but mostly because of $ or rather lack of,
All that solar etc is expensive stuff,,
In my current situation the cost to put together a system that would actually make a difference in my electric bill and fill my useage is over 65k and that is assuming good weather, few weeks of bad weather like we had the whole first half of the year and that 65k worth of hardware is pretty much useless and im running a generator or sucking off the grid anyway,
So found it better to live in the here and now and put that money into tools,,,,
I’m on the same page. No tech is better low tech. I grew up w/o most of the gear and am using very little now except this stuff. Our plans are for no electricity. Cheers and Merry Christmas
i always get a kick out of these articles that have an accompanying map with a bullseye over the population center that is kansas.
Face it…if the electrical power system collapses along with other networks (gas grid, communications, finance, supply chain, etc.) the vast majority will be dead as they will close down the cities – no one in or out.
History shows that a siege must be done by an overwhelming army. Whenever the army that was doing the sieging was smaller than the population they were sieging, they were eventually overran by the people they were sieging. When people get desperate they stupid things. stupid things win wars.
But.. My government will take care of that, they always do 🙂
~Sheep
We will be getting up with the chickens and going to bed at dark. It’s how they did it for centuries.
Every prep has been based on the assumption of no power
I sure would miss being able to pop a beer in the freezer, set the timer for 15 minutes, and then pulling that long neck out and treating myself to a really refreshing cold one on a hot, humid, summer day.
stick it in the creek for a bit (tied off of course) lol
I’ve said it before, ‘he who can make ice, without electricity, will be king!’
In the olden days, they cut ice from lakes and stored blocks of it underground in sawdust. About right for pale woman here, low tech enough. Doesn’t get it shipped to the south though. I seem to have given up on ice since I moved to the mountains.
Here in Maine, big crews cut big blocks of ice (200+ lbs) which were then stored in ice-houses… basically huge barns that were heavily insulated with sawdust. Fortunes were made in the mid-to-late 1800s by shipping this ice all over the world; even as far away as Japan. Although insulating with sawdust was about as primitive as you can get, the big stockpiles of ice lasted all through the year, into the following winter. People would go through the doors on a blazing hot August day and it would be freezing cold inside the ice-house.
There is probably a minimum ‘critical mass’ that is required. If you tried to store five hundred pounds of ice, it would melt before Spring was over, no matter how well insulated. Not sure what the minimum would be for a “survival rate” of (for instance) two-thirds of the ice to last ten months or so. If/when I am in better surroundings to start preparing in earnest, I plan to experiment with an ice-house setup.
Sweet. I’ve never seen an ice house. In Texas, I had wistful visions of a basement filled with ice. Here? I want an underground house. Good luck with your ice house plans, let us know.
Yes EMP rins with Abba i thinks
Going back to the 1980’s is no big deal, it would be good or have you not noticed rebots and A.I are starting to take all the jobs and force wages down in other sectors as people retrain.
All the new jobs are for little Hitler’s all working on government and then they spend there time trying to tell us what we can and cannot do.
Bring the EMP on and send the nukes to Israel i say
Months? Try weeks. The vast majority will die from dysentery in a few weeks, and then cholera will take most remaining in a month. That is why this web site is a Godsend and not a joking matter.
Here’s the thing, guys. It would take much more than one centrally-located EMP device to do much. This country and others have been preparing for EMP for decades. Our biggest weakness was the nation-wide telephone system. You see, EMP is most effective against LONG strands of wire. The longer the wire, the more of the electrons are picked up by conduction, and therefore, the greater the voltage. Thirty years ago, an EMP would have created a current in the telephone system that would literally disintegrate your head if you were on the phone when it went off. Small hand-held devices (like cellphones) may not even be effected, as they are too small to absorb much EMP. Unless you are too close to ground-zero, the intensity of the field isn’t going to be strong enough to effect much. In that case, the nuke will kill you instead. Yes, nuclear weapons are strong, but spread over a 1,000-mile area? The field intensity is just too weak. Most of the trans-continental telephone system has been replaced with fiber-optic cable which is not susceptible. The cellphone system (which, IMO, was created to allow communications despite EMP) has been hardened, except for the phones which really don’t need it that much. The parts of the phone system which are susceptible have surge-preventing shutdown devices. Additionally, the land-line phone system currently has what’s known as the “last mile”. Nearly all of the phone system uses fiber-optic cable up until the “last mile”, the wire that actually goes to the customer’s house.
The power grid is far more susceptible to EMP. This system is still composed of miles of metal wire stretched across the country. It’s estimated that a centrally-detonated nuke would generate a pulse of 1 million volts at about 10,000 amps. However, back around the seventies, a device called a “radio valve” was being used to protect against EMP. Many of the Soviet Union’s fighters were using it to harden against EMP. Our government knew of this technology back then. I suspect this or something better is being used now to protect us.
Also, the comment was made on this forum once that transformers that were destroyed by EMP would take months or years to replace because we don’t produce them here in the US. I call BS on that one. A VERY large transformer plant is located here in South Mississippi called Howard Industries. They produce truckloads of transformers every day. I don’t think it would take THAT long to replace them.
Just my two cents.
As far as weapons go, doesn’t the US gov. have the so-called “rod of God”, supposedly used to destroy the explosives warehouse in China?
And what about those captured and repaired ufo’s? With all the money they’ve black ops used over the decades, they should have a hell of a ufo arsenal.
Oh, forgot, osama would use them on us…doh!
Merry Christmas all.
I have always wondered if my aluminum horse trailer
would be a good faraday cage ?
EMP from the sun, begs, which way is the Earth pointing when it hits? The damage is line of sight from the sun.
If it’s a man made EMP expect follow up attacks to take out backup equipment, and stuff stored in Fariday cages. (Ammo boxes are perfect). If it came from the sun it’s a one off, unless a foe tries to take advantage.
Fried transformers, likely many can be rapidly repaired, don’t write the US off so quickly.
Hmmm Starving Marauders from the cities after an EMP? Most of the EBT crowd have never been more than five miles from home. The death rate in their hood is going to be massive, before the last can of beans is eaten. Government may even dynamite or mine bridges and tunnels to contain them. Without working cars people are not going to be that mobile. An armed crowd on foot, yeah by that point smart preppers will have made it very dangerous or fatal to creep around their neighborhoods, and that’s long before you even get close to their houses.
I recommend the SAS survival guide available in book stores.
If you have elderly or young, who can’t work, they need to be on guard duty. Figure out how to turn dead satellite dishes into “Big Ear” listening devices that need no electronics. If you can scan 360 deg and hear someone coming while they are a mile away, you now have taken the element of surprise.
I’m not so worried about an EMP, I’m more worried about an economic crash that I now believe is inevitable, and probably more imminent than an EMP, man made or natural.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Townies as a group get spooked in the country. When the time comes, removing all road signs for a while would be good.
In an EMP or CMA, GPS won’t work and a lot of people neither own nor can many people read maps. Cell systems may be functional, but will be down until power is restored.
I believe a good rule of thumb is, if it can handle a direct lightening strike, then it stands a reasonable chance of surviving an EMP. Cell towers take a lot of direct lightening hits.
Realistically I assume it will all go down. Period. We may be in for a rough ride before then, but I try prepping for passive solar heat, wood cooking from my property, food from my property… and if there is nothing to buy… no need for a pickup. I am a rabbit, low key, except for that Irish red hair.
This is scheduled to occur on September 23, 2015.
For those with high cholesterol. I control my cholesterol without medication by eating one large raw carrot a day. It was at 220 when I was 24. Never gets out of hand anymore.