This report was originally published by Joshua Krause at ReadyNutrition.com
In December of 2015, 230,000 people in Western Ukraine lost power after 30 substations were mysteriously shut off. Contrary to what most people assumed at the time, this wasn’t an innocuous power outage. The authorities would later admit that the loss of power was caused by a cyber attack, which marked the first time that malware was successfully used to attack a power grid. A similar, albeit more sophisticated cyber attack, occurred one year later just outside of Kiev. Given the current tensions between Russia and Ukraine, it’s widely believed that the Russian government was responsible for these incidents.
However, there’s more to this story than meets the eye. A computer security company has been investigating these attacks, and has discovered the malware that was used to take down the grid. They’ve found that it’s far more dangerous and easier to use than anyone realized before.
The danger of the malware is that it can automatically trip the breakers within a power system that keep the electrical lines from being overloaded. If one breaker is tripped, the load is shipped to another portion of the power grid. If enough are tripped, in the right places, it’s possible to create a cascading effect that will eventually overload the entire system, said Weatherford, who was formerly the chief security officer at the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, the regulatory authority for North American utilities.
“In some cases, it could then take days to restart all the plants,” he said.
Two things stand out about the malware, dubbed “Industroyer” by the researchers — it’s an order of magnitude easier to use than previous programs and it wasn’t actually deployed to do any real damage, meaning whoever’s behind the December attack might simply have been testing the waters.
In other words, this malware can induce what’s often referred to as a cascading failure. This is what caused the massive blackout that occurred in the Northeastern US and Canada back in 2003. An overgrown tree branch in Ohio touched a power line, which caused that section of the grid to overload and shut down. The electricity had to be transferred to other power lines, which in turn also became overloaded. This chain reaction continued until 55 million people were without power.
Cascading failure is the perfect example of just how fragile our power grid can be. Because our grid is so interconnected, something really small can have a huge effect on the wider system. Though the power grid in the US isn’t as vulnerable to humble tree branches as it used to be, it’s still quite vulnerable to the type of malware that was used to shut down parts of the grid in Ukraine.
Industrial control networks of the type used in power systems use communications protocols that are much less secure than the kinds of computer networks used by banks, retailers and businesses.
“They were developed years ago, without security in mind. They weren’t designed for smart grids or interconnectedness,” said Robert Lipovsky, a senior malware researcher with ESET…
…Industroyer’s ease-of-use is so disturbing because industrial systems are still playing security catch-up, said Raheem Beyah at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta.
“I knew we were going in this direction but I didn’t think it would be this soon,” said Beyah, who teaches a course on infrastructure hacking and protection for graduate computer science students.
Bayah says the software needed to take down an electrical grid no longer requires the resources of a nation to create. Adding a module to the malware is now “something that a strong computer science graduate student could do,” he said.
This “Industroyer” malware represents a new threat that people need to accept and prepare for. The power grid, which is the linchpin of our standard of living, is now vulnerable to software that is relatively easy to use. Though it seems likely that the Russian government was responsible for developing it, it could have just as easily been made and deployed by non-state actors on a shoe string budget.
This is a dangerous new reality that we live in. Now, someone with a modest education and a small budget can inflict billions of dollars in damages, and leave us all in the dark. Obviously, that makes widespread blackouts far more likely in the future.
And that potential is probably just the tip of the iceberg. It’s very possible that multiple cyber-attacks could keep us in the dark for weeks rather than just days. That would be more than long enough to cause society to disintegrate.
Fortunately, you’re not helpless in the face of this threat. You can prepare yourself now before it’s too late.
This article was originally published by Joshua Krause at Tess Pennington’s Ready Nutrition Website.
Joshua Krause was born and raised in the Bay Area. He is a writer and researcher focused on principles of self-sufficiency and liberty at Ready Nutrition. You can follow Joshua’s work at our Facebook page.
Tess Pennington is the author of The Prepper’s Blueprint, a comprehensive guide that uses real-life scenarios to help you prepare for any disaster. Because a crisis rarely stops with a triggering event the aftermath can spiral, having the capacity to cripple our normal ways of life. The well-rounded, multi-layered approach outlined in the Blueprint helps you make sense of a wide array of preparedness concepts through easily digestible action items and supply lists.
Tess is also the author of the highly rated Prepper’s Cookbook, which helps you to create a plan for stocking, organizing and maintaining a proper emergency food supply and includes over 300 recipes for nutritious, delicious, life-saving meals.
Visit her web site at ReadyNutrition.com for an extensive compilation of free information on preparedness, homesteading, and healthy living.
Additional Resources:
Are You ready Series: Rolling Blackouts
Could the Latest Solar Storm Warnings Bring an End to Civilization as We Know It?
Multiple backups will be required for long-term outages. Diesel and gas generators with stored, treated fuel. Off-grid solar systems built as powerfully as can be afforded. Inverters can also be hooked to your vehicles battery turning your car into a generator. Bunch of drop cords. Propane generators. Wood heaters and stoves are a must also with plenty of wood. In the end, the fuel will run out, the batteries will fail and the other components will wear out. Just keep chopping wood!
Menzoberranzan, great post!
When I did a test run, on using my Rocket Stove, I went out into the woods to gather fuel and discovered that I didn’t have the right tools. Consequently, I used the foot stomping method and hurt my ankle. Something I would not want to do in an emergency.
People might want to check out this video by City Prepper concerning processing wood. I found it helpful and will order a “Bow Saw” next month. See Below.
Check out Japanese hand saws. They are lightweight and cut when you pull rather than when you push. There are some that are made to cut timber. Advantages? Cut on the pull stroke, lightweight, ease of use.
When I was stationed in Germany I took riding lessons at a local stable. We would ride through the local forest on various riding trails. I rode horses through those woods, also ran through them, walked, and rode a bicycle. The thing that stood out about that woods was how clean it was. Very little fallen wood laying about. The older people would go through there and clean the place up after any storms. It was amazing to see these old folks with sleds or wagons full of various types of wood. I didn’t understand it at the time but I do now. They were getting various sized types of wood and stacking it up. Smart!
30 Things You Should Do To Prepare For The Imminent Economic Collapse & Stock Market CRASH! Which could also bring the Grid Down. Watch this video. The Grid down can crash the economy. Nothing electronic will work, No EBT cards, Visa, MC,. Debit cards, nothing.
What are you going to do and prepare for this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNlnlxV2Vkg
Good basic video to wake people up. The thing that woke me up was Hurricane Katrina. I have been a prepper since that time. I have been a financial prepper since 2009. (Minimal debt, owner of PMs, cash, other tangible assets.)
Cash on hand: after the bail-in of Cyprus, and the financial collapse of Greece, I keep cash on hand and not at the bank.
Silver is the bargain of the century. Buy as much as you can afford.
Good footwear and socks: amen! Not just for men. Women need them too. Not just at home, in your car, too. Anyone that lives on the west coast (from Alaska to the tip of South America, lives in an earthquake zone and must have good footwear on hand at all times. Period).
3 minutes without air, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food.
Huge fan of pellet guns. See: www dot squirrelhunter dot com
Lights out: a head lantern is critical. Absolutely!
Without toilet paper: I would start ripping up sheets and start two buckets: one for dirty rags and another for clean.
Sewing kit: I grew up sewing: goes without saying.
The government has only one goal: to protect itself. It doesn’t give a fuck about you or me. Period.
I expect some family members to come banging on the door when SHTF. Few listened when I tried to warn them. Will they be welcome? No.
Survival is a state of mind. You either have it or not.
“The Petya Ransomware Cyberattack has hit the world’s largest shipping company, Merck, European banks and industries, and Chernobyl Nuclear Plant.
And according to the person who helped shut down the WannaCry Attack, there is no kill switch.”
“an improved and more lethal version of WannaCry.”
“Chernobyl Nuclear Plant has lost computerized monitoring of radiation and has had to switch to manual controls.”
“one company hit hard by the attack is the largest shipping container company in the world, AP Moller-Maersk. The company has said that every branch of its operation has been affected. Should the company not be able to recover quickly, the supplies that are already in the water will still be headed our way, but we could face a long delay for other supplies.”
“The ones I’m the most concerned about are the shipping companies. If America’s “just-in-time” system of supplies is disrupted, we could begin to see shortages fairly quickly. This could happen within a month, since there are cargo ships apparently 17 days from port right now. After those land, who knows when more ships will be coming?
We have stopped being a nation of producers and have become a nation of consumers. We have become dependent on other countries for everything, people often forget that it can all disappear so quickly.”
ht tp://www.theorganicprepper.ca/petya-ransomware-cyberattack-06272017
Direct link…
http://www.theorganicprepper.ca/petya-ransomware-cyberattack-06272017
Even for simple outages lasting a a few days, a Walls Tent Stove will come in handy for those without fire places. Small and portable, most will have racks for drying clothes and meats, including flat surfaces for cooking. Invest in a few cast iron pots and pans, you’ll need them.
Buy a 90 deg elbow from the local hardware store and run the pipe out an open window. Place the unit 4 feet from the wall, or shield the wall with cinder block/brick. Cover the floor/carpet with brick.
Never leave it unattended. Someone will have to watch it at night and in the dead cold, add wood as needed to keep it burning.
Amazing things happen when the entire family is forced to stay together, near the fire. Conversations and playing board games will do wonders to pass the time.
Chopping wood is a great therapy for relieving stress and keeping fit.
Solar is the cheapest it has ever been in history. .26 to ,50 a watt. Ebay has some great deals on pallets of solar panels. Shipping for 1 panel is about the same as shipping 20 panels.
Red Leader, how can you tell someone who uses solar power?
Answer: Tell them you still use 60 watt light bulbs!
My point is, that even a very small/simple solar setup can provide infinite lighting during an emergency. It can also power a notebook/laptop computer. My notebook uses only 6 Watts of power, compared to my fan that draws over 50 Watts.
That allows me to watch all my digitized movies and TV shows during the Apocalypse. While everyone else is dying of boredom, I’ll be watching re-runs of Gilligan’s Island. Hey, that Mary Ann is a major cutie!
Solar panels will fail after the first pelting they get from a big hail storm, just give up because we are all doomed?
Cover them with Lexan, or rotate them to vertical whenever a bad storm approaches.
Any good prepper would have extra panels in storage.
We live off the grid full time. I just bought 20, 300 watt panels for $110.00 each, .37 a watt. I am taking down the 20 year old panels and replacing them. In addition to having panels that face south I am building a rack to have some facing east and west too. After a long winter night, I want to be charging the batteries as soon as the sun comes up over the mountains. We have all the appliances that we had in our grid tie house. It is a good feeling to be disconnected and making your own power. If the grid went down, the only way I would know it is if the cell phones and wireless internet was not working. Than it is the Ham radio station for entertainment.
ht tp://www.driveonwood.com/library/fema-gasifier/
Something useful from FEMA. Wood gas works. Full plans and directions in PDF.
It will become too much work to survive a cold winter, we are all gonna die?
Opening breakers remotely? Sure. Destroying equipment in masse by the same method? No. Interlocks / protective relays are hard wired.
How to harvest and process firewood
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWFDJlG1bWQ
Wow, a video on how to split wood! Damn! I grew up gathering, stacking, and splitting wood for the wood stove which heated our trailer. It was cheaper than propane. My sister was terrified of the axe so guess which job I got? Yep. Splitting. She would put the split pieces into a wagon and carry it to where it would be stacked.
Did we wear eye protection? No. Shit we didn’t even wear gloves. Nice to see the city boys learning a few things!
Philosopher Deplorabilis, I have truly become an indoor dog. But this old dog is willing to learn some new tricks.
I was using a good hand pruner and it wore my hand out. Consequently, I’m considering getting that “Cindy Lopper” tool (Fiskars 32 Inch PowerGear2 Lopper) he was using, since most of the wood I gather will be used in my Rocket Stove.
“Shit we didn’t even wear gloves,” man my hands are so soft I get blisters using a knife and fork, so I better use multiple pairs.
At the end of the video he demonstrates how to use a hatchet to make kindling. I didn’t know that!
Every person in your group should have at least 5 good sets of leather gloves, shoes and boots.
You will wear holes in the gloves fingers and your boots will blow a sole. Count on it. I went through 5 pairs of leather gloves in a year and a half. Cutting wood, putting up fencing, clearing brush, etc,.. Get lots of good hiking Sox, underwear, long johns, fleece for winter. Buy all the clothes you will need for the next 5 years now.
Candles for lighting, its a life saver. 5 Ways to cook food, quick and fast. Have some Mt house and MRE’s on hand, stack a few cases back. When you are on the go, you wont have time to waste, stopping and cooking something. That’s where an MRE comes in handy, eat the entre’ right out of the pouch as you are moving. Use the heater later to heat up your big chocolate chip cookie and your powdered malt drink you add water to. I would eat MRE’s while out on day trips biking or hiking. Fast and easy. And it may be a few months, you are moving and no time to stop, before you can set up a real cooking station and prep area.
I always keep two kerosene lanterns on hand and fill them with purified lamp oil (low smoke).
They have nice wide wicks and are about 15 inches tall. They are glass with chimneys. I think they are safer than candles as you don’t have to worry about wax dripping and the amount of light is excellent. Enough to cook by or get around at night without an issue.
I have a stash of MREs. Thing is, they are horrible. There isn’t enough fiber either. I now view them as something to trade.
I also always keep one of those single propane burners (camping style) that you an screw onto one of those mini propane cans that you can buy for camping. Easy to use and you can boil water in a few minutes. I wouldn’t sell my stainless steel percolator for anything! Went through about three of them until I found one that was PERFECT! You can make coffee, boil water, make ramen, make bullion, heck that is one heck of a tool!
My new fav food preps are canned soups: split pea and lentil (great fiber and protein and fast), dehydrated potatoes, dried beans, evaporated milk. What was old is new again. Think out of the box.
Philosopher Deplorabilis, a stainless steel percolator is at the very TOP of my list to purchase next month! I don’t know how I can call myself a prepper and not have already gotten one.
I hate to say this but I forgot where I bought it from. I am thinking I bought it from REI or Camping World or Deluthe Trading Company. Dang it! I would have posted the model!
The reason it is the best? It doesn’t have a wood handle: entire body is SS and it has a hangar (so you can hang it from a tripod over a fire). This thing is my go to when the power goes out in my area. Easy to use and a multi tasker!
This is the little beauty I’m looking to get. Farberware Classic Stainless Steel Yosemite 8-Cup Coffee Percolator
h ttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005NCWQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
Don’t forget a couple dozen pairs of socks in storage too.
Dead pine cones and the sticks they are on make the best fire starters ever.
It was a good video and that is an easy, and safe, way to make kindling!
I hear ya. My hands are soft these days too. I like either the bow saw or a Japanese hand saw (large toothed for timber) as both are light weight.
The best pro tip from the video? Go on Craig’s list and find a local wood lot to either pick up wood or have it delivered! Some folks make their living doing that full time. (Hard job, hard on the body too). If you an afford it nothing wrong with hiring the local specialist.
Just had the landscaping crew clean up my back yard. They are pros. I am the worst landscaper in the world. What they did in 45 minutes was nothing short of miraculous. Not even joking!
I have used the Fiskars lopper for years. It’s a good tool.
Heck every time theres a thunderstorm or strong wind the power goes out here. Its something we are used to. If it goes off and never comes back on again Its not the end of our world. We will cope and do just fine. Now the power going off during the extreme heat or extreme cold that will hasten the 90% die off.
Better store up lots of Gasoline, 30 to 50 Gallons, to run chain saws to cut wood for winter heat. Got your wood stove installed by this fall? Or keep depending on the grid. Then freeze to death. I saw a frozen guy, who tried to hide in a snow storm, he crawled into a car, then it snowed and the windows were covered. Nobody knew he was in there. Had booth his hands and feet amputated, they were all frozen. His name was Willy so we called him Chilly Willy.
I don’t care about winter that much anymore, since I live in FL. lol Heck getting cold out down here, is a good excuse to fire up a bon fire and drink beer with the neighbors. A couple of weeks of some random below freezing temps at night, then by Feb, its spring break again.
But you folks up North who depend on the Grid for house heat. What’s your backup plan? Gas – Propane, Is your 500 Gal Tank filled?
Does anyone know approximately when the Hardware Stores will start stocking wood pellets?
The only way to get them now is with a delivery company and there are large minimum order sizes.
Pellets??? you will still need electricity to run your stove, either 120v or 12vdc for your auger and blower, unless you have a gravity feed system that is in production now for a lot of$$$.
Im all the way north. some people around me are off grid and that includes propane delivery. we heat and cook with wood. we can generate electricity with wood. we can run a car or tractor with wood also, and without a boiler. cold and remote is good…keeps the gimmedats away.
I work in power generation. I also have friends in transmission. It can be done. Both the folks wanting it done and those who want to prevent it know how. You can believe whatever you like, but it’s the truth.
Sigproshooter
Power generation guy here too. 60MW, 30MW GTG , 30MW Steam Turbines, million lb/hr steam load, three decades in the field, retired as an operations supervisor with a Gold Seal Engineers License.
Opening up breakers / relays are one thing, damaging equipment quite another. An EMP, lighting strike or solar storm can and will destroy. Hacking won’t as the protective relays and interlocks are hard wired. We went through a lot of looking with Y2K.
When the grid is finally taken out (by cyber, EMP, solar, etc…), and not if, but when, it won’t take long for widespread panic to set in. In a normal blackout, the victims usually know the outage is temporary, via news, radio, etc…)….98% of the time, is less than a few hours. With a catastrophic failure of the entire grid, there will be NO comfort in knowing it is temporary. There will be no news reports, radio broadcasts, television reception, and no help on the way….nothing. Complete silence and blackness. As hours turn to days, with still no news, society will unravel quickly. First responders, police, and emergency services (including county, state, & federal) will be too busy caring for their own families to worry about showing up for work. Gangs of hungry, psychotic, & desperate humans turned into rabid animals will stalk the streets and neighborhoods for food, water, & shelter. A truly apocalyptic nightmare will envelope the entire country. This is how it ends….”not with a bang, but a whimper”.!!!!
“If it goes off and never comes back on again Its not the end of our world.”
Most surly it is. Industrial manufacturing, energy (oil refining and distribution), food processing, medicine and medical care, the list is endless. The availability and affordability of cost effective energy put the modern in the modern world.
A couple of years post electricity and common infections from a cut can be lethal. The life expectancy in 1900 was 47 years.
Maybe the end of your and a lot of other peoples world. But not ours. We never had electric power until 1962. We still can return to that way of living. Of course the grid failure will likely bring about the percieved 90% die off. A great culling is needed anyway. So what if life expectancy is shorter? It comes down to genetics and survival of the fittest.
Old Guy
You don’t live in a vacuum. You had electric power before 1962. The food you bought, the medical care you received, anything you purchased. You buy ammo pre 1962, a gun pre 1962? All were made complements of electricity. You lived off the benefits of others having electricity.
“So what if life expectancy is shorter? It comes down to genetics and survival of the fittest.”
GTFOOH you a Klingon?
Ever heard of penicillin? Invent it and manufacture it without electricity. A small infection now really treatable killed those with the strongest genes.
Your out of your damn mind.
That life expectancy was calculated by including all the children who died young. If you take those out, the life expectancy was more like 60s or so. Conversely, if they counted all the dead babies now (regular and birth abortions), our life expectancy would only be in the 60s.
My first ancestor who came to America from the Old World back in the 1700s lived past 90. My grandfather lived past 90. I expect to do the same.
You should look at old cemeteries tombstones. A lot more people died young. Appendix …your dead, abscessed tooth, often dead. Physicians were witch doctors in the 1800s.
What will be will be. Great in the winter I’ll get to go to bed early and sleep late!!! LOL
I have done what I can and so be it.
Sgt.
I recently had a Ph.D. in computer science friend visit from Europe – a long time friend. He was in to attend a cyber protection conference in the US. While of course I didn’t ask details, nor could he tell me, I’m sure, I did ask some high level questions.
Long story short, he stated that he felt everything had been hacked; however, the types doing this had no interest in bringing the system down, as they simply wanted MONEY, and to live in a world that has benefits that technology brings.
Question is, what if (more like WHEN) types that have no interest in money want to bring the system down? What about when Iranian nutcases decide to bring back the 12th imam? What about when N. Korea sees their state is going down, and decide the pull the whole world in after themselves into oblivion? What about the Unibomber (Ted Kacyzinski) types (BTW, he was a confirmed leftist – not that the lamestream media would tell you that) decide to become a James Bond villain?
In sum, preparedness is a good thing. We can hope that nothing happens, but hope is no excuse for poor planning and risk management. Unfortunately, I can’t move to my remote property in Nova Scotia at this point in time – but I can make sure that I have engaged in as much self reliance as I can. That used to be the American (and Canadian, British, Swedish, etc.) way. Thoreau even wrote a book on the topic. Time to get back to our roots.
There is no going back to a “simpler life” for civilization as a whole. Here and there, may survive and may even thrive for a time.
We have climbed the ladder of civilization with success. BUT, for each rung climbed, the one below was kicked out. You can see the evidence of that with posters discussing how to make kindling or split wood. Skills that were everyday habits a generation ago.
The old ways are gone. Thirty, thirty five years ago, there was no internet. Now there is constant talk of cyber attacks and grids going down.
Nowadays, trade could not exist without “connectivity”. It is why, when a supply chain breaks, the whole system will fail. Complexity creates vulnerability.
Billions of unfunded liabilities will be liquidated in the coming collapse. Try not to be one of them.
Reminds me of the lullaby ‘Rock-a by baby’!
Have a few L.E.D. flashlights on your person, in your car, in your rooms at all times, and have one small enough to wear on you with a lanyard.
Consider also purchasing the Luci Lantern, the WakaWaka Power, and others. Have a solar panel to recharge rechargeable batteries.
Stock up on batteries for your flashlights but if you have rechargeable lights recharged through a solar panel that would be ideal. Lithium AA and AAA batteries will always work in the cold weather whereas alkaline batteries will not.
NEBO’s lights are very good as well, especially their Little Lucy, their Little Larry, their “Poppy” Lantern/Light, and others (www.nebotools.com).
A great site for evaluating flashlights is http://www.candlepowerforums.com
I am “expecting” an EMP or a Solar Flare or the evildoers hacking our Power Grid, hence the necessity to have flashlights and flashlight-like devices around at all times. Of course, I pray and hope otherwise.
Lastly, remember that JESUS is the Light of the World so stay in HIS Light 24/7!
– the Lone Ranger
Store the LED lights in a Faraday cage, or a nuclear EMP will burn them up.
Stock extra because they do eventually burn out or otherwise fail.
The traffic lights here were mostly converted to LED, and a lot of them have individual elements that no longer work. The traffic lights that they didn’t convert yet, because the bulbs hadn’t burnt out, are still going strong after a few years. So the regular bulbs are outlasting some of the LEDs.
I have seen nonworking elements in the tail lights of commercial vehicles around here.
Did this article run already, or are they all starting to look the same. Maybe I read it somewhere else.
So, if the Grid goes down, invest in Pampers and Formula. It is a sure thing. When the lights go out, the birthrate spikes.
__
Here’s a secret. Rip the elastic off Pampers and they become great absorbant dressings for large wounds. Adult diapers work the same.
And yes, I’m stocked up.
Re: The Petya Ransomware Cyberattack
The ransom was $300 in Bitcoins to restore data or lose it entirely.
“The aim of the latest attack appears to be disruption rather than ransom, said Brian Lord, former deputy director of intelligence and cyber operations at Britain’s GCHQ and now managing director at private security firm PGI Cyber.”
“My sense is this starts to look like a state operating through a proxy … as a kind of experiment to see what happens,” Brian Lord told Reuters on Wednesday.
ht tp://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-attack-idUSKBN19I1TD?il=0
Direct link…
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-cyber-attack-idUSKBN19I1TD?il=0
When you have flies there is an inexpensive solution. Put screens on all the windows and doors to prevent them from entering. Buy a good flyswatter. The plastic ones are better than nothing, but they break easily, and the holes are big. Buy or make an all wire flyswatter. Be sure the mesh is woven with only very tiny holes. Hang it somewhere you can easily find. Flys sleep at night making it easier to kill them. Finally this method works quite well on flies, especially little meat flies and fruit flies.
Get a discarded plastic container from yogurt or whatever. The ones with see thru tops. Put a small hole in the middle of the top (large enough for the fly to enter). Put something into the container that attracts flies. The fly enters but is too dumb to figure out how to exit (unless the hole is too small to enter, or so large he can get out. Make the hole just big enough for the fly to get in.)
When the plastic is full, use masking tape to cover the hole. Tape the covers edges down with the masking tape. Then discard in the trash. It is not required to use tape but it helps to keep them inside. It may take a day or two for all the flys to enter the trap. If they don’t go into the trap, you used the wrong bait; fruit for fruit flies, meat for meat flies, dirty toilet paper for horse flies.
When the grid is down, dealing with insects could be a challenge. Rodents, too. To catch mice buy the glue pads for rats. The mice ones from the grocery store are too weak to hold them. Cats catch mice and keep them from being a problem. In the fields there are field mice. You need cats to keep them from multiplying. Get some oil of peppermint. Put it on cotton balls and place in room corners. Mice are allergic. Peppermint helps to keep them away. Grow it in pots.
__ Get these things in place so if the grid goes down, you are already prepared.
__
We used to have a couple of cats who would catch flies. They would eat them like candy.
Kevin 2, miso and all things controlling transmission demands and therefore generation matching it are controlled with the internet. Control boards are linked also, but you know that. Cascading effects on a peak demand timeframe will cause it. We both know it. The grid will sag and ramp up or the opposite can cause the damage. Or ask the one nuke plant they currently acknowledge is infected with malware how secure their systems are. It’s about bitcoin today, next time who knows.