WSJ: Mother of All Blackouts

Wall Street Journal | 8/12/2004 | Editorial

[vajimbo]

Saturday marks the anniversary of the blackout that shut down much of the Northeast a year ago. Anyone who lived through that power outage remembers the annoyance of life without lights, air conditioning, TVs, computers and all the other electronic equipment on which a modern society depends. Now, imagine a blackout that lasts for months, or years.

[Bikers4Bush]

The lesson here being, buy old appliances, cars, motorcycles etc.

[Travis McGee]

I wonder if the diesel on my sailboat will start? Of course, I could always sail out, in a pinch, on an ebb tide.

[eno_]

True, but this only works within a relatively small (but still pretty impressive) radius. For EMP to have a continental effect, the bomb would have to be both very large (or EMP-enhanced) and the EMP would have to propagate through wires.

Energy declines with the cube root of the radius, so no matter how energetic the bomb, you have a hard time moving even a submicron wire two states away.

Fiber telephone circuits were initially part of hardening the telephone network against EMP.

[eno_]

A high yield thermonuclear explosion is 2,000-20,000 times bigger than than the largest plausible terrorist nuke.

Only Russia or China could even attempt it. And since no civilian casualties are an immediate result, what is the barrier to retaliation in kind? It's not like the Chinese do military logistics on abacuses anymore.

[Poohbah]

A high yield thermonuclear explosion is 2,000-20,000 times bigger than than the largest plausible terrorist nuke.

Only Russia or China could even attempt it.

Have you heard about the present state of security re: the Russian nuclear stockpile?

[eno_]

Well yeah, but you'd think only the real higher-ups get to ebay the H-bombs.

[Poohbah]

Well yeah, but you'd think only the real higher-ups get to ebay the H-bombs.

Osama was personally worth, what, $300,000,000?

[upchuck]

I found the book "Alas Babylon" to be very informative as to how things might go after the electricity dies.

I agree! "Alas Babylon" was written in 1959-1960 or so and some of it is very dated. But much of it still applies today. Author Pat Frank did a masterful job of explaining in painfully realistic words what it will be like.

I'm now reading the book again for the bajillionith time :) Very enjoyable. I highly recommend it:

When the unthinkable nightmare of nuclear holocaust ravaged the United States, it was instant death for tens of millions of people; for survivors, it was a nightmare of hunger, sickness, and brutality. Overnight, a thousand years of civilization were stripped away.

But for one small Florida town, spared against all the odds, the struggle was just beginning, as men and women of all ages and races found the courage to join together and push against the darkness.

Amazon link.

FReeper link :)

[Atlas Sneezed]

The best preparedness book I have read is "Patriots: the Coming Collapse" By James Wesley Rawles. A fast paced novel, but filled with factual and useful information. Rawles is working on a non-fiction "Rawles on Relocation" to be released later this year, with more details on where to live, and setting up a sensible home.

http://www.rawles.to/patriots.htm

For additional info and inspiration I also like:
Farnham's Freehold (Heinlein)
Lucifer's Hammer
Boston on Y2k (Boston T. Party)

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

That was just a power grid blackout. Under an EMP blackout, NO electronic devices would work -- not even the coil on your car. So, generators won't work, alternators won't work, I'm not even sure if batteries would work, but I'd have to check that.

If you live in a city, get a mountain bike and a good pack and fill it with all the survival gear you need. Head to the national parks and forests. They're simply TEEMING with great game and fish!!!! And the rangers and LEOs will have enough on their hands and won't be bothering you out in the wilderness. Actually, I think we should pass a federal law that states that in a state of national or approved state crises, the federal lands can be opened up for use by the citizenry. Shouldn't I be able to go 'live off the land' in the Cascades if Seattle becomes crippled by an EMP? I think so.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Another good source is "The Secure Home" by Joel Skousen:
http://www.joelskousen.com/Secure/secure.html

[usurper]

Has anyone seen Snake Plisken lately.

I heard he was dead.

[mrustow]

The terrorist barge/scud scenerio is highly implausible.

Besides, the whole paranoid scenario sounds very American, and certainly not Islamic. If they had a scud with a nuclear warhead, they'd aim it at New York, not at the stratosphere.

[Yossarian]

spill the beans on the defenses.

---

Sorry, I should have been more clear: I was referring to defensive chip design, not end-user add-on defenses. I have nothing new to add on that front that you haven't already heard - well grounded sheilding plates and/or faraday cages.

[dr_who_2]

If a nuke is exploded above the US much less in the US, the US would retaliate shortly afterwards in a highly disproportionate fashion. So I don't see what China or Russia have to gain from such weapons.

[Dont Mention the War]

This is certainly worth thinking about and preparing for, but the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) works here just as much as it does for nuclear weapons. If Russia or China were to do it to us, we'd turn right around and do it to them.

As for al Qaeda, their chances of getting their hands on a nuclear missile, or being able to rig some sort of major nuclear bomb onto a Scud (a so-called "suitcase nuke" wouldn't cut it) are zero.

[July 4th]

Check this out: indoor wall paint that blocks RF. Only $68/gallon.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1131461946171236/

[diamond6]

scary ping

[diamond6]

Oh I hope you're right. This article really frightens me.

[diamond6]

How would we be able to retaliate if there is no power?