The Arizona Senate voted Thursday to approve a bill aimed at one of the pet obsessions of preppers and Obama conspiracy theorists. The proposal would require the Department of Emergency and Military Affairs to develop and issue recommendations for how to survive if an electromagnetic pulse hits Arizona or the entire United States, theoretically sending the country into a dark age.
Actually, as Dok points out, the measure is sort of at worst harmless (except to Arizona's tinfoil-haberdashery score). Some people may have voted for it just to get rid of it.
Bitcoin makes sense. Because if an EMP takes out our power grid and fries all out computers, you can always go on line to trade Bitcoind. Oh, wait.....
Preparing for EMP is not an inherently wacko idea. Problem is, what can you as an individual do? You can keep battery powered radios in a metal locker. Are you going to wrap your computer in tinfoil when it's not in use? And EMP looks very much like the sort of thing where "Those that talk don't know, and those that know don't talk." Seriously, how much protection does a metal-sided house offer? Will your local fire department trucks still run if they're housed in a metal-sided building? How about a stucco home with metal mesh in the stucco? Or a recently re-sided house with foil-faced insulation? How hard would it be to retrofit a modern car to pre-electronic operation? The real problem, from what I've read, will be repairing or replacing electric transformers. That would probably be something sensible for Arizona to spend a little money on. That and hardening facilities.
Quick note from the Bundyland Amusement Park here in southern Utah: "The man on the Watchtower" is total fundie Mormon terminology, and EXACTLY what the psychotic polygamist Kingston clan in Salt Lake calls their 'prophets.' So Rep. Don Shooter is clearly influenced by, and promoting, these classic fundie ravings - and inserting them into the national debate as legitimate security concerns. Readers from other states should be aware of just how much of this Bundy-ite "Constitutional" rhetoric stems from Mormon theology, and the 1830s/40s pseudo-constitutional rantings of LDS prophet, founder, and con man Joseph Smith, who wanted to found his own Kingdom of Deseret over Northern Arizona, Nevada, southern Idaho, Utah, and southern California. Both Cliven and Ammon Bundy think that God speaks through them. And this is not unusual for family 'patriarchs' in large Mo families. They're all prophets. Beware.
When a Russian fighter pilot defected to the west back in the 80s, the tech wizards who took the aircraft apart chuckled when they found vacuum tubes in the electronics systems: all ours were solid state. But the real joke was that vacuum-tube electronics are better able to resist high-energy electromagnetic pulse attacks or incidental explosions during the projected wargasm.
Shortly thereafter, computer rooms in all our nuclear command posts, including Site "R" and Cheyenne Mountain, got copper HEMP shielding around their door jambs.
EMP weapons are real. The idea that our government would use them against us is, like the idea that Grover Norquist is an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood, Frank-Gaffney-excreted nonsense.
Aliens*, eh? I wonder if that was a metaphor for something. __________________________________ * They prefer to be called undocumented interplanetary visitors.
Arizona looks like the setting for <i>A Boy and His Dog.</i>
&quot;Help&quot; is coming from where again?
Hmmm.
Actually, as Dok points out, the measure is sort of at worst harmless (except to Arizona&#039;s tinfoil-haberdashery score). Some people may have voted for it just to get rid of it.
Bitcoin makes sense. Because if an EMP takes out our power grid and fries all out computers, you can always go on line to trade Bitcoind. Oh, wait.....
Preparing for EMP is not an inherently wacko idea. Problem is, what can you as an individual do? You can keep battery powered radios in a metal locker. Are you going to wrap your computer in tinfoil when it's not in use? And EMP looks very much like the sort of thing where "Those that talk don't know, and those that know don't talk." Seriously, how much protection does a metal-sided house offer? Will your local fire department trucks still run if they're housed in a metal-sided building? How about a stucco home with metal mesh in the stucco? Or a recently re-sided house with foil-faced insulation? How hard would it be to retrofit a modern car to pre-electronic operation? The real problem, from what I've read, will be repairing or replacing electric transformers. That would probably be something sensible for Arizona to spend a little money on. That and hardening facilities.
Quick note from the Bundyland Amusement Park here in southern Utah: "The man on the Watchtower" is total fundie Mormon terminology, and EXACTLY what the psychotic polygamist Kingston clan in Salt Lake calls their 'prophets.' So Rep. Don Shooter is clearly influenced by, and promoting, these classic fundie ravings - and inserting them into the national debate as legitimate security concerns. Readers from other states should be aware of just how much of this Bundy-ite "Constitutional" rhetoric stems from Mormon theology, and the 1830s/40s pseudo-constitutional rantings of LDS prophet, founder, and con man Joseph Smith, who wanted to found his own Kingdom of Deseret over Northern Arizona, Nevada, southern Idaho, Utah, and southern California. Both Cliven and Ammon Bundy think that God speaks through them. And this is not unusual for family 'patriarchs' in large Mo families. They're all prophets. Beware.
He doesn&#039;t need EMPs to do that. His Antitax Pulse is perfectly effective.
When a Russian fighter pilot defected to the west back in the 80s, the tech wizards who took the aircraft apart chuckled when they found vacuum tubes in the electronics systems: all ours were solid state. But the real joke was that vacuum-tube electronics are better able to resist high-energy electromagnetic pulse attacks or incidental explosions during the projected wargasm.
Shortly thereafter, computer rooms in all our nuclear command posts, including Site &quot;R&quot; and Cheyenne Mountain, got copper HEMP shielding around their door jambs.
EMP weapons are real. The idea that our government would use them against us is, like the idea that Grover Norquist is an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood, Frank-Gaffney-excreted nonsense.
Farnsworth?
Good news, everyone!
Plus your speakers will sound like crap.
Isn&#039;t this the same guy that owns, I dunno, something like 9 doomsday devices? Seems suspicious...
&quot;God puts a watchman on the tower for times like these.&rdquo;
So why do we have to worry about it?
Aliens*, eh? I wonder if that was a metaphor for something. __________________________________ * They prefer to be called undocumented interplanetary visitors.
Arizona Legislature: needs more merit based pay.
Because you have to post first and <strike>research</strike> Google later, some of my &quot;facts&quot; were a bit off... <a href="https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Viktor_Belenko" target="_blank">" rel="nofollow noopener" title="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viktor_Belenko">https://en.wikipedia.org/wi...