Two Weeks Ago - The United States And Possibly The World Narrowly Escaped Solar Flare That Would Of - Polidicks

[QUOTE]The earth barely missed taking a massive solar punch in the teeth two weeks ago, an "electromagnetic pulse" so big that it could have knocked out power, cars and iPhones throughout the United States. Two EMP experts told Secrets that the EMP flashed through earth's typical orbit around the sun about two weeks before the planet got there. "The world escaped an EMP catastrophe," said Henry Cooper, who led strategic arms negotiations with the Soviet Union under President Reagan, and who now heads High Frontier, a group pushing for missile defense. "There had been a near miss about two weeks ago, a Carrington-class coronal mass ejection crossed the orbit of the Earth and basically just missed us," said Peter Vincent Pry, who served on the Congressional EMP Threat Commission from 2001-2008. He was referring to the 1859 EMP named after astronomer Richard Carrington that melted telegraph lines in Europe and North America. "Basically this is a Russian roulette thing," added Pry. "We narrowly escape from a Carrington-class disaster." Pry, Cooper, and former CIA Director James Woolsey have been recently demanding that Washington prepare the nation's electric grid for an EMP, either from the sun or an enemy's nuclear bomb. They want the 2,000-3,000 transformers in the grid protected with a high-tech metal box and spares ready to rebuild the system. Woolsey said knocking out just 20 would shut down electricity to parts of the nation "for a long time." But Washington is giving them the cold shoulder, especially the administration. Woolsey told Secrets that some in Congress are interested in the issue, but the administration is just in the "beginnings" of paying attention. Woolsey said that Air Force One and aircraft used by the Strategic Air Command to control nuclear-tipped missiles are hardened against an EMP. The EMP effect is not rare. One occurred in Canada in 1989, knocking out Quebec's electric transmission system. And North Korea is reportedly testing a device to attack the U.S. with an EMP attack. The trio appeared at an event in Washington this week, but Pry said getting the nation's leaders interested in the issue is difficult and educating the public about EMP hard too. "The education curve isn't going up fast enough," he said. [/QUOTE] [URL]http://washingtonexaminer.com/massive-solar-flare-narrowly-misses-earth-emp-disaster-barely-avoided/article/2533727[/URL]

[quote]knocked out power, cars and iPhones[/quote] good thing i have a non iphone

[quote]an "electromagnetic pulse" so big that it could have knocked out power, cars and iPhones[/quote] Oh god no not the iPhones

Take that sun! Now we can go back to being oblivious and unprepared.

Is it really not possible to predict when these things will happen?

I'm not afraid to say it; the prospect of an EMP event whether from natural or man-made causes frightens me. We've come to a point where our society as is simply cannot function without this infrastructure.

There's a part of me that is eager for a quiet planet wide disaster, (nothing overly violent, just something like mass power outage like this) but also afraid because as said above, we've kind of come to far to safely go back.

That's freaky. Imainge the chaos that'd arise from the isolation.

Is there any data storage or shielding that can withstand such an event? A motherboard is just a motherboard but my drives are obviously where all the sentimental photos, project, etc are hanging out and I'd hate to lose them permanently and unexpectedly

[QUOTE=Maloof?;41668191]Is there any data storage or shielding that can withstand such an event? A motherboard is just a motherboard but my drives are obviously where all the sentimental photos, project, etc are hanging out and I'd hate to lose them permanently and unexpectedly[/QUOTE] afaik laser type disks would be fine

[QUOTE=Maloof?;41668191]Is there any data storage or shielding that can withstand such an event? A motherboard is just a motherboard but my drives are obviously where all the sentimental photos, project, etc are hanging out and I'd hate to lose them permanently and unexpectedly[/QUOTE] Thousands if not hundreds of thousands of computers and other civilian infrastructure as well as military items are fortified to defend against large band EMPS from thermonuclear war, so i'd assume so.

The solution to this; build a faraday cage and keep a backup radio, cell phone, and other essential electronics in it (including a GPS)

[QUOTE=Maloof?;41668191]Is there any data storage or shielding that can withstand such an event? A motherboard is just a motherboard but my drives are obviously where all the sentimental photos, project, etc are hanging out and I'd hate to lose them permanently and unexpectedly[/QUOTE] Apparently Faraday cages are immune to this. I'm not sure what a Faraday cage is but I think wrapping it completely in tinfoil will have the same effect.

I think microwaves have Faraday cages built in them. I could store me phone in one.

[QUOTE=Krinkels;41668251]Apparently Faraday cages are immune to this. I'm not sure what a Faraday cage is but I think wrapping it completely in tinfoil will have the same effect.[/QUOTE] Imagine a cage made out of a chainlink fence. That is literally what some of them are and it works fine AFAIK

[QUOTE=Swebonny;41668190]That's freaky. Imainge the chaos that'd arise from the isolation.[/QUOTE] people would actually have to talk like, you know use words.

[QUOTE=Cows Rule;41668159]There's a part of me that is eager for a quiet planet wide disaster, (nothing overly violent, just something like mass power outage like this) but also afraid because as said above, we've kind of come to far to safely go back.[/QUOTE] Blackouts aren't really minor, especially if it was the entire country. When New York City had a blackout for just one day in 1977, $300 million worth of damage was done from looting and rioting.

[QUOTE=katbug;41668250]The solution to this; build a faraday cage and keep a backup radio, cell phone, and other essential electronics in it (including a GPS)[/QUOTE] If a solar flare happened and knocked out all power would it hit the gps satellites?

[QUOTE=zakedodead;41668381]If a solar flare happened and knocked out all power would it hit the gps satellites?[/QUOTE] And probably cell towers

well at least that's that

Why would this destroy our civilization? No electronics?

I can't imagine what I'd do all day without the internet. I couldn't even complain about it on Facepunch.

The article makes it sound like all that's needed is that they just have to make the transformers EMP-proof to protect it. I thought EMP's pretty much fried any and all electrical circuts? Saving a transformer from getting fried would do little in the end then. Having powerlines protected against EMP isn't going to be very helpful when your cars, devices, simple circuts (such as elevator operation), airplanes, boats, lighting, hospitals, radios, refrigeration, AC, heating, etc are all completely toast too. So the power lines still work but everything that uses that power is dead, and the things that dont use that power are also dead (cars). Having the grid "safe" would do nothing in this case. The world would be in chaos and financially destroyed well before your new un-fried TV arrives to your home thanks to the neighborhood new and un-fried delivery truck (not to mention manufacturing, etc etc etc). In other words, there's absolutely nothing you can do society wise if an EMP hits. It literally going to be the end of the world as you know it, even if the "grid" still works. Most people won't survive. The only thing I can think of that would ever prevent an EMP from wiping out modern society would be to somehow invent circuts that can't be fried, make it cheaper/as cheap as using normal circuts, and have it be out on the market long enough for it to simply be used in everything. Something like this though would have to be invented pretty much now, and would have to slowly start being adopted as a standard for everything in a span of 50 or so years so even the tiny little wires going through a random abandoned building are protected. And you better hope an EMP doesn't strike before then!

[QUOTE=katbug;41668250]The solution to this; build a faraday cage and keep a backup radio, cell phone, and other essential electronics in it (including a GPS)[/QUOTE] Cell phones, because, like, you know, the towers that you use for cell phone communication will still be outputting signals in the event of an EMP causing global power-outage and massive electronic destruction.

[QUOTE=Trogdon;41668436]Why would this destroy our civilization? No electronics?[/QUOTE] Because nobody would be able to post about it on Facebook or Twitter

[quote] And North Korea is reportedly testing a device to attack the U.S. with an EMP attack.[/quote] [B]Home Is Where The War Is[/B]

[QUOTE=Trogdon;41668436]Why would this destroy our civilization? No electronics?[/QUOTE] We depend on them far more than you probably realize.

It would be kinda interesting to see how the world would react if it happened. I'm glad it didn't though.

[QUOTE=draugur;41668450]Cell phones, because, like, you know, the towers that you use for cell phone communication will still be outputting signals in the event of an EMP causing global power-outage and massive electronic destruction.[/QUOTE] In a massive solar event, those would be some of the first things up. And satellites are going all around the world, so GPS would work after a few hours.

If we assume roughly even distribution of satellites around the world and take into account diffraction of the EM wave I reckon we'd probably have a good 30% of our satellites shielded by the bulk of the earth itself