Here we see the horse being used to power most activities,
transportation, industry, agriculture, and occasionally food. Speaking of food,
in 1776, most of what is consumed is grown locally and distributed in the local
market square in town. Water, that essential commodity for life, is usually
drawn from a well by hand. The news comes from newspapers printed by hand, and
communications take place in person or by a carrier on horseback.
Hop back in the time machine and travel to September 1,
1859. The industrial age brought many advances to our lifestyles. Natural gas
lights the homes and streets, steam powered trains transport goods and people
to and from far away places, giant steam powered machines turn out
mass-produced items from wood and metal, food comes from places we have never
been to, and water is pumped by steam engines to faucets inside our homes.
Electricity has made communication much faster and over longer distances by
using the telegraph.
On this particular date, an amazing phenomenon takes place.
The night sky is filled with a glow of red, purple, and green that seems to
dance among the stars. The Aurora Borealis is seen at all ends of the earth.
Suddenly telegraphs throw sparks, some operators are electrocuted, telegraph
wires and metal pipes emit “lightening”, and power supplies explode.
You have just witnessed the power of an Electro Magnetic
Pulse (EMP) created naturally by massive coronal ejections from the sun – i.e.
sunspots – aimed at earth. The effect happens when X-rays and Gamma rays strike
oxygen atoms in our stratosphere. Most of the time, the solar rays are
deflected by the earth’s magnetic field. Sometimes a small amount gets through
and creates the beautiful Aurora Borealis seen in the far northern areas. On
rare occasions, huge solar flares produce enough energy to overwhelm our magnetic
field and an EMP is generated that is large enough to completely fry electrical
and electronic devices.
The next time stop is the atomic age. As nuclear tests
profierated, scientists observed some unexpected phenomena. In 1958, nuclear
tests in the Pacific caused streetlights to fail hundreds of miles away in
Hawaii, and disruption of radio signals happened in Australia. They determined
the effect to be that of an Electro Magnetic Pulse generated by gamma rays from
the atomic blast striking the stratosphere.
The discovery sparked research into weaponizing EMP.
Let’s bring our time machine back to today. Both Russia and
the United States are known to have EMP weapons. They are considered humane
because they won’t cause death directly, while disabling enemy activities that
rely on electronic devices. There are nuclear EMP weapons and non-nuclear EMP
weapons. The non-nuclear EMP weapons produce a focused small to medium sized
(about city wide) EMP. The high-altitude nuclear EMP devices can affect a much wider
range, perhaps enough to cause widespread electrical damage to an entire
country.
When we leave the time machine, we see people everywhere
with cell phones communicating not just with other people but also with
computers that produce all sorts of information, both useful and entertaining.
At home, we have devices that bring us televised shows and
video communications with each other. The comprehensive information on
everything in the world is stored as data electronically on computers. The
Internet is, by now, so common that we take its presence for granted. The
vehicles we use for transporting goods and ourselves all rely on computers and
other electronic devices to make them run.
Electricity powers all but very few of the things we need to
survive in this day and age – the gas pump, refrigerator, freezer, air
conditioning, heating, water pumps, and industrial machines. Cars, trucks
airplanes, and trains all rely on electronic devices to make them go.
One good EMP attack would take all of that away from us and
leave us in conditions not seen since the 18th century. People would
starve or die of thirst. There would be no transportation of any kind. Chaos
would rule.
Are you ready for this scenario? Consider this: North Korea,
ruled by what no one would believe is a stable dictator, has the atomic bomb.
It’s a fact. According to Peter Vincent Pry, a member of the former Commission
to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse Attack
(2001-2008), North Korea tested an EMP bomb last year by exploding a nuclear
satellite over the South Pole.
Just recently, Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, commander of
U.S. Forces Korea, told reporters at the Pentagon that North Korea has
succeeded in miniaturizing nuclear devices. While a miniature nuke is useful in
a number of applications, its small size and light weight would make it ideal
for an EMP bomb in a satellite.
Are you prepared for this? Is the US prepared for this?
Congress has been warned. The reaction of most of our politicians has been to
poo-poo the idea as a sci-fi dooms-day, Armageddon scare.
Well, folks, the threat is real. If our government
can’t/won’t protect us from Ebola, what do you suppose they are planning for
EMP bombs? And no, a tinfoil suit and foil on your windows won’t save you
either.
