[vanilla swirl]

read the book “One Second After”

[DCBryan1]

How did we ever get over the thousands of nuclear explosions, many hundred of which were high altitude, from the late 40s until the 80s?! EMP is overhyped, unless it bursts overhead;)

[Turbo Pig]

If you want a good book to read on the matter, read “One Second After”. It’s fiction. The author did get the science right, though as he had the author of the US Army’s manual on EMP Effects assist him; apparently they know each other. He tells a rather plausible tale of what would happen in the US after the fact. It’s an enjoyable action yarn, to boot.

[Nowhere Man]

I think EMP is overrated, the Navy did test cars and trucks made from the mid 1980's to today and although the EMP shut the cars down, almost all the cars will start up again. Some cars/trucks did have some issues where the gauges in the dashboard did not work or were going crazy, but they were still driveable. I'd say your odds of your car starting again will be 90% to 95%. Your transistor radio should still work if the antenna is folded as well. However, I do see where EMP can hurt the power grid, so there goes the ability to pump gas unless you have a generator, a 12 volt pump or a hand pump.

EMP ain't the 800 lbs gorilla they make it out to be, more like a 500 lbs one, although they are right on with the effects to the economy.

[mad_as_he$$]

Geez I am as sick of these threads as I am “I want to buy gun”ones. IT IS WAAY OVERHYPED!!!!

[Hacklehead]

“Regardless, the Heritage EMP report advises swift action now to prevent the threat of EMP attacks.”

We currently prevent EMP attacks by assuring the nuclear destruction of any country that launches one against us.

[RockyMtnMan]

Wouldn’t a massive solar flare while the magnetosphere was weak (say during a polar shift) do pretty much the same thing?

[Le Chien Rouge]

An EMP attack will have us partying like it was 1899!!!

(Over-hyped)

[coon2000]

So repair or replace the broken stuff. But first, use the neutron bomb on the rag head country that did it and use their oil to pay for it all.

[Ditter]

Poor NYC, out of power for one day. Houston was out of power for 2 weeks over most of the city and 3 weeks in some places and we didn't become animals in the dark. At least most of us didn't.

As far as this nuclear attack I pray to God it doesn't happen, those NYers would fan out across the country. (Just kidding ya’ll)

[WXRGina]

It’s funny how so many “know-it-alls” are here hollering “overhyped!!!”

How the hell do any of you know what you’re talking about when you’ve never seen this happen?

[Quix]

THANKS THANKS.

[Quix]

THANKS THANKS.

[montag813]

Can EMP be turned into a focused weapon, such as that may be deployed from a plane, drone or parachute over lower altitude? Or does it require ionization in the lower atmosphere? I have seen “EMP” devices exploded by Hollywood, in “24” (@ “McClennan-Forrester” HQ) and also “Ocean’s Eleven” (takes out Las Vegas’ electric grid for a few minutes). Are those portrayals scientifically accurate or possible?

[bvw]

Overblown chicken-little-ism and outright paranoid fantasy especially in the hysterical retelling of what happened in NYC blackout of 1977.

The George Mason U site hosts a better retelling, see: http://blackout.gmu.edu/events/tl1977.html

What must be recollected is that Harlem and the Bronx in 1977 were in the pits BEFORE the blackout, and that reactions in those neighborhoods were colored by the great urban race riots of the late sixties and early seventies. The social dynamic is not the same today.

Note that the great majority of NYC neighborhoods in the blackout were tranquil and orderly. And that AFTER the blackout the city as a whole was motivated and acted with motivation and effect to improve its situation.

---

I also hold that the impact of EMP is way overestimated. I speak from experience with systems highly exposed to lightning, and other systems where EMP pulses were part of the process.

[Cyber Liberty]

Not even a global humanitarian effort would be enough to keep hundreds of millions of Americans from death by starvation, exposure, or lack of medicine.

So, everybody dies...hysterical anyone?

[freedomlover]

Windoze users will be used to it. Just reinstall (where’s that system disk?), and reboot . . AGAIN