Something else to worry about

Imagine the economic devastation if almost all the electronics on which we depend (phones, computers, cell phones, basic electric service, electronic instruments, automobiles, lights, etc.) were all disabled in a few milliseconds. A single medium yield nuclear device airburst about 300 miles over the center of the U.S. (a ship-borne SCUD ballistic missle from North Korea or other rogue state), or several smaller devices detonated at lower altitudes (by terrorists) would shut us down in much less than the proverbial New York minute.

The president of The Claremont Institute was interveiwed by Bill Bennet this morning on Morning in America. He mentioned the danger of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) to national security. Do you know what EMP is? Take a look at this link for an interesting page with basic explanations.

Those of us who live around busy airports commented on the quietness after 9/11. Try to imagine what it would be like if you didn't hear any cars or trucks, any airplanes, any refrigerator motors or furnace fans, no television or radio, no air-conditioner hum, no motorcyles, well, you get the idea. Few electronic devices or devices which depend on electronics would be of much use. .

Try to imagine the loss of life if we had an EMP event in a cold winter. No heat, no transportation, and little, if any, chance of restoring either for a long time. Not to mention that every traffic light would fail, every plane in the air would crash, and every patient whose life depended on electricity would die.

I don't know about you, but I don't have a source of water that isn't dependent on electricy and six months of food. Expect millions to die of thirst, exposure and starvation. In fact, if you aren't in a position to survive with the technology of rural late 19th-early 20th Century America, you'd be in a world of hurt.

Unthinkable you say? Unrealistically alarmist you think? See this link for a Heritage Foundation paper that references testimony to Congress by The Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. Not a question of if, but when. If someone had told you on 9/10/2001 about the events of the next day, you would have laughed at them. Until the first plane flew into the World Trade Center the next morning.

Just something else to worry about.
GBW

Out of the fog.

I have to admit to having almost no serious thoughts about anything for almost two weeks. A very nasty flu turned into bronchitis turned into pneumonia and the concurrent fevers pretty much shut down the old gray matter. Of course, I'm told by some that a brain scan would be necessary to tell the difference from when I'm well.

Isn't it amazing how small the issues that usually occupy our minds seem when we are ill? Suddenly, budgets, political races, court cases, outrageous comments that would generate immediate praise or condemnation are not even placed on the back burner, but thrown out in the back yard for the duration, if, indeed, we even really hear them. I barely had the gumption (that's a good country word) to check my email every couple of days.

But, like my slowly returning appetite for food, so returns my appetite for news. And with that, a slowly returning desire to say something about whatever piques my interest. I wonder what will be next?
GBW

Pneumonia

Bad to worse. I am ready to be well. My Wonderful Wife, who had pneumonia at Christmas, now has the flu, too.
Well, we have pestilence. Can famine be far behind?
GBW

The Flu, or How to be truly miserable without even trying.

Been down with the Flu.
Will be back when I can hold my head up and type more that two words without being interrupted by coughing spasms.
GBW

Blaster Worm nets inventor 18 months in prison.

And now for a bit of news that's near and dear to me.

The young man responsible for the initial Blaster worm has been sentenced to prison.

The ComputerWorld article says the judge didn't set the maximum sentence of 37 months "partly because of neglectful upbringing and supervision."

Give me a break. He entered a guilty plea. He knew it was wrong. He's going to a country club Federal pen, not out to break big rocks into little rocks.

Oh well. I'm glad she didn't give him a hug and send him home..
GBW