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Post by Bob k6tr on Feb 17, 2011 16:20:23 GMT
I work with FEMA....this is a dialogue they designed for communication in the case of a geomagnetic storm....let me know what you think....read through entire manual (30 pages)
Attachment: FEMA geomagnetic.pdf (294.7 KB)
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Post by sigurdur on Feb 17, 2011 21:11:00 GMT
OK.....I have my bedtime reading set for me tonight it would seem. Thank you.
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Post by Bob k6tr on Feb 17, 2011 23:49:54 GMT
I work with FEMA....this is a dialogue they designed for communication in the case of a geomagnetic storm....let me know what you think....read through entire manual (30 pages) Attachment: FEMA geomagnetic.pdf (294.7 KB) I read through the report quickly with my focus on one item. You touched upon it briefly. That item being Credit Card - Debit Card purchases. I didn't see anything specifically addressing fuel purchases at gasoline stations. Most people are unaware that nearly all filling stations in this country have satellite dishes mounted discretely on top of their awnings. Most people think that when they swipe their card the transaction goes through a telephone line when actually it goes by satellite. If that system goes down for any length of time this country is up a creek. Yes the attendent can override the system but in a matter of 6 hours the system would be swamped. Then factor in that people are driving more and more miles in bigger and bigger cars and the price of gasoline is rising ever higher and higher. Is the system prepared to deal with huge volumes of paper currency ? to my knowledge the only major oil refiner with the capability of doing that on the west coast is Atlantic Richfield. At the peak of Cycle 23 there was a flare that took out the system for a couple of hours. Because it was brief very few people noticed. That was when the price of gasoline ranged between $2.00 and $2.50 a gallon. It's $3.50 a gallon right now in California and will be well over 4 bucks a gallon by Memorial Day. If such a flare knocked the system offline indefinitely on a Friday Afternoon I can easily imagine a weekend run on every ATM machine in this country that would empty them out by Saturday Night. That is just what an already shakey banking system needs to push Humpty Dumpty over the edge. I really don't worry about that stuff because the odds of something like that happen is very low and there is nothing in my power to change the systemic rot that has created such a system. I just live here and will deal with such a calamity when confronted with it. I don't consider the prospect of this country descending from a Modern Industrial Society into Feudalism in a matter of a few days as something exciting but one that is very ominous. I know it's your job to think the unthinkable but to convince yourself that FEMA can deal with such circumstances is not to appreciate the enormity of the forces aligned against it. Even FEMA would be overwhelmed if the world financial system collapsed. That's why Bush, Pelosi and Henry Paulson got on their horses pronto and hustled up that 750 Billion to bail out those banks a few years ago. That's my 2 cents |
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prjct
New Member
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Post by prjct on Feb 18, 2011 2:37:35 GMT
I work with FEMA....this is a dialogue they designed for communication in the case of a geomagnetic storm....let me know what you think....read through entire manual (30 pages) Attachment: FEMA geomagnetic.pdf (294.7 KB) Hi...I'm very new here.....how does one download this document/.pdf? Thanks, |
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Post by sigurdur on Feb 18, 2011 2:40:14 GMT
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Post by ouxly40 on Feb 18, 2011 3:34:16 GMT
Uhh -OHH! I'd better make some more tin foil hats. I think Kevin has hinted that he doesn't own one.......
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bradk
Level 3 Rank
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Post by bradk on Feb 18, 2011 6:18:26 GMT
The takehome here is on page 9, that even the largest known storm caused disruption but most people on the planet never knew it happened....
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djake
New Member
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Post by djake on Feb 19, 2011 13:06:46 GMT
The takehome here is on page 9, that even the largest known storm caused disruption but most people on the planet never knew it happened.... The reason no one knew it happened is bacause it didn't, the description on page 9 is of the exercise module. It was for the workshop scenario for the FEMA exercise. Had all those things happened, we would have known, or at least known something happened, if only cause the power or satillites were out. |
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Post by rangertab1 on Feb 19, 2011 15:04:48 GMT
Well said Bob. You forgot to mention that even if at-the-pump problems got solved, pipelines and their flows are now controlled by automated devices controlled by satellite/wireless communications. Refining, to some degree, is also 'modernizing' towards wireless.
Bottom line, fuel and its infrastructure was, is, and will be the most important element of our initial pain. Followed by food and other life sustaining elements that we all must have to thrive.
One should not ask will a flare create this potential scenario. The question is can we watch the activity of the Sun in a way that gives us a slight signal before the flare lets loose? That is the trillion (s) dollar question.
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bradk
Level 3 Rank
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Post by bradk on Feb 19, 2011 17:46:22 GMT
Sorry about that.
That said, I think people are more amenable to change than we think and quickly we would go back to the old slides and carbons and figure a way out of it. Coupled with the fact that unless this was a huge of the scale event the likelihood of this going on for any long temporal period is low, well, count me not woried.
Should I be?
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