I have something weighing on my mind; it’s probably a rant, so I am going to give fair warning. If you read this site, you may have (if not then I’m not doing a good job of expressing myself) noticed I am a rather conservative Christian. So far warning, if you don’t want to hear my opinion on the current direction of the American culture then don’t click the “read more” link below, and wait a day or so to read my next how to article. Otherwise please enjoy the first of a three part series.
I titled this post as “Judge Not” and I want to make three points. Due to the nature of this article I have decided to break it into three individual posts each covering one point.
I want to describe what my interpretation of the Biblical concept, “Judge not or you too will be judged”.
I would like to discuss my interpretation for the progressive term “Tolerance”
I want to make the point why I believe progressives are so angry with conservative beliefs, as well as why they are so enamored with mainstreaming deviant lifestyles.
First off, let me tell you, I know that I screw up, and do some pretty stupid things. I like to think that I try to do what’s right, but on occasion laziness wins out. I am no moral authority, and on judgment day there are going to be several actions that I have done in the past I will be ashamed to be reminded of.
However, I know I do not have to be perfect because Jesus made the choice to take the consequences of my actions by dying for me to clean me of my sin. Because of the gratitude I have for this I do my best to follow the rules he set down for me so as not to be disrespectful of the gift.
The scripture ““Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Speaks to me in a way that says “Hey stupid, you screw up enough on your own to go around and point out other people’s faults – just shut up and work on yourself”…
There are several things believe to be wrong, but I try to keep my mouth shut about them because its not my place to be the judge. Anything you do that only has consequences for yourself and other consenting adults I shut my mouth about. Recently this leaves images of homosexuality, but that’s just one action that I personally fell is wrong, but that I don’t speak to people about. I also mean recreational drug use – PERSONALLY I feel it’s a refuge of the weak minded, but I think you should be able to grow, smoke, snort whatever you want as long as you can afford it, and know you’re legally responsible for your actions while high.
If you choose to buy a Harley instead of health insurance, and ride it without a helmet, I won’t say a word, because its not my place to do so.
So here it is, I believe, based upon my own study, that the “or you too will be judged” doesn’t mean by other people – or based upon your own sins. I believe that means you’re working outside your “paygrade” and insulting Jesus by trying to do something that only He has earned the right to do.
To put it in perspective take a day and go sit in a courtroom, listen to a case, and right as the judge is about to pronounce his judgment blurt out your opinion. I bet you the point will be illustrated by an apoplectic judge and a very firm bailiff.
Though some people do not want to think about it, disasters may occur no matter what. It is vital for parents to ensure that each member of the family is ready for a disaster. What should a parent do to prepare a child for unfortunate situations? The information below 3 Ways to Prepare Children for Disasters may help.
Encourage Memorization
In order to prepare a child for a disaster, it is necessary for a parent to teach a child personal information. If the child separates from the family during a disaster, he or she should carry the knowledge of the location of his or her home. The child should also know his or her name. It may not be easy to teach this information; however, that does not make the information less valuable or critical. The parent may wish to quiz the child on a frequent basis.
Understand the Signs
It is vital for a child to understand the signs of a disaster. It may not be possible for a parent to reach the child; therefore, the child should be aware of the signs of a dangerous situation. When the child understands, it is easier for the child to get away from fires, floods, and other disasters. The child should carry a cell phone; if a phone call is necessary, a loved one may be reached. If the home is unsafe, it is indispensable for the child to have a designated second shelter. A neighbor’s house or a church may suffice.
Teach Camping Techniques
It is not enough for a child to learn the signs of a disastrous situation; if a parent wishes to prepare a child for an emergency, camping techniques are crucial. A child should understand the steps necessary for assembling a tent. This does not have to be a dull lesson; the parent may wish to wait for a camping trip in order to add an element of adventure. If the family cannot go on a camping trip, the parent may wish to enlist a child in a summer camp program. Summer camp allows a child to learn critical survival techniques and interact with people of different backgrounds.
People do not like to think about disasters. Disasters lead to dangerous and deadly situations; this makes it an unattractive subject. However, a family should understand the steps that are necessary for these situations. If the family has children, the children should be aware of what to do in order to survive. The parent may wish to help the child memorize the physical address of the family. It is also beneficial for the child to know how to tackle basic camping strategies. When a child is aware of what to do, a disaster is less likely to push a family apart.
Today I have a guest Post from Nancy Parker on Preparing for Disaster with Your Child
There are many different kinds of disaster sand they are always out of the human’s control. As an adult you know how to prepare and what to do during a disaster, but what about the children? Some adults neglect to teach their child what to do base on the fact it could ‘never happen’ to them. Before it’s too late, here are ways to help you prepare your child for a disaster:
It is always good to keep your child informed of possible and potential disasters. Now this doesn’t mean that you educate them to the point where they live in fear but that they understand the potential disaster. When teaching them about disasters, keep the conversation upbeat and positive by stating that there is a solution to the disaster. Keep the conversations short, allow for questions and answer honestly.
Always be prepared, that is the best advice for a disaster. Get the supplies that you need to help yourself during a disaster. For example if it’s preparing for bad weather gather the tools you need like candles, emergency radios, food and water. Teach your child what is needed in certain disasters so that they know what is available for them, if ever needed.
Plan:
You should always have an emergency plan for you and your child for any dangerous situation. Teach them the first they should do for different disasters. Write out a simple and easy least that they can read. Typically that emergency plan should start with listen to an adult’s advice and/or call 911.
Practice:
Once you have purchased the correct safety tools and figured out the right plan, practice. Practicing with your child what to do during a disaster will help them if the time comes. Explain during the practice the procedures that they need to take and why. Practice this emergency plan every few months.
Reaction:
The most important advice that regency officials can give people during a disaster is to remain calm. Teach your child to remain calm during emergencies. You can do this by leading by example, if you remain calm you child is more likely to remain calm. Disasters have the potential to be worse if there is fear and panic to cause confusion and difficulty.
Disasters can’t be avoided but they can be lessened the more you are prepared and ready for one. Teaching your child this will help you and them in any future events. Remember above anything else, remain calm and work with them on the emergency plan.
I feel we covered the theory of EMP in the last article, so now I want to link to some videos of the Homemade Faraday Cages experiments I have done trying to find the best system for protection of my personal equipment.
Like I said in the previous article, you hear a lot of internet commando ideas on Faraday cages, but you rarely see anyone actually test the cages they talk about. I did not build a EMP generator for obvious reasons, so I had to find a reasonable alternative.
For the tests I used a cell phone and a FMRS/GMRS handle talkie. Cellphones operate in the 850/900/1800/1900 MHz ranges at about .75 to 1 watt, a FRS/GMRS is around the 463 Mhz range at about 5 watts.
Neither of these are within the test ranges of the 1962 HEMP tests of 1 KHz to 100 MHz but they are within the range of later tests that show EMP ranges from 200 MHz – 5GHz and may be as high as 30-billion watts (depending on type, and distance from source).
I am not trying to protect my cellphone. In a post EMP area, a cell phone would be useless (unless you have steel wool). If my cage cannot shield against cell phone transmission, then it is worthless against the much higher EMP.
I am NOT trying to protect the phone. I am seeing if the cage can block the signal TO the phone
Please view the videos below to see some of the cage designs I tested. Personally I don’t rely on any of them, and just keep a few redundant items in them to make life easier.
I feel that in the event of a man made EMP attack, the few things I can store won’t balance with use verses cost, so I spend my resources on items to work around electrical dependence.
Besides the FEMA guidance I mentioned in the earlier article, you may want to visit this document: http://ids.nic.in/jces/ART-3.htm
A common question asked by new preppers is “what is EMP?”
Electromagnetic pulse protection can be a contentious subject among preppers. In my experience there are two dominant views on Faraday cages. Which camp you belong to depends on if you are a ham radio operator or not. I base my ideas on the training I received when I worked as a radiological emergency response planner. Additionally much of my information comes from the FEMA document CPG 2-17.
CPG 2-17 volume I explains the science behind electromagnetic pulse. It also discusses the protection needed to mitigate this threat. Volume II and III of the CPG series deal with the construction of protection devices. They also show the reader how they can harden structures against Electromagnetic Pulses. Unfortunately, FEMA has discontinued the series. This makes the books a “holy grail” of EMP documents. They are extremely hard to find. Personally I only have been able to acquire volume one. Which means this article deals only with the theory behind EMP.
What Exactly is an Electromagnetic Pulse
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. Typically we think of EMP as coming from a nuclear explosion or from the sun. However, nuclear blasts and solar ejections are not the only situations where you can get an EMP. Several types of high energy explosions as well as suddenly fluctuating magnetic fields. can produce a burst of electromagnetic energy.
What you need to realize that EMP is Electromagnetic Radiation. As as such a EMP fits in the electromagnetic spectrum. The electomagnetic spectrum spans the entire range of all possible frequencies of radiation. Light, heat, sound, radio waves, electricity, and radiation all fit on this spectrum. The EM spectrum is organized by frequency, with the lower frequencies to the left and the higher on the right.
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. Hertz (Hz) is the unit of measurement for frequency. 1 Hz means the cycle repeats once a second. If a light flashes at 1 HZ then it will flash 60 times a minute.
Not only is the spectrum organized by increasing frequency, increasing frequency corresponds with decreasing wavelength.
Wavelength is a measure of the distance between repetitions of a shape feature such as peaks, valleys, or zero-crossings (zero crossings is where the wave crosses the center-line of the wave or 0 on the X axis)
Basically the more repetitions you cram into a span of time the smaller distance you can travel. I can make ten little hops a minute easier than I can make ten standing long jumps in a minute. The distance between when my feet leave the ground to where they land is wavelength, how many I do in a span of time is frequency.
Electromagnetic Pulses Often come from a Nuclear Detonation
Like I said above, we tend to think of EMP coming from nuclear detonation. As a military weapon, this works best if the nuclear warhead is detonated hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface. This is called a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) device. Effects of a HEMP device depend on a very large number of factors, including the altitude of the detonation, energy yield, gamma ray output, interactions with the Earth’s magnetic field, and electromagnetic shielding of targets.
So lets talk a second about the mechanisms of injury that we get from EMP. What do the pulses do to destroy the electrical grid and your electronic devices.
How an EMP Destroys Electronics
EMP works through induction – just like a transformer. When the electromagnetic energy passes by a conductor it induces the electrons inside the conductor to move – INDUCING electricity. It works just like the wall wart you use to charge your cell phone. The electricity coming from your wall at 115volt is run into an electromagnet this electromagnetism then induces current in a coil of wire next to the magnet – the electricity from that coil is a lower voltage and allows you to charge your cell phone.
The longer the conductor the more power is induced by a pulse. Power transmission lines, large antennas, metal pipelines all will have induced electricity. Anything connected to those items could have a large surge of electricity in the event of a EMP.
This surge of electricity can cause problems by melting tiny wires in the electronics, large enough surges can overwhelm insulators and turn them into conductors (melting them in the process). It can also exceed a diode’s breakdown voltage. This is the voltage required to reverse electrical flow in a one way diode – basically ending its life as a diode. If this happens the circuit will not work
Just because something does not plug into grid power does not mean it is immune to EMP – while equipment may not receive those strong induced currents, the tiny wires inside of microcircuits do not take as much current to melt so they can receive enough induced current through its internal circuits if the EMP is strong enough.
There are Different Types of EMP
With EMP there is some confusion – not only does it come from multiple events, it comes in several different variations.
This causes certain individuals to lump things that protect against one form of EMP and believe it protects against all types of EMP.
The International Electrotechnical Commission has categorized EMP into three types.
E1
The E1 pulse is the fastest form of nuclear EMP. It is extremely brief but very intense electromagnetic field that can quickly induce very high voltages in electrical conductors. E1 causes most of its damage by causing electrical breakdown voltages to be exceeded. E1 is the component that can destroy computers and communications equipment and it changes too quickly for ordinary lightning protectors to provide effective protection against it. Lightning has a building effect where the pulse takes a few milliseconds to build and protection circuits can detect it and shut down. E1 is almost instantaneous and moves through the circuits before they can detect. Like how you slow down after the cop has you on radar…
The E1 component is produced when gamma radiation from the nuclear detonation knocks electrons out of the atoms in the upper atmosphere (Compton effect).
E2
The E2 component is generated by the neutrons released by nuclear weapons. This E2 component is an “intermediate time” pulse that, by the IEC definition, lasts from about 1 microsecond to 1 second after the beginning of the electromagnetic pulse. The E2 component of the pulse has many similarities to the electromagnetic pulses produced by lightning. It has a lot of similarities to a lightning strike. Because of the widespread use of lightning protection technology, the E2 pulse is generally considered to be the easiest to protect against.
E1 will damage or destroy most lightning protection equipment, which means the later coming E2 will bypass those protections.
E3
Type E3 is different from both E1 and E2. The E3 is a very slow pulse, lasting tens to hundreds of seconds.
What happens is that after a HEMP, the earth’s magnetic field thrown out of balance by the EMP, and the molten iron core of the earth that creates our magnetic field restores itself. This causes additional induction. This is the most similar to geomagnetic storms caused by a very severe CME.
This is most likely to cause induced currents in long electrical conductors, which can then damage components such as power line transformers.
Because of the similarity between solar-induced geomagnetic storms and nuclear E3, it has become common to refer to solar-induced geomagnetic storms as “solar EMP.” At ground level, however, “solar EMP” is not known to produce an E1 or E2 component.
How to Protect Against an Electromagnetic Pulse
The best way to protect against EMP is through the use of Faraday cages to shield against the pulse. While we will talk about and show some cages in a later post the are theoretically simple.
A Faraday cage is a conductor (either solid or a mesh smaller than the height of the electromagnetic wave. This cage completely encapsulates your device. It also has an insulator inside to keep the protected items from touching the cage.
Just like a rock on the beach causing waves to flow around it, EMP hits the cage and the energy is directed around your electronics rather than through it.
Some believe this cage needs to be made out of ferrous materials, but all that is needed is that the cage is a conductor, as any conductor can make an electromagnet.
Some also believe you need to ground your cage. Personally I disagree and feel the grounding wire will act as an antenna. However, it is possible for a conductor and an insulator to turn into a capacitor, and some believe a grounding rod will prevent this.
Real World EMP Tactical Consideration
My biggest fear when it comes to Faraday cages is that any enemy that uses a HEMP against us will know some of us will have items that are protected, and will detonate a second EMP at some point (week – 10 days, a month) after the initial attack to destroy our redundant systems just like an earthquakes aftershock. This coupled with the idea that Faraday cages only protect against items that are not in use and stored properly leads me to spend time in building capability in the non-electric realm rather than spend all my resources building redundant cages stocked with redundant gear. Our civilization developed without electronics. As useful as modern electronics are, I can live without them. Being independent of grid electricity and consumer electronics is the base of my EMP plan.
