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1. Double bavk on the NK missile launches because now they say they were successful. That in itself seems squirrelly to me.

2. If/when the smart meter is hacked I believe it can just be removed and replaced. They are designed to do so every few years anyway

   1. And how many new meters are on the shelf? Not a practical way to fix a problem, these things can simply be reprogramed remotely, which brings up the question of what are you going to do without power, they can be shut off remotely, are you ready to go to war with the power company to be compensated for the loss of food, production of work, etc. Most power companies have to allow you to use the old meters but you pay a small cost to have your meter read. Something else to think about when prepping. Better yet have several alternate power sources, “one is none, 2 is 1”

3. Re: North Korea, Nuke / EMP

   I still have suspicions about the two satellites Lil Kim put into orbit last year. Or have those become non-issues?

4. Worry more about the “smart meters” catching on fire and burning your house down(utilities claim they aren’t responsible for damage) or collecting and selling information about you from your energy use patterns. The parents of the “resexed” child should be jailed forchild abuse and mental evaluation and the child placed in a safe environment.

5. Catherine J Frompovich has a long series of articles on smart meters and their problems.
   Very worth while checking out her work.

6. My “smart meter” sends power toward (or receives from) my solar panel system. If the smart meter were hacked, I would simply pull the disconnects and my house become grid-free and runs off the solar system. Or the generators. Or whatever. The return on investment for solar in my area, and my tax bracket, is way way better than bonds and only somewhat inferior to stocks…..a no-brainer.

7. Portable Solar — Great Demo’s! Dispels a lot of myths. So far, I think what I put in my book is still correct. I You CAN protect equipment with reasonable actions. They have done their homework; one hopes their testing waveform is similar to what a nuc attack actually causes….but they probably did better than any of us are likely to do!

   The techniques to protect CONNECTED gear boil down to filtering, gas discharge arrestors ($2 each) and MOV’s (quite slow, suitable only for AC line at best). Electro-static discharge protection is becoming more common; there are significant numbers of commercial systems out there in various fields labeled as EMP-tested.

   I’m sure their product is a fine one. If you have something different, I’d strongly urge you to try and protect with overvoltage devices such as gas discharge tubes / filtering. Filters are made of inductors/capacitors and they aren’t magic, hams and others have used them for decades. Getting electrical engineering advice might guide you to make more effective protection efforts….but do SOMETHING.

8. I’m not sure turning a bunch of horses loose is such a good idea. There are several studies indicating that wild horses have a negative impact on other species at waterholes. In arid areas this could be a serious problem for game and other species.

9. If it’s a state agency hit with ransomware how will they pay? There’s no state payment mechanism to get tax dollars to criminals.You gonna ask Ivan Hacker in West Russostan for his tax ID number?

   I work for the State of Idaho. I asked this question of IT managers and got “duh. Hope it never happens”

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