The inevitable repeat of a Carrington Event scale solar storm.

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at the threat posed by the inevitable repeat of a Carrington Event scale solar storm.

FEMA Report: 4 to 10 Years Without Electricity After Major Solar Storm

FEMA Warning: 10 Years Without Electricity After Major Solar Storm (A Perfect Solar Storm Similar to One That Slammed Into Earth In 1859 Would Knock Out The United States Electric Grid.) The article begins:

“A perfect solar storm similar to one that slammed into Earth in 1859 would knock out the United States electric grid for four to 10 years if it hit today, an unpublished report from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) indicates.

The 36-page report was posted this month at GovernmentAttic.org, which uncovers old government documents that often are acquired via Freedom of Information Act requests. The 2010 document was titled, ‘Mitigation strategies for FEMA command, control, and communications during and after a solar superstorm.’

The storm that hit Earth in 1859 was dubbed the Carrington Event and caught telegraph machines – the most advanced technology of the day – on fire.

Predicting what would happen if that type of solar crashed into Earth in the 21^st century, the document says: ‘Significant power grid collapses may occur in North America and elsewhere; could require 4-10 years to fully restore.’

But even a smaller storm, like the one that hit Earth in 1921, would ‘could cause large-scale power grid collapse’ if it hit today.”

Canada’s Mandatory Rifle Buy-Up

Reader D.S.V. spotted this report by CTV: Gun buyback: Here’s how much the feds are proposing to pay for banned firearms. JWR’s Comment: I refuse to parrot the contemptible term “buyback” to describe such craven schemes. A government cannot “buy back” something that it never owned!

Who Is Collecting Data from Your Car?

Peter sent us this informative piece: Who Is Collecting Data from Your Car? An excerpt:

“Today’s cars are akin to smartphones, with apps connected to the internet that collect huge amounts of data, some of which is highly personal.

Most drivers have no idea what data is being transmitted from their vehicles, let alone who exactly is collecting, analyzing, and sharing that data, and with whom. A recent survey of drivers by the Automotive Industries Association of Canada found that only 28 percent of respondents had a clear understanding of the types of data their vehicle produced, and the same percentage said they had a clear understanding of who had access to that data.

Welcome to the world of connected vehicle data, an ecosystem of dozens of businesses you never knew existed.

The Markup has identified 37 companies that are part of the rapidly growing connected vehicle data industry that seeks to monetize such data in an environment with few regulations governing its sale or use.”