Thursday, November 18, 2010

Recycling a Slinky

Just saw an interesting ad on Patriots Against the NWO for a Slinky Jr. Shortwave antenna.  That ignited my curiosity so I set out to learn more, tying in as it does my earlier post on communications preparedness.  The ad linked to eBay where you can purchase said antenna, asking price $10.19 U.S.  Not a bad price.

A little more research lead me to the forum archives on derkeiler.com with instructions on how to make your own.  If you are technically inclined, a supply of slinkies might be a great survival item to have on hand.  I think I'll just print that out and pop that into my Just in Case binder. 

Are You A Tech-Junkie?

I think most of us are highly dependent on our electronic and electrical gadgets, and it's astonishing how many of the "simplest" devices now have chips in them to control them.  Modern Stronghold has an chilling piece about what the consequences could be if all those chips were taken out, not by an EMP, but a virus.  The virus he's referring to in his piece is stuxnet, and it's designed to be able to hijack the code in the device it has infiltrated, and customized to sabotage or steal code and/or data.

Imagine then, if you will, a world where electricity was no longer readily available because a virus targetted the control systems at all power plants using certain PLC's, or where driving a car that contains a computer is taking your life in your hands because viral code had been introduced during the manufacturing process.  Maybe your air conditioner develops the habit of dropping temperatures to the freezing point and you live in someplace where it can get brutally hot.  Using air conditioning becomes an exercise in extremes, assuming you have electricity to start with.  Sounds like the beginnings of a great sci-fi novel. 

It's a weird world we live in.  Think I'll jump in my computer-controlled car and go to work, where I sit in front of a computer, in a building where access is controlled by a computer...