It could still happen with an EMP Electro magnetic Pulse, or extreme solar flare.

I was going to college for MCIS at the time of Y2K. We just told to update flash bios's. It was a Micro Soft problem in only some of it's software. A Bug the lazy programmers did not use the 4 digit year instead of short cutting to 2 digit end year. We knew it was nothing, us geeks, back then.

That was plain english.

EMP takes out ALL electronic and electric signals and batteries, if not protected in some sort of lead or aluminum seal and disconected at the time of pulse.

That's not any English that I understand...lol...

lol, otay.....like this. BIOS contols your hardware for your mother board inside your laptop/desktop/pc.....

You update them with a file that is an *.exe that "flashes", the new update to the that software to control the BIOS and hardware. The System Clock is controlled there, also by the CMOS battery, ya know, CR2032 battery.

ahhhh, geek speak. I can't help it. My bro understands me tho.

Really, there are so many other ways to take down the public internet. It doesn't matter. It can be done. In coordination. And our govt. does have the keys to do it.

You've already seen part of what they can do. The Heartbleed bug and Monster....

yup. We are nothing but slaves in the end.
Chop Suey
B.Y.O.B.

I have a disagreement, to a point.

That was plain english.

EMP takes out ALL electronic and electric signals and batteries, if not protected in some sort of lead or aluminum seal and disconected at the time of pulse.

I'd prefer a Faraday cage made of copper, actually. Lead and aluminum will NOT block EMI/EMP. The lead is great for most radiation, but unless completely enclosed, an EMP will penetrate, as lead is commonly used as a conductor in batteries. It's also quite heavy and difficult to build with. Since the cage needs to be grounded, separately from the rest of the grid/world. It's easier to use rebar (12-20') pounded into the ground/Earth for a true ground and run copper wire to the rebar from the cage. You could easily turn a room in your house into a Faraday cage with supplies from Home Depot for around $200. It will also stop any electronic surveillance short of laser (that reads vibrations in surfaces like mirrors and windows).

No need to "disconnect" with proper usage of an isolation transformer, but that will only protect the power stages, signal stages will suffer the worst, as they were never designed to handle the current load.

Aluminum is completely useless as a dielectric/insulator, and though non-magnetic, it has about 60% the conductivity of copper. And even though it's my favorite material for a heatsink, in my experience, it doesn't handle high current flow (or the heat generated from high amperage) very well.

Though, I am sure someone will use the aluminum for some stylish headwear.

The "event" I previously mentioned, fried most of the telegraph wires in the U.S., fried them. A similar event occurring now, would be devastating to what we call society, on a global scale. Hope y'all know how to start a fire and preserve food. It will be a long, long time to repair the grid and what supplies it.

The current generated from that storm/flare turned really thick, solid copper (not coiled) wire into ash. Over the whole U.S. instantly. Look inside your toaster while it's on for a visual. For those who don't know how electricity is generated, when a magnet passes over a coil of wire, the shift in poles causes a current flow down the wire, in essence AC or alternating current. Like the big generators at Hoover Dam or the alternator under the hood of your car, same technology, just a different scale. Now, imagine the strength of magnetism that caused enough current to flow to fry straight wire over hundreds of miles.