One thing I wonder about is if major events were taking place throughout the country would the people caught up know stuff was happening in other areas? I mean, if power/communications are down and they are just struggling to survive their situation they may not have access to information about the rest of the country. Hmm, kind of like the situation in the TV show Jericho.

This leads me to wonder about the effectiveness of a crystal radio set. Would they be affected by EMP? Does anyone have any feedback on the how well they work in general (tuning, clarity, etc...)

-Blast

When I was a kid we had crystal Rocket Radios, so named because they were shaped like a rocket ship. You slid the nose cone in and out to tune it, it had a little ear piece to listen with. I lived in a little town 70 miles or so from the nearest radio station, AM, and used to listen to the World Series on it, plus other things of course. I don't recall if we picked up stations farther away. Not a Bose, but it worked. For those of you that are handy with that kind of thing, here are instructions on how to make one.

As far as EMP goes, I suspect it would have more effect on the transmitters than receivers. If the transmitter is down, you aren't gonna hear anything, no matter what radio you have...

EMP mostly effects transistor based circuits, tubes much less so, and short of being in the blast, crystals should be OK.

They would be if not protected depending on your antena. Just about any electronic device can be protected from an EMP burst (in theory) by placing them in a faraday cage.

OK. I stand corrected. Damn shame what happened in Houston. No good deed goes unpunished I guess.

Where there are refugees, there is strife. It's worse if they are welcomed. Hong Kong with the boatpeople in the 70s. Jordan with the Palestinians in the 60s. Heck, America overall with the Irish during the potato famine.

Refugees, welcome as long they don't put down roots, are like us, and they make us feel better about the lousy stuff we do. Once the reality sets in for everyone, things change. All this has happened before, and it all will happen again.

We have some desert rat friends who live in Barstow, CA. A load of Katrinaites were moved into town, and within a couple of months they had trashed the apartment complex they were moved into...

I guess I didn't get my point across. When I wrote that absorbing the refugees was RELATIVELY painless (as opposed to Darfur or the Balkans a few years ago), I think what I was trying to illustrate is that there is a certain level of destruction where the outlying areas can absorb the extra bodies that need shelter. If the disaster, or series of disasters, is of such a magnatude that there is just not enough infrastucture to absorb (shelter) the displaced, that is when civil order is going to start breaking down.

Having said that, waiting for "the gubmit to help me" is just a code phrase that translates to, "I'm a dead man".

By the way, As a resident of Lousy-anna, I apologize for "dumping" some many of our "blessings" on the other 49 states. Especially to Houston, I'm sorry, we didn't crap on you intentionally.

No, we don't want them back, sorry!

Mayor Nagin is doing everything he can to keep the "Katrina People" from coming back to N'awlins. He doesn't want them back either.