One thing I don't understand: You build a Faraday cage for your equipment, you get a solar flare that fries everything electronic/electrical for at least 500-1000 miles around you (possibly best-case scenario for EMPs).

So, what good is having your electronics saved, when all the access lines (etc) are dead around you? Am I understanding the scenario correctly? I do understand about having all your info on CDs, for when power eventually comes back (a year or more later), which makes sense. But having the only working computer in a an otherwise 250,000 sq mile dead zone would be some kind of advantage?

Sue