Proposed Biggest Demolition in San Francisco History In My Neighborhood

San Francisco appears to be moving forward with a plan to demolish a large tower built in 1961 as part of the Fairmont Hotel.  The Fairmont's a historic monument in many respects especially since it survived the 1906 earthquake, though barely.  In fact, the Fairmont's construction had just been completed shortly before the earthquake hit.  One would think they would have learned a lesson from back then to wait for another large earthquake prior to building a major structure of that magnitude.

They say the project would be the largest demolition of any building in San Francisco's entire history.  Since I live within two blocks it will undoubtedly cause a tremendous amount of upheaval, noise and construction activity for up to four years.  It will also block transportation and cause significant inconvenience. 

This demolition should be the least of my concerns however since there's a growing industry of fear mongering letting everyone know of the impending dangers up ahead.  Earlier this month scientists warned the sun is currently awakening from a deep slumber of no sunspot activity that could trigger electrically based damages on earth.  That scary story in itself wasn't enough for the Huffington Post however, that thought it was important to go further in exploring the consequences of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) bombs. Here's a blurb from the article which quotes National Geographic.

An EMP bomb, National Geographic explains is, 

"a bomb that's designed to go above the atmosphere and release huge amounts of energy," some of which in the form of gamma rays. Such a weapon would cripple electronics, but not kill people. 

In less than a billionth of a second, the electrical intensity on Earth's surface would become so hot that microchips would fry, power lines would overload and the electric grid would collapse," says National Geographic, describing . "Everything with microelectronics in it would stop: your car, your computer, the subway. There would be no electricity."

I imagine those who would survive the horrifying mass death would ultimately harness electricity from the sun through solar panels. Regardless, we are way behind with any solar based electrical infrastructure to support our electric based culture.  The world would be like the dark ages for probably hundreds of years. 

• Electronic Armageddon: How an EMP Bomb Would Be a Deathblow to Life As We Know It
• Fairmont Hotel Demolition Plan