Errr we just had a close shave.....
Discussion
Moonhawk said:
Love the headline "Killer solar superstorm could destroy Earth "
Then the article goes on to say
"Scientists warn communication systems will be crippled, vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine will close, and loss of power will plunge the planet into darkness."
So.........not destroy Earth then. It may have a detrimental effect on human technology - but it sounds like 'earth' would be just fine.
It's the same doom and gloom language used in the climate debate - "we are destroying the planet"...........no we arent - we may be making it a little less habitable for us and a few other species - but i'm sure the planet will be fine and will carry on quite happily once we are dead and buried.
If earth can survive the late heavy bombardment and being hit by an object large enough to create the moon from the debris - i'm sure a few Aston martin V8s and the odd solar storm are nothing to worry about (from the earth's perspective).
Take your sensible comments elsewhere pls Then the article goes on to say
"Scientists warn communication systems will be crippled, vital services such as transport, sanitation and medicine will close, and loss of power will plunge the planet into darkness."
So.........not destroy Earth then. It may have a detrimental effect on human technology - but it sounds like 'earth' would be just fine.
It's the same doom and gloom language used in the climate debate - "we are destroying the planet"...........no we arent - we may be making it a little less habitable for us and a few other species - but i'm sure the planet will be fine and will carry on quite happily once we are dead and buried.
If earth can survive the late heavy bombardment and being hit by an object large enough to create the moon from the debris - i'm sure a few Aston martin V8s and the odd solar storm are nothing to worry about (from the earth's perspective).
TX.
petrolsniffer said:
Intresting..
So cotty are you a 'prepper'?
No So cotty are you a 'prepper'?
petrolsniffer said:
All seems to be pointless one way or the other if you're well prepared you'll soon be f
ked over by anyone who wasn't?
Depends how well prepared you are weapons wise. A lot of the US prepers are able to buy guns.ked over by anyone who wasn't? As Cotty has said, this is a real risk because of our dependency on electronics.
It's something that has become more of a risk the more we have advanced. It's one of the reasons why we have satellites orbiting and looking at the sun.
There were calls a few years ago for governments to do more about protecting our infrastructure from a flare or CME. At the moment, unless you have some hardened or protected circuitry, one of these babies could really ruin your day.
Spaceweather.com is a good website with regular updates about sun activity.
It's something that has become more of a risk the more we have advanced. It's one of the reasons why we have satellites orbiting and looking at the sun.
There were calls a few years ago for governments to do more about protecting our infrastructure from a flare or CME. At the moment, unless you have some hardened or protected circuitry, one of these babies could really ruin your day.
Spaceweather.com is a good website with regular updates about sun activity.
funkyrobot said:
As Cotty has said, this is a real risk because of our dependency on electronics.
If you did need to heat water and maybe cook when gas and electricity runs out a Kelly Kettle would be the ticket.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMCR-ie9H_w
It seems that the biggest issue with this is it taking out loads of electricity sub stations which can't be easily replaced hence putting us back into the stone age, however the NatGeo article goes on to say,
It seems that the trick is to be organised enough to shut down the network in the few hours you have before the storm hits. How easy that is I don't know or, in the traditions of Hollywood's finest disaster movies, how easy it is convincing those in power that such a radical course of action is required.
From a personal point of view do I need to build a Farraday cage or is it enough to simple switch off and unplug everything?
Nat Geo article said:
"That gives us [about] 20 hours to determine what actions we need to take," Viereck said.
In a pinch, power companies could protect valuable transformers by taking them offline before the storm strikes. That would produce local blackouts, but they wouldn't last for long."
So it sounds to me that we would indeed lose all the satellites which would be a massive pain but effectively only puts us back maybe 30 years which still isn't great but better than the stone age.In a pinch, power companies could protect valuable transformers by taking them offline before the storm strikes. That would produce local blackouts, but they wouldn't last for long."
It seems that the trick is to be organised enough to shut down the network in the few hours you have before the storm hits. How easy that is I don't know or, in the traditions of Hollywood's finest disaster movies, how easy it is convincing those in power that such a radical course of action is required.
From a personal point of view do I need to build a Farraday cage or is it enough to simple switch off and unplug everything?
http://www.express.co.uk/life-style/science-techno...
the same paper who wrote this headlineThe "end of the world IS nigh: Huge asteroid 'will hit earth in 2032' claim astronomers"
yet two paragraphs down the article.
The space agency said the threat of the asteroid hitting earth was only one in 63,000 and the likelihood of it missing earth is 99.9984 per cent.
Don Yeomans, manager of Nasa’s Near-Earth Object Programme Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "To put it another way, that puts the current probability of no impact in 2032 at about 99.998 per cent.
the same paper who wrote this headlineThe "end of the world IS nigh: Huge asteroid 'will hit earth in 2032' claim astronomers"
yet two paragraphs down the article.
The space agency said the threat of the asteroid hitting earth was only one in 63,000 and the likelihood of it missing earth is 99.9984 per cent.
Don Yeomans, manager of Nasa’s Near-Earth Object Programme Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, said: "To put it another way, that puts the current probability of no impact in 2032 at about 99.998 per cent.
We are due another mega disaster, probably. All sorts of possibilities. Could drive us back to the 1970's and Ford Cortinas.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event
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