Solar Cycle Sparks Doomsday Buzz

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
Joined
May 9, 2000
Messages
75,399
All of you conspiracy theorists out there, prepare to don your tin foil hats and listen up. The sky is falling, well not really. Concerns about the potential for an unprecedented assault from space were stoked last week by a report in London's Telegraph, warning that a super storm could cause "catastrophic consequencies for the world's health, emergency services and national security unless precautions are taken." Wait, the sky might fall after all.


Amid all the hype about a 2012 Maya apocalypse, there's been increasing talk about the potential for a solar superstorm on the scale of 1859's "Carrington event," which shorted out telegraph wires, sparked fires and set off auroral displays as far south as Cuba. The fear is that the damage would be more severe in this world of GPS navigation, satellite communications and mobile devices. "It will disrupt communication devices such as satellites and car navigation, air travel, the banking system, our computers, everything that is electronic,"
Click to expand...
 
watch out that tinfoil hat might focus the EMP....

cant let my nexus one die....no GPS how will I know how to even get out of my computer chair??
 
It looks like we're going to need more tin foil....brb



In all seriousness though, a major solar storm could really screw up a lot of stuff. If you think about the things we take for granted everyday now (cell phones, gps, computers, t.v., even electricity), basically everything we use is going to be in some big trouble.

As for 2012 or whatever, clearly a massive solar storm is going to cause a massive power surge at CERN. The aforementioned surge will cause the particle accelerator to form a world-swallowing black hole....
 
On a serious note (for real), how could I prepare/protect my computer, laptop, and small-equipment from this? :? Would tinfoil really be enough or would that be too weak? D:
 
Cerulean said:
On a serious note (for real), how could I prepare/protect my computer, laptop, and small-equipment from this? :? Would tinfoil really be enough or would that be too weak? D:
Click to expand...

Easy, the same way you protect from any kind of unwanted radiation, lead shielding.

Now is the time to build yourself that bomb shelter with a lead lining to protect all your gadgets.
 
Lead shielding my apartment? I think not.

If you can't lead shield the entire internet, the whole think will likely fail. Why go on if I can't APB? /weep
 
I'll just line my walls with Walmart toys that are made in China, plenty of lead in that paint.
 
Just don't buy a motorcycle battery from them, cause there is no lead in those babies.
 
I really think man-made global warming caused the sun's problems. Oh crap, I think my tin foil hat is on too tight.
 
Cerulean said:
On a serious note (for real), how could I prepare/protect my computer, laptop, and small-equipment from this? :? Would tinfoil really be enough or would that be too weak? D:
Click to expand...

Faraday sheilding is what all the cool crazies use! Its like cages of wire! google it!
 
Cerulean said:
On a serious note (for real), how could I prepare/protect my computer, laptop, and small-equipment from this? :? Would tinfoil really be enough or would that be too weak? D:
Click to expand...

The best (and simplist) thing would probably just turn everything off for the duration this will happen.

I watched an old show about nuclear bombs, and they said the Russians still use tube electronics for their nuclear launch systems, not because they are stingy bastards, but because the tubes are much more resistent to EMP radiation like in the case if we detonated an upper atmosphere nuke to wipe out electronics.
 
I just put copper mesh around my whole house and grounded it, and it's a horrible idea. Now I can't use my cellphone in my house. I had to install an antenna on my roof for TV. Even my neighbors' are complaining that they can't steal my wifi anymore. What to do!?!?
 
hl3395 said:
I just put copper mesh around my whole house and grounded it, and it's a horrible idea. Now I can't use my cellphone in my house. I had to install an antenna on my roof for TV. Even my neighbors' are complaining that they can't steal my wifi anymore. What to do!?!?
Click to expand...

That wont help if its the interwebs, because the fibre optic is under your house, and they send the death sginals. Better get your shovel. Or go on usenet!
 
I watched an old show about nuclear bombs, and they said the Russians still use tube electronics for their nuclear launch systems, not because they are stingy bastards, but because the tubes are much more resistent to EMP radiation like in the case if we detonated an upper atmosphere nuke to wipe out electronics.
Click to expand...
Hmm, but nowadays with billions of fake money dollars, the government could build a super infrastructure plated with a foot of rebarred concrete, an inch of solid steel, a foot of rebarred concrete, an inch of solid aluminum, a foot of rebarred concrete, an inch of solid lead, a foot of rebarred concrete, an inch of solid steel, and finally another foot of rebarred concrete. And within the rebarred concrete, some Faraday caging via fine mesh of conductive metals ... every other 6 inches. :p
 
The sun really needs to wake up first before it tosses anything really big our way. Not saying we can't get any large CMEs, but the chances are greatly limited with a weakened cycle like 24 is turning out to be.
 
Funny,these doomsday predictors don't mention that solar activity has been very mild for years. Nature has a way of making these egotistical so called scientists look like fools time and time again.
 
the electrical grid and anything that uses long runs of wire or rely on satellites are much more sensitive to EM damage than the gadgets themselves.
 
Thiere already is a 5 page forum discussion about this from 12 days ago.. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1526095

I don’t mean to panic anyone but…we are all GOING TO DIE!!
Click to expand...

This is the 3rd time I have mentioned this in probably the last 3 days.. you [H] news guys are recycling stories at an alarming rate.. more often than Steve makes "SkyNet.. we are all GOING TO DIE" references!! Find some original things to post and keep track of what is already been posted on here!!

Just curious if there are any other doomsdays prophecies or ancient predictions for after 2012.. as I have a feeling if we can past Dec. 21, 2012, things will be great.. I hope!!

inurforum.jpg
 
With everybody crying wolf over the next big disaster, when something big does come it will catch everyone completely off guard. First there was the big freeze and overpopulation destroying the world by now, predicted in the 1970's, then it's Y2K, then Global Warming, now it's the Mayan Calendar... say, if they were so accurate why are they all gone anyway? Katrina and BP were certainly not on anyone's prophetic disaster calendar that's been in the news the last 10 years. Hurricane seasons have been predicted to be catastrophic the last 5 years straight and they've fizzled each time. I think the modern day prophets of doom have missed the mark far too much to take them seriously anymore.

That's not to say disasters cannot happen. Solar activity has been a known concern for decades, and the problem is that while technology has advanced, nobody's done anything to shield infrastructure from known stellar risks. The sun could spit out a super flare tomorrow and what could be done about it? Even if ground infrastructure was EM shielded, there's still the problem of satellites. If a solar wave hits with enough force to knock out electric grids, it's going to knock out satellites too, and those are a bit harder to fix.

I'd be less concerned with losing the internet from a solar storm than I would be all the fruitcakes that start rioting because their satellite TV is out and they want to take it out on someone should some satellites go kaput. Power generation is the largest concern though. As long as the electric grids don't suffer catastrophic damage life will go on. If they did, well, nothing lasts forever, and for me it will be time to say "so long, and thanks for all the pomegranates" before some poor starving soul decides to try and baste me. :(
 
Phoenix333 said:
Hurricane seasons have been predicted to be catastrophic the last 5 years straight and they've fizzled each time. I think the modern day prophets of doom have missed the mark far too much to take them seriously anymore
Click to expand...

You mean "hurricane seasons in the developed countries have been predicted to be catastrophic the last 5 years straight and they've fizzled each time."
 
michael.pa2 said:
Funny,these doomsday predictors don't mention that solar activity has been very mild for years. Nature has a way of making these egotistical so called scientists look like fools time and time again.
Click to expand...

This right here is a classic case of internet irony. You see, had this poster actually read the article instead of thinking himself as mr. know-it-all, he would have clearly seen the below passage, which in fact cleary expresses the "mild" solar activity in the recent years and provides a citation to another news article:

When I caught up with Fisher, his forecast was less dire, and less definite: He told me it's far too early to say just how strong the next solar maximum will be. In fact, some experts are now predicting that the intensity will be well below average, based on the fact that the sun has been unusually quiet in recent years.
Click to expand...

So, ironically enough, this post has made the poster look the fool as opposed to the "so called scientists", which provides a perfect example of internet irony. From here we can also assume the poster is "egotistical" and thinks himself an expert, again layering the irony in a nice creamy mess of STFU.
 
Stubwub said:
Keep your devices off when it happens. Only way to keep them safe. :p
Click to expand...

Nah, won't help a thing. Only using a good surge protector or keeping them completely disconnected from external wiring (power, internet, phone, etc.) will help. The network most affected by a solar storm will be the power grid, as shown before in the 80s in Canada, where a solar storm took out most of the grid there.

A solar storm is basically a massive EM field (EMP) hurled our way by the sun, with enough power to cause surges in larger conductors, and even some smaller ones. It is conceivable that it'll knock out most satellites temporarily or permanently, cause massive surges and blackouts in the power grid world-wide, and generally make life quite uncomfortable for us.

Now, the power grid can be protected from this by installing a kind of surge protector, which will bleed off the excess power, for relatively little money. Naturally, I don't see at least in the US any power company invest in such a trivial protection.

As for our satellites, they're pretty much screwed.
 
The US power grid will be fucked in 1 year (realistically 2) when Nvidia releases their GF200 gpu.
 
so is solar flare damage covered under my cell phone insurance?
 
Earth to the UK: this is old news.

2009:
http://www.newscientist.com/article...alert-90-seconds-from-catastrophe.html?page=2

And for the tinfoil crowd, yes, a Carrington event would (1) fry (as in EMP type effects) every single piece of electronic gear down to your car and microwave oven and (2) kill the electrical grid across the US...for years. With a 'y'...not days or weeks.

But yeah, the sun would need to be seriously active first and so far it's having a hard time coming much off the current solar cycle minimum.

http://www.landscheidt.info/?q=node/50
 
I'm going to restock my secret underground bunker in the mountain, brb
 
Just past a sign in Houston the other day and there was a sign saying the world is coming to a end.Big deal.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top