Reply With QuoteIf the doom-mongers are correct about 2012 then this isn't going to matter.
Every so often we hear one of these end-of-the-world stories. There's a meteor that's going to hit earth, or the sun's going to lose its gravitational pull. And generally we can ignore them because they're the calculator speculations of some shed-scientist crackpot.
Today we heard another: The earth is going to be hit by a barrage of solar flares in 2013 when the sun's magnetic energy cycle coincides with its 11-year peak in super-powered sun spot activity -- but this time it wasn't a maverick amateur making the predictions, nope, it was NASA.
I think the word you're looking for is "yikes".
The once in a generation occurance has gone broadly unnoticed in the past but has the potential to destroy all the computer systems our modern world relies on -- bank accounts, medical records, business records, entire websites, and yes, your FBritmovie account, could all disappear.
The solar flares generate massive shifts in magnetic activity resulting in computer systems everywhere failing. Potentially leading to blackouts, communications failing, TV and radio networks disappearing and, worst of all, the internet.
Dr Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division said: "We know it's coming but we don't know how bad it's going to be.
"Systems will just not work. The flares rapidly change the magnetic field on the earth, like a lightning bolt. That is the solar effect."
Professor Richard Harrison of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire told the Metro: "The sun is now waking up. It's been very inactive but there's a lot of debate about how dramatic its waking up will be. It's not scaremongering."
Read more: http://www.asylum.co.uk/2010/06/15/s...#ixzz0qvdlMso6
If the doom-mongers are correct about 2012 then this isn't going to matter.
Another day, another end of the world story.
name='GoggleboxUK' date='15 June 2010 - 02:43 PM' timestamp='1276609416' post='440349']
Professor Richard Harrison of the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire told the Metro: "...It's not scaremongering."
Er .. yes, it is. Scaremongering is when you don't have any idea how bad something is going to be, and you focus on the worst possible scenario. Saying that the sun is going to behave in a way that we have no way of controlling or predicting is not scaremongering, but saying it 'could' cause all our instruments to crash (Matron) obviously is.
Anyway, they've got over two years to work out something. What do we pay taxes for?
Well all the ice caps will have melted by then anyway and London and large parts of flat England will be under water, Scotland will have a climate like the South of France...all year round, and Edinburgh will have a canal system like Venice, very pretty it will be too. We wont need online banking anymore because by that time money will be pretty useless and worthless anyhow. And this is not scaremongering either by the way so we had all better make plans soon.....
your FBritmovie account, could all disappear.
Now that is serious
If this is an 11 year cycle shouldn't the world have ended 11 years ago when it last happened?
name='m35541' date='15 June 2010 - 05:23 PM' timestamp='1276619008' post='440385']
If this is an 11 year cycle shouldn't the world have ended 11 years ago when it last happened?
The problem is that there are TWO cycles - the 11-year sun-spot cycle and the longer magnetic activity cycle. It's when the peaks of BOTH cycles coincide that there may be a problem. They have not coincided in the past since we've become so dependent on computers. That said, I agree that the story is oversold - but the mere fact that our computers have survived sunspot peaks on their own is not enough to make us feel completely safe.
I'm taking all my money out of Micrsoft and I'm buying a fleet of ice cream vans and moving to Sweden. I'm also considering becoming a major shareholder in Speedo.
The term "end of the world" has NOT come from NASA, but from that website Asylum.UK. That's where the scaremongering is coming from.... "says NASA" in their heading is a lie.
"End of the world" implies the end of life on our planet, however, here's part of what Dr Fisher, a NASA scientist for 20 years, actually said according to the Daily Telegraph. (Sorry Steve Crook!but it's all I could find apart from the rather distorted Asylum article.)
"He said large swathes of the world could face being without power for several months, although he admitted that was unlikely.
"A more likely scenario was that large areas, including northern Europe and Britain which have “fragile� power grids, would be without power and access to electronic devices for hours, possibly even days."
More here:
NASA warns solar flares from "huge space storm" will cause devastation
I think I might avoid air travel in 2013 though! And Goggers... you might be better off coming south rather than moving to Sweden!
Well done for highlighting the liename='ShirlGirl' date='16 June 2010 - 05:00 AM' timestamp='1276660831' post='440600']
The term "end of the world" has NOT come from NASA, but from that website Asylum.UK. That's where the scaremongering is coming from.... "says NASA" in their heading is a lie.
But do we know what this "NASA scientist" did at NASA? Maybe he was a biologist and knows nothing about solar flares? Or do we know why he left? Was he kicked out for spreading scare stories and attributing them to NASA?"End of the world" implies the end of life on our planet, however, here's part of what Dr Fisher, a NASA scientist for 20 years, actually said according to the Daily Telegraph. (Sorry Steve Crook!
Just re-read "On the Beach"I think I might avoid air travel in 2013 though! And Goggers... you might be better off coming south rather than moving to Sweden!
Steve
I think it's funny that a thread called "The end of the world in 2013" is "Off topic". It just tickled me.
You didn't read the DT article, did you....name='Steve Crook' date='16 June 2010 - 10:39 AM' timestamp='1276681198' post='440642']
But do we know what this "NASA scientist" did at NASA? Maybe he was a biologist and knows nothing about solar flares? Or do we know why he left? Was he kicked out for spreading scare stories and attributing them to NASA?
Why do you think he has left?
Ha-ha, yes, but my comment was in the context of Dr Fisher referring specifically to "northern Europe and Britain".Just re-read "On the Beach"
That said, his reference to "large areas" could just as easily mean Australia, too.
All we can do is wait and see!
What intrigues me most about this information coming to light is that it can be seen as "supporting evidence" for the 2012 doom merchants.
To be honest, I doubt anything serious will happen but the Mayan calender ending thing interests me greatly just for theweight it adds to the ancient aliens theory.
If anyone has a more reasonable explanation for a 4000 year old race having knowledge of astronomy and, more particularly, universal events such as this then I'd love to hear them.
Ancient artifacts, jewellery and carvings, shaped like the space shuttle seem more likely to have a significantly real source the more we learn from NASA about the forthcoming planetary alignment.
Somebody build me a Tardis, these questions need an answer!
Of course notname='ShirlGirl' date='16 June 2010 - 11:10 AM' timestamp='1276683017' post='440666']
You didn't read the DT article, did you....
It was the way you phrased it. Saying "a NASA scientist for 20 years". If he was still there I would have said "a NASA scientist for the last 20 years". Also I was rushing a bit and was on my way out....Dr Fisher is the director of NASA's Heliophysics division, a department of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA headquarters in Washington DC, which investigates the sun’s influence on the earth.
Why do you think he has left?
Steve
Given the apocalyptic nature of these predictions, I'm astonished that no ConDem minister has yet popped up to blame it all on the ("bloated, gold-plated, feather-bedded" etc etc.) Public Sector.
I'm equally surprised that the 'Daily Mail' hasn't yet run a cover story about the likely effects of all this on house prices. Where's probing investigative journalism when you need it, eh?
If anyone has any proof that the Mayans had any concept of the world ending in 2012 then I'd like to hear itname='GoggleboxUK' date='16 June 2010 - 11:35 AM' timestamp='1276684505' post='440671']
If anyone has a more reasonable explanation for a 4000 year old race having knowledge of astronomy and, more particularly, universal events such as this then I'd love to hear them.
Ever since Eric Von Daniken and his book "Chariots of the Gods?" people have been misinterpreting ancient writings and carvings. This 2012 nonsense is just the latest in a very long line of such nonsense. And if I'm wrong and the world does come to an end in 2012 then I'll pay you a huge amount of money
Steve
name='GoggleboxUK' date='15 June 2010 - 02:43 PM' timestamp='1276609416' post='440349']
I think the word you're looking for is "yikes".
The once in a generation occurance has gone broadly unnoticed in the past but has the potential to destroy all the computer systems our modern world relies on -- bank accounts, medical records, business records, entire websites, and yes, your FBritmovie account, could all disappear.
Remember the "Y2K" fears and the threat of millenium bug meltdown we were all warned about in 1999?
No, the word I'm looking for is "bollocks"
name='GoggleboxUK' date='15 June 2010 - 02:43 PM' timestamp='1276609416' post='440349'].........
The once in a generation occurance has gone broadly unnoticed in the past but has the potential to destroy all the computer systems our modern world relies on -- bank accounts, medical records, business records, entire websites, and yes, your FBritmovie account, could all disappear........
Happens to me every Wednesday PM and all day Thursday and Friday it is called grandchildren. I really do not know how they do it.
Posting Permissions
