The Decider: My thought exactly. Turn off all power before the solar flare. Then turn it back on afterward.

Either you're trolling or you haven't stopped to think of all the things that require electricity.

Okay, but no electricity for 48 hours, or no elecricity for 20 years.

It seems like it would be worth it to switch it off during the storms, if that would, in fact, be effective. I don't know enough about grids to know whether or not it would.

Tatsuma: Giblet: Not as amazing as a live Andrews Sisters concert.

I have to admit that seeing the Andrew Sisters live today would blow my mind

nicksteel: AppleOptionEsc: WE ALL GONNA DIE Channel, Brought to you by the church of a church.

It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die. Pro Tip: History has to happen first. You can have have all the death and gloom of future apocalypses after we all die.

/I hot linked that image
//Hot like Nostradamus, the Mayans, and a giant gamma ray burst

I have to agree with you. The second biggest problem are all of the different shows that go out hunting for big foot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, ghosts (it goes on and on) and all they do is spend an hour walking around in semi-darkness and they never find anything. In a real world that would constitute a failure on every episode. Now people are willing to see around and watch people fail - I blame SURVIVOR.


People want to believe in that stuff.

That's why there is still religion in an era when (some) schools teach critical thinking and problem solving.

The people that watch those shows know they aren't going to see anything, but What If.

Holy Crap! London is 'bout to get eaten by one of these:



Just as Nostradamus predicted!

Giblet: nicksteel: AppleOptionEsc: WE ALL GONNA DIE Channel, Brought to you by the church of a church.

It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die. Pro Tip: History has to happen first. You can have have all the death and gloom of future apocalypses after we all die.

/I hot linked that image
//Hot like Nostradamus, the Mayans, and a giant gamma ray burst

I have to agree with you. The second biggest problem are all of the different shows that go out hunting for big foot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, ghosts (it goes on and on) and all they do is spend an hour walking around in semi-darkness and they never find anything. In a real world that would constitute a failure on every episode. Now people are willing to see around and watch people fail - I blame SURVIVOR.


People want to believe in that stuff.

That's why there is still religion in an era when (some) schools teach critical thinking and problem solving.

The people that watch those shows know they aren't going to see anything, but What If.

How many times can these people get fooled before they learn?

Looks like a ripoff of this article from New Scientist last March:
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20127001.300-space-storm-alert-90-second s- from-catastrophe.html?full=true

Ice cores show that Carrington-level events happen only once about every 500 years.

Here's to you 80 SPF suntan lotion guy.

Well, there's a certain amount of truth to how fragile our technology is. Or rather, how we'd cope with a true loss of power for very long.

A power outage might have interesting effects on our nuclear power programs.

I know we've got other stuff too, like waste water being released into our drinking water systems, etc.

I think it's ridiculous that NONE of the programmers knew they were sentencing us to death by not preparing for the change from 1900 to 2000 lack of power. This Y2k bug Solar flare MUST NOT BE IGNORED.

Wow.. I KNEW I'd find a use for this post eventually. It's practically an antique.

No, it's going to be more like this.



And maybe some of this

Judging from the accompanying image, I think somebody needs to call Korben Dallas

is there a race to see how many doomsday scenarios we can create or something?

why is the human race so preoccupied with all the different ways to end the world anyway?

thereadlines: Solar storms can be bad. But they're nothing like the chaos than can ensue when, after thousands of years, the five suns of your planet disappear from the sky to leave only blackness and stars.

I read that story for the first time a couple of months ago! Very nice reference!

Fact Man: Okay, but no electricity for 48 hours, or no elecricity for 20 years.

Solar storms last 48 hours? I suspect it's a lot more complicated than that. The solar cycle will peak for an extended period of time, not just a weekend. We'll probably have many "storms" of various magnitudes to deal with.

/not an expert, though

gootse?

Shutting off the power wouldn't help in the event of a really huge EMP. You need to understand how induction works to really appreciate it but I'll give it a shot;

Every transformer will get a burst of energy. Best case is that the energy is immediately dissipated as heat and the transformer simply melts/explodes. That's not going to happen. Before it is destroyed, it will send that energy in both directions. Before the breakers pop, you will get a huge power surge in the house (while the power companies are getting it in the other direction). In your house, wiring will probably burst into flame or at least get hot enough to cause secondary fires inside the walls.

Even if you were quick enough to disconnect yourself from the power grid, you still have a problem if the pulse is big enough. Every single conductor in your cool toys will be trying to cope with with the induced internal current. IC's will melt. Circuit traces will overheat and burn off the board.

/Dies the fire indeed.

Fact Man: The Decider: My thought exactly. Turn off all power before the solar flare. Then turn it back on afterward.

Either you're trolling or you haven't stopped to think of all the things that require electricity.

Okay, but no electricity for 48 hours, or no elecricity for 20 years.

It seems like it would be worth it to switch it off during the storms, if that would, in fact, be effective. I don't know enough about grids to know whether or not it would.


Well, it depends on whether you're rural or urban.

Urban: you'd have no water pressure or electricity for at least a year.

Rural: you'd have to hand pump water unless you're on gravity-fed spring water.

What do you think would happen where you live if there was no water or electricity for a year?

That's what that will be like if it happens like it did in 1859. If it's worse than that, maybe everyone on the sunny side will get an unhealthy dose of radiation to add some cheer to the no water or electricity fun.

And, this is *going* to happen (not if or maybe). The date and time are all that's in question really.

That said, so what?

Electricity *IS* the modern world.

It's the last killer app.

Everything else just uses it.

On Barack Obama's watch too... I knew it.

Somehow, he'll claim that he inherited the problem from the Bush administration.

Need the close up gif of surprised faces ending with the cat.
/Ugh - YKWIM

But when is the mail going to tell us what affect this will have on pedophiles and immigrants? or immigrant pedophiles?

The least they could do is run all their scare pieces in one long story.

/maybe the sci-fi channel could dramatize it, couldn't be worse than raptor island.

First time I saw a sunspot chart in a radio station I was impressed that they could predict solar activity to the minute that far in advance. So I guess the giant solar flare really is coming and will fry the grid. This doesn't sound good.

Good thing we have Al Gore to block it with his carbon shield of futility.

nuke the sun!

nicksteel: A week or three??? You are extremely optimistic, aren't you? Last September it took the local power company 8 days to restore power to some 300,000 customers in Ohio, after a wind storm knocked down wires and poles. And to do that, they had to bring in crews from as far away as North Carolina to do that.

That's because the power grid in the northeastern part of the United States is run by nitwits.

Lando Lincoln: I'm already in the process of converting all of my porn to flip-book format, just in case.

don't you need two hands to operate a flip book?

nicksteel: Giblet: nicksteel: AppleOptionEsc: WE ALL GONNA DIE Channel, Brought to you by the church of a church.

It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die. Pro Tip: History has to happen first. You can have have all the death and gloom of future apocalypses after we all die.

/I hot linked that image
//Hot like Nostradamus, the Mayans, and a giant gamma ray burst

I have to agree with you. The second biggest problem are all of the different shows that go out hunting for big foot, the Loch Ness Monster, UFOs, ghosts (it goes on and on) and all they do is spend an hour walking around in semi-darkness and they never find anything. In a real world that would constitute a failure on every episode. Now people are willing to see around and watch people fail - I blame SURVIVOR.


People want to believe in that stuff.

That's why there is still religion in an era when (some) schools teach critical thinking and problem solving.

The people that watch those shows know they aren't going to see anything, but What If.

How many times can these people get fooled before they learn?


As many times as it takes for their expectations to be met. ie, until Nessie does an interview on Faux News and admits to being Elvis's extraterrestrial father.

Good thing they are focusing on the non exsistant threat of co2 and not something like this that has factual data supporting it. Can we tax solar storms? NO? Oh that must be why.

MycroftHolmes: Lando Lincoln: I'm already in the process of converting all of my porn to flip-book format, just in case.

don't you need two hands to operate a flip book?

Just have your mom read it to you.

Giblet: It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die.

There was only so much footage of Hitler, ya know?

Can I use my Ohmbrella during the storm?

I'm glad I (and all my stuff) live in a Faraday cage.

bunner: Giblet: It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die.

There was only so much footage of Hitler, ya know?


Um... I didn't write that.

The tubes are more complicated than you think.

Giblet: bunner: Giblet: It's kinda off topic, but I'm so sick of the History Channel being more about how we might all die.

There was only so much footage of Hitler, ya know?


Um... I didn't write that.

The tubes are more complicated than you think.

No they'r enot.

I just snagged a bit of what I wanted to quote and hit quote.

Pardon me all to hell, smartass.

Should I send a card?

RadioActiveLamb: On Barack Obama's watch too... I knew it.

Somehow, he'll claim that he inherited the problem from the Bush administration.

This is unrealistic. What is not-unrealistic is the idea of neo-con freepers claiming that there's not enough God in our government and not enough prayer in schools that brought about the wrath of god.

RoxtarRyan: Don't think so... if the solar flares act as EMPs in the way people think, then you can have the entire circuit shut down... The EMP will still destroy circuits and transformers.

(Ahnuld voice:) It's not an EMP.

A CME causes the Earth's magnetic field to shift around - a lot. The shifts induce low frequency currents in long lines. These can be viewed as being something like a DC offset.

Transformers for AC aren't generally designed for that. The offset walks them up their BH curve. They saturate. Once the transformer hits its saturation point, its inductance collapses, a lot of AC current flows and the transformer can be damaged.

"Every" transformer will not do this. "Every" piece of equipment will not be affected. A lot of journalists don't seem to be able to distinguish between EMP and magnetotelluric current induction.

Where the problem comes in is on long lines. Unfortunately, the long distribution lines are also the higher voltage ones, and the transformers for those lines are really expensive and there aren't many replacements, and it takes a long time to get them.

Oh, and the charged particles cause havoc with satellites. A lot of electrons end up trapped in the magnetosphere and circulate for years. When they hit a satellite (or spacecraft), they cause x-rays; it's a bad thing. The US has means of limiting the intensity and duration of that damage rather dramatically, but it would still cause problems at first. There's also a way of sort of redirecting/limiting telluric current generation but that seems more chancy to me. YMMV.

Pinner: Can I use my Ohmbrella during the storm?

Shockingly bad, the potential difference between you and the rest of us is that we have a resistance to these puns, despite the capacity to make them.

Laz Long: Shutting off the power wouldn't help in the event of a really huge EMP. You need to understand how induction works to really appreciate it but I'll give it a shot;

Every transformer will get a burst of energy. Best case is that the energy is immediately dissipated as heat and the transformer simply melts/explodes. That's not going to happen. Before it is destroyed, it will send that energy in both directions. Before the breakers pop, you will get a huge power surge in the house (while the power companies are getting it in the other direction). In your house, wiring will probably burst into flame or at least get hot enough to cause secondary fires inside the walls.

Even if you were quick enough to disconnect yourself from the power grid, you still have a problem if the pulse is big enough. Every single conductor in your cool toys will be trying to cope with with the induced internal current. IC's will melt. Circuit traces will overheat and burn off the board.

/Dies the fire indeed.

This depends on the speed and intensity involved- which we know little about, since the last one was 150 years ago with no scientific observation.

At best, the rise of the induced current would be slow enough that the filters would stop it from reaching the consumer befoe the breakers on most transmission lines would shut it down.

IF the intensity is low enough, the induced voltages across the distance of PCB traces on computers and such will not be enough to damage equipment. The cables from the neighborhood to the power company's now disconnected transformer would pick up far greater voltages, but appliances expect 120v anyways, and are typically hardened against some degree of high voltage spikes. Valuable equipment should be on a surge protector anyways which may be enough.

That's, of course, assuming the intensity is manageable. The expectation of a orbital nuclear detonation's EMP's intensity is so high that it is doubtful that most electronic technology would survive it. The sun can potentially wield far greater power, but the effect of the orbital EMP requires that it come on so fast there is no pre-ionization of the atmosphere which creates a sort of Gaussian cage to protect us. A solar storm would surely create some major ionization before the bulk of the radiation hits.

PeriRies: In another ten years it will just be a live shot of a pantless Wilford Brimley watching old reruns of The Golden Girls and making pithy comments.

PeriRies: In another ten years it will just be a live shot of a pantless Wilford Brimley watching old reruns of The Golden Girls and making pithy comments.

And somebody will pay for it. :- /

emocomputerjock: Raines8416: is this like how the bird flu was going to wipe humanity off the face of the earth several years ago?

Wait, you're not dead yet? Are your organs at least mutated?

No, but my liver and bowels are ill-tempered

Tatsuma: DslainteC: I'm not going to fall victim to marauding bands of hunger-crazed cannibals seeking to feast on my succulent body.

I, for one, I'm looking forward to it

Pfft, combat shotgun in the face FTW (Also, the shishkebab is not too shabby, either).

Anyways, I've had posted this on postapocalyptic thread before, but I think it's pretty fitting:

The only 'countries' that will remain will be the New Zealand, China, Russia, and United Arab Emirates (which will absorb other middle-eastern countries), wile the rest of the world will turn into feudal systems and pseudo-knightly brotherhoords.

/And idea I had for a post-apocalyptic novel
//And it did involved the sun turning most technology into slag

No worries here - I have my computer plugged into a surge protector.

"But remember what I said, solar flares are bad for disks and machines. Protect your disks from solar activity to prevent them losing their data"

"How do I do that? Wrap them in tin-foil?"

"NO! TIN FOIL'S THE WORST THING! YOU KNOW WHAT TIN FOIL DOES IN A MICROWAVE DON'T YOU?!"

"Yes..."

"Then don't use it. There's only one thing that protects disks from solar activity..."

"What's that?"

"MAGNETS. Wrap your disks up in a pillow case with lots of magnets - Solar Flares hate that"

"Wow! Thanks"

"No worries at all..."

veryunoriginal: 200+ comments and not a single Arthur C. Clarke reference? Holy crap Fark, I'm disappointed.

/Disclaimer: I didn't actually read all the comments so I apologize if this post makes me look like an idiot!

Came for the Sunstorm reference.