The sky is falling!

i'm tellin' ya, it's just like in the movie "the Core".....birds falling out of the sky, and now this magnetic change.

 

Anybody notice an increase in "doomsday" TV shows? Like what would happen after all people mysteriously vanish. Or if the earth stopped rotating.

Or if a black hole formed nearby

My advice is the same for all the above scenarios: heavy drinking

 

Dude, if everyone started drinking heavily there would be a shortage and then what? Suppose we should increase production as the end of times near? That is where I am going to stash my portfolio.

 

Let's say that the magnetic poles really do reverse (significantly), will some of you engineer-types please comment on whether or not the Prius Hybrid engine/battery will operate properly. Would I have to put the car in REVERSE to go forward and vice-versa? I think the Prius has lots of magnets in their two electric motors, so if their polarity reverses, what happens?

Also, would my refrigerator doors no longer close?

 

I'm way ahead of you - stocked up on gin, vodka, Bacardi, Wisers, etc

Screw the end of the world (Remind me again, is that tomorrow, 2012/12/31, 2028, or 4,896,445,209?). I'll be well preserved

 

I would love to drive in reverse. That recent Mythbusters episode of the Porsche 928 reverse body swap has convinced me I have a very mundane, insignificant job

I wanna wreck things, and blow s*** up, and have legions of adoring fans of both official genders, and fame too

Damnit!

 

Well that or an asteroid:

Russians: 2036 Killer Asteroid Collision: NASA Unimpressed - Tech Talk - CBS News

In 2004, NASA scientists announced that there was a chance that Apophis, an asteroid larger than two football fields, could smash into Earth in 2029. A few additional observations and some number-crunching later, astronomers noted that the chance of the planet-killer hitting Earth in 2029 was nearly zilch.

Now, reports out of Russia say that scientists there estimate Apophis will collide with Earth on April 13, 2036. These reports conflict on the probability of such a doomsday event, but the question remains: How scared should we be?
“Technically, they’re correct, there is a chance in 2036 [that Apophis will hit Earth]," said Donald Yeomans, head of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program Office. However, that chance is just 1-in-250,000, Yeomans said.

The Russian scientists are basing their predictions of a collision on the chance that the 900-foot-long (270 meters) Apophis will travel through what’s called a gravitational keyhole as it passes by Earth in 2029. The gravitational keyhole they mention is a precise region in space, only slightly larger than the asteroid itself, in which the effect of Earth's gravity is such that it could tweak Apophis' path.

 

If the sky is falling, I'm going to go stay with Jayman.

 

Interesting. I know the magnetic field and its interaction with the solar wind affects aurora borealis (northern lights), power transmission lines and satellite communications. Beyond that, I guess a major drop in our magnetic field would allow a lot more dangerous radiation down to the surface, but it hasn't happened in our history.

I've never heard of superstorms being triggered by magnetic field fluctuations. And if these recent 'superstorms' were because of that, why do we still have electricity and GPS? Those are a lot more susceptible and should be the first sign of trouble.

Flipping of the magnetic poles is a definite possibility, but as far as I know, scientists don't have a good handle on how long that would take (years, decades, centuries?) or how destructive it would be. There's no large extinction events linked to a polar switch, yet polar switches happen fairly often, geologically speaking.

 

Hype...

Yes the poles flip every 100kyrs or so. We have records of this and simulations illustrate how this could work but we still have some time to get before we expect another one and as far as I've read, there are no indications of it happening soon.

Sensational science sucks!

 

Don Yeomans' department lists thousands of potential impact events: Current Impact Risk. Including the April 13, 2036 event.

 

You will need to remove the two MGs and have them re-installed upside-down. And the Aussies, who now have an upside-down configuration, will have to have them flipped right-side up.

Either that, or the Northern and Southern Hemispheres will need to exchange cars. I'm not sure which path will be cheaper.

 

Oh, I was worried somebody might be taking this seriously. An onionhead (reads the Onion?) should be able to spot a good fake story. Oh well, we'll worry about that when the poles flip. Right about the end of 2012 I expect...

 

Agreed. Here's the real science: Earth's Inconstant Magnetic Field - NASA Science

It's amazing what kind of information is there if people look for the real data instead of what somebody dreams up. Right now the magnetic pole is heading towards the real pole, so I would think that's a good thing. And it's stronger now than the historical average.

No mention of typhoons and "super storms". Sorry, survivalists.

 

You would not have to put it in reverse to go forward, but you would have to reverse the polarity on the battery terminal connections. And toilets would all drain in the opposite direction because we would then be in the southern hemisphere.

 

Whew, that's a relief. That's much less expensive than having to have them turned inside out, which I was in the process of getting quotes for from machine shops so I'd be ready just in case.

 

:kiss:

:hug:

On that note, Happy Velentines Day!

Oh, you don't have to wait for the sky to fall to stay with me. Just sayin ...