What is Digg?Sponsored by Bing
Hot Date? Find The Right Spot. view!
bing.com - We'll help you decide where to eat, drink and have a good time!
177 Comments
- mas6700, on 04/25/2009, -5/+85A generally interesting article about a phenomenon that could have devastating effects to the hundreds of satellites and the world wide electrical grids, (not to mention any poor unfortunate astronauts who will need to 'duck and cover' in shielded section of the space station if they happen to be in space during a massive flare). But the article has a GLARING error which should have been caught by the supposedly technically competent editors of Wired magazine. I'm talking about the statements referring to electrical grid transformers of the "500,000 and 700,000 KILOvolt" capacity. A kilovolt is 1000 volts. 700,000 kilovolts is actually 700 MILLION volts. There is no such thing as 700 million volt transmission lines or the one billion volt transmission lines that the Chinese are supposedly building. (You'd probably need transmission towers 50 stories high and half a mile across between the phases to keep the transmission lines from arcing to any nearby ground, assuming such a thing is even possible).They obviously meant to say 500, 700, and 1000 kilovolt transmission lines, not 500,000, 700,000 or one million kilovolt transmission line. Yeah this a nit-picking comment about a typo, but this error is so stupid that it should have been easily caught. As the result the entire article is diminished in its credibility.
- zjvos, on 04/25/2009, -1/+65push the button every 108 minutes and we'll be fine
- DonCreech, on 04/25/2009, -0/+43"Such a catastrophe would cost the United States "$1 trillion to $2 trillion in the first year,"
Whew, sounds like we're getting off cheap considering the current norm. - SwiftKick34, on 04/25/2009, -0/+36Geomagnetic apocalypse, killer swine flu, Yellowstone eruption, errant asteroid, pick your poison people.
- Applo, on 04/25/2009, -1/+30I completely agree. If your going to be talking about the end of the world in a publication such as wired magazine, get your ***** straight.
- poitsplace, on 04/25/2009, -2/+29It's so annoying that he press keeps spouting this as some kind of unstoppable apocalypse nonsense when the real news is
...WE ARE IN A DEEP SOLAR MINIMUM! The cycle 24 peak has essentially been pushed back to 2013 or possibly even 2014 and is expected to be the lowest in 200 years...followed by at least one to two more cycles that are as low or lower. The geomagnetic apocalypse is canceled until further notice! - kinerry, on 04/25/2009, -2/+23I would like to see this prophecy you are speaking of...because none exists
Their calendar ends in 2012, but there is no prophecy - borez, on 04/25/2009, -0/+19Bacon
- Malarie, on 04/25/2009, -1/+15No more interwebs.. people might actually go back playing outside.
- mehtheinfernal, on 04/25/2009, -0/+14That's really just your zombie plan isn't it? You just added in the Faraday cage.
- forgeflow, on 04/25/2009, -1/+14Reality check here: NASA has been unable, so far, to predict the start of Solar Cycle 24, having to revise the estimate start time several times in the last couple of years. ( http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/03/08/more-revisio ... ) It's not here yet. The real prediction for the Sun is that it has entered an extremely quiet phase, and will likely remain in that state for the next ten years, or more. There has not been any significant sun spot activity this year, or last year. Not exactly setting the stage for a dramatic flare up.
So, given NASA scientists inability to predict the start of a fairly predictable 11 year cycle in solar activity, what gives anyone particular confidence in this 2012 prediction of giant solar storms? Seems VERY unlikely, given current solar activity.
People's tendencies seem to be believe the most alarimst prognostications out there, and fail to properly reality check them. It really is a bewildering behavior trait. - inactive, on 04/25/2009, -7/+19Sensationalist *****.
2012 will come and go and nothing will have happened. - stupidfilters, on 04/25/2009, -0/+11Snu Snu
- appleofdischord, on 04/25/2009, -0/+10The end of the world is ALWAYS coming soon. Just ask the guy with the sign.
- GovernmentsGun, on 04/25/2009, -0/+10I think he added the sunblock too.
- rhedrick, on 04/25/2009, -2/+12Buy a years supply of MREs, rotate out the oldest months by buy/selling a month's worth monthly.
Convert 1 room (if not your whole house) into a Faraday cage by painting the room with electrically conductive paint (don't forget to ground it), or use mylar to wallpaper the room (insulating it). Put enough electronics in there for after.
Buy buckets of spf 50 (the stuff that works).
Buy some guns. Don't forget ammo.
Buy some water filters.
That's a start. - Harabeck, on 04/25/2009, -1/+10Right, because the very real chance of our power grid being burnt to a crisp just isn't worth anyone's time...
/s - HurricaneDC, on 04/25/2009, -2/+11Wait why not just shut down the grid as suggested in the article? We spend more than $10 billion a day in Iraq I'm sure. I think we can handle a blackout for a couple of days if it means not going back to the stone age.
- smacksaw, on 04/25/2009, -8/+17Ok, top scientists - we need your help. We need some way to...I don't know, engrave codes in stone all of the porn on the internet until we can re-create computers powerful enough to decode and view it.
Go! - Thebruce88, on 04/25/2009, -0/+8I think what they actually were referring to where 500-700KVA transformers, KVA being Kilo-Volt Amps. It's a measure of what's called "apparent power", and they are quite common.
- crusel832, on 04/25/2009, -2/+10The worst part about 2012 is we'll have to hear about it until 2013
- GovernmentsGun, on 04/25/2009, -0/+8whores
- borez, on 04/25/2009, -0/+8"Power grid operators now rely on one satellite called ACE, which sits about a million miles out from Earth in what's called the gravity well, the balancing point between sun and earth. It was designed to run for five years. It's 11 years old, is losing steam, and there are no plans to replace it."
I'm thinking maybe they should. - WindWalker84, on 04/25/2009, -2/+10pot
- cyberoidx, on 04/25/2009, -3/+10Hey, this is Y2.012K... alright?
- BingoPower, on 04/25/2009, -1/+8I suggest you read more on the Mayans before you write ***** on a forum.
- aadsfasdf, on 04/25/2009, -1/+7I'm more interesting in hearing what they say going backward.
- offrdbandit, on 04/25/2009, -1/+7All this Mayan apocalypse and solar flare malarkey is a smokescreen for the real truth: colonization.
The date is still set. - codechino, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6i choose you, zombies!
- inactive, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6Nukes
- emkaysmith, on 04/25/2009, -2/+8I'm sure you've heard about the chance that a wandering asteroid will strike the earth, . . . right?
- BossKey, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6Between this and the spiders that won't die, we'd better live it up while we still can.
- WindWalker84, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6so what will we have to worry about after 2012?
- BlueLove775, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5Pluto isn't a real planet. It can't come.
- Genady, on 04/25/2009, -2/+7Not to be a sciencey here... but has anyone studied any possible relationship between this magnetic minimum and the odd solar minimum we're currently experiencing?
- widgetmaker, on 04/25/2009, -1/+6Gin
- Expl0siv0, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5Well maybe he didn't want to get sunburns while fighting the zombies?
- jsffive, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5Solar minimums are defined as periods when there are low sunspot activity. Sunspots are actually caused by intense magnetic activity, so the two are inherently related.
- inactive, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5I want to see them begin a conditional statement and "then" leave it hanging in the air.
- wpyh, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5Dugg for "The geomagnetic apocalypse is canceled until further notice".
- ccomish, on 04/25/2009, -4/+9Get off the grid before it's too late, convert to independent solar power, wind power, water power........start thinking now what you would do if the supermarkets ran out of food and if the water stopped because the power stopped......check out the sun's strange affect on the earth at www.spaceweather.com....global warming and melting the polar ice caps are being caused by the sun. The sun has caused the poles to begin to shift since the 1990s. Currently the sun has been at the longest solar minimum ever. Once Solar Cycle 24 speeds up after the solar eclipse on July 22, 2009 you will notice dramatic global changes, more intense earthquakes and hurricanes.
- hplasm, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4Yep- until someone loses an eye to a stray magnet flying through the air...
- stinkybinky, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4the tastiest death ever
- abadonn, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4I got it, build a Faraday cage around everything!
- bizkit00, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4by all means, don't spend any time worrying about it. get up, go to work, worry about filing some reports, go back to sleep. dont let the fact that you are a tiny part of a larger system get to you. as long as you keep getting up and going to work it will all be ok.
- gsenechal, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4If we destroy the Sun now...
No wait! - stonebear, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4Or a Buick, if they are still making them.
- StickWST, on 04/25/2009, -2/+6Does it have to be a damn apocalypse? What if some thing cool or interesting happens? Can we just enjoy some entertaining speculation, stfu and get on with out lives?
- asgardshill, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4Your computers, TV, DVD players, gaming consoles, etc. are likely already protected by themselves, per the relevant Wiki article on the subject. Just make sure they're plugged into a good ground.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faraday_cage#Things_t ...
It might even be true in the case of your upcoming Volt. But even if it isn't, it's no great technological feat to TEMPEST-shield your garage. With enough copper and a good enough ground, you can convert darned near any enclosed structure into a Faraday cage.
(posted by somebody who has worked in enough TEMPEST-shielded rooms to house 43.7 Libraries of Congress) -
Show 51 - 100 of 183 discussions
© Digg Inc. 2009
— Content created and posted by Digg users is