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Magnetic Poles May Be About To Flip
AGD writes "According to the Guardian, Earth's magnetic field - the force that protects us from deadly radiation bursts from outer space - is weakening dramatically. . The article goes on to say 'Earth's magnetic field has disappeared many times before -- as a prelude to our magnetic poles flipping over, when north becomes south and vice versa.'"
The date for the flip will be 5/5/2005, according to Sightings.
How is santa going to navigate under those conditions?
perhaps he better upgrade rudolph.
Be you Admins? nay, we are but lusers!
to call my hero Bruce Willis?
The effects of a pole switch can be seen here. For your convenience it includes both a Summer and Winter view.
In addition, many species of migrating animals and birds - from swallows to wildebeests - rely on innate abilities to track Earth's magnetic field. Their fates are impossible to gauge.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Could this be the end of the GNU project?!
Australia will become on top of the world and no longer the "arse end of the world". We rule!
Meat is murder, I eat chicken.
I'm fed up with these xenophobic jokes about those crazy Poles and how they are always 'about to flip'.
-- Ed Avis ed@membled.com
1. Buy 10,000 compasses
2. Scratch out N, S, E, W
3. Replace with (in same order) S, N, W, E
4. Sell on eBay
5. Profit!!!
-- "Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else."
Then screw global warming. I'm buying that SUV :->
Insert joke about tinfoil hat here
I wish there was some there was some way that I could be outside playing basketball, in the rain, and not get wet.
According to Sightings, it was to happen immediately due to something with planetary alignments -- though I know the last one was May 5, 2000 -- or some other cosmic phenomenon which would immediately accelerate the polar flip drastically.
I really miss that show, though they still play re-runs. I used to sit in front of the TV with a tinfoil hat on.
Damn I need to buy a north pole compliant monitor when they flip:P -Southern Hemishpere Dude
Quit Slashdot Today!
[TROLL]
Vote a Republican administration into power, and the next thing you know, the magnetic field is gone.
[/TROLL]
Consultant: The MS bug (Magnetic Shift bug) is like the classic Y2K bug.
Businessman: What's that?
Consultant: It involved a near global catastrophy which occured aroung the 19th century. Only the speedy responce by excellent programmers saved civilisation.
Businessman: How does this affect me?
Consultant: You need a team of 25 programmers, at least, to write bug fixes for the software in your toaster so that it can cope with the reversal of the magentic field.
Businessman: But I thought the toaster is AI and can learn these things?
Consultant: Trust me - your toaster needs this because...
Businessman: OK, OK -sigh-, spare me the details... how much?
Consultant: -rubbing hands- Well...
Dyslexics of the world, untie!
the average building wouldn't keep you safe from the radiation from the fallout from a nuclear weapon, let alone the massive amounts of radiation which would pour onto the earth without the magnetosphere. Even without the direct effects of the radiation on life-forms (massive deaths, sterility, mutations etc), it would be pretty tough to survive once the solar wind had stripped the atmosphere away from this rock we sit on.
Wow, what a fun loving, happy go lucky guy you are!
Do you work for NASA's PR dept? ; )
War crimes, torture, lies, illegal spying... Would someone give Bush a blowjob, already, so he can be impeached?
Beam me up, Scottie.
The article actually says "could disappear over the next 1,000 years" This could be interperted as it will disappear and be gone for the next 1,000 years OR as it will slowly dissapate over the next 1,000 years. After reading the article the quotes "...show some can last for thousands of years" and "... have lasted only a few weeks" lead me to believe that they believe that IT could happen any time and last 1,000 years with no protection. I wonder how my great childern will look as morlocks?
Excuse me for being a dinosaur, but what will those old cassettes you have in the back of your closet sound like once the magnetic poles flip? Backwards? Out-of-phase? Inside-out? Paul is Dead? Long live Paul?? ARgggghh!
"First off: we are not all gonna die."
I'm pretty sure we are, just not from magnetic pole shifting.
Synopsis:
EARTH IS DOOMED!
Solution:
President (played by Morgan Freeman) meets with Special Emergency Response Team, discovers that all primary systems designed to prevent the Destruction of Earth are useless because they were all designed to shoot down missiles from Korea and China. Cabinet advisor recalls a brilliant, 'loose cannon' scientist/oil rig captain/handsome hollywood actor who 'just might be able to save us.'
Handsome actor collects racially-diverse crew including both genders and several archetypes. They build a giant drill, which breaks at the last minute. Handsome actor has flashback to childhood, when he accidentally made a sinkhole in the beach with a toy shovel and is able to dig the remaining 10 miles with his fingernails and teeth.
Team plants Nuclear Device Designed to Save Us All From Certain Death and detonates it, but of course it just makes things worse. Handsome actor inserts wrench into Earth's core, solving the problem, and then dies of radiation poisoning after making love to the attractive, sweedish scientist whose role (other than that) in the movie is as vague as her scientific credentials.
That's just my idea, though. I'm sure theirs will be totally different!
Just think, it could get rid of the RIAA and the MPAA :)
You can be replaced by a very small shell script.
The solution, according to the film, to be released next year, involves scientists drilling into Earth's mantle to set off a nuclear blast that will halt the reversal.
Isn't that Hollywood's solution for everything?
What if one was to invent a compass that doesn't work, patent it, and then wait for the thousand or so years without a magnetic field...
During this period where no compasses would work, sue the crap out of all of the compass manufacturers for patent violation!
PROFIT!
"So you see, Mr. Bigglesworth, I didn't want to destroy the entire frickin' world, but those Linux geeks really left me no choice. Reversing the earth's magnetic polarity was the only way it could be done without violating the DoJ consent agreement."
"Let's see...Start...Programs...World Control Devices...Disasters...Microsoft...where the hell..?"
"You seem to be trying to destroy the world. Would you like some help with that?"
"Clippy! Oh thank god. Begin 'Gates-Plan-B'. So long, Mr. Stallman. I hope there's a GNU version of 'Microsoft 1000-year Radiation Shield
*maniacal laughter*
How will this affect fridge magnets ?
"You Global Warmer Nutties. I'll stick with our energy company President and his opinions, after all, he's been good so far. Where is the evidence that the world is warming up because of mankind!?! SHOW ME!"
"AIIIIEEEEE!!!" (SUDDENLY CRUSHED UNDER TONS OF RESEARCH PAPERWORK GETTING DROPPED DIRECTLY ON TOP OF HIM)
Is this gonna mess up the East and West Poles too?
The shift in the magnetic fields is being artifically sped up by a secret operation by the united states government. They are forcing the shift through an artificial process being carried out in the Aleutian Islands off the coast of Alaska. I do not know the technical details, but they are using some type of equipment to send waves into the core of the earth.
This is not some joke or troll post. Clearly you don't believe me, partially because I am posting as AC and for the fact that it sounds totally outrageous, and I clearly will be modded down. But I am posting this anyway so that history will show that someone did know about this while it was happenning.
Environmentalists point out that the weakening magnetic field and atmospheric heating over the past 200 years coincide with, and is obviously caused by, an increase in evil industrialism. Protest marches are planned from New York south to Washington DC, then south to New York.
California legislators met in emergency session today and passed new automobile magnetic emission legislation. The magnetic fields of automobiles are now required to be aligned with the Earth's magnetic field and of opposite polarity so as to stress the existing magnetic generator to stay in the present configuration. Experts estimate it will only cost $200 per car and safety is worth the investment.
Australia celebrated for one hour, then began studying how to make use of their new domination of the highly successful Northern Hemisphere. Chinese leaders met to consider what to ignore next.
In medical news, herbal supplement manufacturers point out that natural iron supplements contain particles which experienced past natural reversals, and thus will train your body to help it deal with future changes.
Entertainers point out that they've been working for decades under hot, bright, lights and filming around the world until they don't know which way is up. This hasn't changed them in the least, and they're still just ordinary human beings like you or me, stated a spokesperson for Gardeners To The Stars, makers of fine gardening products just like the assistants to the gardeners of the Stars use but available at quality discount stores near you.
Tomorrow's weather forecast is for increasing temperatures to one-hundredth of a degree higher than yesterday. A gentle wind from the sunrise direction will change to stronger gusty winds from sunriseport, and chance of scattered thunderstorm shields in the area. As always, when a thunderstorm is within view with the sun behind it, take the kids outside to play in natural air and rain until the storm has passed and it is time to seal the house up again.
In sports news: The World Championship of Bowling in Cleveland today was won by a newcomer from Kenya for the third year in a row. He believes his country has produces so many winners because their bowling alley construction program placed them deeper than other countries did. Sources say that oxygen enrichment of some national bowling training facilities is widely rumored but not yet proven.
Our next update will be in three hours, when your sundial is a the midpoint. You should turn off your generator until then and set your laser receiver in standby mode.
This has been a Coherent News Network production, the fastest news ever bounced off the fluorescent sky.
1. If reproducibility may be a problem, conduct the test only once.
2. If a straight line fit is required, obtain only two data points.
"Understand you're having a little Jimmy Page trouble."
Guess it's time to burn my orienteering merit badge.
On stereophonic equipment, the monaural sound obtained through multiple channels will enhance your listening pleasure.
An African or a European swallow?
dd