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The New York Times On Earth's Magnetic Flip-Flop
TolkiEinstein writes "The New York Times reports that, relatively speaking, compasses may soon point South. It's long been known that Earth flips magnetically every half-million years or so, and, with the north pole's magnetic field at about 10-15 percent [less than] its strength of 150 years ago, many geologists feel a flip is coming up. Computer simulations also suggest that the current state of the magnetic field is indicative of an upcoming flip. Though it would take hundreds of years to complete, the impact on life may be significant but not catastrophic, including phenomena such as power-outages, satellite malfunctions and disruptions in the rhythmic functions of some animals such as loggerhead turtles. The EU plans to launch a trio of satellites in 2009 to assume polar orbits & monitor the field." (Cross your fingers for some nice solar wind.) Update: 07/13 17:02 GMT by T : Note: the summary here originally misstated the Times' article; the field 's strength has decreased 10-15 percent, rather than to 10-15 percent.
I'm sure this is Bush's fault, somehow, according to the left. I'm waiting for Peter Jennings to blame this one on Bush.
Beings aspergers AND pulling chicks... I enjoy the challenge!
Could they have possibly picked a more random animal for that example?
And won't someone please think of the turtles?!?!?!?!?!
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I had my homework al done, but the magnetic poles flipped and wiped my harddrive...
Rephrase this: "...for the sake of more special effects."
What if we all donated spare refrigerator magnets, magnets from old hard disks, etc. and carefully arranged them at the north and south poles. These giant piles would hold the poles in place. Perhaps a lucky chain letter spam from Bill Gates would help get people to donate magnets to the cause.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
This would be good for Australia. No longer "down under" ... finally "on top".
I blame it on too many people walking around wearing tin foil hats.
"After careful consultation with my administration's junk scientists, we have expanded our Axis of Evil to include the earth's axis as well. This rogue, um, thingy is responsible for the destruction of...does this thing say turtles? But...we don't care about...oh...anyway, this rogue "magnetic thingy" can only be stopped by drilling in the Alaskan oil reserves, therefore stopping all magnetism from happening. These weapons of magnetic disruption must be stopped at all costs."
Has anyone thought of his relocation???
There was a big "DO NOT PUSH" sign right next to the degauss button!
I'm not a loggerhead turtle
So once the poles finish reversing, will I have to hack my GPS receiver and invert its display to make its compass point to the new "North" pole?
And will we have to switch around all the highway signs so that I-95 North heads towards Mexico and I-95 South leads to Canda?
And will we have to rename North and South Dakota, North and South Carolina, etc?
The hell with the loggerhead turtles, I've got serious questions that need to be answered! :-)
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
And a whole lot of floppies and backup tapes erased...
I live in Soviet Canuckistan you insensitive clod!