Sunspot Activity Continues To Drop

slreboy writes "The sunspot cycle is behaving a little like the stock market. Just when you think it has hit bottom, it goes even lower. The year 2008 was a bear. There were no sunspots observed on 266 of the year's 366 days (73 percent). To find a year with more blank suns, you have to go all the way back to 1913, which had 311 spotless days. Prompted by these numbers, some observers suggested that the solar cycle had hit bottom in 2008. Maybe not. Sunspot counts for 2009 have dropped even lower. As of March 31st, there were no sunspots on 78 of the year's 90 days (87 percent)..."

Comments

2012

[mc1138]

The sun just needs to build up its reserve power before catastrophically attack the Earth in a fury of solar activity in 2012!

Re:just look at the number of gun deaths

[swillden]

compared between the usa and say the uk

In the first case, you can't compare the US and the UK. Different cultures, different levels of violence -- even if you ignore guns.

It's also worth noting that the UK's level of violence -- both with and without guns -- has increased significantly since the UK's handgun ban. Do you have any evidence that it would have increased more without the ban?

i'd say just one of those deaths is worth more than 1,000 prevented muggings

Only if muggings never resulted in death, which isn't true as I'm sure you're well aware. If you need I can find numerous news articles about muggings gone bad. I'm not sure where to find statistics on that, though. Do you know? I'd like to see them.

and i can't imagine anyone with any grasp on reason or logic thinking that the number of deaths prevented by guns is anywhere near, by orders of magnitude, the number of pointless deaths committed with guns

A person with a "grasp on reason or logical thinking" would want to see actual numbers from studies, rather than just guessing.

Do you know how many deaths are "committed" with guns? If you remove from the statistics the people who were killed while engaging in criminal activities, it's around 7,000 per year in the US. That number includes accidental deaths, which are less than 400 per year.

and this is laughable:

"we can then balance appropriately against the limitation of human rights imposed by gun control"

i think a valid human right is the right to life

i think that right pretty much trumps any other right you are alluding to

The right of self-defense is a crucial part of the right to life. The 80 year-old man whose door is broken down by multiple 18 year-old assailants can preserve his right to life with a gun. Without it, he has no chance. (Not a hypothetical, BTW, I'm referring to an actual incident, and there are many similar).