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Cosmic Ray Intensity Reaches Highest Levels In 50 years

Posted by samzenpus on from the start-the-mutations dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A NASA probe found that cosmic ray intensities in 2009 had increased by almost 20 percent beyond anything seen in the past 50 years. Such cosmic rays arise from distant supernova explosions and consist mostly of protons and heavier subatomic particles — just one cosmic ray could disable unlucky satellites or even put a mission to Mars in jeopardy."

26 of 263 comments (clear)

  1. Cosmic Warming? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Clearly we need more energy-efficient stars.

  2. BOFH by xanadu-xtroot.com · · Score: 4, Funny
    BOFH Excuse #98734

    "It's Cosmic Rays mutating the electrons."

    --
    I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
    I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
    1. Re:BOFH by cjfs · · Score: 4, Funny

      It's Cosmic Rays mutating the electrons.

      My 150.00 gold-plated Monster HDMI cable protects against those. It must be something else this time.

    2. Re:BOFH by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      OH YEAH? Well, my $300 gold-plated Monster HDMI cable absorbs them and converts them to audio warmth for a more in tune with the universe sound..

    3. Re:BOFH by Jared555 · · Score: 4, Funny

      My $500 ethernet cable reflects them back at government spy satellites!

    4. Re:BOFH by Krupuk · · Score: 3, Funny

      This amazon article's comments are nearly as good as the Tuscan Milk one's!

  3. putting a mission to Mars in Jeopardy. by FooAtWFU · · Score: 4, Funny

    In this Brian de Palma film, a mission to rescue astronauts stranded on the titular planet finds a hill shaped like a giant face, with alien technology inside.

    --
    The World Wide Web is dying. Soon, we shall have only the Internet.
  4. Oh good grief... by 93+Escort+Wagon · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will the legacy of environmental disaster that was George W. Bush's presidency never end?

    --
    #DeleteChrome
  5. What are the chances? by Ironchew · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cosmic rays damaging electronic equipment? I've been using this computer for years and my RAM is doing just fi

    1. Re:What are the chances? by siddesu · · Score: 4, Funny

      How did you manage to submit half the posting after your RAM was hit by a cosmic ra

    2. Re:What are the chances? by B4light · · Score: 5, Funny

      I don't suppose Candlejack has anything to do wi

    3. Re:What are the chances? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      in the olden days, by crackey we would use the
      NO CARRIER
      joke. you younguns wouldn't even know what a carrier was.
      Now get off my lawn.

    4. Re:What are the chances? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      Meh. No carrier happens when the FBI cuts your phone line. In this case, his computer was hit by a cosmic ray. Totally different joke. Obviously land-mowing don't make you smart.

    5. Re:What are the chances? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      you younguns wouldn't even know what a carrier was.

      A big boat that holds airplanes?

    6. Re:What are the chances? by HockeyPuck · · Score: 4, Funny

      Carrier, two examples that I'm aware of:

      First is the age old joke:

      Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to
      avoid collision.

      Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the
      North to avoid a collision.

      Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15
      degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

      Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again,
      divert YOUR course.

      Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

      Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND
      LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE
      ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS
      SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES
      NORTH--I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH--OR
      COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

      Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

      Second in the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy..

      Use Carrier in a sentence..

      "My girlfriend was so drunk she couldn't walk home, so I had to carrier."

    7. Re:What are the chances? by Dogtanian · · Score: 2, Funny

      Cosmic rays damaging electronic equipment? I've been using this computer for years and my RAM is doing just fi

      How did you manage to submit half the posting after your RAM was hit by a cosmic ra

      He didn't- what he originally typed was

      "Help, my RAM is being corrupted up by cosmic rays."

      Which just goes to prove his point!

      By the way, I'm having the same problems with random-but-oddly-coincidental data corruption so if you see anything odd with this message DISREgarD th4T i 5UCk c0CKS. Thank you.

      --
      "Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
  6. Re:global cooling by brentonboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yay! This is our chance to use up all the fossil fuels real quick-like and then by the time the cold spell is over we'll all be using nuclear and solar panels.

  7. *rimshot* by Valdrax · · Score: 4, Funny

    FYI. Cosmic rays have been known to cause bit-flips in RAM.

    But the odds are astronomical.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
  8. Re:WTF??? by Yvan256 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Not only that, but where's the proof that humankind survived?

  9. Re:Why it's more dangerous. by MachDelta · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it's like the difference between being hit by a car going 1mph and one going 100,000,000,000,000,000mph? Am I doing these car analogy things right?

  10. Bring on the mutants by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 2, Funny

    Let's hear it for cosmic rays. We need something to kick evolution into gear. Things seem to have been at a standstill lately.

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  11. Re:Why it's more dangerous. by ignavus · · Score: 4, Funny

    So it's like the difference between being hit by a car going 1mph and one going 100,000,000,000,000,000mph? Am I doing these car analogy things right?

    But the cars are very tiny.

    --
    I am anarch of all I survey.
  12. Re:global cooling by elthicko · · Score: 2, Funny

    Maybe it's those bastards doing warp 10 around the sun causing all the problems. If only we could reverse the polarity on the main deflector to radiate a tachyon pulse directly into the sun. That oughta solve any problem we come across.

  13. Your Universal WX forecast by SpaceLifeForm · · Score: 2, Funny

    Mostly clear with scattered cosmic rays, some heavy. Temperature near steady at 3K. Stellar winds light and variable except near stars.

    --
    You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
  14. Closing Bugs by Mike610544 · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm totally going to clear out my Bugzilla queue tomorrow:

    Bug 13272: Memory leak in widget_process_task()
    RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays
    Bug 11207: Database corrupted by invalid user input
    RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays
    Bug 12304: "if (A = B)" in the code where clearly "if (A == B)" was intended
    RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays

    --
    ... also, I can kill you with my brain.
  15. Re:Why it's more dangerous. by Anne+Thwacks · · Score: 5, Funny

    its like being hit by a library of congress instead of a car.

    --
    Sent from my ASR33 using ASCII