5.31.2013

Geomagnetic Storm on May 31-June 1

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> GEOMAGNETIC STORM: An interplanetary shock wave (possibly a CME) hit Earth's magnetic field during the late hours of May 31st, sparking a polar geomagnetic storm. At the time of this alert, a G1-class storm is underway and solar wind conditions favor high-latitude auroras. Check http://spaceweather.com for details and updates.
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> DON'T MISS THE STORM: Would you like a call when geomagnetic storms are in progress? Storm alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
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5.13.2013

Doomsday Preppers

I confess to being a prepper, of sorts.  It started when I was a Y2K consultant.  So when hearing of the Doomsday Prepper show, it sounded interesting.

A Hatfield, of the Hatfield/McCoy blood feud, stars in this show where all manner of survival skills are on display.  And it's great, as far as it goes.  But it is also funny how preparing for their perceived threats dovetails with how they already want to live their lives.

They believe that you need to live in the country, which is where they are anyway.  They believe you need your own chickens, which I can't really argue with, I love my Mom's chickens. They believe that people will kill to get at them and their supplies, which is what their family did to their neighbors for 80 years.  They practice killing people with sharpened steel scrap metal.  They develop weapons that don't require electricity.

Something tells me these Hatfields would be doing all this without the threat of terrorists overtaking the United States.  It seems they are still preparing for their neighbors from the old blood feud to come over the hill and try to kill them again.  They are just putting different labels on the threat. And, of course, immigrants.  They are also afraid of immigrants.  And they are afraid of martial law and that the government will take away their guns.  As if their homemade throwing stars would stop a drone attack.

As an aside, have any of them ever been outside of their woods?  This is one huge country.  How is a terrorist group going to take over?  How would they take over even one block in one small town?  They couldn't.  There's not a country in the world that could do that.

Can we just allow ourselves to be prepared without being insane?  It is OK to want to invent a contraption that spins in water and charges a battery just for the fun of it.  Why not?  The emotional baggage is unnecessary, along with the hate.

Below is an episode of the show.






5.09.2013

Annular Solar Eclipse -- live webcast

Space Weather News for May 9, 2013
> http://spaceweather.com
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> ANNULAR ECLIPSE: On May 10th, the South Pacific sun will turn into a ring of fire as the Moon passes directly in front of the solar disk, producing an annular solar eclipse. At maximum, more than 95% of the sun's diameter will be covered over parts of Australia, eastern Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. Please check http://spaceweather.com for more information, including a live webcast from Cape York, Australia, which begins on May 9th at approximately 5 PM EDT.
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> SOLAR FLARE ALERTS: Would you like a call when solar flares are underway? X-flare alerts are available from http://spaceweathertext.com (text) and http://spaceweatherphone.com (voice).
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