Its not at all unusual these days to read just about any story which includes the magical words “scientists say”. Mostly, these will be stories of impending catastrophe, or backing up some government scheme to separate the electorate from many billions in new taxes.
The most recent is a warning that we face a “Solar Katrina” due to the Sun becoming more active. What prompted this is a solar flare which is the largest in four years.
Yes. You read that right. Four years. Not forty, not four hundred, not four thousand, but four. That is, since 2007.
Since our electronic communications devices didn’t all fry four years ago (that I noticed), I am forced to wonder exactly what prompted this group of illustrious scientific minds to think the current flare worthy of such a dire press release. One has to wonder if it wasn’t motivated by perhaps a desire to see their names in print, or perhaps to try to stir up some panic to help direct research funds their way?
Solar flares, which in turn cause Coronal Mass Ejections (CME) have been known since 1st September, 1859 when an English astronomer, Richard Carrington, observed a large solar flare, which caused a CME to head directly for Earth. It took 18 hours for the storm of highly energetic particles to reach the Earth. When they did, bright Aurora were seen all over the earth and telegraph systems burned out.
Should such an event reoccur (and it will), communications satellites will probably fail, electrical systems will probably fail, and lots of electronics will probably be irreparably damaged – possibly including the electronics in most vehicles.
So calling this a “Katrina” event is vastly understating the issue, and a small flare which caused a CME headed well away from Earth, just has they have done innumerable times since 1859 is hardly unusual. Finding this worthy of a press release seemingly designed to try to incite panic seems at least a little odd. But “scientists” said it, so we are suppose to sit up, take notice and fork over lots of cash for them to research the issue.
This all prompted me to do a quick Google search on the phrase “scientists said”. The results are interesting. In the very recent past, scientists have also told us the following:
- Earth could be hit by an asteroid in 2036.
- Ancient Brits were cannibals.
- Scientists are drowning in a sea of data of their own creation.
- 97% of man-made climate change is real.
- NRA stymies firearms research.
- Using social networking can increase workplace productivity.
- Men with monotonous voices are irresistible.
- Dophins should be treated as people.
- Sex in space is dangerous due to radiation.
- The Sun is behaving strangely.
- Climate Science puts scientist’s credibility at risk.
- La Nina looms.
- Warming threatens state’s coast.
- Gulf oil spill altering food web.
- Dieting does not work.
- US Scientists told to alter findings.
Apparently, scientists say the strangest things.
There’s a little more to the tsunami solar cycle issue than that. It has to do with where the solar system is located within the Sagittarius arm of the Milky Way Galaxy in relation to the arm’s journey around the Great Central Sun of the Milky Way Galaxy (during which we experience ‘seasons’ just like the Earth does while traveling around the Sun each year), the ‘annihilation line, (dead center of the Galactic Equator which as you can imagine is compacted with much more ‘stuff’ than the reaches north or south of the a-line — at galactic ‘equinox’ we would be crossing that line) and the idea that our solar system is currently passing through a photon belt in its journey around said Great Central Sun (cha cha cha). I’m not promoting the 2012, end of the world, end of the Mayan calendar catastrophic theories here, but what some scientists are looking at when they are worried about the upcoming galactic earth cycle is based on what happens in the gap between the end of one cycle and the beginning of a new one, the ‘seasonal’ transition zone (here is a Wiki article about the Hindu version of the ancient wisdom regarding the cycles of galactic earth http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuga) being that place where ancient civilizations in times unrecorded that were perched on mountaintops ended up on what is now the ocean bottom (and other earth change-related causations). And also, solar cycles are about 11 years long and the gap between the last solar cycle and the current one was unusually long. There was a little spate of what scientists said were “impossible” solar eruptions in the “transition zone” between solar cycles while the Sun was at Solar Minimum (the prior cycle had ended). So that may be what they’re alluding to when they’re talking about 2007. They have a bunch of statistics on how fast solar activity is supposed to ramp up to be considered ‘normal’. And while down here on Earth it may be just another sunny day, there are plenty of ancient records around to support the idea that we can regularly expect the planet to go through this giant cosmic car wash so the Earth may be wiped clean, systems reset, and everything starts over fresh.
That having been said, you’re right, we’re expected to believe everything we read and everything they show us. Personally, I don’t. I think it’s all a game. This is the game board we’ve been shown, which is why I’ve created one of my own.