(no subject)

"As democracy is perfected, the office of president
represents, more and more closely, the inner soul
of the people. On some great and glorious day the
plain folks of the land will reach their heart's
desire at last and the White House will be adorned
by a downright moron." --- H.L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

Aaah! We're DOOMED!

So, now even the sun's out to get us.

Giant sunspot, source of solar flares (seven big ones in the last few days), is rotating into view and will be aimed straight at Earth by Monday.

In 1859, solar flares overloaded telegraph lines and caused wide-spread fires.

Or electrical systems are a little better shielded now, though a considerably smaller storm still managed to knock out power in parts of Canada back in 1989.

Expect radio and cell phone disruption, and bad TV reception. (Even if you have cable - since it's delivered by satellite).

Other than that, not much effect, though if you own any telecommunications satellites, you might want to consider turning them off for the next few days.

Now's probably not a good time to visit the International Space Station, either.

And, of course, NASA has a very cool time-lapse movie of what you would see if you were watching from really close to the sun. And, uh, had a really, really dark filter on your spacesuit helmet.