Another Doomsday Prediction

[cousinlucky]

As I was reading this article I could envision LinuxForums TechieMoe shouting at the guy.

Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe - space - 23 March 2009 - New Scientist

[rokytnji]

Mayan Book of Prophocies

THE BOOK OF CHILAM BALAM OF CHUMAYEL

Chilam Balam Index

[questio verum]

As I was reading this article I could envision LinuxForums TechieMoe shouting at the guy.

Space storm alert: 90 seconds from catastrophe - space - 23 March 2009 - New Scientist

Cousinlucky,
While this *could* happen, it's not at the top of the list of things likely to wipe out the human species. That honor still belongs to death by nuclear holocaust. Extinction by asteroid, meteor, or comet impact holds a distant second. The spooky part about impact death is, any celestial body that would hit us would likely be traveling at such a high rate of speed that our instruments wouldn't pick it up until seconds before impact. Asteroids are the biggest exception to that likelihood. They generally travel slower. A massive gamma ray burst is another planet killer. Gamma ray bursts of the magnitude that would kill all life on earth are usually the result of a nearby star going supernova. We got a preview of this, back in 1054 in the sector of space where the crab nebula resides. This supernova was observable by the naked eye. In fact it lit up the night sky over Asia and the middle east to the degree that it was bright as the noonday sun. Fortunately, the supernova wasn't close enough to wipe us out. BTW, on subject of your original post... Solar flares and sunspots *can* pose serious threats, it's just that they're not likely. Solar storms have raised hell with electrical distribution grids in the past, and they can do it again. Mega Volcanoes, such as the one below Yellowstone National Park are another serious threat. If you'd like to read up on this stuff, lay your hands on a copy of Phillip Platts "Death From The Skies" It's an fascinating read.

Mayan Book of Prophocies

THE BOOK OF CHILAM BALAM OF CHUMAYEL

Chilam Balam Index

Sorry Roky... this one is absolute fiction. An entertaining fiction, but a fiction nonethelless.

[rokytnji]

Sorry Roky... this one is absolute fiction. An entertaining fiction, but a fiction nonethelless.

Durn it. I was Bamboozled.

[MikeTbob]

I think the Nuclear Holocaust is overblown and will never happen. I think if we do have a Nuclear event, it will probably just be a localized event that would obliterate/contaminate the area where it is detonated. But I do think Gamma rays, Super Volcanoes and Meteors/asteroids/comets are a far greater danger, we have evidence of them and they have left their mark on our planet already. These are some of my favorite readings. Imagine if either one of these events were to happen in modern times. It would be a major disaster.

Krakatoa - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

about 13,000 times the yield of the Little Boy bomb (13 to 16 KT) that devastated Hiroshima, Japan during World War II

Chicxulub crater - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The impact associated with the crater is implicated in causing the extinction of the dinosaurs as suggested by the K–T boundary, although some critics argue that the impact was not the sole reason

[cousinlucky]

When I open my eyes from sleeping I think to myself " Well New York is still here so I have to get up and do what I have to do. " At my age everything becomes a " so what of it " sort of thing.

I have to worry about speeding cars being driven by people full of drugs and/or liquor. I have to worry about wild young Neanderthal's roaming the streets carrying pistols just itching to shoot anybody. I have to worry about the supermarket selling spoiled or outdated food.

Concerns are relative; no one can prevent a disaster brought on by nature. If one happens everyone still alive just has to learn how to deal with it.

As a young child I remember no electricity at times. I remember snow deluged streets impassable for two weeks or longer. I have never been in a serious earthquake or a tornado but they can happen anywhere at any time.

Life is not a bed of roses for everybody. There is just not any need, in my humble estimation, to spend countless hours going nuts over all of the bad things that could possibly happen to humanity.

[Dapper Dan]

I've been reading a lot about the Yellowstone super volcano and its potential eruption and aftermath are seriously disconcerting. It blows on average every 600,000 years. The last time it blew was 640,000 years ago so it is overdue. Scientists who keep up with it seem to believe the chamber below the caldera does not contain magma at the temperatures needed for a super eruption and don't feel there is any danger in the immediate future, but that is exactly what was believed in the weeks prior to the Krakatoa event. I'd like to think our modern day scientists know a lot more about these things than the scientists of the late 1800's but still... it is a cause for legitimate concern. At least it is to me.

[elija]

I'm of the opinion that you can do nothing about these things so there is no point worrying about them. If they happen then they happen. If they don't, then they don't.

[questio verum]

Mike...

Krakatoa was, no doubt, one bad-ass volcanic explosion. Three peaked vents fed by one massive magma chamber. And not just any magma chamber, but a magma chamber containing two very different and, together, extremely volatile and toxic mixes of magma. An explosive force that blew the tops off two of the peaks, turned their remaining structures into heated underwater canyons, and dropped the third peak 1000 feet below the oceans surface. A force that wiped out anything within a 100 mile radius within a sparse few minutes. The fact that Krakatoa sat atop a huge convergence in the earths magma currents as well as a convergence site for some of earths shifting tectonic plates added up to make this a climate-changing event. But it wasn't the most violent ever. 60,000 years ago, near the Krakatoa site, there was an explosion that would have make Krakatoa appear mild by comparison. And shifting the other direction on the timeline, Krakatoa is making rumblings again, and volcanologists assert that Krakatoa is now capable of violent eruption again. One that could blacken the sky and shift the earths climate patterns dangerously close to a new ice age. Oh, and a tsunami eclipsing the 2004 Asian tsunami would accompany this event. Yeah... Krakatoa undoubtedly deserves our respect and attention.

But, I disagree with your assessment that nuclear holocaust is all but off the radar. The players and triggers have changed, but the potential for devastation remains. Russia and the US have come a long way, but look at all the other players who've joined the game. And look at the destabilizing forces within global politics today. There are still old cold war mechanisms in place that would respond to a manually launched renegade warhead just as the opposition's first strike would have been answered 20 years ago.


qv

[questio verum]

I'm of the opinion that you can do nothing about these things so there is no point worrying about them. If they happen then they happen. If they don't, then they don't.

I'm surprised to hear this from you Elija. I would agree that to investigate and recount the litany of possible extinction scenarios simply for amusement would be childish and futile. But there is another, very good reason for focusing on these topics and sharing them with intelligent fellow passengers of spaceship earth... and that is to develop survival responses.

It would be a damned shame for our species to have come this far, only to stand at the edge of the chasm separating infinite possibility from oblivion and proclaim that we choose the abyss because to confront the ugly possibilities makes us uncomfortable, or requires too much mental tenacity. I think that in spite of our flaws as a species, we deserve better.


qv