Magnetised solar flares and the Mayan Apocalypse

[Da Orky Man]

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed with disturbing thoughts.
You know how scientists say that the sun could send out a pulse of magnetic radiation at any time, and that that pulse of radiation would eliminate all digitally recorded media?
You know what would happen? All of your game saves would be eliminated.
All of your games would be eliminated.
All of your crucial files would be eliminated.
All of everyone's crucial files would be eliminated.
Any company that keeps important data on digital storage (i.e. ALL OF THEM) would lose the files that keep them running.
All official government records of every person in the world would cease to exist.
Therefore, legally, nobody exists.
So here's the fallot: all businesses are bankrupt, all currency flops, everyone is exempt from law, CHAOS, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
And you know how non-scientists say the Mayans predict the end of the world will occur on December the 21st of 2012?
Yeah, there's a connection there.

No, there isn't. First, backups. Every back, every stock exchange, every company that uses large-scale digital storage keeps a backup under shielded protection. And that's only if they use magnetic storage. Solid-state, such as that uses in memory sticks, won't be harmed a bit.

And there's the Earth's magnetic field. It tewnds to stop any and all particle radiation being hurled at us. This 'magnetic radiation' you speak of doesn't exist. Sure, electormagnetic radiation does, but that's completely different. Solar flares are essentially huge waves of particle radiation that only really affects satellites in orbit.

 

[bladester1]

On the bright side if this would happen, I no longer have to pay my student loans!

 

[darksakul]

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed with disturbing thoughts.
You know how scientists say that the sun could send out a pulse of magnetic radiation at any time, and that that pulse of radiation would eliminate all digitally recorded media?
You know what would happen? All of your game saves would be eliminated.
All of your games would be eliminated.
All of your crucial files would be eliminated.
All of everyone's crucial files would be eliminated.
Any company that keeps important data on digital storage (i.e. ALL OF THEM) would lose the files that keep them running.
All official government records of every person in the world would cease to exist.
Therefore, legally, nobody exists.
So here's the fallot: all businesses are bankrupt, all currency flops, everyone is exempt from law, CHAOS, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
And you know how non-scientists say the Mayans predict the end of the world will occur on December the 21st of 2012?
Yeah, there's a connection there.

I am going to say, try harder.

Most offical records still have paper copies of documents for just in the case of computer failure. Everything from your bank account to your Social Security Number to your medical records do exist as a paper copy. If computers do go down there also many redundant back ups.

You are also assuming a class of Solar Flare that has been never seen in resent history is going to strike the earth by the 21 of December 2012.

 

[Saltyk]

So, why do I keep paying my mortgage and such? I mean at the end of the year all such records will be eliminated, right? I should just stop wasting my time with that nonsense. Thanks for the information!

 

[Thepistolman1234]

Such radiation is CONSTANTLY hitting the Earth, how many Physics lessons have you had?
The Earth has a magnetic field, and aforementioned field stops this from affecting anything and moves it to the poles, creating - The Aurora Borealis and The Aurora Australis.

 

[C F]

Okay, I triple-checked the posts made, and the official NASA.gov site, and I'm pretty sure I'm both correct and FIRST in pointing out that exactly what OP is worried about happened early last week. Seriously.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/News012312-M8.7.html
And I quote: "The coronal mass ejection CME collided with Earth's magnetic field a little after 10 AM ET on January 24, 2012. NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center has categorized the resulting storm as "strong" -- or S3 (with S5 being the highest) -- storm."
Yeah, we were okay after that one, so, no big deal for now. My only real concern is how common the S4/S5 CMEs are.

I'm also going to point out an excerpt from your article.

"Solar radiation storms can affect satellite operations and short wave radio propagation, but cannot harm humans on Earth."

Atmosphere, suckers. Everybody seems to forget what our big blue ball is actually capable of. There's a reason we're the only planet (we know of) with life as complex as ours.

 

[Dwarfman]

Except for the fact that such solar flares have happened many times before without humanity descending into chaos. Nice try though.

Daaaawwww...I had my deck chair and popcorn already ready and waiting for the chaos, doom and impending self frivolity caused by the 'solar flare apocalypse'. Man what a bummer...

...starts eating popcorn...

...want some?

 

[Double A]

Hard records exist and you're being irrational. In fact, there are so many hard records that there are petitions going on to get everything digitized.

For the three hundredth time, the Mayan apocalypse was something that wasn't hypothesized until recently. The Mayan calendar ended, yes, but that was more because the Mayans didn't want to make a calendar that would last for infinity than they were predicting the end of the world.

More data:
Mayans as a civilization are gone, they were obviously not right about everything.
People have been predicting the end of the world since humans evolved, any prediction is a load of bullshit.
You're acting irrational, and panicking is an awful way to deal with anything.

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed with disturbing thoughts.
You know how scientists say that the sun could send out a pulse of magnetic radiation at any time, and that that pulse of radiation would eliminate all digitally recorded media?
You know what would happen? All of your game saves would be eliminated.
All of your games would be eliminated.
All of your crucial files would be eliminated.
All of everyone's crucial files would be eliminated.
Any company that keeps important data on digital storage (i.e. ALL OF THEM) would lose the files that keep them running.
All official government records of every person in the world would cease to exist.
Therefore, legally, nobody exists.
So here's the fallot: all businesses are bankrupt, all currency flops, everyone is exempt from law, CHAOS, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
And you know how non-scientists say the Mayans predict the end of the world will occur on December the 21st of 2012?
Yeah, there's a connection there.

No. Just no. This is absurd.

TWC?

 

[Griffolion]

My hard drive fried itself last week, so I already have a small taste of what is to come...

Damn, that's harsh. I mean, how did it turn the gas one, get the pan out of the cupboard and actually get itself in there? Did it use sunflower or olive oil?

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

Solar flares or sun spots happen all the time. They only temporarily short things out. The atmosphere is a shield against those solar flares, and said solar flares are not powerful enough to have an EMP effect on technology or to significantly burn the surface of the Earth.

 

[him over there]

While it is true that the sun has always sent out the solar winds and they legitimately can hurt satellites and that 2013 is the predicted high point of the sun's life cycle when solar flares will be strongest it is still highly doubtful it will have apocalyptic consequences.

 

[Double A]

Hard records exist and you're being irrational. In fact, there are so many hard records that there are petitions going on to get everything digitized.

For the three hundredth time, the Mayan apocalypse was something that wasn't hypothesized until recently. The Mayan calendar ended, yes, but that was more because the Mayans didn't want to make a calendar that would last for infinity than they were predicting the end of the world.

More data:
Mayans as a civilization are gone, they were obviously not right about everything.
People have been predicting the end of the world since humans evolved, any prediction is a load of bullshit.
You're acting irrational, and panicking is an awful way to deal with anything.

Last night, I was tossing and turning in bed with disturbing thoughts.
You know how scientists say that the sun could send out a pulse of magnetic radiation at any time, and that that pulse of radiation would eliminate all digitally recorded media?
You know what would happen? All of your game saves would be eliminated.
All of your games would be eliminated.
All of your crucial files would be eliminated.
All of everyone's crucial files would be eliminated.
Any company that keeps important data on digital storage (i.e. ALL OF THEM) would lose the files that keep them running.
All official government records of every person in the world would cease to exist.
Therefore, legally, nobody exists.
So here's the fallot: all businesses are bankrupt, all currency flops, everyone is exempt from law, CHAOS, DEATH AND DESTRUCTION.
And you know how non-scientists say the Mayans predict the end of the world will occur on December the 21st of 2012?
Yeah, there's a connection there.

No. Just no. This is absurd.

TWC?

Yeah. But i'm banned because of the whole tony88-ponti affair.

That certainly sucks. Did you try the org or CFC? The Escapist isn't nearly as tight-knit as TWC. I know like 4 people.

 

[snagli]

Yeah, ok, there is a thing called Electromagnetic Shielding, and that's designed to defend against stuff like this (and stuff like this is unlikely since we already have our dear Earth shielding us), there are giant underground vaults that are protected in case a power fallout happens. Hell, my computer case has shielding cages layered inside it (don't ask). Second, the sun does this stuff, it has been doing it for ages. Every 11 years or so it gets more active, and solar flares occur more often. Thirdly, a solar flare would have to be really, REALLY powerful to break through the electromagnetic field and hit everything on the planet in one big go.

I would be spooked if the place with my Steam saves would be hit, though.

 

[Kud]

My hard drive fried itself last week, so I already have a small taste of what is to come...

Damn, that's harsh. I mean, how did it turn the gas one, get the pan out of the cupboard and actually get itself in there? Did it use sunflower or olive oil?

I honestly have no idea, but it was delicious. It almost makes all that lost data worth it.

 

[I.N.producer]

I thought everyone knew the solar flares were a smokescreen for the impending zombie apocalypse. The radiation reactivates latent reanimatory enzymes, raising the dead and making me remember to be less sarcastic while disagreeing with wild doomsday theories.

There is no Mayan doomsday, it's a calendar. Just like New Year's Day doesn't mean everyone dies.

Regarding the solar flares, there's an 11-year solar cycle where the Sun becomes more and less active. An 11-year cycle. Meaning there have been solar flares of the upcoming magnitude since the invention of our modern hard drives. There was no threat before, and no threat now.

The main effect we will likely notice from the flares will be the auroras being visible further from the poles. Granted, most of my knowledge of this comes from a brief trip to Wikipedia, so I could easily be wrong.