http://dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/tc/story.html?s=v/nm/19990318/tc/britainy2k_1.html

from Reuters' London bureau, no less...

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 18, 1999

Answers

So what the Y2K bug doesn't get, the solar flares, cyberterrorism and chemical terrorism will.

Is that all we have to worry about; or is there more to come? Any earthquakes predicted?

-- Solar (flares,cybert&chemicalterrorism@y2k.com), March 18, 1999.

There is a group of people who think the poles of the earth will shift sometime within the next five years. There's a website: www.zetatalk.com/thub00.htm

They have some good survival stuff too.

-- Helen (sstaten@fullnet.net), March 18, 1999.

This information sounds more apocolyptic than Y2K. Consider what effect El Ninyo and La Ninya (sorry about the spelling) has had, and in measurable form! The scientific community is better able to spot trends like this that will have effects, but like Y2K, the degree of impact is definately uncertain. I'll do my homework on this too, but I'll bet the information is up to snuff.

Now, just try heaping this on your already weary family and friends. If they think we're already loony because of Y2K, THIS is when they make secret phone calls to the institutions to make us a room reservation.

Mr. K
***oh great, what next***

-- Mr. Kennedy (peering@the.sky), March 18, 1999.

I don't care.

-- Linda A. (adahi@muhlon.com), March 18, 1999.

Linda, don't look now....a tornado is coming!!!

Epitaph
To bad Linda didn't care. She'd still be alive if he had. R.I.P.

Mr. K
***who wonders why people post "I don't care" and expect other people to loose sleep over it - lol***

-- Mr. Kennedy (here@home.com), March 18, 1999.

Not pretending to know what Linda was thinking, but if she feels the way I do, maybe she's saying one can handle only so many concerns at a time. Y2K is a definite problem, with a definite deadline, but solar flares and CME's of a magnitude, duration and direction to really damage things here on Earth are mere possibilities, and unlikely ones within our lifetimes to boot.

If anyone's intersted in the straight dope on the temperament and curent condition of our nearest star, hee's the URL for NOAA's Space Environment Center near Boulder, Colorado:

Space Environment Center

-- sparks (wireless@home.com), March 18, 1999.

"Is that all we have to worry about; or is there more to come? "

Don't forget about the worst world economic collapse in 70 years..unless of course, you don't believe that what goes up must come down.

-- a (a@a.a), March 18, 1999.

Notice the difference between the article's headline ( = this thread's title ) and its lead sentence:

A burst of solar flare activity around the millennium could wreak more havoc on satellite systems and power grids than the Year 2000 computer problem, a senior British Y2K planner said Thursday.

more havoc on satellite systems and power grids than the Year 2000 computer problem. Not more havoc overall.

-- No Spam Please (No_Spam_Please@anon_ymous.com), March 19, 1999.

Eleven and a fraction years for each repeat of Solar Max. Did we collapse then? Guess I just missed it, must have been too busy.

Planetary alignments - skipping past terms like synodic period and such, planetary alignments are not uncommon events. Major ones are a bit more rare, 5 planets or more in alignment are scarce. But if you look in a good astronomical handbook, or search the web you can find lists of the more recent ones. If you compare that to the list of major earthquakes found in any good almanac, you find no relation. You see, what we are talking about here are tidal forces. The Sun and the Moon have signifigant effects on the tides, no other celestial body does. While you might get an extra inch or two of displacement from a major planetary alignment, it will not be enough to cause any release of tectonic forces that would not cut loose in a few minutes anyway. And yes, I know about the gravitational focussing theories. Trouble with them is that they will never be tested. Planetary alignments NEVER happen to line everything up like the barrel of a gun, the tilt of the various orbits prevent it from happening that way. Since this is what is assumed by the focussing theories, you will never see that kind of thing occur. Since we do get several of Jupiters moons lining up with Jupiter and the Earth on occasion, you would think they would measure that and consider that a test. After all, Jupiters' moons are quite large, some as large as most of the inner planets. And we don't get higher tides when Jupiters' moons are on this side of Jupiter.

-- Paul Davis (davisp1953@yahoo.com), March 19, 1999.

Thank you, sparks, you saved me a lot of typing. I dealth with this issue at Rick Cowles forum, and didn't want to re-invent the wheel.

73

-- LP (soldog@hotmail.com), March 19, 1999.

ah Paul, you missed the point again. if you had actually gone and read the article you would have noticed that there were no references to 'planetary alignments' earthquakes or any such thing. The article reported specificly on the effects of solar flares on sattelite dependant systems, many of which have come into use *since* the last solar maximum. In other words, you seem to have ignored the entire point of the news article.

Arlin

-- Arlin H. Adams (ahadams@ix.netcom.com), March 19, 1999.