The Car Conundrum if We Lose Power

I've seen a lot of internet chat lately regarding concerns whether modern cars would continue to function after a massive solar storm.  

If an event similar to the 1859 Carrington Event were to occur today, it is hard to predict how much damage it would do to our daily lives.  In 1859, society's impact was very isolated, mostly just a lot of curiosity owing to the immense area and brightness of the auroras.  At that time, the telegraph was the most technologically affected system.  The communication systems and operators experienced sparks and flames coming from the equipment.  

Today's society is much different, though.  We have become so dependent upon the technology which has seeped in to every aspect of our lives (home, work, and personal).  The power grids?  They are protected by the copper grounding wires which are being stripped by immoral and dishonest thieves.  Would they fail or manage to hold together with a massive surge in energy?  We buy gas with a credit card - which requires satellite transmissions  We use the GPS on our phones and in our cars - again, satellite transmissions. We watch television which is powered by the power grid.  We drink water brought to our apartments by water companies powered by the grid and taken away by sewage companies again powered by the grid.  We depend on truckers to transport our fresh fruit from states and countries far outside our reach.  Want a McDonald's cheeseburger?  Think again, Ronald don't work in dark restaurants.

There are so many unknowns in this scenario.

So, what is my advice on buying a car in case of a solar flare?

1.  If you buy a modern vehicle, especially an electrical model - there is a risk of fire or wire malfunction - with or without a CME.  

2.  If you buy an older vehicle to fix it up, do it as a hobby.  Why put so much time and money into something that may only end up leaving you stranded?  

3.  Along with point #2 - you must still consider the fuel consumption if rebuilding an older vehicle.  You don't want to build a car that guzzles gas.  If the gas pumps aren't running (because they, like everything else, don't work without the power grids), you would still want a conservative car.   

The moral of the story - it's all a conundrum.  There are so many what-if's in this scenario and it may or may not happen in our lifetime.  So my advice?  Prepare yourself and your family just in case something should happen.  Worry more about the necessities (food, water, protection, and a plan) than buying new cars or building cement bunkers.  This isn't just a good idea for the solar flare fanatics (though I might be considered one since I did write a novel about the post-solar flare world).  This is a good idea for everyone since natural disasters happen all the time across the globe.  It's just common sense.  

Now go get some water and non-perishable foods to get you and your family started.  

What is going on with the Sun?

The Sun is currently in a solar maximum, a condition that occurs every 11 years where the Sun experiences a lot of sunspot activity.  However, scientists are baffled at the blemish free appearance of the sun leading some to speculate that we may be in store for a 'twin peak' maximum cycle.  If these sunspots throw flares at our beautiful blue orb, we could be in for some disruptions.  Only time will tell.  For now, we will keep our eyes to the sky.  

M Class flare & huge CME on May 22

M Class flare followed by a huge CME (coronal mass ejection) on May 22.  Beautiful video!

Massive Solar Flare Expectations

How can we prepare for solar flares?  How do we know what to expect if a massive flare is headed for our beautiful blue planet?  We can learn from the history of the Carrington Event.  A normal solar flare takes a few days to reach the earth, however, during the 1859 event it reached our planet in a mere 18 hours.  If a similar event were to occur today, the earths magnetic field would be unable to catch all the particles.  This would result in an aurora that would no longer just be isolated to the poles and there may be auroras over the United States and the Caribbean.  Most of us would probably just see this as a fascinating display of color and beauty, however, we would be directly impacted if our electronics were stopped by this event.  What do you think would happen if such a huge event would cause power grid outages that would last years?  Would we be able to survive or do you think that mass chaos would break out?  

Large asteroid headed our way? Pray says NASA

That's about all the United States - or anyone for that matter - could do at this point about unknown asteroids and meteors that may be on a collision course with Earth, Bolden told lawmakers at a U.S. House of Representatives Science Committee hearing on Tuesday. 

An asteroid estimated to be have been about 55 feet (17 meters) in diameter exploded on Feb. 15 over Chelyabinsk, Russia, generating shock waves that shattered windows and damaged buildings. More than 1,500 people were injured.

Later that day, a larger, unrelated asteroid discovered last year passed about 17,200 miles (27,681 km) from Earth, closer than the network of television and weather satellites that ring the planet. 

The events "serve as evidence that we live in an active solar system with potentially hazardous objects passing through our neighborhood with surprising frequency," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson, a Texas Democrat. 

"We were fortunate that the events of last month were simply an interesting coincidence rather than a catastrophe," said Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican, who called the hearing to learn what is being done and how much money is needed to better protect the planet. 

Nasa has found and is tracking about 95 percent of the largest objects flying near Earth, those that are .62 miles (1 km) or larger in diameter. 

"An asteroid of that size, a kilometer or bigger, could plausibly end civilization," White House science advisor John Holdren told legislators at the same hearing. 

But only about 10 percent of an estimated 10,000 potential "city-killer" asteroids, those with a diameter of about 165 feet (50 meters) have been found, Holdren added. 

On average, objects of that size are estimated to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years. 

"From the information we have, we don't know of an asteroid that will threaten the population of the United States," Bolden said. "But if it's coming in three weeks, pray." 

In addition to stepping up its monitoring efforts and building international partnerships, Nasa is looking at developing technologies to divert an object that may be on a collision course with Earth. 

"The odds of a near-Earth object strike causing massive casualties and destruction of infrastructure are very small, but the potential consequences of such an event are so large it makes sense to takes the risk seriously," Holdren said. 

About 66 million years ago, an object 6 miles (10 km) in diameter is believed to have smashed into what is now the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, leading to the demise of the dinosaurs, as well as most plant and animal life on Earth. 

The asteroid that exploded over Russia last month was the largest object to hit Earth's atmosphere since the 1908 Tunguska event when an asteroid or comet exploded over Siberia, leveling 80 million trees over more than 830 square miles (2,150 sq km).

Reuters

A Writer's Rituals

Writer’s Pre-Game Rituals

A fan recently asked me how I was able to ‘get so deeply into the world of my characters’.  My answer, of course, was that my characters live in their own world and I simply visit them before returning to report what I’ve seen.

While that is true, for the most part, I feel that I owe her more than that simple answer.  It is true that I don’t make up the stories and that I’m merely an ethereal spectator to them.  It is also true that my characters live out their lives on the other side of my imagination’s door where I can hear them whispering and plotting against me.  If I don’t visit them often enough, then they move furniture loudly enough to keep me up at night and, if I visit them too often, they move the furniture in front of the door to block me out.

So, the question is probably better stated, how do I become a voyeur into the lives of my characters without influencing their behaviors?  Well, I’d like to say it was simply the quality of the whisky, but it has always been much more than that for me.  There is a ritual that I must follow to relax enough to go from story teller to transcriptionist.  Some might consider it as some ceremonial ‘Pre-Game Writing Ritual’, like a fighter who punches the same bags to warm up before the fight—jab, jab, upper cut.  Others might think of it as a form of visualization, like a receiver picturing the ball soaring over his shoulder.  Whatever it might be described as, I know that I have to relax enough to control the game without letting the game control me.  No matter if I’m at my desk at home or in a hotel or on a berm in Iraq, I try to follow some generic form of this ritual and, if I don’t, then I inevitably find myself ready to write, but still waiting to be let through that door into the world of my characters.

What constitutes that ritual doesn’t seem to matter as much as the actual process of relaxing and allowing my characters to unlock the door and waiting for them to wave me inside.  If I’m at home and sitting comfortably before my writing desk with bottles of whisky aplenty, my ritual consists of tall glasses, warm candles, and classic Floyd.  If I’m dead sober in the cockpit of my helicopter at night in hostile territory (where I wrote the majority of my first novel), then my ritual is simply to let the pen write what it can between listening to radio calls and watching the world around me.  But, no matter where I might be, the meat of my ritual is to take a quiet moment to forget myself and let the characters come to the door on their own.  I don’t try to control them or mandate their movements as I am simply a visitor to their world and, in return, I can only hope that they will ignore me and play as they might if I were not there.

So, to answer the question of how I get through that door, you must imagine yourself as I see the world of literary creation.  While I know all authors are different, this is how I picture it:

I close my eyes and ignore the world around me.  I feel my breathing slow and my chest rising with each breath getting deeper.  I knock on creativity’s door and wait as the characters of a hundred stories scurry behind it.  Their whispers seem to filter under the door, some beg for the door to open while others demand it barred shut.  I pray that they will let me in and won’t seclude me from their lives.  Sometimes they do lock me out, but I can only consider myself blessed on those few days that they actually open the door and play out their tales before me.  When they do, I type what I see and hope that the reality of the world doesn’t distract me from the feel of my fingertips bouncing against the keys as I watch and listen like a visitor to the zoo’s greatest attractions.  They talk, they fight, they love, and they throw poop at each other as I watch and transcribe their movements to paper.

Maybe one day I will be able to trap one of my characters and hold them long enough to interrogate.  I will try to get the information without resorting to waterboarding, but the truth is that I’ve been waterboarded myself and didn’t find it all that scary. 

Until I capture a character and force it to do my work as a novelist, I will continue to resort to relaxing and waiting at their front door.  Oh, and enjoying a few sips of that lovely liquid—whisky.

Solar Flare Headed to Mars

A solar flare is headed for Mars, resulting in the Curiosity rover needing to be powered down.  Curiosity's little brother, Opportunity, is still functioning as normal on the red planet.  Unfortunately, Curiosity won't be able to sample the level of solar particles or retrieve a sample of the radiation that the solar flare is throwing at the planet.