Beware the solar flare: Did you put on your sunscreen this morning? ;)

Following the biggest solar flare in four years earlier this week, forecasters are warning of unusually high levels of UV radiation today (Friday 18th Feb).

Check out this bad boy...:

In addition they are expecting disruption of GPS systems and Power Lines, so don't be surprised if your trusty Garmin suddenly sends you to Dakar... ;)

In all seriousness though, have you experienced anything today along the lines of the expected disruptions?

Related articles

• Solar flare brings Northern Lights for the next few nights (gadling.com)
• Solar flares herald rare glimpses of northern lights over UK (guardian.co.uk)
• Mega solar flare disrupts communications, GPS (msnbc.msn.com)
• Mega Solar Flare Fuels Earthly Disruption and Light Shows (space.com)
• Sun Shoots Out Massive Solar Flare (weinterrupt.com)
• "Massive solar flare headed towards earth" and related posts (offgridsurvival.com)
• Whopper-Sized Solar Flare Scrambling Earth Communications (cbsnews.com)

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Global Warming - is it all just a load of "hot air"...?

Ok here goes....

POP!!

Did you hear that?? Yup, that was the sound of a can of worms opening as I started typing this post :)
I say this because the term "Global Warming" has of late become a giant can of worms.
There are so many opposing views, opinions, scientific "facts" and dire predictions on the topic, that it becomes quite tiring to even try and make any kind of sense of it all.

Back when the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth" hit the circuit, it certainly made waves on the issue. I for one was quite taken by the content of the film.
Part of me kept saying "... but Al Gore ran for President of the USA - of course he will try to play the Global Warming card to get votes...". Truth is, Al Gore has been concerned with environmental issues since the late 70's. 

Whatever the "truth" is regarding Global Warming, there are really 3 different stances on the issue (in my view).

1. The Believers (sounds a bit scary doesn't it?)
These are the people who have every faith in the words of the pro-Global Warming scientists. They completely buy into the idea that the world will indeed change notably in the next 50 years, and that the environment that we live in is in grave danger of disappearing if we as humans and residents on this planet do not change our wasteful habits.
They rely on data readings of carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, taken over thousands of years of the Earth's history, which reportedly correlate directly to increases in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere. 

2. The Denyers
These people simply ignore the issue, or consider Global Warming to be a non-issue. They believe that the situation is all hype, created by "Big Brother" in order to somehow capitalize on the fear instilled in people. They argue that if any warming is actually occurring, it has happened before (naturally) in the Earth's life cycle, and that we therefore can do nothing about it, so why worry?

3. The "Sun Believers" (sounds like an ancient South American civilization...:)
These people will tell you that it might well be true that the earth is in fact warming up. The reason for this, however is not caused by humans, nor is it caused by greenhouse gases etc. No, the cause is in fact that the Sun itself is warming up. 
As a result, other planets in the Solar System are supposedly also warming up. Global Warming then, is not just an Earthly phenomenon, but in fact a much greater one, that of the Solar System itself. Problem is, the so-called "evidence" of other planets heating up is conflicting at best. I am no Scientist on the issue, but it does not take a very detailed search on the net to work this one out.
In addition, the rate of the increase in the Sun's temperature is not significant enough to cause the kind of climate change that Scientists are reporting.

So there you have it - the mish-mash that is Global Warming.
Personally I am somewhere in the middle on this one. I don't think that it is possible to know the exact truth on the subject until all angles have been properly explored and analysed. 
Theories of today will be disproven tomorrow.
The next day those same theories will be put in question, and so the cycle will continue.

The only way we will ever know the truth is in hindsight - 50 years from now, we will be able to look back and say "Wow they were right!" or maybe "Wow what a scam that was :)".

Who knows?
What's your take? 
 
 

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