* Posts by kar98sniper

1 publicly visible post • joined 12 Nov 2011

NASA: 2012 solar flares could DEVASTATE CITIES!

kar98sniper
FAIL

Is this a joke?

The author has clearly bought into the sensationalism (maybe to get more views) regarding solar flares and "DOOM." Even if every satellite gets knocked out of the sky and every chip gets fried on earth, it's not going to kill everyone in planes or ships. Every commercial Boeing aircraft has a full hydraulic backup for the control surfaces, so even in a complete electronics failure the pilot can still land safely. That's not to mention the thousands upon thousands of smaller aircraft which are controlled by cables attached to the yolk... In addition, every air and sea captain worth their salt/wings can navigate if their electronic systems fail. Control Towers and aircraft have light-guns/maps/E6-B's and ships have lighthouses/maps/Sextants.

More realistically, if only the satellites go offline for GPS and other telecommunication, there is still the LORAN system and its offspring that can be rapidly put back into service (see: flip the "on" switch)

Not to mention many amateur radio systems still use old tubes which are far more impervious to a little burst of radiation than the transistor.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Map

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lighthouse

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_light_signals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_flight_control_system

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sextant

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E6B

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LORAN

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_tube

Is it really hard to do a bit of research before such grandiose claims of gloom and doom (and the inability to prevent it) are made?