When Everybody Starts To Sound Like Vault-Co, It's Time To Worry

They keep lifting the bar. Originally the worst that might happen was it would knock out Playstations and interfere with vending machines.

Now it's a "Solar Katrina." Will they wait until the first real flare hits before they admit that indeed, it appears the Sun is capable of doing more damage than merely affecting electronics equipment? How about causing magnetic reversal and blowing off our shield against cosmic radiation for a couple hours/decades?

By the way, I've read a few articles recently insisting that the cosmic shield doesn't really protect us from radiation in outer space and if it vanishes, there will only be a greater chance of sunburn and a higher cancer rate. I want you to use your own judgement and decide if that is a realistic appraisal of the risk involved or not. Remember, at least half the common fungi and molds on earth are radiophiles, apparently evolved over billions of years to tolerate thousands of rads an hour. What situation could have possibly produced this kind of adaptation in the majority of all single and simple celled organisms on Earth?

The Neanderthal skeleton that used to be on display in the front hall of the British Museum of Natural History was suffering from terrible rickets due to Vitamin D deficiency. It stunted his growth, put a hump in his back and bowed his legs. This man had apparently lived underground for his entire life without seeing the sun. What could conditions have possibly been like aboveground that he was forced to survive his entire life in a deep cave below the surface?

If you just pay attention, guides to the real history of this planet are all around us and hardwired into human nature itself. This planet undergoes magnetic reversals and excursions regularly every 11,500 years without fail. Guess how long ago the last one was?