willywhit Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 pats won ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allee Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I spoke to my parents in New Zealand on the weekend and they're still waiting for summer. It was the coldest December in 80 years in Wellington, all the Xmas campers were freezing and it' s still too cold to sit out on the deck without a fleece after 6pm. Apparently they've been told it won't get warm until February. Go figure. We're still drowning in snow out here, it's awesome, but the secret is out - the hills are full of Europeans and East Coasters. The big freeze is coming this weekend too. We're supposed to go up with a group of friends on Sat, the weather forecast is for low of -25C, low of -15C. I might have to invoke the -15 rule ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Little buggers have set up shop in our trombe (passive solar) wall. You can see em through the fiberlass, and the nest is still growing. A few stragglers stray into our house every day. Those little motherf*ckers!!! I freaking HATE yellowjackets. This last summer I had a few start camping out in my doorjamb in my car, I grabbed the detailing spray and let them have it. I hope you beat their asses hard into the ground. Tossing a few into the microwave and letting them die that way, then displaying them where the rest of them will see is always and idea too, strange yes, but it makes for a good warning to the rest of the bastages, in my head anyway . The warm weather over the weekend was welcome, because I was supposed to be picking up my wrangler on friday afternoon, but pickup got delayed until today, meaning that the top-down weather is now gone . Diahreah weather today/tonight followed by more 40-50 degree weather this week. When will the weather make up it's mind!!!!!!!!!!?????? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby Buggs Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Uhhhh, just in case you didnt know we have a resident Board Certified Entomologist as part of our community :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 pats won ! Trip to SoCal anyone??? J-e-t-s Jets Jets Jets S-U-C-K Suck Suck Suck! Nice photo - in the spirit of GF's "F U Heroes"! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I spoke to my parents in New Zealand on the weekend and they're still waiting for summer. It was the coldest December in 80 years in Wellington, all the Xmas campers were freezing and it' s still too cold to sit out on the deck without a fleece after 6pm. Apparently they've been told it won't get warm until February. Go figure.We're still drowning in snow out here, it's awesome, but the secret is out - the hills are full of Europeans and East Coasters. The big freeze is coming this weekend too. We're supposed to go up with a group of friends on Sat, the weather forecast is for low of -25C, low of -15C. I might have to invoke the -15 rule ... Isn't there evidence in the magnetism of the sea-floor spreading near the mid-ocean ridges that the Earth has switched its poles from time to time...maybe this time it's just going to flip over entirely! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Isn't there evidence in the magnetism of the sea-floor spreading near the mid-ocean ridges that the Earth has switched its poles from time to time...maybe this time it's just going to flip over entirely! I've never heard this. Doesn't sound entirely whacko. Curious though... Why should it really affect anything, besides, which way your compass points?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I have new playlist... Couldn't Stand the Weather - SRV Texas Flood - SRV When the Levee Breaks - LZ Like a Hurricane - BD Who'll Stop the Rain - CCR Then tonight I'm gonna rent Bjork's movie and watch her flame out and get hanged. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I've never heard this. Doesn't sound entirely whacko. Curious though... Why should it really affect anything, besides, which way your compass points?? You got it - it just affects a compass. The Earth doesn't really flip over ( ;) ) - but this year anything is possible! It's actually scentific fact. As new crust is created at the mid-ocean ridges it spreads outwards away from the ridge. If you could take a wide rock sample from that crust, the magnetic orientation shifts 180 degrees every so often...of course we are talking geologic time periods here. It would be a bitch to be out on the open ocean in a boat (before GPS / SatNav) at the moment that it happened! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trailertrash Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 6-8 inches at the loaf today... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Uhhhh, just in case you didnt know we have a resident Board Certified Entomologist as part of our community :D 12345 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 You got it - it just affects a compass. The Earth doesn't really flip over ( ;) ) - but this year anything is possible!It's actually scentific fact. As new crust is created at the mid-ocean ridges it spreads outwards away from the ridge. If you could take a wide rock sample from that crust, the magnetic orientation shifts 180 degrees every so often...of course we are talking geologic time periods here. It would be a bitch to be out on the open ocean in a boat (before GPS / SatNav) at the moment that it happened! I'd imagine it slowly gets weaker and weaker (over hundreds and hundreds of years) until it's to the point where it's getting stronger and stronger in the other direction. And I doubt that we'll then call the south pole the north pole... We'll just change what we call them. Who would have thought that your compass could be out of date??? On the plus side, it snowed here too!!!!! Probably 4 or so inches when we left for work this morning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 I'd imagine it slowly gets weaker and weaker (over hundreds and hundreds of years) until it's to the point where it's getting stronger and stronger in the other direction. Who would have thought that your compass could be out of date??? Not really - the change is rather dramatic and sudden. I think last time it happened there was no such thing as a compass though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobdea Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 yup, my understanding is that it happens fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bjvircks Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 very sophisticated computer models verify that this 'flipping' does occur and we apparently are in the early portion of a flip cycle. We may be in deep doo-doo because when the flip is at mid point the earth's magnetosphere field drops to very low levels exposing the earth's surface to high dosages of solar wind radiation. Fortunately for us this season is that the flipping takes thousands of years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wavechaser Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 very sophisticated computer models verify that this 'flipping' does occur and we apparently are in the early portion of a flip cycle. We may be in deep doo-doo because when the flip is at mid point the earth's magnetosphere field drops to very low levels exposing the earth's surface to high dosages of solar wind radiation. Fortunately for us this season is that the flipping takes thousands of years. I respectfully disagree - computer models weren't needed..the proof is in the rocks on the crust of the sea floor being created at the mid-ocean ridges. :) This year the actual ENTIRE planet is flipping upside down (see Allee's post above as proof) which will have the added problem of east becoming west and vice versa. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 very sophisticated computer models verify that this 'flipping' does occur and we apparently are in the early portion of a flip cycle. We may be in deep doo-doo because when the flip is at mid point the earth's magnetosphere field drops to very low levels exposing the earth's surface to high dosages of solar wind radiation. Fortunately for us this season is that the flipping takes thousands of years. If it flipped faster then it would be less radiation. But yeah, I'm not worried about that in my lifetime. And besides, a good SPF30 should take care of that... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave ESPI Posted January 8, 2007 Author Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 So wait, if the earth flips, then the north pole becomes the south pole, and the entire planet rotates and at one point, Albany NY will actualy be the Equatorial like then a minute later will be in the southern hemisphere ? Pardon my geo-retardation, but isn't that impossible ? ir is it just a "magnetic" swap ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 It's just a magnetic swap. Imagine holding a magnet. ONe end is north and the other is south. Then all of a sudden the previously south end is now the north end. The magnet did not move though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 So wait, if the earth flips, then the north pole becomes the south pole, and the entire planet rotates and at one point, Albany NY will actualy be the Equatorial like then a minute later will be in the southern hemisphere ? Pardon my geo-retardation, but isn't that impossible ? ir is it just a "magnetic" swap ? Yep, just a magnetic swap. Nerdy aside... BTW, even geographic north is not well-defined off the earth. One definition says that "north" on other plates / moons / etc is simply "the pole that points no more than 90* differently from our north pole". The other definition, which as a math and astronomy buff I prefer, is that if you look down at the north pole from above, the planet appears to rotate counterclockwise. This definition is more consistent in that under said definition, "suns" of other planets always rise in the east and set in the west (unless you're talking about something such as the moon or Venus, whose revolution periods is not signifigantly longer than is rotational period, when the "sun" may never rise or set at all!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_north Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justin A. Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Yep, just a magnetic swap. Nerdy aside... BTW, even geographic north is not well-defined off the earth. One definition says that "north" on other plates / moons / etc is simply "the pole that points no more than 90* differently from our north pole". The other definition, which as a math and astronomy buff I prefer, is that if you look down at the north pole from above, the planet appears to rotate counterclockwise. This definition is more consistent in that under said definition, "suns" of other planets always rise in the east and set in the west (unless you're talking about something such as the moon or Venus, whose revolution periods is not signifigantly longer than is rotational period, when the "sun" may never rise or set at all!) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_north Then if you want to get really really wierd look at (in all seriousness) Uranus, which rotates on it's side, possibly from a large impact at some point in it's past. I have no idea what astronomers call the north pole of that one... Never mind, after re-reading your post I realize that it would be so that the sun rises in the "east" and sets in the "west". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pebu Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Whichever is most in the direction we think of as normal... Did that confuse you enough?? Getting a little off topic, but I wonder, does the sun (ours, of course) have a north and south pole, etc?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jnshapiro Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 The Earth's magnetic field are created by the rotation of the iron/nickle in the inner core of the planet. Periodically, the rotation changes directions, causing the north and south magnetic poles to shift. No one has a good explanation for how or why yet (at least not the last time I checked the journals about 15 years ago). I imagine that there is a period of extreme turbulence followed by settling out and the direction change. Interestingly enough, there is also magnetic pole drift. The north (and south) magnetic poles are always moving about based on what's going on in the inner core. There's plenty of evidence in the geologic record for this as well. I didn't stay at a Holiday Inn last night, but I did major in Geology. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Getting a little off topic, but I wonder, does the sun (ours, of course) have a north and south pole, etc?? Yes. Read all about it starting at the wikipedia article I linked to above. Anything roughly spherical that rotates on a single axis has a north and a south pole and a defined east and west. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike T Posted January 8, 2007 Report Share Posted January 8, 2007 Then if you want to get really really wierd look at (in all seriousness) Uranus, which rotates on it's side, possibly from a large impact at some point in it's past. I have no idea what astronomers call the north pole of that one...Never mind, after re-reading your post I realize that it would be so that the sun rises in the "east" and sets in the "west". Venus is also interesting... according to the "rotates counterclockwise looking down on north pole" definition, its north pole is pointed in the opposite direction as Earth's and it also takes longer to make a full rotation (it's "day") than it takes it to go around the sun (it's "year"). If this is too OT, stop me... like I said I am an astronomy buff. :o Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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