Magnetic North Shift

[hummingway]

Here's a nice explanation for those entertained by such things:

Earth's Inconstant Magnetic Field - NASA Science

[Bergovoy]

Originally Posted by bewitched

HowStuffWorks "Why does the North Pole move?"

great article.. short an sweet and in plain english..

thanks for the link

[IceDog]

Senormechanico said:

"If you really want to help mommy earth, hold your breath as long as you can.
You're breathing out CO2, that horrible "greenhouse gas" "

People breathing out CO2 is one part of the carbon cycle and it is offset by plants taking in CO2 and releasing oxygen. The carbon in our bodies came from plants in one way or another. When we breathe, we are returning the carbon to the next generation of plants.

Underground housing has nothing to do with wind resistance. By building below the frost line, one can capture the thermal constant of the earth at around 60 degrees F, and not require a building heating system, reducing the life cycle costs and improving the environmental footprint of the building.

[John A]

Thanks bewitched and hummingway. Great links!

[Bergovoy]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

With massive human over population, climate change in all of its forms, the loss of a huge percentage of the Earth's available ground water, dying out of most of the coral reefs, rising seas and disappearing shorelines, displaced populations... NOW THIS!

It rings true, I suppose that frequent deviation corrections are in order?

I for one, plan to tread as lightly as I can, but see as much as possible of the still beautiful planet that we live on...

Mark

not sure if you are being sincere or not, and it really doesnt matter as my response isnt directed at you...


my question would be.. how many ants on an elephant would it take to be fatal to the elephant?

you can take all the people on the earth and fit them into texas, (damn, what a great way to get back at texas!)

all the people would fit int texas and they would all have about a 100 sf

certainly not comfortable, but the point is there arent an abundance of people on this earth.

also remember that there is a 25% to 75% land mass .. meaning there is way more water then land... so, even if there was so many people that it filled al the land surfaces, that would still leave 300 % more space left on the planet for people...

dont misinterpret my points... as i do agree that we need to tread lightly and when it comes to not understanding what we are doing and or how it affect us and the planet that we shouldnt beindescrimante damage...

there is little to no chance that we can do serious damage to the earth.. short of nuclear use and destruction, I am very sure that whatever we do will and can be repaired by the earth, but in the meantime we may have to endure issues we would not and should not have to figure out
I am fairly certain that the earth has encountered and endurred serious issues in the pas... and will be in the future

i do believe there is a balance and if and when we go oaver the limits of that balance that bad things will happen, but htearth will rebound, and then aftger that, so shall we... or not... maybe life on this planet will be whitout mankind... kinda like what happened when the diosaurs too over... hhehehehe

my other tidbit is ...

we are concerened with deforestation.. but again, if there is 25% land to 75% water, then there is no way we could cut down every tree and if we did, it would have the smallest of affect on the planet...

most of the air/oxygen created is coming from algae... and other ocean plant life...

i truly believe that when we choose to understand algaes that it will be a eureka moment...algaes will be food, and end world hunger, it will be a fuel soruce and become medicnes...

we can burn all the beets and corns and whatever other ethanol flex fuel, and it wont matter compared to the sources

And as for pure speculation and unfounded science guesses go.. I believe the magnet swap is part of teh 2012 prophacies that are foretold in teh incan calendars...

btw: to bring this back onto sailing topics.. i would like to convert my diesel into flex fuel and run diesel and recycled french fry grease...

[SaucySailoress]

Boy, is that thing still on the move? It had already started back in the eighties when I was at school...

Seriously though, who uses a compass to steer a course? I use it to hold a course, but first I steer by the GPS, and only then take a compass course. I used to like steering by the starts - until a voyage to Bahrain, where I forgot to check my compass, and ended up heading toward Saudi ..... so long as the compass can stay in place longer than the stars....

Life is just so much easier now with the GPS to bring us back on track when we drift aw........

[bewitched]

I think most people steer by compass - if not the wobbly one in front of the wheel, then the fluxgate one that is hooked up to the autolpilot. It too follows that wandering little fella

[IceDog]

my question would be.. how many ants on an elephant would it take to be fatal to the elephant?

Elephants are smart enough not to mess with the mighty ant

Elephants are strong enough to bulldoze entire trees and you might think that there can be no defence against such brute strength. But an elephant’s large size and tough hide afford little protection from a mass attack by tiny ants. These defenders can bite and sting the thinnest layers of skin, the eyes, and even the inside of the sensitive trunk. Jacob Goheen and Todd Palmer from Kenya’s Mpala Research Centre have found that ants are such a potent deterrent that their presence on a tree is enough to put off an elephant.

Threatened by elephants? Try recruiting ants | Not Exactly Rocket Science | Discover Magazine

Elephants avoid trees protected by ants and instead eat crops. Farmers shoot elephants. Philosophical question of the day: Did the ants kill the elephant? (sorry for the off topic drift)

[Bergovoy]

point taken on the natural issue between ants and elephants, but my point is still out there... the issue is numbers... and size... but yea, .??? OT

as for gps? the magnetic fluxuation issue will completely destroy satelittes.. in fact Ithink the compass will fair better then the gps as we can 'adjust' for whatever shift that may occur by simply adding suybtracting from the compass to matchthe current magnetic swing/position where as the gps will stop functioning conmpletely if there is anydeviation outdie the design peramters...

without constant magnetic orientation all satelits are at risk, and then our life will cease as we know it... no communicaitons... no banks, no phones, no nothing...

i truly believe this is what 2012 issue is all about.. i truly believe that the incas know something about this shift... and were able to pass down this knowledge from the previous shifts.. at least enough to be able to chart/plan it

[Pete7]

Hmm, sound slike a good time to by a sextant or two and an abacus

Pete

[Mark Johnson]

Originally Posted by Bergovoy

not sure if you are being sincere or not, and it really doesnt matter as my response isnt directed at you...


my question would be.. how many ants on an elephant would it take to be fatal to the elephant?

you can take all the people on the earth and fit them into texas, (damn, what a great way to get back at texas!)

all the people would fit int texas and they would all have about a 100 sf

certainly not comfortable, but the point is there arent an abundance of people on this earth.

also remember that there is a 25% to 75% land mass .. meaning there is way more water then land... so, even if there was so many people that it filled al the land surfaces, that would still leave 300 % more space left on the planet for people...

dont misinterpret my points... as i do agree that we need to tread lightly and when it comes to not understanding what we are doing and or how it affect us and the planet that we shouldnt beindescrimante damage...

there is little to no chance that we can do serious damage to the earth.. short of nuclear use and destruction, I am very sure that whatever we do will and can be repaired by the earth, but in the meantime we may have to endure issues we would not and should not have to figure out
I am fairly certain that the earth has encountered and endurred serious issues in the pas... and will be in the future

i do believe there is a balance and if and when we go oaver the limits of that balance that bad things will happen, but htearth will rebound, and then aftger that, so shall we... or not... maybe life on this planet will be whitout mankind... kinda like what happened when the diosaurs too over... hhehehehe

my other tidbit is ...

we are concerened with deforestation.. but again, if there is 25% land to 75% water, then there is no way we could cut down every tree and if we did, it would have the smallest of affect on the planet...

most of the air/oxygen created is coming from algae... and other ocean plant life...

i truly believe that when we choose to understand algaes that it will be a eureka moment...algaes will be food, and end world hunger, it will be a fuel soruce and become medicnes...

we can burn all the beets and corns and whatever other ethanol flex fuel, and it wont matter compared to the sources

And as for pure speculation and unfounded science guesses go.. I believe the magnet swap is part of teh 2012 prophacies that are foretold in teh incan calendars...

btw: to bring this back onto sailing topics.. i would like to convert my diesel into flex fuel and run diesel and recycled french fry grease...

Global climate change is a direct response to massive fossil fuel burning (by humans), in the last 150 years. There are far too many of us, and we make a disproportionate impact due to both our technologies and our numbers. This is not just "an opinion", it is the result of decades of research by the world's leading scientist in the field. Of these accredited & published scientist, not counting the ones working for BP or EXXON, there is a 99.9% consensus. There really is no "world wide" disagreement about this point. Only one country, the US, has a large number of disbelievers, and they got their "facts" from talk radio, or other equally biased sources. They choose to bury their heads in the sand, rather than be part of the solution. For the most part, it is not "climate change" that they don't believe in, it is SCIENCE itself. Anyone who believes in and knows how to study the unbiased studies on the subject, would see that the evidence is overwhelming... Almost up there with the evidence for gravity. You could claim that it's not "proven" either.

We all have to live with our conscience, and mine doesn't allow me to bury my head in the sand. I don't really think that my living my beliefs, for what time I have left, will make a difference. It is only a symbolic gesture. (Such a small percentage of the Earth doing this, is "too little, Too late". I suppose that my "tilting at windmills" is better than just waiting to die, and "to hell with future generations". THEY are the ones that will have to live with the choices that we make right now.

There are so many little ways we can make things better, if we try. This fish kill, is from nutrient runoff in the river, leading to algae blooms, cutting off the oxygen supply in the water, killing the fish for months. (Tens of millions, in one event). The nutrient runoff is from factory hog farms spreading their waste in fields, that drain into streams / the river, etc. It is also from fertilizing fields that drain like above, in agriculture, as well as lawns and golf courses.

My conscious choice not to procreate, trying to avoid food from "factory farming & factory ship fishing", buying "green" products from "green" sources, recycling, having a mulched yard rather than grass, planting trees rather than cut them down, driving as energy efficient a car as I can afford, insulating, going all solar on our boat, going "sail" rather than "power", never touching the coral, etc, etc, etc... It all is just a symbolic "feel good" waste of time. I know that, but if we ALL did it we just "might" minimize the climate changes a bit, or slow them down to a pace that we can adapt too.

Mark

[Blue Stocking]

The question is: If the human population on land is upsetting the balance, what difference will it make if we go to the beach, and tread water?
Enquiring (demented) minds want to know

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

Poles have been moving forever.

Thats true.... there's quite a few in the UK these days....

[Captain Bill]

Originally Posted by Mark Johnson

My conscious choice not to procreate, trying to avoid food from "factory farming & factory ship fishing", buying "green" products from "green" sources, recycling, having a mulched yard rather than grass, planting trees rather than cut them down, driving as energy efficient a car as I can afford, insulating, going all solar on our boat, going "sail" rather than "power", never touching the coral, etc, etc, etc... It all is just a symbolic "feel good" waste of time. I know that, but if we ALL did it we just "might" minimize the climate changes a bit, or slow them down to a pace that we can adapt too.

Mark

In the spirit of your environmental purity I guess we can assume that the beautiful bottom paint we see in the middle of that fish kill is non-toxic?
Seven billion people, enough resources for 1 billion.... End of story. How exactly is this related to the drift of the magnetic pole?

[Blue Crab]

Originally Posted by LakeSuperior

I have heard this was happening and I directly attribute it to a high density of automobiles in the USA and China all turning clockwise on a closed path. The rotationally accelerating steel causing a small magnetic moment in all of the automobiles has perturbed the earths magnetic field causing it to precess.

ahem...tut tut...
I'm all about staying on topic. Here in the US, we run NASCAR races on the weekends. This is where a high density of automobiles all turn counter-clockwise, I believe, on a closed path. The rotationally accelerating steel causes a small magnetic moment and the addition of adult beverages counters the "precess."

What are the Chinese doing? Making all the GPSs? Uh oh.