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<i>This is
LONDON
17/03/04 - News and city section

Day the sun nearly shut down earth
By Chris Millar, Evening Standard

A wave of massive explosions which erupted from the sun's surface was so powerful it came close to shutting down power grids and radio and mobile phone networks across the world.

The solar flare last November was more than twice as big as the previous recorded explosion - and so violent that satellite detectors were unable to record its true scale because they were blinded by its radiation.

It generated a massive stream of electrically charged particles and gas which rocketed across space at two million miles per hour, with the ability to cause unprecedented disruption to radio transmissions and navigation systems on earth.

Until now the size of the flare and the seismic waves which followed it was unknown, but scientists have discovered it dwarfed the previous biggest flare in August 1989, which plunged six million people in Quebec into an electrical blackout.

A team of scientists at New Zealand's University of Otago have said that it almost wreaked unimaginable destruction.

Their calculations showed the flare's X-ray radiation striking the atmosphere was equivalent to that of 5,000 suns, although they said none of it reached the earth's surface.

The flare was not on a direct course and harmful radiation was absorbed by the magnetosphere, a protective layer around the earth.

The flare came during a spell of extraordinary solar activity, when the sun produced a series of vast explosions.

As gas from the core of the sun was heated to millions of degrees, radiation and billions of tonnes of charged particles were pumped into space.

An accompanying aurora was seen over the skies of southern England. At the time one scientist described the power of the flare as being greater than "every nuclear warhead being detonated at once".
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Never really noticed the flare last November. Do recall the one that screwed up the picture to an ep of WWE Sunday Night Heat, a black screen and audio for about five minutes...then they ran the ep from the week before.

Curse that life sustaining sun!

"So in essence the non-muslim Putinite knows true Islam?"
<img src="http://www.giantrobot.com/transmissions/47sato/images/pb10.jpg" border=0>

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<BLOCKQUOTE id=quote><font size=1 face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id=quote>quote:<hr height=1 noshade id=quote>

A wave of massive explosions which erupted from the sun's surface was so powerful it came close to shutting down power grids and radio and mobile phone networks across the world.

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This must be the work of Basque separatists or Islamo Facists.

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????

Or the Jews who are trying to take over the world...

"Retreat, hell! We just got here!"-Captain Lloyd Williams, 2nd Marine Division, Belleau Wood, France, WWI

I though it was that rogue underground force that calls themselves "Castrated Priests that are Affraid of the Bicycle bar"

By this time tomorrow I shall have gained either a pearage or Westminster Abbey........Nelson

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YGBSM !

well this certainly explains my weight gain over the winter <whew>

"We sleep safely in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence on those who would harm us". George Orwell

Fighting For Justice With Brains Of Steel !
<img src="http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/atengun2X.GIF" border=0>

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The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.

How does that explain your wieght gain over the winter?

"Retreat, hell! We just got here!"-Captain Lloyd Williams, 2nd Marine Division, Belleau Wood, France, WWI

This is soooo confusing, anyone care to explain?<img src=icon_smile_question.gif border=0 align=middle><img src=icon_smile_dead.gif border=0 align=middle>

Im Not Claiming To Be Something I Am

But In The End....Who Cares?

no

You look as lost as a bastard child on Fathers day.

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\"One of you is gonna fall and die, and I'm not cleaning it up\"