re: #163 wheat-dogghazi-mailgate

Yeah. I was wondering how Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, etc., ended up underwater, given that their average elevation is above 5,000 ft.

Somewhere in the crazier parts of the Internet are maps showing how the USA will look after the so-called “pole shift.” They look similar to the one in 159.

If you haven’t heard about this crazy notion, some fringe science (aka fantasy land) believers say the Earth will flip over, putting the N pole where the S pole is now. Needless to say, such an event will be bad news for everyone living on Earth.

Good thing it can’t happen.

It is possible that the magnetic field of the Earth will flip. This reversal has happened several times in the Earth’s history, and creatures which depend on magnetic orientation adapt to it, since it takes several thousand years or more to occur. No one else would notice any real difference, except maybe Scouts and orienteering enthusiasts.

Somehow fringe people took the magnetic field flip and concluded the entire Earth would flip over — soon, very soon. Don’t say we didn’t tell you.

Magnetic field reversals have happened many, many times and we’re probably overdue for one. As the field passes through zero, the Earth’s magnetosphere will fade away, allowing a lot more solar wind particles and cosmic radiation to strike the atmosphere, so it’s not really true that nobody would notice any difference.