Cosmic Ray Intensity Reaches Highest Levels In 50 years

An anonymous reader writes "A NASA probe found that cosmic ray intensities in 2009 had increased by almost 20 percent beyond anything seen in the past 50 years. Such cosmic rays arise from distant supernova explosions and consist mostly of protons and heavier subatomic particles — just one cosmic ray could disable unlucky satellites or even put a mission to Mars in jeopardy."

Cosmic Warming?

[Anonymous Coward]

Clearly we need more energy-efficient stars.

BOFH

[xanadu-xtroot.com]

BOFH Excuse #98734

"It's Cosmic Rays mutating the electrons."

putting a mission to Mars in Jeopardy.

[FooAtWFU]

In this Brian de Palma film, a mission to rescue astronauts stranded on the titular planet finds a hill shaped like a giant face, with alien technology inside.

Oh good grief...

[93 Escort Wagon]

Will the legacy of environmental disaster that was George W. Bush's presidency never end?

Re:BOFH

[cjfs]

It's Cosmic Rays mutating the electrons.

My 150.00 gold-plated Monster HDMI cable protects against those. It must be something else this time.

What are the chances?

[Ironchew]

Cosmic rays damaging electronic equipment? I've been using this computer for years and my RAM is doing just fi

Re:global cooling

[brentonboy]

Yay! This is our chance to use up all the fossil fuels real quick-like and then by the time the cold spell is over we'll all be using nuclear and solar panels.

Re:What are the chances?

[siddesu]

How did you manage to submit half the posting after your RAM was hit by a cosmic ra

*rimshot*

[Valdrax]

FYI. Cosmic rays have been known to cause bit-flips in RAM.

But the odds are astronomical.

Re:What are the chances?

[B4light]

I don't suppose Candlejack has anything to do wi

Re:WTF???

[Yvan256]

Not only that, but where's the proof that humankind survived?

Re:Why it's more dangerous.

[MachDelta]

So it's like the difference between being hit by a car going 1mph and one going 100,000,000,000,000,000mph? Am I doing these car analogy things right?

Bring on the mutants

[NotQuiteReal]

Let's hear it for cosmic rays. We need something to kick evolution into gear. Things seem to have been at a standstill lately.

Re:What are the chances?

[Anonymous Coward]

in the olden days, by crackey we would use the
NO CARRIER
joke. you younguns wouldn't even know what a carrier was.
Now get off my lawn.

Re:What are the chances?

[Anonymous Coward]

Meh. No carrier happens when the FBI cuts your phone line. In this case, his computer was hit by a cosmic ray. Totally different joke. Obviously land-mowing don't make you smart.

Re:What are the chances?

[Anonymous Coward]

you younguns wouldn't even know what a carrier was.

A big boat that holds airplanes?

Re:Why it's more dangerous.

[ignavus]

So it's like the difference between being hit by a car going 1mph and one going 100,000,000,000,000,000mph? Am I doing these car analogy things right?

But the cars are very tiny.

Re:BOFH

[Anonymous Coward]

OH YEAH? Well, my $300 gold-plated Monster HDMI cable absorbs them and converts them to audio warmth for a more in tune with the universe sound..

Re:global cooling

[elthicko]

Maybe it's those bastards doing warp 10 around the sun causing all the problems. If only we could reverse the polarity on the main deflector to radiate a tachyon pulse directly into the sun. That oughta solve any problem we come across.

Your Universal WX forecast

[SpaceLifeForm]

Mostly clear with scattered cosmic rays, some heavy. Temperature near steady at 3K. Stellar winds light and variable except near stars.

Closing Bugs

[Mike610544]

I'm totally going to clear out my Bugzilla queue tomorrow:

Bug 13272: Memory leak in widget_process_task()
RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays
Bug 11207: Database corrupted by invalid user input
RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays
Bug 12304: "if (A = B)" in the code where clearly "if (A == B)" was intended
RESOLVED/INVALID: cosmic rays

Re:What are the chances?

[HockeyPuck]

Carrier, two examples that I'm aware of:

First is the age old joke:

Canadians: Please divert your course 15 degrees to the South to
avoid collision.

Americans: Recommend you divert your course 15 degrees to the
North to avoid a collision.

Canadians: Negative. You will have to divert your course 15
degrees to the South to avoid a collision.

Americans: This is the Captain of a US Navy ship. I say again,
divert YOUR course.

Canadians: No, I say again, you divert YOUR course.

Americans: THIS IS THE AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS LINCOLN, THE SECOND
LARGEST SHIP IN THE UNITED STATES' ATLANTIC FLEET. WE ARE
ACCOMPANIED BY THREE DESTROYERS, THREE CRUISERS AND NUMEROUS
SUPPORT VESSELS. I DEMAND THAT YOU CHANGE YOUR COURSE 15 DEGREES
NORTH--I SAY AGAIN, THAT'S ONE FIVE DEGREES NORTH--OR
COUNTER-MEASURES WILL BE UNDERTAKEN TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THIS SHIP.

Canadians: This is a lighthouse. Your call.

Second in the spirit of Jeff Foxworthy..

Use Carrier in a sentence..

"My girlfriend was so drunk she couldn't walk home, so I had to carrier."

Re:Why it's more dangerous.

[Anne Thwacks]

its like being hit by a library of congress instead of a car.

Re:BOFH

[Jared555]

My $500 ethernet cable [amazon.com] reflects them back at government spy satellites!

Re:BOFH

[Krupuk]

This amazon article's comments are nearly as good as the Tuscan Milk [amazon.com] one's!

Re:What are the chances?

[Dogtanian]

Cosmic rays damaging electronic equipment? I've been using this computer for years and my RAM is doing just fi

How did you manage to submit half the posting after your RAM was hit by a cosmic ra

He didn't- what he originally typed was

"Help, my RAM is being corrupted up by cosmic rays."

Which just goes to prove his point!

By the way, I'm having the same problems with random-but-oddly-coincidental data corruption so if you see anything odd with this message DISREgarD th4T i 5UCk c0CKS. Thank you.