December 21st, 2012

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From the Sustainablity planning and construction group on LinkedIN (I had thought about contacting this guy about getting a contract to do the preconstruction budgeting for this).....

Building a 2012 Shelter

The sum total of my lifes education and experiences has been to protect my family from anything i could. To that end I believe I know how to build a completely sustainable self contained environment capable of creating a 1000 year living time capsale. I am planning a project for Alaska and am looking for funding options. Any thoughts?

If nothing happens in 2012 then I will have created a working model for colonization.

Drop me a line at ..........

 
Flyer_PE said:
Aviation Geekniness Warning:
There is actually some basis behind his worry about the GPS satellites. It's not that they are "falling from the sky" though. It's just that a bunch of them are approaching end of life and the budget isn't there to replace them. They are predicting a loss of accuracy from this. The reason it concerns me is that the GPS in the plane is Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) capable, which means it is accurate enough to allow precision instrument approaches. If the accuracy isn't there to support the WAAS receivers, the aviation community isn't going to be happy.

I think, for your case, you're correct in calling BS on the guy. Even with the worst predictions I've seen, it will still be plenty accurate for 2-dimensional locations. The aviation worry includes altitude with an update speed good enough to keep you from hitting a rock cloud.
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Pilots can be so picky...this is why the FAA is going to keep VORs around forever...GPS could be better, but it's new and might fall out of the sky, so they'll stick with the 1950s technology for now.

And if I don't exist because the world ended in 11/11/1111 I want to go home.

 
DVINNY said:
On Dec. 21, 2012, the earth, sun, etc. all line up in a straight line throughout the galaxy. Then we go round the other side.It's the cosmic equivalent of the clock turning midnight with all the hands lined up. One theory I've heard is that the gravitational pull will reverse, and that magnets polarities will reverse.
Click to expand...
Mayan voodoo predictions aside, there is geophysical evidence the earth's magnetic field has reversed in the past, and WILL do so again (ie compass needles would point south). As my physics prof said, "i don't know what effect that will have, but i kinda know i'd rather not be around when it happens" - i figure worst case is that the Lions would win superbowl & cubs would win World Series

 
csb said:
Pilots can be so picky...this is why the FAA is going to keep VORs around forever...GPS could be better, but it's new and might fall out of the sky, so they'll stick with the 1950s technology for now.
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if it's the pilot or the nuclear worker in me but I REALLY like redundancy. Having a VOR as a backup to the GPS seems like a pretty good idea to me. I'll still take a good old fashioned ILS approach over GPS on any given day.

error_matrix said:
Mayan voodoo predictions aside, there is geophysical evidence the earth's magnetic field has reversed in the past, and WILL do so again (ie compass needles would point south). As my physics prof said, "i don't know what effect that will have, but i kinda know i'd rather not be around when it happens" - i figure worst case is that the Lions would win superbowl & cubs would win World Series
Click to expand...

The magnetic field varies over time. Every so often, the runway numbers (based on magnetic heading) change for a given airport. The airport just North of my home field just went from 6-24 to 7-25. The tower is calling them by the new numbers but they're still updating the signs.

 
error_matrix said:
Mayan voodoo predictions aside, there is geophysical evidence the earth's magnetic field has reversed in the past, and WILL do so again (ie compass needles would point south). As my physics prof said, "i don't know what effect that will have, but i kinda know i'd rather not be around when it happens" - i figure worst case is that the Lions would win superbowl & cubs would win World Series
Click to expand...
I have two questions.

1. Will there be cake at the Party at the End of the World(jimmy Buffett reference)?

2. When the magnetic field reverses, will the toilet water flow the other way when flushed?

 
Time to put an end to this nonsense. Where the hell is that bookmarked Craigslist ad I had about the guy looking for a partner to time travel?

 
Flyer_PE said:
The magnetic field varies over time. Every so often, the runway numbers (based on magnetic heading) change for a given airport. The airport just North of my home field just went from 6-24 to 7-25. The tower is calling them by the new numbers but they're still updating the signs.
Click to expand...
I didn't know thats how runway nomenclature was structured, interesting. For sure, the primary variation swings east or west of the so-called zero meridian (astronomic north) over like 300 year periods. anyways, I was talking when your magnetic heading may change from 6-24 to 186-24.

 
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^ I remember reading somewhere that the magnetic poles "swap" every so often (not sure how many millions of years between events). If it's a full 180 degree swap, the North-South runway 18-36 would still have the same numbers but all the signs at the ends would have to be swapped.

 
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FLBuff PE said:
I have two questions.
1. Will there be cake at the Party at the End of the World(jimmy Buffett reference)?

2. When the magnetic field reverses, will the toilet water flow the other way when flushed?
Click to expand...
1) yes there will be cake, but like Milton in your avatar, you won't get any

2) no, toilet water flow is based on the earths rotation & not magnetism. Now if the earth started rotating the other way....

 
Flyer_PE said:
I'm not sure if it's the pilot or the nuclear worker in me but I REALLY like redundancy. Having a VOR as a backup to the GPS seems like a pretty good idea to me. I'll still take a good old fashioned ILS approach over GPS on any given day.
The magnetic field varies over time. Every so often, the runway numbers (based on magnetic heading) change for a given airport. The airport just North of my home field just went from 6-24 to 7-25. The tower is calling them by the new numbers but they're still updating the signs.
Click to expand...
VORs are getting expensive to repair. I concur that if you're trying to shoot minimums into the airport that GPS is a little unnerving.

It takes us forever to refer to a runway by it's new designation.

And to hell with cake if the world is ending...I'm finally trying all the drugs that were bad for me and could kill me.

 
Keep your eyes on the Detroit Lions. If they are 14-0 then repent - the end is nigh.

 

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