Thank you, solar storm

Solar storms are getting more and more publicity as we're going further into 2012.  You know why, doomsayers and apocalyptic crows are working hard to scare the hell out of everybody and solar weather is one of the more scientific 'tools' at their command.  It actually IS dangerous, kind of. 

I've been into solar storms for quite a while now.  No, I'm not an astrophysicist, even straightforward physics in high school was a nightmare for me, but sun flares and the whole space weather phenomenon is fascinating and I've been learning as much as I can.  Even learning physics is digestable when fueled by passion :). 

Anyway, I've put together two websites about the Sun and its frolics (so far) - one about solar storms, the other about their influence on human beings.  You be the judge if they are any useful, I can only tell you that they were pleasure to create. 

I am usually rather ineffective at traffic driving.  I avoid social media like the plague, and I'm allergic to the language of advertising - hence my traffic tends to be rather low.  Unless...  a solar storm happens :).

Solar storms and technology do not go too well together.  I imagine an extreme case could knock my laptop out for good, so I wouldn't go so far as saying that I'm looking forward to them.  But - over last two days, when space weather is rather inclement, my traffic on the 'cosmic' pages increased by 300%.  With some autoirony I have to explain that it jumped from 2 to 8 pageviews...  but it's still an improvement, yes?

So - dear Sun, thank you so much for your flares!  Flare more, if you please - with moderation.

To give you some details about recent activity - there was an X5 flare produced on March 7th (which happens to be my birthday as well, haha) and it sparked minor to moderate storms (5-7 on 9-point scale) over the following days.  One is on even at this very moment, but since my laptop is not emitting any sparks, I'm not worried. 

Hope your tech gadgets are just as unaffected.

A washing up story

A deep thought flashed through my head recently (yes, it does happen sometimes).  I was engaged in the thrilling activity of dishwashing and suddenly remembered all those TV ads, where thick layers of burnt grease dissolved instantaneously under a single drop of the washing-up liquid advertised.  'A lovely vision' I thought, ceasing scrubbing a pan to wipe the sweat from my brow.  One little problem.  I've washed a few pans in my life, not even mentioning baking trays, roasting dishes and innumerable armies of other assorted crockery, I've even used various washing-up liquids (some of them even known from tv ads) and never, NEVER have I seen such a magical scene unfolding.  No grease of mine has ever been scared by a detergent, no matter how famous or well branded.  Somehow, it always ended up with scrubbing.  Is it me, I wonder?  Is my world somehow flawed?  Am I the only house-keeping woman in the world whose dishes stubbornly refuse to get cleaned by themselves?  Is it a curse?  An evil godmother's gift?  'No dishwashing miracles for you, my child' whispered slyly at my birth? 

Funny thing - I don't think so.  I find it far, far more likely that the advertisers simply try to stuff us full of bullshit.  No dishes clean themselves, no matter what you pour on them, full stop.  But if a poor, tired housewife believed they could, that the solution to greasy problems is only those few dollars (euros/pounds/enter your currency here) away, wouldn't she buy?  Wouldn't she?

Another funny thing, I've never actually met any dish-washing person (whatever the sex or occupation) who believed this crap.  I'm not a particularly sociable person, but of all the people I've ever met, not a single one declared belief in self-cleaning kitchen appliances.  It is of course possible that so far I have been lucky enough to meet only highly intelligent people and didn't realise it but...  Well, let's call it a statistical improbability, ok?  I meet various people, most of them - average.   Yet they still don't believe in the magic of washing-up liquid. 

I would even hazard a guess that no one believes it.  Or - as with Yeti or Bigfoot - there are individuals who believe in their existence, but the majority calls it a bluff for lack of evidence.  No confirmed sightings, ladies and gentleman. 

Yet the advertisers keep on insisting that their (and only their, mind you) particular brand will make the grease go away.  No effort, no scrubbing, splash a drop and see how all the dirt goes away. 

They keep on lying.  We keep on knowing that they are lying.  We keep on not believing them, more than that, we keep on NOT EXPECTING THEM TO BE TRUE ANYMORE.  Everyone knows that you cannot trust advertisement so no one does.  Yet it is still being manufactured by the tonne (eee...  mega-tv-hour?  giga-newspaper-column?), it is bought, sold, force-fed to unwilling recipients:  tv viewers, magazine readers, Web-users, even innocent pedestrians or drivers, FFS! 

Guess what, if I feel like fairy tales, I read brothers Grimm.  At least they don't ask me to buy a fairy afterwards.