Mother nature has been busy with a typhoon in Vietnam, a tsunami near Samoa, an earthquake in Sumatra, another earthquake in Indonesia, flooding in Texas, a monsoon in India, and possibly radio active dust storms in Australia (and I'm sure there is more that we missed). Do you remember last week on September 24th (the same time as the G-20 meeting) there was a C-class solar flare? Solar flares are the sudden and explosive release of energy from the sun. They can release as much energy as a billion megatons of TNT! Smaller flares are designated as C-class, the largest are designated as X-class. Solar flares fluctuate in the hazards they create for humans and earth by creating solar storms. Solar storms pack charged particles that slam into our atmosphere, and when they penetrate, can drastically affect the earth's magnetics. We found it very interesting that the National Academy of Sciences along with NOAA seem to be more concerned about the effects sun storms can have on our electronic world and the threats that could be imposed on national security, financial services, transportation, and other "essential functions" (including loss of governmental control). Yet we could not find anything being said about the correlation between sun storms and natural disasters on earth! They say the sun is as predictable as the stock market. Sorry, but we had to laugh at that one! Is our sun getting angry? If things are heating up, we should take advantage of the internet and all the research we can do before it possibly gets zapped. Perhaps, this is a good time to start working on our telepathic powers so we can stay in touch! ;)