Path: ...!2.eu.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail
From: John Savard <quadibloc@servername.invalid>
Newsgroups: sci.astro.amateur
Subject: We're All DOOMED!
Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2024 14:24:08 -0600
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
Lines: 20
Message-ID: <clc89j1nj991fgkni0h4oa0g9iqa98iu1f@4ax.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Injection-Date: Sun, 14 Jul 2024 22:24:10 +0200 (CEST)
Injection-Info: dont-email.me; posting-host="3f0d5fd52253d8f71d9a8f0c3af840bf";
	logging-data="328191"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org";	posting-account="U2FsdGVkX18JoyNKmmNYM3Y9NZ0opDM+Pjl3FdQk2fo="
Cancel-Lock: sha1:dM9IEJihh8gS8DNQEG21Vmcsy98=
X-Newsreader: Forte Free Agent 3.3/32.846
Bytes: 1914

Amazingly enough,
https://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/earth-s-core-has-slowed-so-much-it-s-moving-backward-scientists-confirm-here-s-what-it-could-mean-1.6952926
this article was written from a sober perspective, and not
sensationalized at all. Which is a refreshing change from articles
about asteroids passing by at entirely safe distances.

However, I think they may have gone too far. If the Earth's core has
slowed so much that its rotation has even reversed direction, this
could have a larger consequence than just not needing leap seconds for
a while in the future.

And by larger consequences, I don't mean negative leap seconds.

Since -1 times -1 equals plus 1, or since the external driving
magnetic field is still in the same direction, maybe the consequence
I'm worried about really isn't a danger. But the first thing I thought
of when I read the article was that the phenomenon could be a sign of
an impending magnetic field reversal, which would be bad.

John Savard