<img src="http://www.survive2012.com/images/banner.jpg"/>
A few people that I have talked to believe that because the Mayan calendar ends in <a href="http://www.survive2012.com/">2012</a> that some kind of either spiritual or physical upheaval is going to go down. horrible website but funny just the same.
(Mr. 2012, I mean, not mr. mister.)
On the other hand, I do believe that we all ought to be buying up old farmsteads and moving out to the countryside. The earth's poles will almost certainly not shift in 2012, but at least we'll be eating homegrown tomatoes and asparagus.
Bring the knowledge economy back to the land, that's what I say. Rural clusters of smart, socially conscious people writing software, baking bread, and tinkering with hydropower systems on the brook out back.
Any and all visitors are welcome to help with the gardening or with the fruits (and veggies) of my labors! My seed tomatoes are starting to come up, lettuces and arugula are tasty (if small for the time being), and the herbs are very flavorful.
I weeded for 2 hours yesterdays and look forward to more (and mowing today). Yard work is totally satisfying!
With your climate, you could probably do pretty well with melons, peanuts, peppers, and eggplants, too.
We had an eggplant plant in the garden last summer, but though it flowered many times, it never set a fruit. It also never grew more than about three leaves.
Our collards, on the other hand, gave us greens from July through September.
Much of Maine is pretty idyllic, too.
Only 1.8 acres, unfortunately, but for $169,000 for a 22-room 240-year-old building with 11 bedrooms and 5 baths, seemingly in pretty good shape, it's a bargain.
<img src="http://images.nemoves.com/image/jpg/4092352_1.jpg?vd=nem&width=320&height=240&q=0.91">
It's located in the fertile upper Connecticut River valley, easily reached by I-91, just half an hour's drive from Dartmouth College.
<img src="http://images.nemoves.com/image/jpg/4092352_2.jpg?vd=nem&width=320&height=240&q=0.91">
Almost 6,000 square feet.
<img src="http://images.nemoves.com/image/jpg/4092352_3.jpg?vd=nem&width=320&height=240&q=0.91">
See <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2006/10mar_stormwarning.htm">here</a> and <a href="http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/21jan_severespaceweather.htm">here</a> for the relevant NASA explanations.
A few choice excerpts:
<i>potential for large-scale blackouts...potential for permanent damage that could lead to extraordinarily long restoration times....potential for long-duration catastrophic impacts to the power grid and its users....potable water distribution affected within several hours; perishable foods and medications lost in about 12-24 hours; and immediate or eventual loss of heating/air conditioning, sewage disposal, phone service, transportation, fuel resupply, and so on....[T]he effects on these interdependent infrastructures could persist for multiple years....</i>
Incidentally, the guy who did that study based his hypothetical severe geomagnetic storm on the great storm of May 1921. That storm, in turn, was only two thirds the strength of the great storm of 1859, which is the most powerful on record. The only reason neither of those storms had catastrophic effects was because they occurred before the development of a high-technology-based interconnected power grid and communications network. (As it was, the 1859 storm apparently ignited fires in telegraph offices.)
Apparently the best-guess prediction for the strength of the upcoming solar maximum is that it will the strongest in the past fifty years. You might think to yourself that that's a good thing--that it means there won't be any events comparable to 1921 or 1859. But that's far from certain. The prediction is for the strength of solar activity as a whole for the next few years, not for the intensity of individual events. There's a strong element of randomness (or at least unpredictability) to individual storms, just as the strength of individual hurricanes can't be deduced from the predictions for a strong or weak hurricane season.
Here's hoping the big one doesn't come our way.