A new study has found a slightly worrying problem with the rail network in the UK; its vulnerability to space weather.Solar storms are a pretty common occurrence – a moderate storm took place last week‚ for example‚ after a large hole opened up on the Sun's surface. There's nothing the Sun loves more than being hot and flinging plasma in our direction.The storms are generally nothing to worry about‚ unless you are particularly averse to looking at the beauty of the northern lights‚ or minor problems with power grids‚ and radio communication.A team from Lancaster University‚ UK‚ attempted to discover how geomagnetic storms could interfere with electricity transmission and distribution grids. Of particular concern was signaling‚ as there are more than 50‚000 signaling track circuits in the UK‚ where rail signals are carried by an electric circuit."Disruption to railway signaling can happen when geomagnetic disturbances induce electric currents in the rails that interfere with the electrical circuits used to detect trains‚" the team explains in their paper."Crucially‚ our research suggests that space weather is able to flip a signal in either direction‚ turning a red signal green or a green signal red‚" physics PhD researcher Cameron Patterson added in a statement. "This is obviously very significant from a safety perspective."The team found that "wrong side" failures – particularly dangerous as it turns a red signal to a green – occurred at lower geoelectric field thresholds than "right side" failures‚ where a green signal is turned red. However‚ the conditions that cause "right side" are less complicated‚ so the team was unable to determine which error is more common during moderate geomagnetic storms. “By building a computer model of the signalling track circuits using realistic specifications for the various components of the system‚ we found that space weather events capable of triggering faults in these track circuits are expected in the UK every few decades‚" Patterson added.Larger 1-in-100-year storms‚ like the Carrington Event‚ would cause widespread problems on the lines studied by the team. Unfortunately‚ these storms look like they occur more frequently than we thought. "It is also important to point out that in the event of severe space weather‚ railway signaling will not be the only system affected‚" the team adds. "Power supply networks‚ communications‚ Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) are all susceptible‚ many of which will also impact the safe and smooth operation of the railway network‚ regardless of the countless affects to other areas."The team proposes conducting real-world tests to confirm the models‚ placing equipment along the track to monitor the effect of solar storms.The study is published in the journal Space Weather.

In a previous epoch‚ Tim Alberta was a reporter for National Review‚ one of too many NR cubs who later joined the liberal-media zoo. Alberta is now at The Atlantic‚ one of America’s most intense producers of frothing leftist drivel. It seems like every leftist network has welcomed Alberta to trash conservative Christians through his latest book‚ The Kingdom‚ the Power‚ and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism. It’s touted as Alberta’s “deeply personal examination of the divisions that threaten to destroy the American evangelical movement. Evangelical Christians are perhaps the most polarizing—and least understood—people living in America today.” Wait. No one in these interviews asks about the polarizing cultural extreme on the libertine left. That extreme is the leftist media’s address‚ at the corner of GLAAD Street and Planned Parenthood Avenue. Interviewers loved Alberta’s funeral story. On the PBS NewsHour‚ anchor Geoff Bennett began: “I asked Tim about a searing moment he describes‚ when‚ at his own father's funeral‚ a church elder admonished him for not fully embracing Donald Trump as God's chosen leader.” Is this an exact quote? Alberta answered: “Once I was able to process it‚ because it was a surreal moment‚ having just buried my father -- you're in this state of mourning and of shock‚ and not sure‚ is this even real?...If I could be treated this way‚ if I could be regarded as a member of the deep state‚ as an enemy of the church‚ as an apostate -- if I could be treated that way‚ then how are we treating those outside the church?” On NPR’s Fresh Air‚ host Terry Gross also loved the funeral tale: “Let me back up and say that Rush Limbaugh started quoting you‚ and assailing you on his radio show. What was he saying about you?” Alberta said “Rush Limbaugh was on his show describing some of my unflattering characterizations of Donald Trump and of the evangelical movement. Trump himself was tweeting about my book. I was getting a lot of threats‚ a lot of nasty email‚ a lot of criticism from right-wing media.”  So “people were asking me if I was really still a Christian‚ if I was on the right side of good versus evil…and all the while‚ of course‚ my dad is in a box a hundred feet away.” Gross then asked‚ “If they saw that in you‚ the son of their pastor‚ you‚ who many of them had known your entire life‚ that -- what about people who they don't know? How easy is it to dehumanize them and just make them into the enemy?” Funerals shouldn’t be a setting for political combat‚ which is why they love this funhouse portrait of conservative Christians. But Alberta wrote this book to argue that Trump-supporting Christians are apostates and enemies of democracy. PBS and NPR and the rest “dehumanize” conservatives routinely. Alberta was bitterly angry at his pastor father for voting for Trump in 2016.  So what kind of Christian is a Hillary Clinton backer? Why is his pro-abortion “division” of evangelicalism not “threatening to destroy” it? Alberta and his media helpers can’t seem to find the cultural context of our times. The arrival of “same-sex marriage‚” naturally followed by twerking drag-queen performances for children‚ and graphically sexual books in school libraries‚ and “gender-affirming care” for minors aren’t reasons for Christians to feel something is slipping away? Is nothing "extremist" about that? Do Alberta’s model Christians offer any remedy or resistance to these trends? No one asked.

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