Rudolph, the Sun-Burned Reindeer ...

... had a very aching nose

Welcome To The North Pole, c. 2012

Aloha, Santa!

Global Warming

Arctic Ice Shelf Melting

Fossil Fuel Depletion

Solar Flares Predicted via Computer Analysis to be entering an early all-time high cycle, the peak of which will not even be reached until 2012.

"An 11-year epoch of increasingly severe solar storms that could fry power grids, disrupt cell-phone calls, knock satellites back to Earth, endanger astronauts in space, and force commercial airliners to change their routes to protect their radio communications and to avoid deadly solar radiation could begin as soon as this fall, scientists announced Monday.

When the solar cycle reaches its peak in 2012, it will hurl at Earth mammoth solar storms with intense radiation and clouds of high-speed subatomic particles millions of miles across, the scientists said.

A storm of that magnitude could short-circuit a world increasingly dependent on giant utilities and satellite communications networks. Such a storm in 1989 caused power grids to collapse, causing a five-hour blackout in Quebec.

The northern and northeastern portions of North America are historically more vulnerable to system outages caused by solar storms than California and most of the Western states, said Gregg Fishman, spokesman for the California Independent System Operator. That's possibly because among other things, he said, there's a higher iron and mineral content in the North and Northeast that conducts the ground current more easily and allows for more of an impact during solar storms."

Full coverage at Space.com and HERE:

SFGate 07Mar2006

YOU'LL NEVER GET AWAY FROM THE BURNIN' HEARTACHE

Feel the burn yet, bobo? Don't forget the SPF 30 and the milk.

lol