2012?

[Fusion]

Notice you wrote "mini solar storm".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_storm_of_1859

[Massimo]

There is supposed to be a solar storm in 2012, happens every 11 years and has nothing to do with the Mayan calendar.
Problem is noone knows how fierce the storm can be and where it will hit. There have been huge solar storms in the past, but the globe wasn't so dependant on electricity. If for example a quarter of the US, EU, China, Middle East gets hit, shit's gonna go down hard.
Just think about it, you can't do anything without electricity, refridgerators are fucked in a couple hours, no communications at all. Most gas pumps are electric so you won't be able to fill up. Food can't be processed or transported, water can't be cleaned and pumped to your house. Not to mention huge businesses and the financial system totally failing.
They say a big hit can cripple the area for as long as it will take to replace transformers and other damaged parts, which could take months or years.

This is the more serious issue for us. When the sun lets out a solar wind there is radiation and all this crazy shit. We are protected by our Electromagnetic Field. Every time there is a solar wind the field is distorted like the pic below.



So the problem is if the wind is strong enough it will break through the field and all electronic equipment that is on will be fried. Then the issue is if the major Electrical Transformers around the world are fried then there is a real big issue as these take 1 to 2 years to build and there are only a couple factories around the world that build them, and there is simple not enough in storage for back up when this happens.

[E-Thirty]

That pic is pretty rad.

[DatUtahGuy]

I'm going to start using the "I don't want to die a virgin" line all the way up to 2012.

[carbon]

"This 2012 planetary alignment is anticipated by Mayan calendar to occur in a unique manner such that planets get arranged in a linear fashion. The sun will occupy the center of the Milky Way galaxy on 21 December 2012. This arrangement and event will have consequence effect on earth such that all life will get wiped off. This event happens extremely rarely and it was calculated that this will occur once every 25,800 years. The Mayan people believed that celestial event happening on doomsday will have fatal effect and destruct world."

Uh... The sun and our solar system are no where close to the center of the Milky Way. Just though I would throw that out there.