Forget the Market, The Earth's Magnetosphere is Collapsing (and there's a little black spot on the sun today)

Among the things to be thankful for that we so often take for granted are things like the magnetosphere...
Sometimes it's hard to stay topical
A repost from Feb. 4, 2014: prompted by last month's "Earth's Magnetic Field May Be About to Flip":

I fear I am becoming addicted to the Daily Mail.
From the Daily Mail:

• Earth's magnetic field has weakened by 15 per cent over the last 200 years
• Could be a sign that the planet's north and south poles are about to flip
• If this happens, solar winds could punch holes into the Earth's ozone layer
• This could damage power grids, affect weather and increase cancer rates
• Evidence of flip happening in the past has been uncovered in pottery
• As the magnetic shield weakens, the spectacle of an aurora would be visible every night all over the Earth

Deep within the Earth, a fierce molten core is generating a magnetic field capable of defending our planet against devastating solar winds.

The protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns.

But this magnetic field, so important to life on Earth, has weakened by 15 per cent over the last 200 years. And this, scientists claim, could be a sign that the Earth’s poles are about to flip.

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The Earth's protective field extends thousands of miles into space and its magnetism affects everything from global communication to animal migration and weather patterns

Experts believe we're currently overdue a flip, but they're unsure when this could occur.
If a switch happens, we would be exposed to solar winds capable of punching holes into the ozone layer.

The impact could be devastating for mankind, knocking out power grids, radically changing Earth’s climate and driving up rates of cancer.

‘This is serious business’, Richard Holme, Professor of Earth, Ocean and Ecological Sciences at Liverpool University told MailOnline. ‘Imagine for a moment your electrical power supply was knocked out for a few months – very little works without electricity these days.’

The Earth's climate would change drastically. In fact, a recent Danish study believes global warming is directly related to the magnetic field rather than CO2 emissions.

The study claimed that the planet is experiencing a natural period of low cloud cover due to fewer cosmic rays entering the atmosphere.

Radiation at ground level would also increase, with some estimates suggesting overall exposure to cosmic radiation would double causing more deaths from cancer.

Researchers predict that in the event of a flip, every year a hundred thousand people would die from the increased levels of space radiation.

The magnetosphere is a large area around the Earth produced by the planet's magnetic field. It presence means that charged particles of the solar wind are unable to cross the magnetic field lines and are deflected around the Earth

'Radiation could be 3-5 times greater than that from the man-made ozone holes. Furthermore, the ozone holes would be larger and longer-lived,' said Dr Colin Forsyth from the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL....MORE

From Spaceweather.com:

Daily Sun: 26 Nov 14

Earth-facing sunspots AR2216 and 

AR2217 pose a threat for M-class 

solar flares. Credit: SDO/HMI

Finally, from Mudvayne, a nasty little version of King of Pain: