A recent report says that our sun is not kicking out sunspots like it used to. The paper, by solar astronomers Matthew Penn and William Livingstone, says that the magnetic field strength of the sunspots appears to be waning.
If the trend continues, sunspots could vanish completely by 2016. The last time this happened there was a prolonged cooling spell on Earth, known as the Little Ice Age.
It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of this.
I spent most of the weekend sick with a cold. I wound up staying up late Friday night working on my slides for Raleigh Neighborhood Exchange. Then after waking up early Saturday for the Exchange I felt sapped most of the rest of the day (even at Sparkcon). I paid on Sunday for Saturday’s burst of activity, though. Even though it was an absolutely gorgeous day yesterday (low humidity and moderate temperatures) I didn’t want to do anything but stay inside. Even took an afternoon nap. Finally we did get out of the house yesterday, spending the late afternoon at the Lions Park playground.
It was a restless night for me last night, with many coughing spells that woke us both up. Fortunately I think I’m turning a corner and feel more energetic today than yesterday. I’m certainly ready to feel better, I can tell you that!
