This statement "This change will have ripple effects throughout the solar system" will sound like an doomsday event to an average reader, in reality there nothing that would affect you.

At least they almost immediately mention that it is a common event.

Just to be safe I upgraded my tinfoil hat to Mylar.

No good. You need to line your walls with at least 2mm thick aluminum sheets with welded seams and 5cm overlap at the doors.

Edit: I guess it's true, HN is forever meant to be devoid of humor.

Personally I prefer a humorless HN. A culture of humur on the internet devolves fairly quickly into 4chan themed cat pictures and nothing but funny pics.

    > Wow, our sun is BIG...

Even bigger. The solar system you linked to is not even near to having the correct proportions.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Solar-sys...

That one is not to scale, either. That one is: http://mishkahenner.com/filter/works/Astronomical

404

Although that would make for an interesting sunrise. "Here comes the su- POOF"

This is pretty misleading. The sun's diameter is much less than 1 AU.

Im pretty sure the sun is bigger than 1 Australia.

Sorry had to, for the confused: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit

Finally found a good version: http://www.scalesolarsystem.66ghz.com/

Take out the power socket and plug it back in upside down.

That won't work in the UK. :-D

Sorry for you, you'll have to take out the whole socket and mount it again upside down.

At least you can mount the light bulb "the other way" with the bayonet mount while screw light bulbs are screwed

It does if you smash the earth pin enough times with a hammer first :)

Nope, because you won't get any current to live.

Our UK household plugs and sockets really are a fine piece of engineering.

A common trick to insert a EU-style plug into a UK-style socket is to temporarily insert something in the ground pin socket. An ordinary house key works well, and has the added bonus of shocking bystanders.

Granted, UK-style plugs really are excellent pieces of engineering, best appreciated when upturned and trod upon in the dark.

You overestimate the quality of most of them.

as long as you don't step on one barefoot

Even worse than stepping on a LEGO brick.

Really? Happy to be only threatened by LEGO then. Postive side effect, I'm also driving on the right side of the road! ;-)

EDIT: this has to change now, too, right?

Come on, this is Hacker News - stepping on an upturned PCB in the dark has to be some sort of prerequisite of membership? ;)

The earth pin is needed to open the covers of the other two holes.

That actually only happens on reasonable quality ones. Old and cheap shitty ones usually get stuck open or break off very rapidly. The BS spec is only good until 1 insertion after the point of sale.

Source: I was a part time sparky for a few years.

There are people who do this for others for a living.

Our firm can ensure your computers are free of SMR-related effects for a modest fee. Please call 1-800-SUNWANTSTOKILLME

Yes, delete system32.

P.S. Just kidding, don't do it.

Isn't that just for cached files anyways? I don't see any documents in there that I actually use.

If you're still using magnetic platters, it would be a good idea to take them apart and flip the disks to reduce data corruption. There are also tools that will do this for you in software by flipping every bit on the disk and using 1 for 0 and vice versa. You can also do this with dd in Linux, just make sure you flip the binary description bit in the Disk Parameter Table.

If you're using a tablet you should face away from the sun and turn the screen facing away from you. You can then use a mirror to see the screen.

That's pretty easy, imagine the fun the NMR/MRI people are about to have. Those suckers are heavy.

Also my wife is a member of the "interior decoration means covering your fridge with magnets" tribe, so now I have to flip all of them over. Someone, please create a startup for online classes for interior decorating.

Unfortunately it wont do any good because you can't buy taste