Wired has an interesting article on Nasa's predictions for violent solar storms to erupt in 2012 and their cataclysmic effect on the world's power grids. It's great to see this getting the attention it deserves. Personally I believe that preparing for societal collapse through personal physical and mental preparation like spiritual development (esp. meditation and martial arts), and basic community-resilience preparation such as community gardens and farmer's markets, take top priority at the present time.

As Thomas Homer Dixon noted in "The Upside of Down" it will take multiple simultaneous catastrophes to bring our society down. We are presently in the middle (beginning?) of an (1) economic collapse, (2)  peak oil is upon us, (3) climate change is well underway, (4) a flu pandemic may just be starting, and now (5) our electrical grid is apparently likely to be fried offline in 2012.

It's wonderful indeed to be living the ancient Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times". Meanwhile I'm on my way to a three hour mid-afternoon dance party!