Word: maximum
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...danger of geomagnetic storms is even worse, however, during solar maximum. At that time, long tongues of fiery plasma leap from the surface of the sun and rush toward earth like guided missiles. Sometimes the force of their impact is so great that the magnetosphere convulsively contracts. Even spacecraft in near-earth orbit can find themselves outside the magnetosphere's protective embrace, exposed to blasts of high-energy protons. A direct hit by these protons, experts warn, could prove lethal to astronauts working in space...
...magnetosphere. In response, powerful currents surge through the high reaches of the atmosphere, where they can utterly scramble broadcast signals, and even through seawater and bedrock. These surface currents can corrode buried pipelines, interrupt transatlantic phone conversations and overheat electrical transformers. In 1989, during the most recent solar maximum, currents induced by a geomagnetic storm brought down the power grid that supplies Canada's Quebec province...
...next solar maximum, due sometime around the year 2000, could create worse nightmares. For one thing, modern societies, with their cellular phones and satellite navigation and communications systems, have become more vulnerable than ever to electronic disruptions. Equally worrisome is the fact that electrical utilities have created enormous, interconnected power grids in an attempt to save money. The power outages that plagued the American West this summer provide a dramatic illustration of how vulnerable these systems have become. "The scale," says transmission expert John Kappenman of Minnesota Power and Light, "is scary." Financial losses alone would amount to billions...
Shakespeare, it turns out, doesn't need CAA. As if to say, "So there, Jane Austen!", the Bard is back in maximum force. There are two films based on Romeo and Juliet: one using the text but transplanted to a Miami-esque beach town; the other, Love Is All There Is, set in the Bronx and retold by writer-directors Joseph Bologna and Renee Taylor. Royal Shakespeare Company alumnus Trevor Nunn has a Twelfth Night starring Helena Bonham Carter and Nigel Hawthorne. Richard III, recently modded up by Ian McKellen, gets the Al Pacino treatment in Looking for Richard...
...Model CITATION X Made By Cessna Aircraft Co. Price $15.1 million Orders N.A. (plane available now) Maximum Range 3,795 miles Top Speed 608 m.p.h. Maximum Altitude 51,000 ft. Cabin Volume 759 cu. ft. Total Passengers 12 Celebrity Buyer Arnold Palmer Options Entertainment center; office; dressing room; heated baggage compartment