A large solar storm could knock out the power grid and the internet

[What if...?]

Pretty soon the Anarchists' Handbook will include instructions on how to create an electromagnetic pulse. Fun times ahead.

Supposedly blowing up a big propane tank will cause a localized EMP.

 

[What if...?]

This is an interesting topic.

If the huge solar flare hits us, will the "Dark Side" of the Earth escape the damages?

Will a solar flare capable of this sort of damage last for a span of minutes, hours, days or weeks?

Idk. But a flare hit us in the 1800s that would have destroyed every transistor on the planet. Lit the telegraph poles on fire.

 

[code1211]

Idk. But a flare hit us in the 1800s that would have destroyed every transistor on the planet. Lit the telegraph poles on fire.

Wow! Link?

 

[What if...?]

Wow! Link?

Carrington Event - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[EnigmaO01]

This map represents the immediate concern:

View attachment 67386307

Each of these pins is a nuclear power plant. There are 104 of them and 93 have backup systems which can operate the emergency cooling systems for up to 4 hours without power. The rest can operate for up to 8 hours. After that, meltdown is imminent. So, you can immediately write off everything and everyone in half of the country because it’s going to be a radioactive wasteland.

If you manage to survive this then your next concern is potable water. Municipal water relies on electric pumps. No electricity no pumps. No pumps no water distribution. Your taps become decoration. There’s also no refrigeration so you’re going to need to stock up on nonperishable food.

Problem is that, without electricity, you also have no access to money. So you’re going to have to join the hordes in looting your local grocery store. Of course, there are only so many bottles of water and cans of beans to go around.

You get the picture.

1. I think the OP said the storms are very brief less than 4 hours.
2. There's plenty of water out there. You just have to boil it or sterile some other way if if you want to consume it. Rainwater doesn't need to be sterilized.
3. Lack of refrigeraton? Depends on the time of year?
4. No money? Barter.

 

[Napoleon]

Idk. But a flare hit us in the 1800s that would have destroyed every transistor on the planet. Lit the telegraph poles on fire.

Events like that are predicted to happen every 100 years or so. A storm more powerful than the Carrington event narrowly missed us in 2012.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Hmm, I was just doing research on this very subject too...

But really, its no biggie: NASA has an early warning system in place. The Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado can give out an advance warning in 30 min. Solar storms happen in an 11 year cycle, so its somewhat predictable. Once the warning has been sent, power grids may be hardened or just shut down before the storm hits to mitigate any electronic damage.

These aren't mere solar storms, which is what the 11 year cycle is about.
A coronal mass ejection can happen at any time, within or without the 11 year cycle.
A CME is not bound in any way by that cycle.

Also, man now has the ability to generate an EMP.
In fact, it's even possible to build a weapon which generates a lot of EMP and an enormous blast of neutrons and very little anything else.
It's even called a Neutron Bomb.
As morbid as it may sound, it's designed to kill the living things while mostly leaving physical structures intact.

What's most interesting is that Leonid Brezhnev described the neutron bomb as "a capitalist bomb" however today we have Putin threatening to use that very type of bomb in the Ukraine war theater.
I guess it is now indisputable that Putin IS NOT A COMMUNIST in any way, shape or form.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

This map represents the immediate concern:

View attachment 67386307

Each of these pins is a nuclear power plant. There are 104 of them and 93 have backup systems which can operate the emergency cooling systems for up to 4 hours without power. The rest can operate for up to 8 hours. After that, meltdown is imminent. So, you can immediately write off everything and everyone in half of the country because it’s going to be a radioactive wasteland.

If you manage to survive this then your next concern is potable water. Municipal water relies on electric pumps. No electricity no pumps. No pumps no water distribution. Your taps become decoration. There’s also no refrigeration so you’re going to need to stock up on nonperishable food.

Problem is that, without electricity, you also have no access to money. So you’re going to have to join the hordes in looting your local grocery store. Of course, there are only so many bottles of water and cans of beans to go around.

You get the picture.

I can assure you that despite any flaws in design, the one thing ALL nuclear power plants CAN survive is an EMP from a coronal mass ejection.
Here is what will NOT survive (unless you've shielded it properly)

Your computer
Your smartphone
Your router

The ISP's all have proper EMP shielding built in, so do the phone companies, and of course, so do nuclear power plants.

 

[Superfly]

This map represents the immediate concern:

View attachment 67386307

Each of these pins is a nuclear power plant. There are 104 of them and 93 have backup systems which can operate the emergency cooling systems for up to 4 hours without power. The rest can operate for up to 8 hours. After that, meltdown is imminent. So, you can immediately write off everything and everyone in half of the country because it’s going to be a radioactive wasteland.

If you manage to survive this then your next concern is potable water. Municipal water relies on electric pumps. No electricity no pumps. No pumps no water distribution. Your taps become decoration. There’s also no refrigeration so you’re going to need to stock up on nonperishable food.

Problem is that, without electricity, you also have no access to money. So you’re going to have to join the hordes in looting your local grocery store. Of course, there are only so many bottles of water and cans of beans to go around.

You get the picture.

Honestly - my boyfriend and I are actually looking at property where we can start stocking up. We aren't like crazy preppers or anything, but if the grid goes down, everything comes to a screeching halt. Everything.

We started talking about this at length because of how easily hackable power grids are. Gotta eat. Gotta function. Most people can't function without electricity, even for a short time. He was raised on a farm, and is pretty smart about all this stuff, so we are making plans. Just in case, you know?

Sad thing is, we live ridiculously close to Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama, so we'll probably not live long enough to see anything anyway.

No pumps to pump water, no water to cool, boom. We're done.

 

[Superfly]

Hmm, I was just doing research on this very subject too...

But really, its no biggie: NASA has an early warning system in place. The Space Weather Prediction Center in Colorado can give out an advance warning in 30 min. Solar storms happen in an 11 year cycle, so its somewhat predictable. Once the warning has been sent, power grids may be hardened or just shut down before the storm hits to mitigate any electronic damage.

Would it matter if it were actually in operation?

Always wondered that.

 

[Napoleon]

I can assure you that despite any flaws in design, the one thing ALL nuclear power plants CAN survive is an EMP from a coronal mass ejection.
Here is what will NOT survive (unless you've shielded it properly)

Your computer
Your smartphone
Your router

The ISP's all have proper EMP shielding built in, so do the phone companies, and of course, so do nuclear power plants.

I guarantee you they would not survive a solar storm with the strength of the Carrington Event. The US power grid is not hardened against such an event. We’re talking about electrical currents so powerful that electric cables will be blown right off the pylons and every transformer will be fried.

We don’t have extras just lying around and there only two nations on Earth who manufacture them for export (South Korea and Germany). The scale of this problem cannot be understated. We’re talking about rebuilding the power grid from the ground up - total replacement of every transformer in the country (to be ordered and shipped from South Korea or Germany I don’t know how and hand made because nobody else has electricity to manufacture them either) and recabling the entire United States. It would take decades at minimum.

Nuclear power plants don’t have that long. They can’t be disconnected from the power grid for more than 4-8 hours before their backup power systems fail. It’s wild how vulnerable to this we are, but it’s true.

 

[Napoleon]

Honestly - my boyfriend and I are actually looking at property where we can start stocking up. We aren't like crazy preppers or anything, but if the grid goes down, everything comes to a screeching halt. Everything.

We started talking about this at length because of how easily hackable power grids are. Gotta eat. Gotta function. Most people can't function without electricity, even for a short time. He was raised on a farm, and is pretty smart about all this stuff, so we are making plans. Just in case, you know?

Sad thing is, we live ridiculously close to Browns Ferry Nuclear Plant in north Alabama, so we'll probably not live long enough to see anything anyway.

No pumps to pump water, no water to cool, boom. We're done.

It’s always a good idea to have those skills and at least a few months of supplies on-hand no matter what anyone says. A million things could and probably will happen that you’d need them for. My husband and I are doing the same thing. No crazy bunkers or years of MREs, but learning how to can was fun and we have a good trade network with our neighbors and country friends (I make a mean chili oil or apple pie filling that I trade for honey or kimchi).

I remember when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through here and took out power for over a week. It was all fun and games for the first few days as people had block parties to cook their meats. But people get nasty really quick when they go too long with terrible food and no creature comforts.

The first order of business for us both in an event like this is to get as far away and upwind as possible from every nuclear power plant within 8 hours. If you’ve got a good supply of food and water wherever you’re going then the biggest threat will be the starving hordes from the cities.

 

[PoS]

Would it matter if it were actually in operation?

Always wondered that.

Yes, because an electrical surge would knock them out. It happened to a dozen or more of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites when he tried to put them into orbit a few months back. A solar storm knocked them all out and they fell back to Earth.

Solar storm knocks out 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites

Washington DC (UPI) Feb 9, 2021 - A solar storm has knocked out 40 of 49 SpaceX Starlink broadband communications satellites the company launched on Thursday, the company said.

www.spacedaily.com

The particles move at slower than the speed of light, so a careful observance of the Sun would give us ample time to take appropriate measures. By turning off the electric grid before the shockwave begins, you can minimize the damage. Open up the breakers and shorten the length of the induction wires. Once the storm passes, resume normally.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I guarantee you they would not survive a solar storm with the strength of the Carrington Event. The US power grid is not hardened against such an event. We’re talking about electrical currents so powerful that electric cables will be blown right off the pylons and every transformer will be fried.

We don’t have extras just lying around and there only two nations on Earth who manufacture them for export (South Korea and Germany). The scale of this problem cannot be understated. We’re talking about rebuilding the power grid from the ground up - total replacement of every transformer in the country (to be ordered and shipped from South Korea or Germany I don’t know how and hand made because nobody else has electricity to manufacture them either) and recabling the entire United States. It would take decades at minimum.

Nuclear power plants don’t have that long. They can’t be disconnected from the power grid for more than 4-8 hours before their backup power systems fail. It’s wild how vulnerable to this we are, but it’s true.

Nuclear power plants use a variety of doubly redundant systems to provide backup power to keep the core cool.
We've SEEN numerous examples of this demonstrated in real time. We didn't see it in real time at Fukushima because TEPCO cut corners and pretended that
it wasn't important enough to worry about, but that doesn't change the fact that this is how backup works. Don't confuse stupid corporate policy with electrical engineering facts.
Numerous other nuke plants have had reliable backup in place for decades.

Stop arguing in unrealistic absolutes for ten seconds and think about it. I am, here's an example:

A Carrington level event cannot be FULLY protected against, you're right.
And that would indeed force a massive rethink about HOW the world uses electric power anyway.
So, let us think right now for a moment ABOUT how we use it.

Gone are the days when literally EVERYTHING in a home or business HAD to HAVE 120 or 220 volts alternating current.
Today, the only items in a home that actually DO REQUIRE 120 or 220 volts AC are heavy electric motors, heating elements and incandescent light bulbs.
Literally EVERYTHING else in use today does just fine with a 12 volt or 5 volt DC power supply, or in some rare cases, a few volts higher (like 16 volts) or something in between, like 6-9 volts.

In fact, even if you still own legacy electronics, like say perhaps an old solid state stereo receiver from the 1980's, it is entirely possible to bypass the mains transformer and rectifier stages
and connect 12 volts DC directly to where the output of the rectifier stage is. I did this in a motorhome because I wanted to enjoy my home stereo receiver, a Pioneer SX-838.

So, should a Carrington level event occur, there will be a massive effort launched to rebuild and in the interim, resourceful people will be leveraging alternatives, many of which
we probably will not switch back from. Class 2 low voltage wiring will become much more commonplace because there will not be much need to send 120 volts AC down the line to every
room when it is only needed for two or three large items.

Samsung 65″ Class Q90T QLED 4K Smart TV: The Q90T consumes 120W under normal circumstances, but at maximum, can run up to 295W.
That's 2.46 amps at 12 volts, which can be handled easily by a heavy duty wall type USB port made for charging accessories.

The same goes for the typical desktop or laptop computer, somewhere between 1 and 2.5 amps if you measure at the output of the PC power supply.
The point is, almost everything in the modern home can work just fine if powered directly by low voltage DC, because that is what all those wall warts and power packs already do, and by the way
we are paying an efficiency penalty when we use all those individual power packs and wall warts, which of course do not turn off when we turn off a device.
The biggest problem is over-reliance on LARGE CENTRALIZED generating utilities when the reality of today is that for residential and small business, local community co-generation beats massive central utilities every single time and in every single scenario. Large central utilities serve heavy industry well but serving scattered widespread residential and small business is the prime example of their built in inefficiency.

You're correct when it comes to arguing about a CME the size of which is like the Carrington Event but we also cannot do much about a Chixilub meteor impact or
the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera.
But we CAN and DO have measures to protect against the other 90-something percent of expected CME events.

 

[Napoleon]

Nuclear power plants use a variety of doubly redundant systems to provide backup power to keep the core cool.
We've SEEN numerous examples of this demonstrated in real time. We didn't see it in real time at Fukushima because TEPCO cut corners and pretended that
it wasn't important enough to worry about, but that doesn't change the fact that this is how backup works. Don't confuse stupid corporate policy with electrical engineering facts.
Numerous other nuke plants have had reliable backup in place for decades.

Stop arguing in unrealistic absolutes for ten seconds and think about it. I am, here's an example:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission studied this. Of 104 nuclear power plants, 93 have backup systems which can sustain the emergency cooling systems for only 4 hours. The remaining 11 have backup systems which can sustain the emergency cooling systems for only 8 hours. None of the nuclear power plants in the United States are designed or capable of surviving disconnection from the power grid for longer than 8 hours. Again, it’s wild and incredibly stupid but it’s true.

A Carrington level event cannot be FULLY protected against, you're right.
And that would indeed force a massive rethink about HOW the world uses electric power anyway.
So, let us think right now for a moment ABOUT how we use it.

Gone are the days when literally EVERYTHING in a home or business HAD to HAVE 120 or 220 volts alternating current.
Today, the only items in a home that actually DO REQUIRE 120 or 220 volts AC are heavy electric motors, heating elements and incandescent light bulbs.
Literally EVERYTHING else in use today does just fine with a 12 volt or 5 volt DC power supply, or in some rare cases, a few volts higher (like 16 volts) or something in between, like 6-9 volts.

In fact, even if you still own legacy electronics, like say perhaps an old solid state stereo receiver from the 1980's, it is entirely possible to bypass the mains transformer and rectifier stages
and connect 12 volts DC directly to where the output of the rectifier stage is. I did this in a motorhome because I wanted to enjoy my home stereo receiver, a Pioneer SX-838.

So, should a Carrington level event occur, there will be a massive effort launched to rebuild and in the interim, resourceful people will be leveraging alternatives, many of which
we probably will not switch back from. Class 2 low voltage wiring will become much more commonplace because there will not be much need to send 120 volts AC down the line to every
room when it is only needed for two or three large items.

Samsung 65″ Class Q90T QLED 4K Smart TV: The Q90T consumes 120W under normal circumstances, but at maximum, can run up to 295W.
That's 2.46 amps at 12 volts, which can be handled easily by a heavy duty wall type USB port made for charging accessories.

The same goes for the typical desktop or laptop computer, somewhere between 1 and 2.5 amps if you measure at the output of the PC power supply.
The point is, almost everything in the modern home can work just fine if powered directly by low voltage DC, because that is what all those wall warts and power packs already do, and by the way
we are paying an efficiency penalty when we use all those individual power packs and wall warts, which of course do not turn off when we turn off a device.
The biggest problem is over-reliance on LARGE CENTRALIZED generating utilities when the reality of today is that for residential and small business, local community co-generation beats massive central utilities every single time and in every single scenario. Large central utilities serve heavy industry well but serving scattered widespread residential and small business is the prime example of their built in inefficiency.

You're correct when it comes to arguing about a CME the size of which is like the Carrington Event but we also cannot do much about a Chixilub meteor impact or
the eruption of the Yellowstone Caldera.
But we CAN and DO have measures to protect against the other 90-something percent of expected CME events.

The problem with a Carrington size event is that we know it’s going to happen - probably in our lifetime or our children’s lifetime - and it’s not possible to shield against it. It is possible to prepare for it but none of the governments of the world are doing that. That preparation is the difference between millions and billions of lives lost. And that’s a generous assumption that we ever put the pieces back together. Call me cynical, but I don’t see most of humanity or civilization surviving this.

 

[Superfly]

It’s always a good idea to have those skills and at least a few months of supplies on-hand no matter what anyone says. A million things could and probably will happen that you’d need them for. My husband and I are doing the same thing. No crazy bunkers or years of MREs, but learning how to can was fun and we have a good trade network with our neighbors and country friends (I make a mean chili oil or apple pie filling that I trade for honey or kimchi).

I remember when the remnants of Hurricane Ike blew through here and took out power for over a week. It was all fun and games for the first few days as people had block parties to cook their meats. But people get nasty really quick when they go too long with terrible food and no creature comforts.

The first order of business for us both in an event like this is to get as far away and upwind as possible from every nuclear power plant within 8 hours. If you’ve got a good supply of food and water wherever you’re going then the biggest threat will be the starving hordes from the cities.

That's why we are looking as far away from the cities as we can. Our first order of business after moving in are solar panels and a well.

I agree, too, about the hurricanes, etc. I used to live on the coast in south Georgia. You didn't play when it came to stockpiling. We'd lose power and not know when it would be back on. Gone for weeks without power.

 

[Superfly]

Yes, because an electrical surge would knock them out. It happened to a dozen or more of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites when he tried to put them into orbit a few months back. A solar storm knocked them all out and they fell back to Earth.

Solar storm knocks out 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites

Washington DC (UPI) Feb 9, 2021 - A solar storm has knocked out 40 of 49 SpaceX Starlink broadband communications satellites the company launched on Thursday, the company said.

www.spacedaily.com

The particles move at slower than the speed of light, so a careful observance of the Sun would give us ample time to take appropriate measures. By turning off the electric grid before the shockwave begins, you can minimize the damage. Open up the breakers and shorten the length of the induction wires. Once the storm passes, resume normally.

Interesting. Thanks, luv.

 

[What if...?]

I can assure you that despite any flaws in design, the one thing ALL nuclear power plants CAN survive is an EMP from a coronal mass ejection.
Here is what will NOT survive (unless you've shielded it properly)

Your computer
Your smartphone
Your router

The ISP's all have proper EMP shielding built in, so do the phone companies, and of course, so do nuclear power plants.

And your car, if it has electronic ignition.

 

[What if...?]

That's why we are looking as far away from the cities as we can. Our first order of business after moving in are solar panels and a well.

I agree, too, about the hurricanes, etc. I used to live on the coast in south Georgia. You didn't play when it came to stockpiling. We'd lose power and not know when it would be back on. Gone for weeks without power.

Pretty sure solar panels are vulnerable too. Anything with a transistor.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

And your car, if it has electronic ignition.

Some yes, some no...Naturally a CME the size of the Carrington Event...yes definitely only one-wire diesel vehicles will be functional for a while, and some very old "classic" clunkers maybe.
But believe it or not, spoofing CME effects on cars is possible right now.

Radio frequency energy, particularly RF in the millimeter wave spectrum AND the 10-20 meter HF spectrum, both are known to wreak havoc with automotive ECU's, electronic ignition and
much of what is now called CANBUS services.
In fact, as far back as the 1970's even early electronic ignition was very open to EFI from high power RF.
The reason I know this is because back then, when I was both a ham and a CB-er I myself found I was able to kill the electronic ignition on several makes of cars while driving.
You just needed about 250 watts on a CB, and that was sufficient and you were close enough.
My first unintended victim was a 1978 Super Beetle...every time I keyed up the mic, the Beetle would lose power and stall, and the moment I let go or the Beetle dropped far enough behind,
the ignition would turn back on.

And I wasn't even quite sure what was happening but when I flipped the switch to 500 watts, that fried the Super Beetle for keeps, or as far as I know, because the poor guy just drifted over to the curb
and got out, completely confused as to why his car went kaput on him. And a moment later an old Plymouth began misfiring all to Hell next to me.
That's when I figured it out for sure, I was causing the havoc!

And yet, I was driving a 1974 Dodge Tradesman 300 van, with the same electronic ignition as the old Plymouth next to me, and I never had an issue.
The four pillars of hardening are surge suppression, shielding, grounding and filtering.
If you have a lousy ground and a completely unshielded set of wires, and no surge suppression, you're going to be the broad side of a barn and almost anything
will score a hit on the electronics.
In the old days you could tell who had crappy shielding and lousy ground because an AM radio would pick up the high voltage spike noise from the spark plug wires
as the vehicle passed by.

I realize that something as massive as a Carrington Event would overcome almost any measures, but that IS The Carrington Event.
You might as well try to stop the Yellowstone Caldera from blowing its top.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

 

[The Mark]

No biggie - right? We can all live without the internet, probably be better for our kids if they weren't staring at a screen 90% of their waking hours. Oh, it might mess with the production of a few items but no biggie - right?

I thought this was a known thing, and has been for decades.

Perspective bias strikes again I suppose.

Kids adapt, they'll be fine.

Parents on the other hand, if they thought homeschooling during Covid was bad, imagine it without the internet and tablets to keep their kids busy.
They might end up running around outside and getting hurt, the horror.

 

[The Mark]

Yes, because an electrical surge would knock them out. It happened to a dozen or more of Elon Musk's Starlink satellites when he tried to put them into orbit a few months back. A solar storm knocked them all out and they fell back to Earth.

Solar storm knocks out 40 SpaceX Starlink satellites

Washington DC (UPI) Feb 9, 2021 - A solar storm has knocked out 40 of 49 SpaceX Starlink broadband communications satellites the company launched on Thursday, the company said.

www.spacedaily.com

The particles move at slower than the speed of light, so a careful observance of the Sun would give us ample time to take appropriate measures. By turning off the electric grid before the shockwave begins, you can minimize the damage. Open up the breakers and shorten the length of the induction wires. Once the storm passes, resume normally.

Do we have enough centralized control to turn off the entire power grid in time though?

 

[What if...?]

Some yes, some no...Naturally a CME the size of the Carrington Event...yes definitely only one-wire diesel vehicles will be functional for a while, and some very old "classic" clunkers maybe.
But believe it or not, spoofing CME effects on cars is possible right now.

Radio frequency energy, particularly RF in the millimeter wave spectrum AND the 10-20 meter HF spectrum, both are known to wreak havoc with automotive ECU's, electronic ignition and
much of what is now called CANBUS services.
In fact, as far back as the 1970's even early electronic ignition was very open to EFI from high power RF.
The reason I know this is because back then, when I was both a ham and a CB-er I myself found I was able to kill the electronic ignition on several makes of cars while driving.
You just needed about 250 watts on a CB, and that was sufficient and you were close enough.
My first unintended victim was a 1978 Super Beetle...every time I keyed up the mic, the Beetle would lose power and stall, and the moment I let go or the Beetle dropped far enough behind,
the ignition would turn back on.

And I wasn't even quite sure what was happening but when I flipped the switch to 500 watts, that fried the Super Beetle for keeps, or as far as I know, because the poor guy just drifted over to the curb
and got out, completely confused as to why his car went kaput on him. And a moment later an old Plymouth began misfiring all to Hell next to me.
That's when I figured it out for sure, I was causing the havoc!

And yet, I was driving a 1974 Dodge Tradesman 300 van, with the same electronic ignition as the old Plymouth next to me, and I never had an issue.
The four pillars of hardening are surge suppression, shielding, grounding and filtering.
If you have a lousy ground and a completely unshielded set of wires, and no surge suppression, you're going to be the broad side of a barn and almost anything
will score a hit on the electronics.
In the old days you could tell who had crappy shielding and lousy ground because an AM radio would pick up the high voltage spike noise from the spark plug wires
as the vehicle passed by.

I realize that something as massive as a Carrington Event would overcome almost any measures, but that IS The Carrington Event.
You might as well try to stop the Yellowstone Caldera from blowing its top.

My 1974 gmc rv has an aftermarket electronic ignition but the previous owner kept the breaker plate. It’s still under the passenger seat. Ready to go back to work in the event of an emp!

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

Do we have enough centralized control to turn off the entire power grid in time though?

Best answer I could give is ..... meh.
We have all lived through some epic central grid failures so it's not like it's a sure thing that utility operators will do the right thing in the right timeframe to avert something.
Some parts of the country have at least some of the ways and means to take preventative steps to mitigate some of the potential damage, some parts of the country not so much.
And in all parts of the country we have operators who may or may not be asleep at the switch.
Call it the Homer Simpson syndrome, I guess.