Reading up on geomagnetism, as you do, and I am obsessed by this GIF showing changes in magnetic declination over time www.usgs.gov/media/images...

yes, this came about because I'm reading Admiral Cloudberg's new piece on KAL 007. magnetic declination is very important when you are (a) flying in the far north (b) want to avoid Soviet airspace

Polar reversals are always my favorite thing to confuse people with!

... should I be more disturbed or more awed by that? Or perhaps "both in balance" is the accurate sensation?