
No, if you put a conductor in a changing magnetic field, it produces a voltage.
The two ways you can do that with a permanent magnet is to move the magnet or
move the conductor.  The slow shifting of the Earth's magnetic field isn't
really significant, especially when you consider how weak the Earth's magnetic
field is to begin with.


Well, it would require generating an incredibly large magnetic field to repel
the Earth's magnetic field (as a magnet can repel another magnet).  Of course,
this force only works in one direction, and the magnetic field generated has
to be unimaginably powerful.  Magnetic repulsion drops off as 1/r^3, and the
earth's magnetic field on the surface is already very weak.  It would require
some sort of unknown superconductor, and special nonmagnetic construction.
And seriously hardenned electronics (optical computers, perhaps).  And the
physiological danger would be significant (due to the iron content in our
blood, among other things).  In other words, forget it.


I missed out on the "dragless satellite" thread, but it sounds totally bogus,
from this little bit.