NASA Scientist: No Doomsday in 2012

Now you tell me. Damm... Sold everything to spend at my last years on earth

The article gives a link to this useful bunch of resources re:pseudo-science.

Around the mid-70s a number of supposedly high-class rags cited predictions by two University of Colorado 'scientists' of major earthquakes resulting from the (then) forthcoming alignment of the major planets.

I doubted this very much (such alignments have happened many, many times in Earth's history), and so I got out my calculator and figured the worst-case scenario: the net tug from Mars through Pluto in alignment, and all of them at the points in their orbits bringing them closest to Earth. A pretty dire scenario, indeed, if these 'scientists' were to be believed.

As it turned out, the worst-case pull was less than one percent of the Moon's pull alone! Not only, but the Moon's pull is strong enough to elongate the Earth and, as the Earth turns 'under' the Moon, so to speak, the axis of elongation makes a complete rotation (from Earth's the perspective) roughly every 23h 10m. This rotation, in turn, causes the crust to undergo considerable flexure, causes the tides, and causes heating of the Earth's interior. If anything had the potential to trigger major earthquakes, this did.

The alignment came and went, but no earthquakes, no widespread destruction, no tsunamis and no deaths apart from the rags, who made a killing.

My friend Richard worked at Adler Planetarium during that time. One day a woman called, all upset. She heard the planets were going to line up and destroy the Earth, but she had tickets for a cruise! She asked whether she ought to cancel the cruise.

<< Take a moment to think - what would YOU have said?? >>

Richard is a nice fellow -- certainly nicer than me. He simply told her that, if the world was going to end anyway, she might as well go ahead & enjoy the cruise. That answer made her very happy.

Gawd I hate those end o the world things. January 2013 the deluded will be looking at their elbows, wondering what happened, awakening to the silly uenlightened truth that there are no cheap excuses for your bad behavior... ever.

ya mean stuff I read on the internet is not all true?

Love it when science wins again...

Glad to see our tax dollars hard at work dispelling internet hoaxes. Hope David spends some time on meaningful work.

So NOW what am I supposed to do with all these suicide pills!

You could give the pills to all the yahoos that believe this stuff and help raise the IQ of the planet.

Agreed. Like this guy, for example?

"Duh...yew mene dem sooicide pills rise yer IKu? Wull, gosh!!!"

Hmmmmm…..don't be so fast to discredit the Mayan calendar.

Let's see…the next presidential election is November 2012….and the Doomsday date is either December 21 or 23 in 2012.

No way this can only be a coincidence so must be related. It's a government conspiracy I tell 'ya.

Ahhhh geeeezzz, does this mean I have to toss my Mayan calendar out the window too???? ***LOL*** So much for "ending it all" on the Eve of Destruction December 21, 2012!!!!! I think I'll go do some BASE jumping instead!!! Geronimo!!! hehehee

Alternative Revelations

Q: So how come it ends in 2012?

A: We don't have a glyph for 'Perpetual.'

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Q: What happens on December 21^st, 2012? Or is it the 23^rd?

A: That's when the plumber is supposed to be here. I think.

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Q: What's that glyph up there mean, the one near the top?

A: "Just kidding!!!"

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Q: What is that thing?

A: It's a Mayan PDA, you moron. Next stupid question!

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Q: Does it come with any applications, like the iStone?

Y: Holy Crap! Why didn't I think of that?!

Q: So what happens in 2013?

A: A whole lot of people are going to feel very stupid.

No matter how much things somethings remain the same...a lot of people feeling stupid is quite normal every year

Isn't there a movie coming out sometime soon called 2012? I think that all this hype is to promote the movie and everyone is getting sucked into it...including us.

Quote from the referenced article:

"One of his most interesting findings is that the distributors of the science fiction motion picture "2012", to be released this November, are purposely feeding the flames of the Internet panic .... "

It's not a hoax, just an exageration. With the London Olympics that year, we might get to find out the final construction bill for everything needed to host the whole thing.