12/21/2012

[Zantos]

You want to know what crazy is? People who think technology will magically just fix everything.

This is true. And yet I'm the one that get's called mental for shouting "That isn't how science works!" to strangers on the street that I don't know and aren't talking about it and other people believe aren't really there.

OT: Well, on the list of cosmic objects capable of wiping out or existence with nothing more than a silent whimper in ways completely unknown to modern science, the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy is fairly high up. But given a few thousand parsecs and the general empty space in the galaxy then that's a risk regardless of the date or where the earth happens to be passing. As far as catastrophes capable of wiping out human existence go there's nothing to say the world won't end on that date, but the chance of that happening is no greater than any other day.

 

[direkiller]

Ok, before anyone gets the idea I'm a paranoid nutcase let me put it to rest... I am a paranoid nutcase on some levels, but I'm not an end of the world type of person. I see things differently (as do we all) than most people and my view is that its just a shift in galactic position and that change does affect us as humans as well as all other life on this planet. I don't believe its an upheaval of crazy proportions or an apocalyptic destruction of the world and the end of all life. But I do believe the position we are in, lining up with the galactic core, is responsible for the things we call "global climate change" or "global warming", as well as other odd occurrences.

Sigh.

you know we are always in line with the "galactic core"(or twice a year anyway). The galactic equator is a line drawn from The sun to Sagittarius A(A star roughly in the center of the Milky way galaxy).

If you are talking about the galactic plane(the plane that roughly splits the mass of the milky way in half using a line of hydrogen) we passed it already(300 million years ago) and will not be crossing it again for another 30 million years.

So your getting scared over standardized arbitrary mapping lines. and a very unremarkable event that happens every year.

 

[Grottnikk]

As I've said before: People have been predicting the end of the world ever since the beginning of the world. So far, they're batting a big fat zero .

 

[Korolev]

The world has always been "crazy". You think things are bad now? During the Mongolian conquests, millions upon millions upon millions of people were being butchered. We've always had massacres and fights and killings and wars. It's just that with a 24/7, global media network, for the first time we are exposed to how much awful stuff happens around the world each day. In the past, you didn't hear about something bad unless it happened in your town or village (and even then it would have to happen fairly close to you).

Had CNN or the Internet been around during the fall of the Roman Republic or the Mongolian Conquests or the Taiping rebellion, the world would have seemed to be just as insane as it does now.

As for EM fields - yes they can affect the brain. Very strong EM fields can disrupt our neural patterns. But it has to be an extremely, EXTREMELY powerful field applied VERY CLOSELY to the brain. The Galactic EM field and the Planetary EM field honestly isn't that strong. Tape a couple of magnets together and you've already got a magnetic force stronger than the general Earth's magnetic field.

As for gravity - remember that gravitational power diminishes with distance. The further you are away from something, the less of an affect its gravitational field has. The rest of the galaxy and the stars are light years away from us. Even though there are billions of stars, their gravitational field is SO WEAK by the time it reaches us that it barely affects us at all - the Sun exerts a much stronger gravitational field on Earth than all the stars in the universe because the Sun is relatively close by and the other stars are (in some cases) bazillions of light years away.

I am certain that nothing on a galactic scale will happen in 21/12, and nothing on a planetary scale will happen. Will SOMETHING happen on 21/12? Sure, but SOMETHING happens every day.

 

[Imperioratorex Caprae]

Its funny, reading replies and all... I initially posted this to see if there would be a discussion, but really I guess a part of me just wanted to see what trainwrecks it would cause.
Trainwreck 1: Reading comprehension is at an all time low. I did state in my post that I wasn't worried about any apocalyptic event transpiring on 12/21/2012. Also nowhere did I show fear of anything happening. All I really posted was some existentialist ideas about EM fields and people and how changes in the environment around us affects us as people. Also I never claimed the tides were affected by the galaxy... I used lunar effect on the tides and some people's belief that lunar phases affect behavior as a comparison to galactic events affecting behavior as well. Reading comprehension, its a good thing.
Trainwreck 2: At least 2 people attempted to be witty about date formatting, which MM/DD/YYYY is perfectly acceptable.

Sad....

 

[Wyes]

snip

Unfortunately at the moment the only thing on everyone's brain associated with 21/12/12 is the end of the world, and despite being over hearing about it it's going to be their first association.

That said, I don't think I said anything about the end of the world, I was just examining the science behind the stuff you said, and in the article you linked to. See? See? I can read!

 

[Lord Doomhammer]

Thank you yet again for drawing attention to my birthday. I expect presents from all of you.

 

[Blood Brain Barrier]

I don't understand why people who are asked about the end of the world always analyze the science involved and then conclude it's not going to happen. As if our knowledge of science is complete, and as if the only way it could happen would be via an entity or happening observable by us or our technology prior to the event. The Mayans didn't make their prediction using the same assumptions about the world as we have. I'm not an expert on Mayan culture but I'm pretty sure they had a vastly different view of the world from us, with a different notion of being. We can't assume their knowledge about an End would be capable of being apprehended by us.

It's kind of like measuring the temperature of water with a ruler.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Wonderful: if I get moody and depressed on Friday I guess I'll blame the galaxy like I usually do. Then again if things shift completely then maybe I'll go manic. It would be nice to be really, really productive again. Or maybe nothing like that will happen.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I'm not sure what 'lined up with the galactic core' means. If you consider Earth to be one point and the galactic core to be a other, then we can always draw a straight line between us. You need a third body for any real lining up to happen and you didn't mention one.

Aside from that, the effects of electromagnetism (and gravity) decrease at an exponential rate with distance. The EM field of everything affects us as much as the the gravity of all mass in the universe effects us. That means that: A. the effects of EM fields are constant so long as the distance between us and whatever stays relatively constant, no lining up necessary B. The effects of such fields are very small (like smaller then the effects of the nearest sun's gravity on us). I don't see how EM fields are going to mess with our day unless something very close changes.

The Maya calender was based on the cycle of celestial objects. They actually had quiet an advanced astronomy system for the time. It's not really a big surprise that there calender ending corresponds with some celestial event reseting or coming to a neutral point. Our clock systems are based on the earth's rotation on its axis and our calender year is based on the revolutions around the sun. The Maya's had a system that tracked dates by way of star movement. Doesn't make them any more in the know then we are and in fact actually is a fascinating area of study.

People in ancient times believed the moon had an effect on behavior, noticeably that it could drive you made. That's why its called, lunacy, its named after the moon, Luna. That's actually where the idea of werewolfs came from, people acting strange because of the moon. Your line of thinking isn't all that special, only antiquated.

Yeah, people might use this as a reason to do terrible things. People use anything as an excuse to do terrible things. I remember the riots in LA after the Laker's won. I remember riots being started by small incidents, like police brutality to one man. People look for excuses to do what they want. This might incite some people but that's because they already were unhinged before hand.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Could happen I guess.

I mean my NFL team is not only winning but doing so decisively, mind you, LAST YEAR this is the same team that would have had a good season to just break even, this season, they're not only 9-5, they got there by beating some of the best teams in the NFL.

could be a sign of end times....

 

[DudeistBelieve]

Despite your claims to the contrary, we understand an awful lot about tides, and magnetic fields.

Really?


XD

But yeah, I agree. Also, can anybody check and tell me if that alignment is in any way special? As in, it could be happening every couple of months or whatever.

I, personally, don't think anything at all significant is going to happen.

I've lived through far too many "it's the end of the wooooooorld" predictions to give a shit about them anymore.

The sheer stupidity I saw around Y2K was fucking hilarious. The absolute bollocks people were coming up with "all the computer systems will reset WE WILL BE BACK IN THE DARK AGES" ...... I wish i'd filmed most of it so I could laugh at it properly again today.

I'm just waiting for the hilarity of reading all about peoples moronic behaviour when I pick up the paper on the 22nd.

Yeah, that would be really funny. Just prepare for 2038 - I'm sure the media would love to overhype that threath (for the record, it's sort of the same as the Y2K bug [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem])

2038 we also have that damn asteroid that has a 1 in 250,000 chance of hitting us.

 

[DoPo]

Yeah, that would be really funny. Just prepare for 2038 - I'm sure the media would love to overhype that threath (for the record, it's sort of the same as the Y2K bug [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem])

2038 we also have that damn asteroid that has a 1 in 250,000 chance of hitting us.

I can't way to see how the media and people will try to cross these two together. The meteor is causing all the computers to fail? The computers summoned the asteroid? Yeah...

 

[Lionsfan]

The crazy part is literally everything else.

your opinion, I guess.

Good point, and you can also apply that great rebuttal to this:

snip

This is definitely a contender for the craziest, most offensive post of the year. Xanthious,[footnote]I'm still counting him, because he still has time to form an alt account. I don't want to put the poor guy out of the running just yet.[/footnote] Blablahb, Gorf, and Therumancer might be having to up their game.

I looked at your post after reading his, then read his again, then looked at yours, then his again.

How exactly is it crazy or offensive again?

It's a pretty spot on post. You see it ALLLLLLLLL the fucking time in history for christ's sake. Big empires rise, then fall, in a practically anarchic state of war and destruction, rinse and repeat. His post isn't so far fetched, and about globalization, is pretty damn accurate.

Moving on:

Could happen I guess.

I mean my NFL team is not only winning but doing so decisively, mind you, LAST YEAR this is the same team that would have had a good season to just break even, this season, they're not only 9-5, they got there by beating some of the best teams in the NFL.

could be a sign of end times....

I think the biggest "The hell?" moments of the 2012 NFL season is how you guys managed to lose to the Lions. Because holy god are we awful

 

[Kinitawowi]

I'm gonna buy some popcorn, slap in my 2012 DVD, and laugh at Danny Glover dying when an aircraft carrier lands on his head.

Then I'll go to bed and wonder what all the fuss was ever about.

 

[WanderingFool]

I dont think its the end of the world, but I do think it would be cool if something positive actually happened... just to counterbalance all the shit thats going on...

 

[Zen Toombs]

Thank you yet again for drawing attention to my birthday. I expect presents from all of you.

Of course Bibblles, it's your birthday! Sorry though, I'm going to have to miss the party, family stuff came up.

Spoiler: Mind if I give you your present now?

Spoiler: Unwrap present

On Topic: Thanks [user]Redingold[/user] for spelling out the sciency parts of tidal forces. Astronomy is fun. ^_^

 

[Seagoon]

Thank you yet again for drawing attention to my birthday. I expect presents from all of you.

Expect presents.. from the sky.. MADE OF FLAMING ROCK..

OT: Seriously, though.. 2012 is a bunch of Brahmin shit, but it's more of the human aspect of it I'm worried about. Humans seem to have a marked propensity for making a really big deal out of fairy stories, I hope nobody does anything stupid..

 

[Lunar Templar]

[

Could happen I guess.

I mean my NFL team is not only winning but doing so decisively, mind you, LAST YEAR this is the same team that would have had a good season to just break even, this season, they're not only 9-5, they got there by beating some of the best teams in the NFL.

could be a sign of end times....

I think the biggest "The hell?" moments of the 2012 NFL season is how you guys managed to lose to the Lions. Because holy god are we awful

Well it was a road game, the hawks always do better at home, hell they're 6-0 at home this year.

still o.0 I'm not used to them winning like this, or getting praise from the media, its very strange.

 

[Professor Lupin Madblood]

Slash.

Thread.