Posts Tagged ‘end of the world’

NASA scientists explain why the world will not end tomorrow:

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Question: Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer: The world will not end in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.

Question: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
Answer: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012 and linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 — hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.

Question: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
Answer: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then — just as your calendar begins again on January 1 — another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.

Question: Is NASA predicting a “total blackout” of Earth on Dec. 23 to Dec. 25?
Answer: Absolutely not. Neither NASA nor any other scientific organization is predicting such a blackout. The false reports on this issue claim that some sort of “alignment of the Universe” will cause a blackout. There is no such alignment (see next question). Some versions of this rumor cite an emergency preparedness message from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. This is simply a message encouraging people to be prepared for emergencies, recorded as part of a wider government preparedness campaign. It never mentions a blackout.

Question: Could planets align in a way that impacts Earth?
Answer: There are no planetary alignments in the next few decades and even if these alignments were to occur, their effects on the Earth would be negligible. One major alignment occurred in 1962, for example, and two others happened during 1982 and 2000. Each December the Earth and sun align with the approximate center of the Milky Way Galaxy but that is an annual event of no consequence.

Queston: Is there a planet or brown dwarf called Nibiru or Planet X or Eris that is approaching the Earth and threatening our planet with widespread destruction?
Answer: Nibiru and other stories about wayward planets are an Internet hoax. There is no factual basis for these claims. If Nibiru or Planet X were real and headed for an encounter with the Earth in 2012, astronomers would have been tracking it for at least the past decade, and it would be visible by now to the naked eye. Obviously, it does not exist. Eris is real, but it is a dwarf planet similar to Pluto that will remain in the outer solar system; the closest it can come to Earth is about 4 billion miles.

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Question: What is the polar shift theory? Is it true that the Earth’s crust does a 180-degree rotation around the core in a matter of days if not hours?
Answer: A reversal in the rotation of Earth is impossible. There are slow movements of the continents (for example Antarctica was near the equator hundreds of millions of years ago), but that is irrelevant to claims of reversal of the rotational poles. However, many of the disaster websites pull a bait-and-switch to fool people. They claim a relationship between the rotation and the magnetic polarity of Earth, which does change irregularly, with a magnetic reversal taking place every 400,000 years on average. As far as we know, such a magnetic reversal doesn’t cause any harm to life on Earth. Scientists believe a magnetic reversal is very unlikely to happen in the next few millennia.

Question: Is the Earth in danger of being hit by a meteor in 2012?
Answer: The Earth has always been subject to impacts by comets and asteroids, although big hits are very rare. The last big impact was 65 million years ago, and that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Today NASA astronomers are carrying out a survey called the Spaceguard Survey to find any large near-Earth asteroids long before they hit. We have already determined that there are no threatening asteroids as large as the one that killed the dinosaurs. All this work is done openly with the discoveries posted every day on the NASA Near-Earth Object Program Office website, so you can see for yourself that nothing is predicted to hit in 2012.

Question: How do NASA scientists feel about claims of the world ending in 2012?
Answer: For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, where is the science? Where is the evidence? There is none, and for all the fictional assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, we cannot change that simple fact. There is no credible evidence for any of the assertions made in support of unusual events taking place in December 2012.

Question: Is there a danger from giant solar storms predicted for 2012?
Answer: Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years. Near these activity peaks, solar flares can cause some interruption of satellite communications, although engineers are learning how to build electronics that are protected against most solar storms. But there is no special risk associated with 2012. The next solar maximum will occur in the 2012-2014 time frame and is predicted to be an average solar cycle, no different than previous cycles throughout history.

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Source: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html#end

If tomorrow the world will end, I already chose my soundtrack.

IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT (AND I FEEL FINE)
R.E.M.

It’s The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
That’s great!
It starts with an earthquake
Birds and snakes
An aeroplane
Lenny Bruce is not afraid

Eye of a hurricane, listen to yourself churn
World serves its own needs, dummy serve your own needs
Feed it off an aux speak, grunt, no, strength, no
Ladder start to clatter with fear fight down height
Wire in a fire, representing seven games
A government for hire and a combat site
Left of west and coming in a hurry
With the furies breathing down your neck
Team by team reporters baffled, trumped, tethered, cropped
Look at that low plane! Fine, then.
Uh oh, overflow, population, common group, but it’ll do.
Save yourself, serve yourself
World serves its own needs, listen to your heart bleed
Dummy with the rapture and the revered and the right, right.
You vitriolic, patriotic, slam, fight, bright light, feeling pretty psyched!

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

Six o’clock – TV hour. Don’t get caught in foreign towers.
Slash and burn, return, listen to yourself churn.
Locking in, uniforming, book burning, blood letting.
Every motive escalate. Automotive incinerate.
Light a candle, light a votive. Step down, step down.
Watch your heel crush, crushed, uh-oh, this means no fear, cavalier.
Renegade steer clear! A tournament, tournament, a tournament of lies.
Offer me solutions, offer me alternatives and I decline.

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine.

The other night I dreamt a nice continental drift divide, mounts sit in a line
Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce and Lester Bangs.
Birthday party, cheesecake, jelly bean, boom!
You symbiotic, patriotic, slam, book, neck…

Right?
Right!

It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
It’s the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine

(It’s time I had some time alone)

SEE ON YOUTUBE:

21 films about the end of the world to you see while you’re waiting for the end of the world… But be quick because you have to see all of them until 21 December!

The World has ended by many different ways in the movies. And because 21 December is a special date, I selected 21 movies you must see about the end of the world. In these movies the world ends by:

ALIEN ATTACK:

01. WAR OF THE WORLDS, 2005
As Earth is invaded by alien tripod fighting machines, one family fights for survival. Steven Spielberg for the first time shows us evil aliens in this remake of a sci-fi classic from the 50s based on H.G. Wells novel. 116 min.
Director: Steven Spielberg. Stars: Tom Cruise, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins.

waroftheworlds_2005

02. INDEPENDENCE DAY, 1996
The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy. Fighting superior technology, Man’s best weapon is the will to survive. 145 min.
Director: Roland Emmerich. Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum.

independence-day_1996

03. THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, 1951
An alien lands and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets. Klaatu Barada Niktu. 92 min.
Director: Robert Wise. Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe.

the-day-the-earth-stood-still_1951

EARTH COLLAPSE:

04. THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW, 2004
Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist for NORAD, must make a daring trek across America to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age. 124 min.
Director: Roland Emmerich. Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok.

the-day-after-tomorrow_2004

05. 2012, 2009
An epic adventure about a global cataclysm that brings an end to the world and tells of the heroic struggle of the survivors. 158 min.
Director: Roland Emmerich. Stars: John Cusack, Thandie Newton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet.

two_thousand_twelve_2009

06. WATERWORLD, 1995
In a future where the polar ice caps have melted and most of Earth is underwater, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw “smokers,” and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land. 135 min.
Director: Kevin Reynolds. Stars: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper.

waterworld_1995

SPACE CATACLYSM:

07. DEEP IMPACT, 1998
Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive. Which people will survive? 120 min.
Director: Mimi Leder. Stars: Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Morgan Freeman.

deepimpact_1998

08. NIGHT OF THE COMET, 1984
A comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls to fight the evil types who survive. 95 min.
Director: Thom Eberhardt. Stars: Catherine Mary Stewart, Kelli Maroney, Robert Beltran, Sharon Farrell.

nightofthecomet_1984

09. ARMAGEDDOM, 1998
After discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas is going to impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep core drillers to save humanity. 151 min.
Director: Michael Bay. Stars: Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck.

armageddon_1998

NUCLEAR WEAPONS:

10. PLANET OF THE APES, 1968
An astronaut crew crash lands on a planet in the distant future where intelligent talking apes are the dominant species, and humans are the oppressed and enslaved. (OK, if you never saw this, I will tell that the astronaut is on Earth after a nuclear apocalypse – I’m sorry for the spoiler!). 112 min.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner. Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter.

Planet-of-the-apes-1968

11. THE DAY AFTER, 1983
A graphic, disturbing film about the effects of a devastating nuclear holocaust on small-town residents of eastern Kansas. 127 min.
Director: Nicholas Meyer. Stars: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullum.

thedayafter_1984

12. THE ROAD, 2009
A post-apocalyptic tale of a man and his son trying to survive by any means possible. 111 min.
Director: John Hillcoat. Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee.

theroad_2009

13. MAD MAX, 1979
In a apocalyptic future, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to avenge his partner, his wife and his son whom were murdered by a motorcycle gang in retaliation for the death of their leader. 88 min.
Director: George Miller. Stars: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne.

mad-max_1979

PLAGUES:

14. THE NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, 1968
A group of people hide from bloodthirsty zombies in a farmhouse. First of the zombies movies directed by George A. Romero, so watch too the following movies Dawn of the Dead (1978), Day of the Dead (1985) and Land of the Dead (2005). 96 min.
Director: George A. Romero. Stars: Duane Jones, Judith O’Dea, Karl Hardman.

nightofthelivingdead_1968

15. I AM LEGEND, 2007
Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor in New York City struggles valiantly to find a cure. If you dislike Will Smith, you can also watch the original 1971 “The Omega Man” with Charlton Heston. 101 min.
Director: Francis Lawrence. Stars: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson-Whitfield.

i_am_legend_2007

16. 28 DAYS LATER, 2002
Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK turning people into zombies, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary. 113 min.
Director: Danny Boyle. Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston.

28-days-later_2002

17. RESIDENT EVIL, 2002
A special military unit fights a powerful, out-of-control supercomputer and hundreds of scientists who have mutated into flesh-eating creatures after a laboratory accident. 100 min.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson. Stars: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Colin Salmon.

residentevil_2002

18. CARRIERS, 2009
Four friends fleeing a viral pandemic soon learn they are more dangerous than any virus. 84 min.
Directors: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor. Stars: Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Lou Taylor Pucci.

carriers_2009

19. BLINDNESS, 2008
A doctor’s wife becomes the only person with the ability to see in a town where everyone is struck with a mysterious case of sudden blindness. She feigns illness in order to take care of her husband as her surrounding community breaks down into chaos and disorder. 121 min.
Director: Fernando Meirelles. Stars: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Alice Braga, Gael García Bernal.

blindness_2008

20. CHILDREN OF MEN, 2006
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child’s birth may help scientists save the future of humankind. 109 min.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón. Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Michael Caine, Chiwetel Ejiofor.

childrenofmen_2006

DRAGONS:

21. REIGN OF FIRE, 2002
A brood of fire-breathing dragons emerges from the earth and begins setting fire to everything, establishing dominance over the planet. 101 min.
Director: Rob Bowman. Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco.

reignoffire_2002

Weather forecast for this week

Posted: December 17, 2012 in humor
Tags: ,

Making plans for this week and for the weekend? Don’t forget to check the weather forecast!

weather-forecast

The end of the world could well be an international holiday because falls precisely on a Friday… Or it could be on Monday…