OFFS, not another apocalypse!

[Black Aliss]

OK folks. According to Christian thinker little-known nutcase David Meade, a distant planet named Nibiru is on track to collide with our own planet this coming Saturday.  He has biblical evidence, so there!

 http://www.thestranger.com/slog/2017/09/18/25420142/icymi-world-to-end-saturday

All together now,

I couldn't bring myself to watch his video, so I watched this instead.

[mirele]

If a planet* was going to smash into Earth by Saturday, it would be a very bright object in the sky. It would have been noticed by astronomers who keep track of these things. 

* I am using the International Astronomical Union's definition of a planet, which is, 1) it goes around the Sun, 2) it's basically round and 3) has "cleared the neighborhood" of its orbit of other objects. So it would have to be a fairly large size object. It is entirely possible for a good size rock to get close to the earth, but it's not a planet.

It's possible for a small object, not a planet, to get close to the earth, but we have lots of stuff tracking for those objects.  Here's a link to the Daily Minor Planet report:

http://www.minorplanetcenter.net/daily-minor-planet

And here's a sample of what they're finding out there, from today's report:

Quote

Asteroid 2017 RX2 was first observed by Pan-STARRS 1, Haleakala on 2017-09-15

It will fly by Earth harmlessly on 2017-09-18 at 17:00 UTC at 6.2 times the distance to the Moon, at a speed (relative to the Earth) of 12.7 km/s. It is estimated to be 9 - 30 meters in size.
 

So, basically, this is utter horseshit. Something the size of our Moon or a planet would have been spotted a long time ago, its orbit plotted and the probability of it hitting the earth determined.

ETA: This seriously annoys me. Space objects are an issue and we could use more money to keep an eye out for good sized objects coming in, but I repeat, this is utter horseshit.

[CyborgKin]

Is it just me or are apocalypses (apocalii?) getting more frequent?

Probably due to the rise of social media making it a little bit easier to spread silly ideas around than back in the 20th century when all we had was chain emails

[Anonymousguest]

I say Bring it! An apocalypse would solve a number of issues I have in my life now. 

[WhatWouldJohnCrichtonDo?]

1 hour ago, Anonymousguest said:

I say Bring it! An apocalypse would solve a number of issues I have in my life now. 

I was just thinking that if the world ends early enough on Saturday, I could miss out on the 5K walk/run I signed up for.  (I just ended a sentence with two prepositions. It must be the end of the world!)

[Ozlsn]

1 hour ago, Anonymousguest said:

I say Bring it! An apocalypse would solve a number of issues I have in my life now. 

Heh. I imagine a reasonable number of students are playing the "do I start this essay due Monday or wait to see if the world ends first?" game. Not that I speak from experience or anything.

[December]

No matter how many of these things are predicted, people never seem to learn, do they? 

[VaSportsMom]

I was just thinking that if the world ends early enough on Saturday, I could miss out on the 5K walk/run I signed up for.  (I just ended a sentence with two prepositions. It must be the end of the world!)

I signed up to do a 5k dog walk/run Saturday and my dog is a 2lb Chorkie. I'll have to pack him 4.99k while everyone makes fun of me. I'm good with the world ending.

[Bethella]

On 9/19/2017 at 0:03 AM, CyborgKin said:

apocalypses (apocalii?)

I think I like apocalypsii because it just sounds fun.

[mirele]

I can predict that right around the Jewish High Holy Days, we're going to have someone predicting the Rapture will occur. The thinking is that since there's nothing in the New Testament that shows Jesus said or did something spectacular on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, well, then, his next great act will be the Rapture and it will be over the High Holy Days. (I did not make this up. I have read it in a few places.) But I have seen this speculation for years and years. Ironically, one of the gospels has Jesus saying no man will know the day and the hour, but that doesn't stop these guys, and hasn't, since William Miller started this whole trend of predicting the Second Coming (which yes, I know, is different from the Rapture) back in 1843. He was wrong then, and he was wrong on the reset date in 1844.

/end of rant.