Time wasters, part 23,523,352.6

[veronica_rich]

(I used my "science" icon from the Oppenheimer movie about the Manhattan Project!)

Status report in the Midwest: It's April and still no spring in sight. Winter has a deathgrip and is not making it easy to get outside and do much of anything. So ... how about some educational geology?

Tired of seeing all those news reports and History Channel specials (for which I have a certain morbid fondness) about the end of the world? Are you tired of people just talking about it and wish someone would DO something to make sure the Earth just isn't there anymore? Try your hand at How to Destroy the Earth, an oldie but goodie. This guy examines all the possible ways our favorite planet could go kablooey! and why its unlikely you need to take out an insurance policy against it.

The perfect antidote to global warming: Snowball Earth, the hypothesis (theory?) that a Very Very Very Long Time Ago - literally millions of years before electric blankets - the third rock from the Sun was a gigantic snowball with a supercontinent and one big fucking frozen ocean. Too extreme even for the Polar Bear Club!

Check out the world of the future using the toolbar at the left, or have a gander at what Earth looked like hundreds of millions of years ago. (I think I saw something on History about how when everything's reassembled someday into Pangea Ultima again, in about 2 billion years, coupled with the loss of geothermal energy, the Earth will simply burn off all life and water and be a big ball of dust waiting to be swallowed by the sun. Depressed yet?)

I'm willing to take more links if anyone has them. I like random facts like these - Earth, space, the body, history, you name it.

Comments

You want end-of-the-world AWKI?

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Google 2012, specifically Dec. 21st, 2012.

Or see http://www.December212012.com Has lots of links.

Re: You want end-of-the-world AWKI?

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

More info on Mayan calendar: http://www.adishakti.org/mayan_end_times_prophecy_12-21-2012.htm

I find the whole Mayan calendar thing fascinating. In fact, although I'm not building an underground shelter in my backyard and stokpiling canned goods, because it is something created by people close to the Earth with a unique and vast understanding of the universe, the plausibility of an "end time" based on the cycles they discovered is quite high.

It may not mean the end of the Earth, but the end of civilization as we know it, is becoming more and more possible

Re: You want end-of-the-world AWKI?

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Damn LJ cut me off.

Anyway... there's a lot of numbers involved. Enjoy.

Re: You want end-of-the-world AWKI?

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Even more numbers: http://www.viewzone.com/endtime.html

Now I am wasting time too! And the end is near!

Re: You want end-of-the-world AWKI?

[finding-neo.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, that last one's the best of the lot, explaining the galactic phenomenon culminating on 12.21.2012. It even mentions the "doomsday seed bank" which 60 Minutes recently did a report on.

Sorry for hijacking your journal.

This interests me: "If the Earth's magnetic poles switch, this would put stress on the planet aggravating earthquakes and volcanos, not to mention destruction of the electrical power distribution grid. And, if the switch happens fast enough don't ever expect your computer to work again. But if you have old tube type equipment, keep it. It should survive just fine. It will work if you can find electricity."

Like tube television? Is there a conspiracy behind "going digital." The Mulder in me wants to know.

[justawench.livejournal.com]

Well, I feel fine.

I've noticed that the History Channel (or History, as they're now insisting to be called) loves to focus on crazy end-of-the-world theories. I'm developing a strong dislike for their channel.