2012 : is the world ending? and what happens after that?

[Deleted member 49693]

Great! I'm going to die a virgin.....

 

[jemappelleamy]

Great! I'm going to die a virgin.....

haha don't worry you still have two years a lot could happen

 

[seanutbutter]

St. Helens, Ranier and a few others are showing signs of life and Montserrat is still actively venting. Then there are the Calderas previously mentioned.

If St. Helens or Rainier erupt only people in the immediate area (in Rainier's case that'd be Orting, Puyallup, Enumclaw, etc.) risk being killed or injured, and they are already well prepared to evacuate. Live away from the foothills of a volcano and you'll have nothing to worry about.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I just looked out the window, and ... I can't see a volcano from my house!!! Guess I'm gonna be all right!

 

[tigerrouge]

I wish people would be a bit more realistic and open minded to the real threats.

Seeing as solar storms, asteroid impacts and volanic eruptions are things we have no control over, how would being more aware of them really help? We're a long way from being able to mitigate any of these events, and even if the seriousness of each scenario was impressed upon people, it's not as if their response would be logical.

And the illogicality of human behaviour also means that outbreaks of disease will occur and keep occuring throughout history - it's like a constant 'arms race' between our immune systems and the pathogenic world. We can't really control human behaviour and we can't stop diseases popping up.

However, it's not really in the best interests of any disease to be so virulent and deadly that it wipes out a lot of people in a small space of time, because then it ends up with no hosts and no way to replicate itself. It too dies out. A disease needs to strike a balance between afflicting its hosts but keeping them alive long enough to spread, so you often find diseases evolving to become less deadly as time goes on, because those strains are the ones which are successful at getting passed around. You might still die of it, but you might live longer despite having it.

Perhaps the most practical thing anyone can do is to return to the practice of having a memento mori in the home, a piece of art to remind you of your mortality.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I gather a great many tFSers do (in the form of skulls)

 

[papa_levante]

I wish people would be a bit more realistic and open minded to the real threats.

AIDS, starvation, prostitution, diseases, poverty, r*pe, genocide. I'm with you, Echoes. (But then again, once the world ends, those things will be gone.)

 

[Echoes]

If St. Helens or Rainier erupt only people in the immediate area (in Rainier's case that'd be Orting, Puyallup, Enumclaw, etc.) risk being killed or injured, and they are already well prepared to evacuate. Live away from the foothills of a volcano and you'll have nothing to worry about.

They have been known to affect the climate and sea/ocean temperatures worldwide years afterwards;

Pinatubo, 1991

The aerosol cloud spread rapidly around the Earth in about three weeks and attained global coverage after about 1 year. The dense aerosol cloud caused dramatic decreases in the amount of net radiation reaching the earth's surface, producing a climate forcing two times stronger than the aerosols of El Chichón ( Angell and Korshover, 1983). Resultant climate effects included a 0.5-0.6C surface cooling in the northern hemisphere, equivalent to a hemispheric-wide reduction in net radiation

agu.org/revgeophys/self00/node3.html

Krakatoa, 1883

A suite of climate model experiments indicates that 20th Century increases in ocean heat content and sea-level (via thermal expansion) were substantially reduced by the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. The volcanically-induced cooling of the ocean surface is subducted into deeper ocean layers, where it persists for decades.

agu.org/pubs/crossref/2006/2006GL026771.shtml

When you take several million tons of rock and blow it into tiny little pieces, you end up with ash, and lots of it. So much, in fact, that along with breathtaking sunsets come severely affected climates. Following the huge eruption of Krakatoa in 1883, enough reflective volcanic aerosols were ejected into the atmosphere that the following year was known as the year without a summer. But the effects of that debris have been much longer-lived. According to the report in Nature* this week, the volcanic-induced cooling of the oceans caused by Krakatoa's eruption lasted almost a century, enough to offset a large amount of anthropogenic rises in ocean temperature and sea level.

arstechnica.com/science/news/2006/02/2815.ars

These were relatively minor eruptions compared to some in history before better records and research.

A catastrophic eruption of something like the Yellowstone Caldera may not cause the extinction of Humans, but it would make life on Earth very difficult for many years.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ But luckily we don't even have to worry about natural disasters ... we have plenty to worry about just among the things we've brought on ourselves ... all of which we can take action to improve.

 

[getny]

luckily I 'm very optimistic and I don't look to all these stats what's gonna happen I think humanity will explore very helpful medicines for helping to avoid AIDS and other terrible diseases. lol that only my thoughs, let's hope it 's gonna be true!

 

[PinkPrincess113]

I've always thought WWIII would be the "end" of the world, figuratively... it's going to involve the whole world, mainly focusing on North Korea and Iran and once you put that altogether, all countries will get involved... after that, we'd have to start all over and it will be difficult... I just hope it isn't as soon as 2012

 

[before]

On Yahoo

Indian astrologers are predicting violence and turmoil across the world as a result of this week's total solar eclipse, which the superstitious and religious view as a sign of potential doom. But astronomers, scientists and secularists are trying to play down claims of evil portent in connection with Wednesday's natural spectacle, when the moon will come between the Earth and the sun, completely obscuring the sun.
In Hindu mythology, the two demons Rahu and Ketu are said to "swallow" the sun during eclipses, snuffing out its life-giving light and causing food to become inedible and water undrinkable.
Pregnant women are advised to stay indoors to prevent their babies developing birth defects, while prayers, fasting and ritual bathing, particularly in holy rivers, are encouraged.
Shivani Sachdev Gour, a gynaecologist at the Fortis Hospital in New Delhi, said a number of expectant mothers scheduled for caesarian deliveries on July 22 had asked to change the date.
"This is a belief deeply rooted in Indian society. Couples are willing to do anything to ensure that the baby is not born on that day," Gour said.
Astrologers have predicted a rise in communal and regional violence in the days following the eclipse, particularly in India, China and other Southeast Asian nations where it can be seen on Wednesday morning.
Mumbai astrologer Raj Kumar Sharma predicted "some sort of attack by (Kashmiri separatists) Jaish-e-Mohammad or Al-Qaeda on Indian soil" and a devastating natural disaster in Southeast Asia.
An Indian political leader could be killed, he said, and tension between the West and Iran is likely to increase, escalating into possible US military action after September 9, when fiery Saturn moves from Leo into Virgo.
"The last 200 years, whenever Saturn has gone into Virgo there has been either a world war or a mini world war," he told AFP.
It is not just in India that some are uneasy about what will transpire because of the eclipse.
In ancient China they were often associated with disasters, the death of an emperor or other dark events, and similar superstitions persist.
"The probability for unrest or war to take place in years when a solar eclipse happens is 95 percent," announced an article that attracted a lot of hits on the popular Chinese web portal Baidu.com.
Sanal Edamaruku, president of the Indian Rationalist Association, dismissed such doomsday predictions.
"Primarily, what we see with all these soothsayers and astrologers is that they're looking for opportunities to enhance their business with predictions of danger and calamity," he told AFP.
"They have been very powerful in India but over the last decade they have been in systematic decline."
Astronomers and scientists are also working to educate the public about the eclipse.
Travel firm Cox and Kings has chartered a Boeing 737-700 aircraft to give people the chance to see the eclipse from 41,000 feet (12,500 metres).
Experts will be on board to explain it to passengers, some of whom have paid 79,000 rupees (1,600 dollars) for a "sun-side" seat on the three-hour flight from New Delhi.
The eclipse's shadow is expected to pass over the aircraft at 15 times the speed of sound (Mach 15), said Ajay Talwar, president of the SPACE Group of companies that promotes science and astronomy.
"It's coming in the middle of the monsoon season. On the ground, there's a 40 percent chance of seeing it in India. On the aircraft you have almost a 90 percent chance of seeing the eclipse," he added.
Siva Prasad Tata, who runs the Astro Jyoti website, straddles the two worlds.
"There's no need to get too alarmed about the eclipse, they are a natural phenomenon," the astrologer told AFP.
But he added: "During the period of the eclipse, the opposite attracting forces are very, very powerful. From a spiritual point of view, this is a wonderful time to do any type of worship.
"It will bring about good results, much more than on an ordinary day."

 

[Spiral1532]

Agyness Deyn and her horrible fashion sense is proof positive that it's the end of the world as we know it.

 

[fashionista-ta]

^ I have good news for everyone who thinks eclipses are caused by two demons!!! Not so B)

This lunar eclipse is seen as quite positive by at least some Western astrologers.

And the part about a 95% chance of war or unrest I thought that was hovering around 100%, eclipse or no eclipse If it went down 5%, that would be the newsflash ...

 

[Rubie girl]

This suine flu may be kind of a sign...So many people dying in such short period of time.

 

[seanutbutter]

^ We've had flu outbreaks in the past, though, and the world didn't end. Each time we've been able to move on, learn from any mistakes made, and prepare for the next outbreak. I'm sure this will be the case with the swine flu as well.

 

[Jenna-maria]

This suine flu may be kind of a sign...So many people dying in such short period of time.

swine flu is just one step harder flu. it does not kill you if you get right treatment and if you are naturally healthy people you do not even need any medicine, just rest. i called a swine flu line and they said me this.
and swine flu has taken off from the dangerous desiase list.

 

[fashionmuse]

i dont think the end of the world is something you can predict. it'll just happen, i dont think there should be a date on it like december 21, 2012 or whatever it is. there has been so many end of the world dates and yet we are still here...

 

[Sweet rus]

^ We've had flu outbreaks in the past, though, and the world didn't end. Each time we've been able to move on, learn from any mistakes made, and prepare for the next outbreak. I'm sure this will be the case with the swine flu as well.

make them again

sorry, I so wanted to say that

 

[Echoes]

OK, here's how it will be.

Towards the end of 2012, the incoming planet killer asteroid will initially go undetected because the satellites doing deep space observation will have been wiped out by a solar flare. Once Earth based telescopes spot the asteroid and calculate it's trajectory, it will be too late to do anything since so many scientists are down ill with the swine flu. After the asteroid hits Denver hurtling billions of metric tons of debris from the shattered Rocky Mountains into the atmosphere and causing the Yellowstone Caldera to erupt throwing even more debris upwards, anyone left alive will welcome the fact that Earth has spun off it's axis and is drifting into the Sun.