Anyone know if this article on Earth being threatened is bogus?

[LanceGary]

FIRST the bad news - scientists are now 99 per cent certain mass extinction events on Earth are as regular as clockwork.

The good news? There's still 16 million years to go until the next one.

That's the finding from scientists from the University of Kansas and the Smithsonian Institute in the US, where they've mapped out all Earth's extinction events from the past 600 million years.

According to what they've seen, life on Earth is wiped out every 27 million years.

It's not going to be global warming that finishes us all off, either.

Unfortunately for our planet, it passes through a shower of comets every 27 million years, and it very rarely escapes unscathed.

Of the last 20 times we made a galactic run for our lives through the comet shower, Earth only escaped with most of its biological organisms intact six times.

The most widely publicised one was 65 million years ago, when a 15km wide asteroid hit the Earth in Mexico with the force of a billion atomic bombs and wiped out the dinosaurs.

There's also more bad news - the extinction scenario rate is not strictly accurate.

Sometimes the asteroids ambush all life on Earth up to 10 million years earlier than they should.

The good news is all on the side of our Sun's dark twin Nemesis, which until now received an unfairly large proportion of bad press, being considered responsible for the bombardment.

The theory used to be that Nemesis passed through a huge - even by universal standards - belt of dust and ice called the Oort cloud every 27 million years, sending the comets our way.

Now scientists say that because the extinction scenarios happen so regularly, Nemesis couldn't be responsible, as its orbit would have changed over such a long time.

Which isn't to say the Sun's evil twin - which lies about one light year away from it - is not still spraying Oort cloud comets all over our galaxy, just that they're hitting other planets these days.

Which still leaves the question as to why we've drawn the short straw and what we're going to do about it.

The last one occurred 11 million years ago, so at least Doomsday cult members can now set their clocks for the year 16,002,010, rather than the fashionably Hollywood mark of 2012.

Which gives us all a little breathing space - if you don't believe in global warming.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/technology/life-on-earth-wiped-out-every-27-billion-years-and-its-not-the-fault-of-nemesis/story-e6frfro0-1225891466185

[ErosOlmi]

It is something I heard on a regular basis on Discovery Channel and National Geographic channel.
Anyhow, because there is nothing I can do to avoid those catastrophic events, I live the "here and now" and I'm always happy :D

[LanceGary]

It is something I heard on a regular basis on Discovery Channel and National Geographic channel.
Anyhow, because there is nothing I can do to avoid those catastrophic events, I live the "here and now" and I'm always happy :D


Well I don't have Discovery Channel or National Geographic but I thought the Nemesis Star sounded like something out of Star Trek - and so wondered whether the whole thing was a joke.

I'm not personally worried about dying as a result of a comet strike. Most people die in their beds, and I suspect, otherthings being equal, my bed will get me!

Lance

[kryton9]

I just want to know the truth before I go. We are all being manipulated in one way or another all over the world and living almost like in the Matrix. That is why I enjoy youtube and searching for things you don't hear or see anywhere else, like listening to coast to coast too.

Many things do seem to be converging towards 2012, some say a great new beginning, others say 30 or 40 years of bad sun activity leading scorching surface temperatures and solar radiation.

So far one good thing. I had heard 3 significant dates of events to happen and none of them has happened luckily. However the frequency of volcanic activity and increasing earthquake magnitudes over more sustained periods is coming true as predicted sometime back in the 90's. Also the sun did have a very unusual long period of non activity and is coming out of that. Interesting times for sure.

[Charles Pegge]

Watch out for the YellowStone super-volcano. The last major eruption was 640,000 years ago, (a while before the emergence of Homo Sapiens). It was very disruptive, and there is still a lot of activity deep under the rocks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_Caldera

[kryton9]

Charles, that is one of the big things being swept and kept under the carpet here :) It was on coast to coast a few months back, maybe several months back when they were talking about how much activity there was. I haven't heard much since.

Found this on coast to coast from that show.

Recently, hundreds of small earthquakes have struck Yellowstone National Park, prompting fears that a disastrous volcanic eruption might happen there. Scientists are continuing to monitor the earthquake swarms, the largest Yellowstone's had in the last 20 years.

First hour guest, researcher Mitch Battros offered analysis of the quake situation. While the Yellowstone caldera is due for an eruption, the current signs, such as the quakes being under 4.0, suggest that volcanic activity there is not imminent, he said. We'd have weeks of notice before it blows, he added. Battros also noted that a Mayan elder has named a volcanic eruption at Yellowstone as part of their prophecy.

[MikeStefanik]

Found this on coast to coast from that show...


Oh, come on now. You're obviously an intelligent man. Why in the world would you even consider giving that nonsense the time of day? I mean seriously, that's the same show that was having Nancy Leider and her legion of nutballs talking about how everything was going to come to an end in 2003. Aliens from Zeta Reticuli warned her that "Planet X" was going to swing by and cause a "poleshift" that would result in mass extinction. Alien abductions, "new world order" paranoia and Bigfoot sightings. Really? Seriously?

Shows like that which promote bizzare conspiracy theories, alien abductions and junk science just continues the downward spiral of anti-intellectual idiocy that seems to be growing in a culture of vapid, unthinking people who believe whatever sort of nonsense they hear, read or see without having the ability (or even making the effort) to validate it.

It's junk food for the mind. Just say no.

Edit: Coming back to what I wrote this morning, I'll admit it seems a bit strident. It just really bothers me when you have the "fringe media" put nonsense out there, and then people really believe it's true. The first time I ever heard of it was in relationship to the whole Leider/Planet X/Poleshift thing I had read on a science blog, and it just blew my mind away that there were people actually building bunkers and hoarding food because they really thought the end of the world was coming in 2003. People can think of this stuff as harmless amusement, but it really can have a serious, negative effect when it drowns out real, valid information and science. So, I apologize if you (or anyone else) feels that I was attacking them personally; I just feel very strongly that these types of radio and TV programs are detrimental on a number of different levels.

[kryton9]

I love coast to coast because they are open to talk about anything. The host treats everyone with respect. No one judges this should air or this shouldn't. Most guests usually have a book out about a subject and talk about what they researched and what conclusions they have drawn if any. It is up to the listener to decide what to listen to or turn off. What to do their own research on or ignore. I think it is the best form of press and most fair. My opinion of course.

[danbaron]

[font=courier new][size=8pt](These are only my subjective opinions.)

I've had a lot of problems with Coast to Coast. I used to listen to it a lot, while practicing pool at night. Now, I don't listen so much. So, some of my
opinions may be dated.

Here is the website for the show, so we agree about what we are discussing.

http://www.coasttocoastam.com/

For a while, Art Bell kept retiring and un-retiring, if I remember correctly.

Then, his wife died, and he talked about how he almost didn't survive. But, I think, about a year after her death, he recovered enough to marry someone
approximately 40 years younger than himself.

Ian Punnett, to me, is a strange guy.

I think I understand how the show works. The basic idea of it is to make money. In order to do that, you cannot cross-examine each guest who appears. You have
to act like you think each guest is credible. That way, you get a continuous supply of guests, many who are regulars. So, in a sense, I view George Noory, as
running a scam.

As far as I know, George continues to indicate that he thinks 2012 will be a very special year. And, his reasoning is that the year corresponds to the end
of the Mayan calendar. If he actually believes it, then I think he is dumb (could the calendar continue forever?). And, if he doesn't believe it, but says he
does anyway, then, I think he is a fraud. Actually, if I am honest, I think he is a combination of the two. Remember his book, "Worker in the Light"?

Here is the official "George Noory Sucks" thread.

http://www.godlikeproductions.com/forum1/message807580/pg52

George sometimes does get credible scientists to appear. But, my observation is that they come on the show, when they are selling a book.

George's science advisor, Richard C. Hoagland ("The Face on Mars"), is in my view, a fraud, and worse, I'm not sure if he fully realizes it. Strangely, to
me, he seems to be in deep passionate love, with Mars.

Nancy Leider was one of the worst guests. Wasn't she channeling the aliens? George would alternately talk to her and then an alien talking through her. When
Planet X did not appear when she said it would, George banned her from the show for a while.

The guy I really couldn't stand, and who seemed to me like a total human freak, was Major Ed Dames, the remote viewer. He and his "team" were always remote
viewing something. He was the one who said there would be a "kill shot", solar flare, that would destroy the Earth. The last I remember, he said he was
moving to Ukraine to marry a woman there. He and his "team" also remote viewed the location where Steve Fossett's plane would be found, he said within one mile.
He was going to search the area himself. I think the plane was actually found approximately 50 miles from where he said it would be.

If I recall correctly, psychic Sylvia Brown was temporarily banned from the show, after she came on and said that Steve Fossett (or someone famous), was
still alive. Unfortunately, almost immediately after that, the person was found, dead.

Another guy George has on the show as a scientific authority, is James McCanny. I Googled him once. He has out a book claiming to, from what I can
determine, provide a formula for generating the sequence of prime numbers. However, long ago mathematicians proved that such a formula is impossible.

Another crazy guest that comes on regularly, is Steve Quayle. He talks about all kinds of cuckoo stuff.

Another (in my opinion) really crazy guy, is Howard Bloom. I bet that psychiatrists would have a great time studying him.

One of the absolute stupidest guests is, "The Numbers Lady", Glynis McCants. My tolerance for listening to her and George converse, is down to about five
seconds.

Other topics in which the first time for me, was too much, include, "Shadow People", "Bigfoot", "Chupacabra", and "The Hollow Earth".

A problem that I have with both Art and George, is that, often they talk about science, but neither one seems to know anything about it, or to ever
attempt to learn anything. I admit, that in George's case, learning something about it might be impossible.

My votes for the show's biggest frauds (besides George): Richard Hoagland, Nancy Leider, Ed Dames.

Not every guest or topic on the show is bad. I only remember the bad ones. Linda Moulton Howe is alright. She likes to talk about crop circles. I find her to be
somewhat soothing. You can visit her website at, http://www.earthfiles.com/, if you want to (not, if you don't). Her name reminds me of the renowned law firm,
"Dewey Cheatem and Howe".

Now, after saying all of these bad things, I do admit to still listening to it. Probably, even with so many faults, it is better than most television. (No one
is productive during every waking minute. Sometimes people waste time, which they call relaxing. And, you don't always have a book to read. And, if you are
alone in the house, sometimes you like to hear human voices, even dumb ones. And, like in this thread, sometimes it's fun to talk about possibly crazy things,
for fun (<-- yes, it's redundant).)

(Like Kent said, the show does speak about subjects which, the mainstream media attempt to hide. Probably for that reason alone, it is worth listening to. Also, that reason alone redeems my opinion of George Noory. He could choose a safer "road", and just take home the money, without upsetting powerful people - but, at least so far, he doesn't. I think that most people in his position, would be afraid to have open discussions about some of the topics that are discussed on the show. It is up to the listener to decide for himself what he believes and disbelieves. In my opinion, a person can be exposed to the mainstream media all day, everyday, and learn very little that those in power don't want him to know. I prefer being exposed to both real truth and real nonsense, and having to distinguish between them myself, rather than being exposed to only half truths, quarter truths, and lies.)

:oops: :( :P :twisted:
Dan

[Michael Clease]

When you were talking about coast to coast all I thought was whats a tv program doing broadcasting its audio in the US?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coast_to_Coast_%28UK_TV_series%29

Charles I remember watching the BBC show "Supervolcano:The truth about Yellowstone" very interesting and also tells us we are not in control.

Mike

[danbaron]

[font=courier new][size=8pt]I think the radio show grabbed the name after the last television show, on, 1992-12-31.

I do know that what most Americans consider to be the greatest British television show of all time, is, --> Benny Hill.

I remember hearing about Yellowstone on Coast To Coast (radio). I think the cone is bigger than the entire park. Supposedly, there are places in the park where the ground is so hot, it will almost melt the soles of your shoes. Supposedly, the ground at the center of the cone, is bowing measurably upward.

:twisted:
Dan

[MikeStefanik]

I love coast to coast because they are open to talk about anything. The host treats everyone with respect. No one judges this should air or this shouldn't. Most guests usually have a book out about a subject and talk about what they researched and what conclusions they have drawn if any. It is up to the listener to decide what to listen to or turn off. What to do their own research on or ignore. I think it is the best form of press and most fair. My opinion of course.


As I see it, the problem with context-free information is that you have (many) people who listen to it, don't research what's claimed and don't ignore it -- they repeat it as fact to other people. The truth is, not all ideas deserve being treated with respect; science is not a relativistic neutral zone where absolutely anything and everything goes. Some ideas can simply be wrong (completely unsubstantiated by any accepted science), and others can even be dangerous (to the person who believes it and/or to those around them).

People running about predicting the imminent demise of mankind -- which you can read all about in their book for $29.95 -- deserve nothing but ridicule and scorn. They certainly don't deserve a platform from which to spout their nonsense unchallenged, making money while they scare the daylights out of the gullible and ignorant, only to skulk off and plan their next scheme when doomsday doesn't happen. We saw exactly this kind of thing in 2000, 2003 and now 2012 is their next big payday. It's the 21st century, and it seems we're still barely a step ahead of our superstitious ancestors who thought that our future could be foretold by throwing a bunch of pebbles on the ground or looking at the entrails of a goat.

[Michael Clease]

I remember a holiday to Kos a couple of years ago very nice island and people, I went on boat to a nearby Island Nisyros http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nisyros.
We went in to the caldera and and I walked across the surface of the crater (the picture next to the History section), it was really hot and the sulfur took your breath away. We were warned that we shouldnt put bare skin on any rocks they claimed "sulfer+Sweat= Sulfuric Acid" :roll: anyway the rocks were bloody hot so guess what I didnt want to touch them.

Anyway my point is I walked across the top of an active volcano :eusadance:

Ive heard about the Benny Hill thing before he lived about 10 miles from me and all I can say is please dont judge us from tv from the 70's :oops: things have improved (sort of)

http://www.nisyros.gr/index_en.html

[MikeStefanik]

Ive heard about the Benny Hill thing before he lived about 10 miles from me and all I can say is please dont judge us from tv from the 70's :oops: things have improved (sort of)


Not to worry, you gave us Monty Python, so you're more than even as far as I'm concerned. ;)

[kryton9]

Well with Coast to Coast or any media of similar offerings... it is optional, you can listen, read, watch if you want. You are totally free not spend anytime with it. But if the show never existed, then for people who want to hear or discuss these topics those topics are then censored. I don't like others deciding for me my options that is all.

Outside of Washington DC, they had an Earthquake something that doesn't happen often at least at this magnitude.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/16/national/main6683677.shtml

This is a scary possible scenario off of the coast of Italy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LQpPtj8EIY

[danbaron]

[font=courier new][size=8pt]Apparently, in Britain, for some reason, Benny Hill has become politically incorrect, verboten. According to Wikipedia, his show has not been broadcast there, since 1992. I bet there are many people there who sneer at his name, but who have never seen one of his shows. To me, people like those, are fake people. I agree with Kent, you should be able to watch, listen to, or read, anything you want to, no matter what the social monitors say. I guess his humor is not cerebral enough for the faux intellectuals (no fart jokes!).

The music from the show ("Yakety Sax"), has been in my head all day.

My guess is that long after his critics are gone and forgotten, people around the world will still be watching reruns of his show. (It's easy to criticize someone else's work, right? It's harder to create something yourself.)

:xyzw:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benny_Hill
:violent:

[Charles Pegge]

I gave up watching telly over twenty years ago but I love watching youtube and all the other broadcasters of the web.

Vintage Benny Hill:

http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/comedy/watch/v6304439w9GGYsHy

[LanceGary]

An astronomer has just written to tell me that there is almost certainly no such star as Nemesis around. He says:

"Not a new story, been around for years. Given sky surveys these days it's
now extremely unlikely that a star as near as 1 ly has been missed, even
if it was around brown dwarf size.

"That's not to say that regular extintions arent astronomically sourced -
just that "Nemesis" is unlikely to be the cause."

Well, there you have it.

Lance

[Charles Pegge]

Hi Lance,
There is a controversy that the red shift observed in distant stars is not due to the Doppler effect but may be caused by the dissipation of photon energy as the light passes through a very thin atmosphere of interstellar hydrogen. If this turns out to be the case then we do not have an expanding universe!

I wonder if this idea has any credence among astronomers in general.

Charles

[LanceGary]

Hi Lance,
There is a controversy that the red shift observed in distant stars is not due to the Doppler effect but may be caused by the dissipation of photon energy as the light passes through a very thin atmosphere of interstellar hydrogen. If this turns out to be the case then we do not have an expanding universe!

I wonder if this idea has any credence among astronomers in general.

Charles

I can try asking...

Lance

[LanceGary]

Hi Lance,
There is a controversy that the red shift observed in distant stars is not due to the Doppler effect but may be caused by the dissipation of photon energy as the light passes through a very thin atmosphere of interstellar hydrogen. If this turns out to be the case then we do not have an expanding universe!

I wonder if this idea has any credence among astronomers in general.

Charles




This is the reply I received:




There is no such "controversy", any more than there's a controversy over
whether or not the Pope is a Catholic, whether bears defecate in woods or
whether both death and taxes are certain.



Lance

[kryton9]

I am sure you guys heard about the objects seen near the Sun. Being that close to the Sun, they would be of incredible size. NASA finally commentated that it was just compression artifacts in the image. Then subsequently they release images with tons of artifacts :) I will try to find the photo series... brb... I couldn't find the series of photos, but here is the official response to the objects.
http://stereo-ssc.nascom.nasa.gov/

[LanceGary]

Hi Lance,
There is a controversy that the red shift observed in distant stars is not due to the Doppler effect but may be caused by the dissipation of photon energy as the light passes through a very thin atmosphere of interstellar hydrogen. If this turns out to be the case then we do not have an expanding universe!

I wonder if this idea has any credence among astronomers in general.

Charles




This is the reply I received:




There is no such "controversy", any more than there's a controversy over
whether or not the Pope is a Catholic, whether bears defecate in woods or
whether both death and taxes are certain.



Lance


Here is another reply - this time from an astronomer from Bristol university:




This is the "Tired light" theory:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tired_light

It did battle in the 1930s - with expansion of the universe - as the cause
of Redshift. It lost.



Lance

[Charles Pegge]

Thanks Lance,

I remain to be convinced that Big Bang is the ultimate theory. There are too many hypothetical entities required to balance the books, like dark matter and black holes, but the evidence is interesting:

This is one of the cornerstones of Big Bang:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_microwave_background_radiation

Charles