Originally Posted by Jeff Root

That's because the idea is particularly stupid. If it had any
connection with reality, it would be more interesting.


This "event" has to do with human psychology rather than the
cosmos.


Absolutely no way of detecting it. The Earth could be shook back
and forth like a kitten across the whole local group of galaxies,
and nobody would ever notice.


That's right. Earth's axis precesses every 26,000 years. That
means once every 26,000 years, when the Earth is at the center
of the Galaxy, the axis suddenly swivels around, ending up back
where it is now.


Of course. But most people call it "centrifugal force" rather than
"gravity". The faster the Earth spins, the stronger the centrifugal
force, so the stronger the gravitational force is.


I don't have any thoughts, but my cat says, "Meow!" which I take
to mean that the Mayan calendar predicts a warming trend in the
northern hemisphere and general cooling in the southern hemisphere
over the next several months, so you'd better donate blood while
you still can.

Hope that helps.

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis