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Old 18-September-2005, 12:43 AM
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Wink New 2012 threat?

I have come across another claim from the Survive 2012 website. This one is from a contributer who makes the followinfg claim:
"the earth will be enveloped in a gassy soup come 2012,that has been wandering the galaxy.The earth briefly touched it about 10 years ago,as the "soup" ebbs and flows in an odd manner.As the earth and the "soup" touch each other again in 2012,it will be interesting. Destruction of the earth?doubt it,but it will be somewhat dangeous to human life.Mother nature will correct the attack on plant life.Either way,,it will definately wake up the world,and our existance will be forever in question"
Anyone hear of any dangerous gassy clouds that threaten us or has this guy been smoking something strange????
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Old 18-September-2005, 12:58 AM
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That looks like a mangled version of a faux story from the Weekly World News. It includes this quote:

"The good news is that this finding confirms several cutting- edge ideas in theoretical physics," announced Dr. Albert Sherwinski, a Cambridge based astrophysicist with close ties to NASA.

"The bad news is that the total annihilation of our solar system is imminent."

For those who don't know, WWN is a joke tabloid that specializes in outrageous stories. It was one of Douglas Adams' favorite periodicals.
My favorite WWN story (with pictures) was the 2003 wedding between Osama Bin Laden & Saddam Hussein (Saddam was the bride, and wore a white gown). Attendees included Muammar Qadaffi, Kim Jong Il and Jacques Chirac.
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Old 18-September-2005, 02:44 AM
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Wow, thanks for the link. That probably is where the idea came from. The WWN usually is full of it, though the story on the surface looks "scientific".
Well, as long as it's not true, I guess we can scratch that one off our list!
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Old 18-September-2005, 12:13 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 2001Intrepid
Wow, thanks for the link. That probably is where the idea came from. The WWN usually is full of it, though the story on the surface looks "scientific".
Well, as long as it's not true, I guess we can scratch that one off our list!
What's scary is that there are people who take the WWN at it's word, assume it's correct. Despite claims of such things as the British cloning Hitler from his moustache, and I'm sure I read one of their articles about how aliens landed and gave humanity a new diet plan.
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Old 18-September-2005, 01:14 PM
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Quote:
Anyone hear of any dangerous gassy clouds that threaten us or has this guy been smoking something strange
Yes. Its called flatulence.
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Old 18-September-2005, 01:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GDwarf
....I'm sure I read one of their articles about how aliens landed and gave humanity a new diet plan.
Well, those little grey dudes are pretty thin!
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Old 18-September-2005, 02:57 PM
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The sad thing is that WWN DOES include an occasional small tidbit that is at least semi-true (the little short articles that take up about 10% of a page are sometimes semi-true or at least I've seen some of those same stories elsewhere before).
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Old 18-September-2005, 06:01 PM
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Some are more believable than others, obviously....

Tonar: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/wwn/...610520022.html
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Old 18-September-2005, 09:50 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Count Zero
"The good news is that this finding confirms several cutting- edge ideas in theoretical physics," announced Dr. Albert Sherwinski, a Cambridge based astrophysicist with close ties to NASA.
so does this dr. albert sherwinski exist? and is there any data from chandra that shows an large asteroid being destroyed by the cloud? can we even see asteroids that far away?
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Old 18-September-2005, 11:04 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by stuffer
so does this dr. albert sherwinski exist? and is there any data from chandra that shows an large asteroid being destroyed by the cloud? can we even see asteroids that far away?
Dude, the article was a joke. Y'know, a joke? Something to be laughed at and not taken seriously? It's one of those.
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Old 19-September-2005, 06:21 AM
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WWN doesn't care if the story winds up being true, just as long as it is entertaining to read.

My alltime favorite story arc in the WWN was one week the cover story was "Woman gives birth to baby sheep" and explained it was a big mix uo at the sperm bank. Fair enough.

The very next week the story was "Sheep gives birth to human baby." Yes, you guessed it, big mix up at the sperm bank.

To their credit, neither story mentioned the other, leaving it to us to make the connection.

I don't see WNN as a put on or joke. Obviously the stories are baloney, but it is presented straight. That is, it is no more - nor less - a joke than the Art Bell show. Or Pro Wrestling. Maybe I am being overly picky, but a joke is never intended to be believed by anyone.
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Old 19-September-2005, 07:23 AM
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when I was in high school, the fluff section of the LA Times published an article about the WWN, including interviewers with staff. they freely admitted to making it up. (two of my favorite cover stories: "Hitler's nose cloned--and it's growing a moustache!" and "woman killed by fur coat!" the exclamation points are absolutely mandatory for WWN headlines.)
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Old 19-September-2005, 11:10 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Gillianren
the fluff section of the LA Times published an article about the WWN, including interviewers with staff. they freely admitted to making it up.
So Michael Jackson's alien parents really aren't taking him back to the home planet?
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Old 19-September-2005, 01:52 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by genebujold
Some are more believable than others, obviously....

Tonar: http://movies.yahoo.com/mv/news/wwn/...610520022.html
Sounds much like the plot of an upcoming made-for-tv movie on SciFi.

http://www.scifi.com/pathofdestruction/
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Old 20-September-2005, 01:37 AM
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I wonder if WWN stands for Woo-Woo Network?

Hmmm...
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Old 20-September-2005, 03:48 AM
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I put the WWN in the same category as The Onion, The Watley Review and other satirical periodicals. Each seeks to imitate a different kind of journal, but the overall intent is the same: Make people laugh.
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Old 20-September-2005, 05:35 AM
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Well looky here.

I adore the picture in the BAblog!
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Old 20-September-2005, 03:19 PM
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Didn't the editor of the Weekly World News once say that it's the most relable newspaper in the world? He said you can count on all the stories to have been made up. You gotta love these gals and guys!
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Old 20-September-2005, 10:10 PM
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My brother mentioned some story about a dust cloud in 2014 hitting us and a 2012 threat. I told him that WWN is a farce and the woohoo talking about 2012 are just that.
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Old 20-September-2005, 10:18 PM
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If I had a dollar for every time someone predicted the exact year of the end of the world, I'd be a conspiracy author. Or the leader of some quack religion.
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Old 20-September-2005, 11:11 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JayUtah
If I had a dollar for every time someone predicted the exact year of the end of the world, I'd be a conspiracy author. Or the leader of some quack religion.
Well, we know the Earth will end then because that's when the Mayan calender 'ends'.

(It doesn't actually end, it rolls over, but very few Woo woos realise this. In a more humorous vein, I've heard the theory that our DNA will be upgraded in 2012 (Which makes no sense to me, rather akin to upgrading your hair, what does that mean?) which will allow us to use more than (wait for it...) 1/1 millionth of our brain, yes, the is person also believes that we currently only use 1/1 000 000 of our brain, thus making us psychic )
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