Share a laugh at a mainstream astronomer

Many Internet forums have carried discussion of the Electric Universe hypothesis. Much of that discussion has added more confusion than clarity, due to common misunderstandings of the electrical principles. Here we invite participants to discuss their experiences and to summarize questions that have yet to be answered.

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celeste
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Share a laugh at a mainstream astronomer

Unread post by celeste » Sat Dec 31, 2011 9:57 pm

First read : http://news.yahoo.com/apocalypse-not-no ... 04813.html

Do any of you believe Yeomans point "Even if the planet's magnetic poles do flip, no real problems would occur, other than the inconvenience of us having to change our compasses from north to south". Really? Earth's magnetic field has no other effect than to align our compasses?

Or how about where he says that our solar system passing through the milky way causes no problems. Remember that even other mainstream astronomers have posited that our passing through the galactic plane may be the cause of the 26 year mass extinction cycle.

Or how about where he says that the sun and moon are the only bodies affecting the Earth, and we have experienced their effects for millions of years without notice. Totally ignoring of course any electromagnetic effects that any planet may have had on Earth. Or any sudden change caused by a changing E-M field of the sun.

But we must thank him. It is the completely incompetent bashing of new age, mythological, or religious themes by the mainstream that gives us reason to re-examine those ideas, and perhaps pull yet another nugget of truth from each.

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viscount aero
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Re: Share a laugh at a mainstream astronomer

Unread post by viscount aero » Sun Jan 01, 2012 1:46 pm

My commentary is in RED.

Title of article:
Apocalypse Not Now: 2012 Doomsday Predictions Debunked by NASA
By Charles Q. Choi, SPACE.com Contributor
Space.com | SPACE.com – Sat, Dec 31, 2011
It is actually "propaganda by NASA." Whenever you see anything alluding to "Debunked by NASA" in a press release title then it is intently a red flag. Since NASA (and space.com) are both defacto branches of the CIA/military, nothing they present in a press release should be taken as factual. They are propaganda venues to disseminate disinformation and perpetrate mind-control. Mind-control is not so exotic as it sounds. All it requires is repetition of a set of paradigms via semantic deception, commonly seen in virtually all forms of media. This is exactly that. The "2012 Doomsday" inclusion is a sensationalist device to garner attention and set up the subsequent "expert debunking." They have successfully created a "gateway" by using "2012" and "doomsday" as anchoring semantics. This allows the mind of the reader to more readily accept the propaganda. After all, it is from the authority of NASA.


On Dec. 21, 2012, many doomsday believers fear the apocalypse — anything from a rogue planet smashing into us to our world spinning end over end. However, the world should expect nothing more next year than the winter solstice, the longest night of the year, NASA says.
Right away the article fails to mention that the "2012" phenomena is a galactic alignment event that spans 40 years, roughly from 1978 to 2017. We have been in its midst for decades now.

Many people point to the end of the Mayan Long Count calendar on Dec. 21, 2012 as evidence of the coming apocalypse, but astronomers have been quick to stress that there is nothing to be concerned about.
According to the ancient Mayan calendar, next year's winter solstice marks the end of a 144,000-day cycle. This cycle, which begins at the mythical Maya creation date, has already been repeated 12 times. The 13th will end in 2012, capping a full 5,200-year Mayan cycle of creation.
Regardless of what the reader personally believes, the thrust of this paragraph is to establish the "astronomers" as the all-seers, the experts who know more about this than the reader could ever possibly know or understand. The sentence "but astronomers have been quick to stress that there is nothing to be concerned about..." places them upon a pedestal which is the main idea. The main idea is not 2012 inasmuch as it is about deifying the astronomers' assertions.


This date has long been shrouded in mystery, with many claiming that it will bring destruction to our planet. [End of the World? Top Doomsday Fears]
Rogue planet Nibiru?
One fear is that a rogue planet that has been dubbed "Nibiru" or "Planet X" is supposedly aimed at Earth. Self-proclaimed Nibiru expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to change it to Dec. 21, 2012.
There is, however, no evidence that Nibiru is real.
"Nibiru is ridiculous because it doesn't exist — it never existed as anything other than a figment of the imagination by pseudo-scientists who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence," astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told SPACE.com.
There is no basis for the claim that it might be lurking behind the sun, as it could not have hidden from observation until now, Yeomans said. If such a planet was headed toward Earth by Dec. 21, 2012, it would already be visible to the naked eye.
Again, the mythology of Nibiru is secondary to the general authoritative "debunking" of any alternative theories that challenge NASA, the astronomers, and "space.com." In other words, anything that runs counter to this propaganda party line, lockstep march, is hereby declared nonsense and heresy. The astronomers and NASA are setting the record straight for the record here. The reader is to back off and accept the information as presented.

There is no value in challenging them because you are always wrong. It is commonly seen, too, in press releases that a reader is especially off course if they are on "the internet," and believe anything challenging NASA (who is also on the internet). Therefore, they redefine the meaning of one who gets their information from the "internet" to mean that that reader must be, unequivocally, a "nut job" or "whacko." They fail to mention that space.com is a ".com" which is on the internet and likewise not necessarily credible. But the slight of hand/magic of the semantics and phraseology allows the unwary reader to accept NASA's erroneous claims without challenging them. Space.com is thus an authority, NASA is an authority, the astronomers are an authority.


Cosmic alignments?
There are also concerns that planets or stars might line up in ways that will transform Earth. For instance, some theorists claim that from our point of view, the sun will cross in front of the plane of our galaxy on Dec. 21. However, the sun already does this twice a year, Yeomans said.
Yeomans is incorrect. The cosmic alignment phenomenon is due to the procession of the Earth's axis and does not occur twice every year in this manner. That sentence is a complete lie.

In fact, the sun will eventually cross the plane of our galaxy. However, the sun is about 67 light-years from the galactic plane, so it should take several million years to do so, Yeomans said. Even then, when our solar system finally does cross the plane, nothing special will occur, he added. [10 Failed Doomsday Predictions]
The subject is stealthily taken off-topic here to further give the illusion of authority. The galactic alignment is about the Earth's axis relative to the positions of the solstices and equinoxes, not about the solar system itself crossing the plane. Whether or not the reader believes in a doomsday or not is secondary to the greater occurrence of disinformation and slight of hand going on in this article. If the writers of the article can bring the reader so easily into an apparent explanation --which explains nothing in actuality-- then imagine how rampant this is across the spectrum of press releases from NASA and space.com.

Some also claim that gravitational effects from planets lining up with each other will somehow affect Earth. However, there is no planetary alignment due on Dec. 21, 2012, "and if there were, it wouldn't cause any problems," Yeomans said.
More fluff.

The only bodies that have any significant gravitational impact on Earth are the moon and the sun, effects we see as the tides. Tidal effects from other bodies in our solar system are negligible at best, and in any case, we have experienced them for millions of years without notice.
This takes the press release into another level of fabrication, kicking it into pure fantasy and disinformation, quite overtly. To the layperson this may slip by, but to anyone remotely informed about astronomy this is patently in error. Claiming that "...The only bodies that have any significant gravitational impact on Earth are the moon and the sun..." is not only false but highly negligent to appear in print, as if an amateur has made such claims.

Solar storms?
Solar storms — deluges of energetic particles from the sun — do happen, usually waxing and waning in cycles that last roughly 11 years. When these charged particles collide with Earth, they can trigger auroras and damage satellites and power lines, although not really inflicting any lasting harm, Yeomans said.
This has some truth mixed with erroneous assertions, making it easier to accept as completely factual.

There are accounts of a solar "super-storm" slamming into Earth in 1859. Although that caused relatively little damage back then, there are concerns that such a storm might cause far more harm now that our world is more dependent on electronics. Yet, there is no evidence that such a super-storm will happen on Dec. 21 of next year, Yeomans said.
There is too much to cite here in rebuttal. But suffice it to say, this is another act of journalistic magic and slight of hand. The article sets up the fake-out, to have the reader follow the operative magic of "solar storm" and "no evidence.... to cause lasting harm... etc..." --which actually establishes the premise that electrical phenomenon in general, i.e., solar radiation, plays little role into anything significant. This minimizing of plasma effects, i.e., the solar wind and "solar storms" allows the reader to "Move along" and pass on by any notions that electrical phenomena are of any major significance.

Flip-flopping Earth?
There is some alarm that 2012 could see the flipping of Earth's poles — either the planet's geographical poles, which mark the Earth's axis of rotation, or its magnetic poles, which our compasses point toward.
But, there is no reason to fear such an occurrence, scientists said, because the moon stabilizes our planet's spin.
Here the authority voice declares that the the "Moon stabilizes our planet's spin." This implies that a moonless planet would be unstable when that is clearly false. A planetary body need not have a moon to spin on an axis with "stability." This assertion alone, to come from NASA, instantly discredits the entire press release.

The planet's magnetic poles do flip, but over periods of about 500,000 years, and not suddenly, "but over thousands of years," with no evidence of a flip on Dec. 21, 2012, Yeomans said.
Is this actually known?

Even if the planet's magnetic poles do flip, no real problems would occur, other than the inconvenience of us having to change our compasses from north to south, he added.
Is this actually known?

Cosmic impacts?
The Earth is always vulnerable to impacts by comets and asteroids, but giant impacts are rare, with the last major collision taking place 65 million years ago, ending the Age of Dinosaurs.
Is the culprit for the mass extinction of the dinosaurs actually known?

Still, astronomers do monitor the sky for near-Earth objects.
"There are no known near-Earth objects in 2012 that present a credible risk to Earth," Yeomans said. "None, zero, zip, nada."
Is this actually known? And if all objects were tracked, would NASA (who is clearly lying throughout the press release about basic facts) be seen as a source for credible disclosure of so-called "near earth objects?" In other words, would NASA actually provide a press release stating that the Earth may be on a collision course with such an object if it actually were?

But despite evidence to the contrary, doomsdays theorists have garnered attention, and similar prophecies will continue to proliferate unless scientists become more involved in bringing truth to these outlandish claims, Yeomans said. Mounting hysteria regarding these unfounded doomsday predictions "will improve only if scientists get more engaged in debunking pseudoscience," he said
Regardless of the reader's belief system, the article states falsehoods about very basic astronomy, using the "2012" phenomenon to perpetuate party line mythology about gravity and solar activity.

cortessy
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Re: Share a laugh at a mainstream astronomer

Unread post by cortessy » Wed Mar 14, 2012 2:40 am

How do we know when the Mayan calendar began? Are there any indications in the Mayan calendar of astronomical alignments that would allow us to determine when to fix the calendar to our calendar?

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