Alex Adrian
November 16th,2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/17/science/17essay.html?_r=1&ref=science
Is Doomsday Coming? Perhaps, but Not in 2012
A week ago our NASA program stated that the world is not ending, like some believe that in 2012 the world will come to its final day on november twelfth. Otherwise known as 12/12/12, the doomsday for the earth, has been stated false by both NASA and CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. Some people are glad to hear this news that these predictions are false. Some people are are particularly “habitually jittery” aka someone who is afraid of days like 12/12/12/ in the fear that the world will die. Some say that a black hole would be spit out of its new Large Hadron Collider and eat the Earth.YouTube videos and web site postings have gone off of the charts in responds to the worry that the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012 when the the Mayan calendar supposedly ends. The movie “2012” portrays these images that the 5,125 year cycle comes to the final day. The movie shows the sun going berserk resulting in gigantic storms that pour out huge number of subatomic particles, otherwise known as neutrinos. The world would be covered with thick black ash. All of these videos, movies, books, articles, blogs, etc are a bunk according to astronomers. “Most of what’s claimed for 2012 relies on wishful thinking, wild pseudoscientific folly, ignorance of astronomy and a level of paranoia worthy of ‘Night of the Living Dead,’ ” Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory, in Los Angeles, and an expert on ancient astronomy, wrote in an article in the November issue of Sky & Telescope. If it was true that another planet out there was heading our way, people would have seen it by now. Astronomers say that for the fierce solar storms,the next sunspot maximum could not possibly occur until 2013. This storm will be mild and astronomers support this notion. To further prove that the world will not be coming to an end anytime soon, some say that there will more big earthquakes in California which will happen again, but these earthquakes have the potential to destroy Los Angeles, as the movie portrays this. Plus, the Yellowstone could erupt again with cataclysmic force anytime now. When I say “anytime now” i really mean in hundreds of millions of years. Dr. Krupp, an astronomer and anthropologist at Colgate University say that there is no evidence now that the Mayans believed that something significant would occur on 12/12/12 to make them end their calendars then. The original article expressed different ways that the world could end and the article also describes how these predictions are false. There is no facts to prove that the world will come to its finale on December 12th, 2012, therefore we should all live our lives to the fullest and not expect to end our lives in three years.
The article, “Is Doomsday Coming? Perhaps, But Not in 2012” was about how the theory that the world will end on December 12th, 2012, based on the Mayan calendar, has been proven false. I have never believed in the “science” that says we will all die on 12/12/12, and I felt that the new movie “2012” was simply adding to the paranoia. Alex’s report about what happens in the movie and the details of what people believe will happen on 12/12/12 was interesting to learn about. There are many theories of how the apocalypse would occur. These theories, ranging from the Sun’s particles causing massive natural disasters like Yellowstone exploding and floods covering the Himalayas to a planet falling out of the sky, have all been proven completely false, since these disasters will not have occurred by 2012-we would have noticed by now. The summary was also enjoyable to contemplate.
ReplyDeleteOne way the summary could have been improved was in the wording and grammar of this summary. Alex said that the world would “come to its final day on November 12th, otherwise known as 12/12/12.” November is the eleventh month of the year. Another problem with this summary was that even though certain parts of the summary were very well-explained, other parts were somewhat unclear.
Overall, while this article did not affect me in a significant way since I do not believe in the 2012 theory, it confirmed my beliefs and it will certainly impact upon society in clearing up any suspicion about 12/12/12 being a deadly date.
This was review was well written and was easy to comprehend. The article wasn’t full of scientific terms, which made it easy to read and understand. Alex did a great job at grasping the important elements of the article. I found this article to be quite interesting. It is hard and a scary thought to think that the world is going to end; I try my best not to think about it. I also found it interesting because the mynas were supposed to be great astronomers, so what lead them to believe that the world was going to end on this date? I also thought that she could go a little more into detail about what exactly the scientists are saying. Also I believe that the correct date is 12/21/12, not 12/12/12. This article and review were very interesting.
ReplyDeleteOverall Nice Job Alex. :)
This was a well-written article by Alex. The article she chose was very interesting and effects every human being on Earth. I liked the fact that although this was a science article, Alex did not use confusing scientific-terms. Also, the concept of this article is somewhat frightening, and it was presented in a logical way that was not frightening at all. Finally, the reasons why scientists can assure everyone that the world will not end on 12/12/12 were clearly stated. However, there were some typos in this article, such as, "i" instead of "I." Also, some more information about why the world is suppose to end on 12/12/12 could have been given. Before reading this article, I was not aware that most scientists around the world have proven that the world will not end on this date. Thanks to Alex, I am no longer scared of this science theory about the end of the world on 12/12/12!
ReplyDeleteI liked how Alex made a lot of references in her article about doomsday. She also gave many details of the doomsday predictions. Then, she explained why the date of 12/12/12 is not deadly and gave many examples. And, she refered to key people and places which is important.
ReplyDeleteAlex could've went into more detail about the Mayans and predictions. Also, she could've elaborated more on why everyone is so paranoid about this date.
Doomsday is actually one of my most researched topics and I was very pleased to listen to this article and want to learn more on the predictions.