NASA Calls '2012' Most Flawed Sci-Fi Film Ever

The 2009 film "2012" depicted an ultimate end-of-the-world scenario based on an ancient Mayan calendar that ends on Dec. 21, 2012. But does NASA believe the film accurately portrays something that will really happen? Absolutely not.

In fact, NASA scientists say the doomsday "2012" is the most ridiculous sci-fi film ever.

"The filmmakers took advantage of public worries about the so-called end of the world as apparently predicted by the Mayans of Central America," Donald Yeomans told The Australian.

Sony Pictures/Everett Collection

 

Doomsday befalls Earth in the 2009 film "2012," but NASA says none of the events in the movie could really happen.

Yeomans, a senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., heads NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission, which keeps an eye out for any celestial objects that might come close to Earth.

"The agency is getting so many questions from people terrified that the world is going to end in 2012 that we have had to put up a special website to challenge the myths," Yeomans said. "We have never had to do this before."

One of Yeomans' complaints with the "2012" movie was how the global apocalypse was triggered by neutrino particles that come to Earth on solar flares and end up causing staggering problems to our planet.

According to NASA, neutrinos are completely neutral and can't interact with anything physical.

"The Earth's magnetic field, which deflects charged particles from the sun, does reverse polarity on time scales of about 400,000 years, but there is no evidence that a reversal, which takes thousands of years to occur, will begin in 2012," Yeomans wrote on his JPL blog.

It would be easy to simply remind the public and NASA that it was just a movie and shouldn't be taken as seriously as many people have.

"Now, I for one, love a good book or movie as much as the next guy. But the stuff flying around through cyberspace, TV and the movies is not based on science," Yeomans blogged.

Other doomsday movies that NASA has criticized include "Armageddon," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "The Core" (a film Yeomans was approached to be a consultant on).

On the other side of the sci-fi coin, NASA commended films that were more scientifically on target, like "Blade Runner," "Gattaca" and "Jurassic Park."

Yeomans is adamant that 2012 doomsday predictions are all false.

"For any claims of disaster or dramatic changes in 2012, the burden of proof is on the people making these claims. Where is the science? Where is the evidence?

"There is none, and all the passionate, persistent and profitable assertions, whether they are made in books, movies, documentaries or over the Internet, cannot change that simple fact."

Chinese Man Sprouts 3-Inch Horn From Head

When you think about horned creatures, a few come to mind instantly: rhinos, bulls, unicorns, the devil. Amazingly, humans are part of that group more often than you might think.

Huang Yuanfan, 84, of Ziyuan, China, is the latest person to report an unusual growth protruding from the head. His horn began growing two years ago and has reached a length of 3 inches, according to Metro.co.uk and other British news sites.

When it began as a small bump, Huang said he tried picking at it and even filing it, but the horn persevered and kept growing.

 

Wait, What?

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You don't have to be devilish to have a horn on your head. China's Huang Yuanfan, 84, says that over the past two years, a small bump on the back of his head has turned into a horn that's nearly 3 inches long. "Doctors say they don't know what caused it, but if they try to take it off it will just come back," he told the press. "I try to hide it beneath a hat, but if it gets much longer it will be sticking out the top."

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Wait, What?

You don't have to be devilish to have a horn on your head. China's Huang Yuanfan, 84, says that over the past two years, a small bump on the back of his head has turned into a horn that's nearly 3 inches long. "Doctors say they don't know what caused it, but if they try to take it off it will just come back," he told the press. "I try to hide it beneath a hat, but if it gets much longer it will be sticking out the top."

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Wait, What?

"Doctors say they don't know what caused it, but if they try to take it off it will just come back," Huang told the press. "I try to hide it beneath a hat, but if it gets much longer it will be sticking out the top."

Last year, Zhang Ruifang, a 101-year-old from China, made news when a second horn began emerging from her head. Her first horn had already grown 2 1/2 inches.

Barcroft / Fame Pictures

 

Zhang Ruifang, 101, of China's Henan province is actually growing two horns on her head.

Zhang embraced her new look and told reporters that she was eager for the second horn to match the first in size. She refused offers to remove the horns.

China has produced a number of other elderly horny folks in recent years. In 2007, 93-year-old Ma Zhong Nan flaunted a 4-inch horn growing atop his head. He paid little attention to it until it became itchy, at which point he sought help.

That same year, 95-year-old Xiou Ling made headlines for a 6 1/2-inch horn that jutted out of her forehead and curled downward over her face. It had been growing for four years.

And in 2006, Zhang Yuncai of China's Xingyang county felt what he thought was a pimple on his head. Eventually that "pimple" got bigger and bigger until it developed into a 2-inch horn-shaped bump. Doctors removed the strange growth free of charge.

Of course, human horns extend beyond China's borders.

For example, in February 2007, the Yemen Observer reported on the case of Saleh Talib Saleh, a 102-year-old man whose horn started growing on the left side of his head at the age of 78.

"One day, as I was touching the surface of my head, I felt a very thick and hard layer of substance on my head," Saleh told the Observer. "At that time we didn't have the medical institutions like we have today, so I ignored it and did not focus too much on it because it didn't bother me at all. Every week, it seemed to grow bigger and harder."

He said it reached a length of 19 inches before breaking off in 2006. But just days later it started growing right back.

"I have had hundreds of visitors who come from around the country and feel surprised and in awe when they see the greatness of God and his creation," Saleh said.

These types of horns are typically cutaneous horns, which are composed of the same substance found in our fingernails, called keratin. While bizarre, they are usually harmless.

Secret Scientists Claim to Create Rain in Arab Desert

A secret scientific program to control the weather has seen artificially created storms rain down on the Middle Eastern desert.

Recent reports say Swiss scientists working for the ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi last year successfully created 52 rainstorms in a usually arid region of the United Arab Emirates, using secret technology.

Most of the storms were created in Al Ain, near Abu Dhabi, during July and August -- the height of summer when conditions are usually parched.

Arnd Hemmersbach, Getty Images

Two teams navigate through the Rub Al Kali Desert during the Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge on Dec. 12 in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Reports says Swiss scientists using secret technology created storms in the usually dry area.

The founder of the Swiss company running the project, Meteo Systems International, boasted of the project's success.

"We have achieved a number of rainfalls," trumpeted Helmut Fluhrer.

Meteo Systems International, hired by United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan to develop and test the technology, used giant ionizers resembling lampshades on steel poles to generate fields of negatively charged particles.

A statement on the company's website promoting the invention it has called Weathertec reads:

"Since mankind can no longer take abundant supplies of fresh water for granted, our brightest minds, energy and resources must focus on finding solutions today. For our planet's future, innovative plans and the most sophisticated technologies are needed both to tackle water shortages that lead to food crises, and to protect the environment by producing more clean, green hydro energy. Therefore, we have both the opportunity -- and the moral obligation -- to develop, use and invest in these solutions."

The latest developments are different from "cloud seeding," which has met with varying degrees of success in its 20-year history.

In 2008, chunks of cement fell from a plan and crashed into a Moscow home after an attempt to clear rain clouds from the Russian sky failed.

However, some American weather experts called the apparent Abu Dhabi breakthrough baloney.

"That's garbage, that's absolute garbage," Joseph Golden, a former senior meteorologist at the Forecast Systems Lab of the National Weather Service, told Fox News.

"I don't believe that for a nanosecond. You aren't going to get anything out of clear skies. I don't want to sound like Tom Cruise here, but show me the data."

Fox News also reported that, apparently unperturbed by critics, Meteo Systems filed a patent application on Feb. 4 for the technology.

The application describes "methods and devices for modifying atmospheric conditions, known in this context as weather modification, by enhancing electric forces exerted on and between particles of atmospheric air, such as water particles, aerosols, molecular clusters, and water molecules possessing their own electric dipole moment."

"They're making some rather rash claims, and I'm very skeptical," said Golden.

Drunken burglar calls 911 for help

WILMINGTON, Del. — Police in Delaware say a man broke into a house, got drunk and couldn't make his way back outside — so he called 911 for help.

New Castle County police say 44-year-old John Finch was trapped in the home in part because he'd broken into it before, back in April. That led the homeowner to change the locks so that a key was required — even inside.

Police say no one was home when Finch broke in again, through a rear window. He stayed for a few days, drinking three bottles of gin and two bottles of whiskey. When he tried to leave, he was too drunk to climb back out of the window and called 911. He was arrested Wednesday afternoon.

Finch now faces charges in both break-ins. Police say he was admitted to a hospital and has yet to make a court appearance. There's no indication Finch has retained an attorney.

Police in Phoenix looking for '$60 Bill Bandit'

GILBERT, Ariz. — Police in the Phoenix area are looking for a bank robbery suspect they've dubbed the "$60 Bill Bandit" because he once asked a teller for $40 and $60 bills — denominations that aren't printed.

The most recet holdup was Dec. 23 when the suspect walked into a Gilbert Bank of America and handed the teller a note saying he was armed and wanted money. The teller gave him an unknown amount of cash.

Police say the nickname comes from the robber earlier asking a teller for all the $20s, $40s and $60s.

Unemployed Grad Lets Craigslist Dictate Fate

Craigslist users frequent the popular classifieds website seeking everything from a cheap futon to a one-night stand ("casual encounters" in Craigspeak). Jason Paul may be the first to visit looking for a life.

American University released Paul into the world in May 2009 armed with a degree representing four years of study but filling only two lines of a resume. Paul needed a job.

One hundred eighty cover letters later, he still needed a job.

Jason Paul

 

Jason Paul decided that for nine months, he would get everything he needed from Craigslist, including employment, housing and transportation.

Like 50 million other Americans, Paul turned to Craigslist to find what he needed. Not only would he seek employment, he'd seek housing and transportation and friendship. For nine months, from the fall of 2009 through the summer of 2010, if it wasn't on the list, it wasn't in his life.

In addition to taking a different approach to the job search, Paul told AOL News his experiment, which he documented at LivingCraigslist.com, sat at the convergence of several of his interests.

"I've always been interested in technology, and Craigslist embodies this cross section of technology and society. It seemed like an interesting thing to study," he said.

"How possible is it to use Craigslist for everything? Everyone knows what Craigslist is. Everyone uses it. But no one had used Craigslist to do everything, from housing to food to friends. It just hadn't been done. I wanted to be that guy."

(Note: At least one other person, Craigslist Joe, lived solely on the Craigslist grid, though his experiment lasted only one month.)

While Paul yielded control of much of his life to a simple, five-columned, blue-and-white website, he set basic time and geographic parameters: three months in a large city (San Francisco, pop. 809,000), three months in a medium city (Denver, pop. 600,000), three months in a small city (Savannah, Ga., pop. 131,500).

Beginning with the big, Paul headed for San Francisco, where Craigslist was born when software engineer Craig Newmark started an e-mail list to keep his friends updated on Bay Area events. Paul found a great job nannying for a happy family he's still in touch with.

"They were a home away from home," he said.

But as is the case when taking a chance on Craigslist, Paul didn't always score wins. Being preached at by a math professor during a mid-pheasant-hunt break was uncomfortable. Watching fellow restaurant employees cry after another reaming by an evil manager might top the "lose" list were it not for the house in Denver.

Moving into a house described on Craigslist an "art collective," Paul fought the low thermostat setting by wrapping himself in a blanket and fought the rodents by moving his food. He persevered when "art collective" turned out to mean no bedroom door, no kitchen stove, and bathrooms so unclean he preferred to go public.

But he fled when he walked in on the artists using drugs, enduring a well-written but vituperative e-missive when he dared ask for the return of his security deposit. (For legal reasons, we can't publish Paul's heated e-mail exchange, but we recommend reading it on his blog here.)

Sitting at home in Rockville, Md., holding the Denver rat's nest at a year's length, immersed in a book he's writing about the experience, Paul said the occasional thumbs-down is to be expected on Craigslist.

"Everyone has to have their Craigslist scam story," he said.

Ultimately, the experiment confirmed to Paul that Craigslist, despite the occasional tale of horror (e.g. the Craigslist Killer, Philip Markoff), is about people living up to founder Craig Newmark's original vision of the site: a place that helps people find what they're seeking.

Witness Paul's Thanksgiving: Having nowhere to go, he asked Craigslisters to adopt him. Two dozen people responded. Paul enjoyed turkey, croquet, football and 15 new friends.

"That embodies the community that is Craigslist," he said. "I really appreciate all the things that Craigslist has enabled me to do."

Doomsday: After Many Predictions, We're Still Here

"Repent, repent, the end is near!" Or is it?

How many times have we heard that in movies, on TV, throughout literature and in the Bible? Yet, as often as people have predicted a global apocalypse, we're still here, still intact.

You've undoubtedly heard about the upcoming end of the world, scheduled for Dec. 21, 2012. Based on an ancient Mayan calendar, some believe that date signals possible cataclysmic events for our home planet, where others, like NASA, insist the only thing that will happen on that day next year will be another winter solstice.

But, for all the preaching and chanting and doomsday whistle-blowing, you'd think that, by now, we would have learned that end-of-the-world predictors have sort of missed the mark.

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A Mayan religious calendar at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington, D.C., expires on Dec. 21, 2012. Some have predicted that the world will end on that date.

One doesn't have to search through ancient texts and soothsayer pronouncements to find more modern apocalyptic visions.

In 1925, a young California resident, Margaret Rowan, claimed the angel Gabriel paid her a visit and foretold the end of the world in February of that year. Didn't happen.

Then, in 1954, Dorothy Martin insisted ships would arrive in Oak Park, Ill., to transport believers off the doomed planet. Didn't happen.

The Heaven's Gate mass suicide of 1997 was connected to the idea that when the Hale-Bopp comet passed by Earth, our planet would be cleaned and rejuvenated. Didn't happen.

Last year, we learned that, for just 30 bucks, we could all avoid doomsday by becoming ministers in the Church of the SubGenius, thereby allowing us to live forever. That sounded like a better deal than the Ginsu knives sold in TV infomercials.

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A man wears a doomsday sandwich board sign.

We shouldn't leave out the Jehovah's Witnesses. In the late 1800s, founder Charles Taze Russell predicted the world would end in 1914. After numerous follow-up end-of-world proclamations, this religious organization is no longer date-specific about doomsday but maintains that it will happen soon.

Now we see that Family Radio Worldwide evangelist Harold Camping has pegged May 21, 2011, as the date for the Rapture -- that pre-Armageddon ascent to heaven reserved for those who will be ultimately saved.

And please, before any of you start sending me e-mails, claiming that I'm being sacrilegious, or not honoring the Scriptures, or treating all of this a little too lightly, think about this: What if doomsday actually happens? Who's going to care at that point? It's not like you can convert your life's savings into travelers checks.

And who's going to report it to the masses? I mean, we'll all sort of know it when it happens, so there won't be any further need for TV, radio, online or newspaper coverage of such a staggering event.

We won't have to worry about mortgage foreclosures, unemployment figures, lack of medical insurance, retirement funds or the war on terrorism.

Hmm, maybe an apocalypse is actually just what this planet needs. Of course I don't really mean that, but it probably makes sense to be a lot more prudent about paying so much attention to those who would call for an end to the only home we have.