The Year of the Jellyfish

It's the New Year, and as we all look forward to our new and improved lives, pay vigorous attention to our resolutions, and intensely focus our efforts on altering our lifestyles (yeah right), there is one crucial detail that we should beware: the Jellyfish.

Watch out - they're going to get you!

The number of jellyfish in our oceans is rising (see news article here). I think they might take over the world. Scientists say it's just a cycle - every 20 years or so the number of jellyfish reaches a high - but I don't believe it. Maybe scientists are plotting to take over the world using jellyfish. Maybe the dolphins are about to launch a massive offensive against humans, as a test of which species' intelligence is really higher. Maybe the CIA is training jellyfish to carryout stealth missions against other countries. Maybe NASA is secretly imitating the way jellyfish move to create some sort of awesome spaceship... or are going to use jellyfish as spaceships. Or maybe aliens have tapped into the jellyfish mind and are going to use them to take over Earth.

I mean, imagine it - weird wobbly fish with the ability to zap you with magical poisonous lightning, increasing in population to the point that the ocean water just bubbles with their round little heads - and then they all suddenly ATTACK.

Perhaps 2013 will be the end of the world.

At any rate, here is my New Year's advice: don't get behind on your resolutions, and watch out for jellyfish!

*Picture from here.

Meteor Showers Hurt

Apparently there is a meteor shower going on tonight. I think meteor showers are very interesting things. Some people envision this:

...brilliant streams of light sparkling in the  night sky - glittering wishes, hopeful, but sad and quickly gone.

Then NASA shows us pictures like this: 

...an underwhelming streak of light about to disappear in the overwhelming beauty of our planet.

I have a slightly different image: an image of giant rocks soaring through millions of light years of space, only to accidentally bump into a planet and begin plummeting to their doom, ablaze; miles of atmosphere, of cold, and hot and fire... and then they drop on my head with a perpetual clatter as I try to slather shampoo into my hair. And of course they melt the plastic on the bottom of my tub and I don't get my deposit back when I move out of my apartment. 

You know what I think about meteor showers? They hurt. And they ruined my shower.

31 Days of Planets: Mercury

Day 14

Mercury is a special planet. It is closest to the sun in our solar system. It is named after the Messenger of the Roman Gods. Mercury has a lot of craters and in that respect is quite similar to the moon. Speaking of craters - Cookie Monster! Cookie Monster is on Mercury, in the form of craters of course. See?

(picture from I09)

Because Mercury is so close to the sun, it is difficult to observe. The spacecraft Mariner 10 was the first to visit Mercury. It took a number of pictures, provided information to NASA, and then ran out of fuel. It is thought to still be orbiting the sun - one, lonely spacecraft, asleep, circling the sun over and over and over and over

             and over and over and over

                          and over and over and over

The MESSENGER spacecraft launched in 2004, and has done several flybys. It successfully entered orbit in 2011, and is now in an extended mission expected to last until 2013. 

Mercury is visible (sometimes) to the naked eye. Just don't stare at the sun too long. Or you might go blind.

In conclusion, Cookie Monster is everywhere.

Pictures from NASA.

31 Days of Planets: Nibiru

Day 9: Nibiru

Nibiru is a special planet. The reason? Because it's imaginary. It's an imaginary planet that is supposed to collide with Earth in, oh, give or take two months (December 12, 2012). This sneaky planet has decided to do a flyby of Earth, causing us to stop orbiting for five days and switch magnetic poles. The oceans would then migrate to the poles, creating two polar oceans and one giant center continent. And a day would be the length of an entire year - unless of course the planet started spinning again after five days, in which case the oceans would wander back to their original locations and Daylight savings time would be pushed back a few days.

Nibiru is a hoax. But Nibiru would make a great science fiction TV series, if anyone is interested. Maybe I'll write a book - Incoming Planet. Watch your nearest amazon.com. 

As for what Nibiru looks like, I did a simple image search It's quite lovely. It looks like a marble: 

And it comes from a really reliable-looking website.

This one is a "real photo" from NASA, found on ufodigest.com.

And if you're still dying for evidence, check out this one. You can't deny that this is a real picture:

For more information on this impending disaster, you can read this article, the Wikipedia page, or the news.

In conclusion, Nibiru is going to be great fun.

31 Days of Planets: Eris

Day 5: Eris

Eris is a real planet inside our solar system. Not a myth. Not some suddenly-appearing planet made up by crazy people. Some people claim that the planet Nibiru is actually Eris. This is not true.

Eris is a dwarf planet, probably bigger than Pluto. It resides past Neptune, and is known as a trans-Neptunian dwarf planet. It is the farthest known natural body in our solar system. It has one moon, Dysnomia, and the two were discovered in 2005. Eris was originally known as Xena, or Planet X.

Eris played an important role in modern astronomy - it forced scientists to differentiate between a planet and a dwarf planet. Many people were very upset when Pluto got "downgraded" from a planet - but in truth Pluto is still a planet, just a dwarf-planet. This is an important distinction because as we continue to discover more and more objects out in space, each with unique characteristics, we will have to have some way to classify them - just as scientists classify species and rocks and everything else imaginable. Then our human obsession with organizing everything will slowly be fulfilled in the arena of giant rock-like objects in space.

So what is a planet? you ask. Well, a planet orbits the sun, is massive enough for its own gravity to make it round, and has cleared its neighborhood of smaller objects around its orbit. This definition currently only applies to our solar system, but I'm sure eventually they'll expand it to "orbits a star" and then name everything else differently. Dwarf planets orbit the sun, is massive enough that its shape is controlled by gravitational forces, but hasn't cleared the neighborhood. Dwarf planets are like kids that like to play with other kids. Big planets are like grownups that build giant fences around their yard and call the cops if anyone cuts across the grass.

This is photo taken by the Keck telescope in Hawaii: 

This is an illustration of what Eris and Dysnomia might look like:

In conclusion, Eris is the first of many (planets, but not necessarily in our solar system). I can't wait to see what else is out there!

Pictures from NASA.

31 Days of Planets: Saturn

Day 2: Saturn

Saturn is the 6th planet from the sun. If there were three Saturns, that would be 666 and probably the end of the universe. Saturn's radius is NINE TIMES Earth's. Saturn + Jupiter make up 92% of the total planetary mass in the solar system.

Saturn's defining characteristic is the system of rings that swoop so elegantly around the giant gaseous ball. The rings are probably hundreds of millions of years old, and are made up of ice and dust and a few moonlets. 62 moons orbit Saturn, with Titan the most well-known, but only 53 of the moons are named. They say that some of the moons act as Sheppard moons, and herd the rings to keep them in place, to keep them from expanding outwards. I like to think that those moons are alive, and so are the rocks and dust and moonlets - like a herd of sheep and some sheepdogs flying thousands of miles an hour around the beautifully gaseous and ringed planet.

And this is what Saturn would look like if you stuck it in a fire for a while (this is a real picture, though):

Hypothetically, if you were to have a Saturn-like planet, and then a giant asteroid (we're talking GIANT here) came and smashed the planet out of the rings, could the particles, etc. form to create a donut-shaped planet? Or would they all converge down to the center? Or would the energy resulting from the impact send everything flying outward towards space?

In conclusion, Saturn is awesome.


(Pictures from NASA)

31 Days of Planets: Jupiter

Day 1: Jupiter

Jupiter is my favourite planet. Also known as the Wandering Star, Jupiter is the largest planet in the solar system. It has at least 67 moons, of which the largest four (Io, Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto) were discovered by Galileo in 1609 and 1610. Jupiter is a gas planet.

The most well-known feature of Jupiter is the Great Red Spot, a storm bigger than the size of Earth, swirling violently through Jupiter's atmosphere. Jupiter also has rings, which are made up of dust and little rocks.

At least two spacecrafts have been deliberately crashed into the surface of Jupiter to take readings inside the atmosphere.

In addition, Jupiter has an aurora.

In conclusion, Jupiter is awesome.

Images from NASA.

Daleks on the Moon

And how do I know, you ask, that they found Daleks on the moon (they are also on Mars - see here)?

Because, as I was perusing images for a less recent blog post about the moon (mostly), I found these:

This was found in the NASA archives.

This was found in the NASA archives, as well.

This was found in the San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive.

This was found in the George Eastman House collection.

You may have to peruse closely, but trust me - the evidence is there. 

I'm hoping that if I post enough pictures of Daleks, the Doctor will show up.

What They Really Found On Mars

NASA's new social media effort, mainly the "7 Minutes of Terror," seemed to work miracles for the general public's interest in space. Based on my own Facebook wall (and my cat's Facebook wall), many, many people who aren't interested in anything that happens outside of about 10ft over their heads, began posting links to information about Mars, links to videos and information, and statuses about how cool space is and Mars is and etc, etc.

I was not surprised, however, (although a bit disappointed) when the excitement died down within 48 hours after the landing. The posts petered out. The likes and comments ceased. A week later, the news posts are even mostly gone (except for the thing with Obama).

I'm a little sad. I had hoped that combining the Curiosity's epic landing with the upcoming election would make space travel and discovery a major topic for the Presidential candidates.

It didn't.

So we're back to the same old grind, with a few new people who are excited about space, and a large number of people ready to jump on the bandwagon if anything interesting happens.

Something interesting did happen, though. Something that no one is talking about. Do you want to know what they don't tell you? Do you want to know what they really found on Mars (besides dirt)? I'll give you a hint. It was the same thing they found on the moon.

Yep. Daleks. We're all going to die. End of the world. Christmas, 2012.

Let's hope the Doctor is ready and waiting.

Why We Should Go to Space, Part 2

Recently, there have been a few things to inspire me. One is this little girl, speaking on behalf of the future to the UN:

The second thing was this quote by President Obama. He said this in 2009:

“Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century."

So my thought is this: let's reaffirm and strengthen America's role as the world's engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation by going to space as much and as often as we can. Let's go to the moon--we did it once, we can do it again (maybe this time we'll find the giant metal aliens that like to pretend to be cars). Let's land on an asteroid and pick up some platinum or palladium or some element we've never seen before. Let's go to Mars and set up a place to live (and hopefully not get infected by an intelligent water virus). Let's go to another planet and find life--micro or macroscopic--let's find that the universe, which seems so huge and empty, is actually teeming with life and possibilities.


And in the meantime, let's find a way to take care of our beautiful Earth.

Pinwheel Galaxy, NASA: 

It's Sad That These Pictures Still Seem A Little Bit Like Fiction

These are 5 of my favourite, more recent, pictures of the day from NASA.

Enceladus, Saturn's moon.

Colour!!

The Earth sparkles. But not like a vampire. 

Earth is way cooler than modern vampires.

I want to go to space.

The hand of God... or the hand of robot?

The Universe is Awesome and So Are We

Today I am going to share with you a series of super cool pictures that you probably haven't seen before. I will also be kind, generous, and nice, and tell you what the picture is of, who is in it, and why I think it is cool.

This is Apollo 17 astronaut Ronald Evans. In this image, he is retrieving a film canister during a space walk. Now think for a minute about the evolution of photography. He is in space--in 1972. First of all, going to space is an amazing accomplishment. At this time, however, not only have we been in space, but we've been to the moon, orbited, done all kinds of crazy, amazing things. In fact, we still look to these guys as the heroes of modern space technology. But, he's retrieving a film canister. Now, film canisters are for art majors--we have digital everything. I find this an interesting juxtaposition between a technology which was far beyond it's time, and a technology that was right on time.

Below you will see Dr. Robert Goddard at Clark University in Worchester, MA. Year: 1924. This was long before space travel. Dr. Goddard taught physics. In 1920 he had a paper published by the Smithsonian Institution, wherein he asserted that rockets could be used to send payloads to the moon. Of course, you know the press--they mocked him and began calling him "Moon Man." Eventually, when rocket science became real, scientists began to realize that it was nearly impossible to build a rocket or launch a satellite without acknowledging Dr. Goddard.

I think we should probably start listening to physics professors more often.

This is Harrison Schmitt, astronaut from Apollo 17, collecting Lunar Rock samples. That is also a giant moon rock. It's too bad he couldn't get the entire thing. Or maybe he did... 

At any rate, every time I look at this picture, I see that rock... and it's fantastic. December 14, 1972

This is James Irwin, saluting beside an American flag. Look at that giant space bug behind him. You know what has always awed me about their equipment? It looks like gold tinfoil. Their space vehicles aren't shiny and rock solid looking as scifi would have us believe. They're real. Every time I see them I am reminded that they're real.

This is the launch of the bumper V-2, a critical moment in the history of space travel. The bumper V-2 was the first ever rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. This two stage rocket (V-2 missile on the bottom with a WAC Corporal Rocket on the top) exploded from the ground, then detached from itself, and the top half could fly to nearly 400 kilometers, which is even higher than modern rockets can fly.

While you're thinking about that, look at those guys. Look at that equipment.It's incredible. It looks like equipment from the 1950s! Oh, did I mention? They sent this rocket up July 24, 1950. Amazing.

Below is the Lunar Prospector spacecraft on its way to the moon. I think that this picture is beautiful. You can't see the spacecraft, but you can see its tail and the Earth in the distance behind it. It's incredible. 1998.

This is a solar powered airplane. Amazing. It was tested in 2001. It looks so weird, like an alien space ship or something. No wonder people are always seeing UFOs. If I saw this, I would think aliens had landed, too.

This astronaut is floating in space. I want to float in space.

This astronaut is floating in space, having his picture taken next to Earth. I want to have my picture taken next to Earth. Instead, I will have to be satisfied with having my picture taken on Earth.

Below is a picture of the Eagle Nebula, also called the Pillars of Creation. This is one of my favourite nebulae; it is extremely photogenic, too. These pillars of dust are the birthplace of stars, although their star formation peaked several million years ago. The red represents low energy, the green represents medium energy, and the blue represents high energy.

I could stare at this all day.

 This is Earth. This is where we live. This is the thing that provides us everything we could ever possibly need and then some. This is what keeps us safe, and quite warm, as you can see. This image is a false colour depiction of long wave heat escaping from Earth. If the heat didn't escape, the Earth would become as hot as the sun. It's beautiful. And it's ours.

We live in an amazing universe. So let's explore.


You can find all these pictures and more here.

How To Get Inspired

There is a lot of stuff going on. In fact, so many things are going on that it's basically impossible to keep track of everything. Besides the Presidential election, which is probably the least interesting thing out there, geniuses are busting their butts to make awesome stuff, rich people are wasting their fortunes doing magnificent things, and millions of people are getting up, going to work, having dinner, and sleeping, day after day after day after day. And all of it is amazing.

As human beings we have the capacity to do anything, and yet, for the most part, we fight. We're pretty good at fighting, actually, except for the part where someone has to lose. But take Richard Branson, for example. He just announced that he plans to explore the five deepest parts of the ocean. Want to know what's there? We have no idea, but if you want to learn, ask David Gallo:

You know what else? Reuters says, "Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB), one of the world's leading space technology companies, today congratulated NASA on the successful launch of five sounding rockets in a stream of launches that took place in less than seven minutes for the Anomalous Transport Rocket Experiment (ATREX) program." WHAT?! NASA launched five sounding rockets in LESS THAN SEVEN MINUTES. You're probably wondering what a sounding rocket is. It's a rocket with research equipment that takes measurements in suborbital space. That means, soon we'll have taxis to space!!!

Or how about this: Marcin Jakubowski has started an initiative to create a database of farm equipment that can be built at home. He calls it "Open-Source Blueprints for Civilization". You can access the eight designs created so far on his website, here. These could do amazing things for farming everywhere. I could build my own tractor!

Some guy is suing France, another man is on trial for murdering 17 people in Afghanistan, Soldiers are having trouble finding jobs because employers are afraid of PTSD, and scientists now think that billions of habitable planets may be floating about in the Milky Way. That means, we probably have neighbors. Awesome neighbors. Alien neighbors.

As humans, we now have the ability to dive into the deepest depths of the ocean, to research and learn without sending ourselves to space, to actually send ourselves to space, and to find and inhabit new worlds. And I bet you could ask that 17-year-old kid who built a nuclear fusion reactor in his garage, and he could build you a rocket that will get us into freakin' space for good. So we can build our own tractors. In space.

And still we fight.

One day, Earth will look like this for everyone.

And maybe, just maybe, we'll get inspired.

And fly away. Alligator Sky-style.

How Much is the Universe Worth?

Neil DeGrasse Tyson recently asked this question in a speech: how much would you pay for the universe? He was referring to the recent funding cut that NASA took. He states that if one penny of each tax dollar went to fund NASA, we would surpass our wildest space dreams in a matter of a few decades.

One day, this concept is going to be one of those things that we talk about nostalgically, that people use as writing prompts for historical fiction novels. Right now, we think like this:

Can you imagine living in a country where women don't have the right to vote?

Can you imagine living in a country run by slavery?

Can you imagine living in a country where drinking alcohol was banned?

Can you imagine living in a country with vast tracts of unexplored land?

Can you imagine life without cars, or televisions, or phones, or heaven forbid--electricity?

And 67 seven years from now...

...Can you imagine living in country that wouldn't fund space travel?

And I will be 89 years old, cranky and obnoxious, living in a nursing home that orbits the moon, being interviewed on HoloSkypeOrbital by a 3D replica of my great-nephew who wants to do project on the history of space flight.

"My mother remembers them walking on the moon!" I would screech. "My mother watched the Challenger explode on a black and white TV! They didn't have space travel for real until I was about 52, even though NASA started hiring astronauts when I was only 23! Do I remember life without space travel? Of course I remember! My brain's sharp as a tack--do you even know what a tack is?"

"Let me tell you this, boy," I would interrupt as he sputtered to ask another impertinent question. "There's nothing more torturous than having the technology to do something but having those putrid politicians REFUSE to help do it! We were in an economic recession, them trying to tell women what not to have babies, worldwide religious clashes, the planet dying from carbon fuel poison, just out of a war on terrorists (terrorists are bloody hard to find, remember that, boy) and then politicians took money away from space travel! Can you believe it? Space travel! The only hope the people of the world had--just cut its knees right out from under it."

"What about the Dragon's fire? What about the descent of the Phoenix?" my great-nephew Gary will ask. "Do you remember those?"

"Naming all them spacecraft after mythical beasts won't give them no magical powers," I'll croak. "And of course I remember those! But you know what? Accidents happen. When they were inventing regular flights, with airplanes, you know what? People died. Amelia Earhart? Know who that is?" I'll shake my head. "Schools don't teach anything these days. She disappeared. Forever. Never seen again. More people died in car crashes back then than anything else. And murders! All over the place. But you know what? They still flew planes. They still drove cars. They still had babies. What's a couple of suborbital explosions? Sad, maybe. But they aren't the question."

"What is the question?" 

"The question is this: who are we and who do we want to be? Are we a nation of cowards and small-minded simpletons? Or are we a nation of intelligent visionaries with a backbone of steel and a work ethic of gold? Because that's what it took, Gary. It took intelligence, steel, and gold. Do you believe that?"

"Of course! We have space ships for people and space ships for mining and space ships for protection and space ships for research and we're mining asteroids in the asteroid belt and have a station set up on Mars!" He gets excited and begins to bounce up and down--because that's what kids do when they get excited.

I tap the top of the holo-monitor, the same spot where webcams used to be on a 2D monitor (now the hologram itself is the camera), and exclaim, "Now you tell me something, boy! Can you imagine living in a world trapped on the surface of the planet? In a country with a government who wouldn't fund space travel? Tell me--can you imagine a world without space?"

My Cat, the Hacker-Mob Boss

Most people know what their cats do when they're at home alone. Eat, sleep, and sleep, are three very common examples.

My cat, on the other hand, Goblin, is a very suspicious sort of cat. When I come home, she always runs away. When I am in the bathroom or kitchen, she just sits there and meows. The rest of the time, she sits in the corner, under my desk or in awkward places and just stares at me. She doesn't move or blink. Just stares. For hours.

Like this:

When I'm sleeping she either sits on my head, sits on the window sill above my head, or races back and forth maniacally chasing Christmas bows that don't move and pieces of string that don't fight back.

So then I wonder: what does Goblin do while I'm gone?

Here's the thing: NASA was hacked 13 times last year, and 48 NASA laptops were stolen in the past two years. Do I think my cat stole them? No. I think she paid someone to do it. I think she was the hacker, however. She's like a hacker-mob boss who runs a ring of ridiculously smart criminals that are trying to take control of the space station. NASA claims that the space station is safe, but if Goblin can speak Russian, then they had better watch out.

""But why?" you ask. "Why would Goblin want to take control of the space station?

"Don't you read the news?" I reply. 

Look at these headlines: Hundreds of Cats Rescued in Animal Cruelty Case at Caboodle Ranch, Cat Count Nears 70 at Elmer Avenue, President of California Fish and Game Commission Shoots a Cat: Now He Is the One Up a Tree, 200 Cats Removed from NY Home, and worst of all, Japanese Cat Lovers Snarl at New Law which puts a curfew on the public appearance of animals. They have to be home by 8:00pm!

Goblin the Hacker-Mob Boss is merely trying to command a new life for cats of all breeds. By taking control of the International Space Station, she knows she can negotiate for a cat-sized spaceship which she will then command, taking as many cats as possible away from here to start a new life on a far away planet--a planet of milk and fish. I wish her luck.

Top Ten Reasons to Become an Astronaut

NASA just posted a blog titled "Top Ten Reasons to Become an Astronaut". Their top ten reasons are great. But here are my top ten reasons. They are better.

10. You get to eat freeze dried food.

9. You get to go to space.

8. You get to wear a really classy, sexy suit sometimes. You get to be a rocketman!

7. You get to go to space.

6. It's confirmation that you're an intelligent, valuable, and wanted member of society.

5. You get to go to space.

4. You get to ride in or drive the fastest vehicle in the known universe. A ROCKETSHIP.

3. You get to go to space.

2. You get to see the world, FROM SPACE.

And the number 1 reason: 

You get to GO TO FREAKING SPACE.

I realize there are dangers: exploding spaceships, loss of oxygen, aliens attacking your vessel, crazy mutant diseases that sneak into the water supply. But here's the thing: have you ever watched a scifi show? Or read a scifi book? Would any one of the characters in those shows say it wasn't worth all those dangers to go to space?

No. It's worth it. Let's go to space. Everybody.

For your convenience I have links to four different companies with space program job openings. If you're qualified, then by all means: APPLY. Speaking Russian is also a plus.

NASA Job Description 

Virgin Galactic Job Openings

SpaceX Positions

Blue Origin Hot Jobs

Joining the Military might also be an option. But talk to a recruiter. Be smart.

One day, I'll be carried away...

Coming Soon: Nibiru and the End of the World

As the end of the world rapidly approaches, panicky rumors spread faster than a rabbit with a  stick of dynamite tied to its tail. My favourite is this: a mysterious, wandering planet with an orbit of 3,600 years, said to be inhabited by intelligent beings who procreated with the apes to create humans last time their planet passed by, will slip between Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun's light, throwing off our orbit, shortening the length of our day, and causing a sudden pole shift--the end of the world.

Nibiru is the home of the Anunnaki, a race of extraterrestrials who first enslaved us, then tried to kill us, then decided to bring our civilization into maturity, and then left. If you are having trouble remembering this, it's because it happened during the Sumerian Empire. Many people are certain that this planet will return in 2012 and cause the end of everything. In fact, this is so disconcerting that some people can't sleep at night for fear of the future. One belief is that the newly discovered Eris is actually Nibiru:

"...however Eris does exist and I see they were going to call it Xena... planet X... Will Eris do a flyby since it is considered a planet and the 10th one?...Could this even be possible that we would be thrown off our axis? Are Pluto and others really slightly of their normal gravitational paths because of this planet that is supposedly coming toward us? Why do they say time is speeding up because of the magnetic pulse this planet is creating? Is this true that there are only really 16 hours a day now because time is moving faster? ...Why do the days seem so much shorter? I am scared about this whole 2012 thing. Eris seems to be in the position that everyone says Nibiru is and the same size. Maybe we are asking the wrong question. Maybe we should be asking about Eris and not Nibiru. Thank you for your time as I am scared to death!" (This is an excerpt from this fantastic article about Nibiru).

What is the evidence for this mysterious planet? It's this: the orbits of Neptune and Uranus supposedly wobble slightly, therefore there must be another planet, larger than Earth, that exerts gravitational pull. Also the Mayan Calendar is ending.

There seems to be a rather large number of people who think that this mysterious planet has been secretly observed and tracked by NASA for several years. And what would life be without conspiracies? David Morrison, a respected astrophysicist at NASA, was sent this message by a rather irate individual:

"So if you all are watching Eris and it’s trajectory, why can’t you tell us about how it’s going to come between the sun and the earth? Where is the info on your webpage of the true trajectory which will cause the perturbing of all our solar system heavenly bodies? If this is nothing to worry about, then why don’t you talk about its trajectory? Why don’t you have people partnering to watch it, track it and be actively talking about this huge new planet that is coming? Why are you so quiet about this new discovery? Your behavior is suspicious and your actions will be discovered soon so I would suggest a full disclosure."

I imagine them yelling this: "Why don't you talk about it's trajectory?" It cracks me up.

People are great. Without imagination we would all still be nomadic hunters. Not that there is anything wrong with nomadic hunting, but 7 billion nomadic hunters might be a few too many. I must say, however, that imaginary planets do not make me lose sleep. Leaf Blowers make me lose sleep. My cat makes me lose sleep. Caffeine makes me lose sleep. Right now, however, I am awake, and the only planet that makes me lose sleep is Jupiter, because it's never in the same place! (Ha! Space joke!)

So I don't recommend worrying about the end of the world, but I do recommend buying stock in companies that sell generators and dehydrated food. That way, next year, you'll be rich enough to buy your freedom when the Anunnaki enslave us. Again.