NationStates Jolt Archive

We all know that it's happening soon. What do you think is going to finally bring about the destruction of mankind?

Some combination of bad luck and stupidity.

I didn't know it was going to happen soon. What have you heard?

Nuclear Proliferation

There are enough people out there who hate people enough that they would rather see the world destroyed, than see those they hate survive.

We all know that it's happening soon. What do you think is going to finally bring about the destruction of mankind?
Except for isolated pockets of semi-starved survivors, the human race will largely disappear in 2012 when the Yellowstone Caldera erupts spreading volcanic ash over most of the world and effectively obliterating most of the Central and Eastern US.

Except for isolated pockets of semi-starved survivors, the human race will largely disappear in 2012 when the Yellowstone Caldera erupts spreading volcanic ash over most of the world and effectively obliterating most of the Central and Eastern US.
Why would that eradicate humanity? We've lived through ice ages with almost no technology for fuck's sake.

Oh, come on.

Rapture, then apocalypse.

How much money is riding on this pool anyway?

We all know that it's happening soon. What do you think is going to finally bring about the destruction of mankind?
Me.

Why would that eradicate humanity? We've lived through ice ages with almost no technology for fuck's sake.
You don't get it; if that thing goes off, it would be as bad as a comet or astoroid induced nuclear winter; we wouldn't be able to make it.

You're all wrong. We're going to die when Mars invades.

Reptilian Invasion from Zeta Reticuli

The Olsen Twins.

Well, the skinny one fer sure!

Oh, come on.

Rapture, then apocalypse.

How much money is riding on this pool anyway?

Good luck cashing in your winnings.

We ignore the "Don't drink tap water" signs either that or we play with bottle rockets too much.

We will die by beening killed

Why would that eradicate humanity? We've lived through ice ages with almost no technology for fuck's sake.
you forgot the first bit.
"Except for isolated pockets of semi-starved survivors..."

Good luck cashing in your winnings.

Good news! All you have to do is accept Christ as your personal savior and you can cash in too!

You don't get it; if that thing goes off, it would be as bad as a comet or astoroid induced nuclear winter; we wouldn't be able to make it.

Well, we made it the last time it went off during the ice age. (I can't remember how long ago that was).

Back then we had significantly smaller brains, and animal skins. With all our modern technology, we would be fine.

The only casualties would be the morons who would stay in the general area of the park, having "eruption parties". Kind of like those boobs who wait for hurricanes to come in.

Good news! All you have to do is accept Christ as your personal savior and you can cash in too!

Yes!!!! Jesus dollars are worth like $4.50.

We all know that it's happening soon. What do you think is going to finally bring about the destruction of mankind?

I don't intend to die :)

_Nik

Good news! All you have to do is accept Christ as your personal savior and you can cash in too!


If thats what it takes (this is coming from a Christian), then 5 billion people are screwed.

Well, we made it the last time it went off during the ice age. (I can't remember how long ago that was).

Back then we had significantly smaller brains, and animal skins. With all our modern technology, we would be fine.

The only casualties would be the morons who would stay in the general area of the park, having "eruption parties". Kind of like those boobs who wait for hurricanes to come in.
No, we wouldn't. It's a freaking 800 mile wide crater. The entire park is the volcano. That thing goes off, you'll see people dying in Australia and Britain from the initial explosion. It would make the last Ice Age look like a warm winter.

9 out of 10 doctors agree, death is the leading cause of death.

You're all wrong. We're going to die when Mars invades.

Noone lives on Mars, Moron! You know the whole argument about inteligent live in outer space? You may also know that the people who don't believe in aliens may say "If there were inteligent life on other planets, why havn't they invaded us?" I believe there is other life out there, but I could still answer that question. They never invaded us because MAYBE THEY DON'T HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY EITHER!! Why do people seem to think that all the other races in the universe are superior to ours, and they could destroy all us so easily? Maybe they are also stranded on their planet, and know nothing of earth. By the time they have their super future planet destroying blasters, will should have ours, and maybe we will be doing the invading. :mp5: :gundge: :sniper:

I don't intend to die :)

_Nik


I DO!!!! I DO!!!!

Becoming extinct isn't such a bad thing...alot of other species have done it, it can't be all bad.

You don't get it; if that thing goes off, it would be as bad as a comet or astoroid induced nuclear winter; we wouldn't be able to make it.
Yeah, it would be like an ice age. Still, we have canned and freeze dried food, and cannibalism too. We just need a breeding population to live long enough to see the sun rise again. Then agriculture can begin anew.

Becoming extinct isn't such a bad thing...alot of other species have done it, it can't be all bad.




Except for the fact you cease to exist, it probably is :rolleyes:.

No, we wouldn't. It's a freaking 800 mile wide crater. The entire park is the volcano. That thing goes off, you'll see people dying in Australia and Britain from the initial explosion. It would make the last Ice Age look like a warm winter.
Would Russians in the old soviet military bunkers survive? If so, the human race goes on.

Becoming extinct isn't such a bad thing...alot of other species have done it, it can't be all bad.

yes and humans are stupid... they deserv to die...

Except for the fact you cease to exist, it probably is :rolleyes:.
Everyone does that...death is no big deal

Come on, put "God" on the survey.

But seriously, a couple weeks back, I saw survey figures claiming that 17% of Americans believe that the world will end in their lifetime. Anybody else find that frightening? I mean, it's kind of a free pass to behave like a jerkwad. And even if you're one of those "Left Behind" readers who won't act like a jerkwad because God don't like jerkwads, it's still a free pass to act with total indifference toward the environment.

I'm going to see if I can find the survey, see how the "Max Max" or "Rapture" split breaks down.

I'm not saying I fear death, although I'm in no hurry to get to it either.

Would Russians in the old soviet military bunkers survive? If so, the human race goes on.
No, they wouldn't. You seem to be under the impression that all this would cause is an Ice Age. In fact, it would be the sixth great extinction; we'd probably see the destruction of about 85% of all life on Earth. And we can't do a thing about it.

yes and humans are stupid... they deserv to die...
they? :eek:
OH NO! its watching us its either a god, an alien or a robot!
well he made a spelling mistake so he can't be a god or a robot...
So alien invasion it is!

Hey, instead of saying it's the end of the world, ever consider it's the begining?

Would Russians in the old soviet military bunkers survive? If so, the human race goes on.

Yeah, I think they would live. Yay! nothings stoping us! We just need to keep a few hundred thousand to survive. Then the survivers just have to breed like rabbits. :fluffle: :fluffle: And in a few generations, we will all be destroying our planet again.

But in case I'm wrong, nukes. Somebody willl snap and there will be mushroom clouds everywhere.

they? :eek:
OH NO! its watching us its either a god, an alien or a robot!
well he made a spelling mistake so he can't be a god or a robot...
So alien invasion it is!

What have I told you paranoid freaks about the aliens? You all need to attend less Trekkie conventions. :rolleyes:

Yeah, I think they would live. Yay! nothings stoping us! We just need to keep a few hundred thousand to survive. Then the survivers just have to breed like rabbits. :fluffle: :fluffle: And in a few generations, we will all be destroying our planet again.
No, they wouldn't survive. It would be the sixth great extinction. We'd be wiped out along with 85% of all species on Earth.

Hmmm, I remember an article that said this leading guy in something (could I be any more vague?) said that the biggest threat to humanity was the biological threat of the bird flu epidemics in Asia jumping species to humans. Or something like that.

No, they wouldn't survive. It would be the sixth great extinction. We'd be wiped out along with 85% of all species on Earth.

Yes, but if we did survive, We would destroy the planet unless we let this world destruction stuff teach us a lesson.

Someone wakes up....

What have I told you paranoid freaks about the aliens? You all need to attend less Trekkie conventions. :rolleyes:
Yes because I really tought an alien or a god or a robot was on an online forum!

says to self: *hmm no sence of humor must be a robot* ;)

What about overpopulation? That would lead to starvation, thirst, wars, e.t.c.

Yes, but if we did survive, We would destroy the planet unless we let this world destruction stuff teach us a lesson.
If we survived, which is most likely impossible, we would have to rebuild our society completely. Most likely, the only survivors would be the people in the Middle East because they're on the exact other side of the world from the volcano. I don't see us surviving if it goes off unless we were far more advanced or had colonies on other worlds.

George Bush will be the death of us all

Birds already carry a lot of flu over from Asia that people do contract. The FDA sends guys out to Attu, at the end of the Aleutians, to shoot down migratory birds so they can swab them to concoct the vaccines for that year's flu season.

I found the 17% quote in a Washington Post article. According to a "CNN/Time magazine poll, 59 percent of those surveyed said they think the Revelation prophecies will come true. Seventeen percent said the biblical prophecies of the end of the world would be fulfilled in their lifetimes." So this isn't even counting the Mad Max and volcano predictions.

We are gonna die of natural causes, that or the top ten ways most people die. The human race will not go extinct by some violent catastrophe, it will be evolution. Hell, even if we did have a nuclear war, our civilization may be destroyed, but keep in mind we're like cock roaches, we'd still survive and repopulate. (not the entire world would be scortched, there are only so many tactically important sites in that can be nuked in the world, who would, in thier right mind nuke where i live? theres nothing here) Disease, not likely i dare you to find a single disease with a 100% mortality rate, and the virility it needs to wipe us all out. Asteroids, nope weve got enough sensors all around our tiny blue marble to give us plenty of time to lob nukes at it, and still have time for coffee breaks. Ok the one thing that would definitely eradicate us would be the sun exploding, but thats billions of years away, and we'll probably be all over the galaxy by that time, if not a different species. I think evolution will not kill us but rather phase us out. over millions of years humans will get to a point where we're so physiologically different that we wont be "human" anymore, just a new human-like species, just not quite.

Yes because I really tought an alien or a god or a robot was on an online forum!

says to self: *hmm no sence of humor must be a robot* ;)

I have a pretty good sense of humor. What do you mean that forums have aliens, gods, and robots?

If we survived, which is most likely impossible, we would have to rebuild our society completely. Most likely, the only survivors would be the people in the Middle East because they're on the exact other side of the world from the volcano. I don't see us surviving if it goes off unless we were far more advanced or had colonies on other worlds.
When the rock that is beleived to have killed the dinosaurs hit it actually did the most damage both near the point of impact and on the exact opposite side. Something about where the burning hot ejecta settled due to gravity and the atmosphere or something.

Other: Massive Zombie infestation ala Day of the Dead.

We are gonna die of natural causes, that or the top ten ways most people die. The human race will not go extinct by some violent catastrophe, it will be evolution. Hell, even if we did have a nuclear war, our civilization may be destroyed, but keep in mind we're like cock roaches, we'd still survive and repopulate. (not the entire world would be scortched, there are only so many tactically important sites in that can be nuked in the world, who would, in thier right mind nuke where i live? theres nothing here) Disease, not likely i dare you to find a single disease with a 100% mortality rate, and the virility it needs to wipe us all out. Asteroids, nope weve got enough sensors all around our tiny blue marble to give us plenty of time to lob nukes at it, and still have time for coffee breaks. Ok the one thing that would definitely eradicate us would be the sun exploding, but thats billions of years away, and we'll probably be all over the galaxy by that time, if not a different species. I think evolution will not kill us but rather phase us out. over millions of years humans will get to a point where we're so physiologically different that we wont be "human" anymore, just a new human-like species, just not quite.

Very good! You forgot the aliens though, but we'd just nuke them too! :D

When the rock that is beleived to have killed the dinosaurs hit it actually did the most damage both near the point of impact and on the exact opposite side. Something about where the burning hot ejecta settled due to gravity and the atmosphere or something.
In which case we're completely screwed. Frankly, I'm not going to worry about it; if that thing goes off, I'm pratically right on top of it as it is so I'd never know.
Oh, and to the moron who said we could just lob nukes at an astoroid, try learning some basic astronomy, please; we couldn't divert an astoroid with mere nuclear weapons unless we had several years of warning.

I have a pretty good sense of humor. What do you mean that forums have aliens, gods, and robots?
:rolleyes: you just read the last sentence didn't you!

here it is without the bit you read


Originally Posted by Tyldanien
yes and humans are stupid... they deserv to die...

they?
OH NO! its watching us its either a god, an alien or a robot!
well he made a spelling mistake so he can't be a god or a robot...

Oh, and to the moron who said we could just lob nukes at an astoroid, try learning some basic astronomy, please; we couldn't divert an astoroid with mere nuclear weapons unless we had several years of warning.

We have enough nukes to destroy our own planet, so why not a bunch of rocks?

Other: Massive Zombie infestation ala Day of the Dead.
Now THAT would be cool. I'm hoping that one comes true.

We have enough nukes to destroy our own planet, so why not a bunch of rocks?
You don't get it, do you? Like I said, learn some basic astronomy and look into the subject; after that, get back to me.
Oh, and if we fired off every nuclear weapon we've got, we couldn't destroy the planet; we'd damage the surface quite a bit and make it very radioactive, but destroy it? No...

:rolleyes: you just read the last sentence didn't you!

here it is without the bit you read

Just because he mispelled a word meant an alien is going to come?

Originally Posted by Osia
Other: Massive Zombie infestation ala Day of the Dead.
Yeah, but zombies are people too!

You don't get it, do you? Like I said, learn some basic astronomy and look into the subject; after that, get back to me.
Oh, and if we fired off every nuclear weapon we've got, we couldn't destroy the planet; we'd damage the surface quite a bit and make it very radioactive, but destroy it? No...

I read somewhere that both USA and Russia have more than enough to destroy the world. And, if we launched them at the sun, than the lava there would be blown back to our planet, and burn Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars to death. ;)

This is a delightful thread. We won't have to worry about the sun exploding. That won't happen for another ohhhh 5 billion years. Nuclear holocaust will occur in 2007 when we try to invade North Korea.

Here's an idea. The governments of the world are working together on some secret project that wil go horribly wrong. Continents will suddenly be covered with deadly chemicals, mountains will blow up due to catastrophic failure at research labs. Sattelites with nuclear propulsion systems will rain down upon the cities.

I read somewhere that both USA and Russia have more than enough to destroy the world. And, if we launched them at the sun, than the lava there would be blown back to our planet, and burn Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars to death. ;)
Then whoever wrote that is a freaking idiot who doesn't understand anything about physics, astronomy, or even basic descriptive terms. The Sun is a ball of gas; lava is molten rock in a liquid form. There's no lava to send back. Yeah, I guess if we launched enough we could cause a minor solar flare, but by the time they got there the flare would probably miss Earth completely.

Just because he mispelled a word meant an alien is going to come?
Instead of god which usally is said not to be able to make any mistake or a robot which if its programmed well enough to take over the world you would assume it could spell correctly.

I was saying that he was an alien and that he wanted to destroy all humans because he said "they deserv to die". And I wasn't serious.

Destroying the world depends upon your definition of the world. If you mean reducing the entire planet to nothing but chunks of rock, then we definately do not have the capability to destroy the world. If you mean destroying the world in the sense of destroying all life and the entire surface of the world, then yes, we have enough nuclear devices to do so.

Here's an idea. The governments of the world are working together on some secret project that wil go horribly wrong. Continents will suddenly be covered with deadly chemicals, mountains will blow up due to catastrophic failure at research labs. Sattelites with nuclear propulsion systems will rain down upon the cities.
Nuclear propulsion systems hardly contain enough plutonium to radiate a small house, let alone cities. Look it up.

Self-reproducing microscopic robots will be invented. They will keep replicating and using up resources and defending themselves like a horde of angry ants until there are no more humans and all resources are bound up in little robots.

lets see.

Sun exploding-in 5 million years (no worry, we'll have colonies on other planets by then.

Asteroids-I don't see why we could'nt just nuke them (no worry)

Aliens-How can all them be so superior to us? We'l be the aliens someday:)

Robot uprise-Keep a master self destruct button well hidden.

god-No stoping god (could happen)

We destroy our own planet-I'ts happening as we speak (most likely)

Nuclear propulsion systems hardly contain enough plutonium to radiate a small house, let alone cities. Look it up.
What do they use? Little nuclear batteries? Those things are pretty solid. They don't break open easy, and they don't contain much radioactive material.

In which case we're completely screwed. Frankly, I'm not going to worry about it; if that thing goes off, I'm pratically right on top of it as it is so I'd never know.
Oh, and to the moron who said we could just lob nukes at an astoroid, try learning some basic astronomy, please; we couldn't divert an astoroid with mere nuclear weapons unless we had several years of warning.
Check your astronomy yourself, a nuke could get to an area of about mars in a matter of months, plenty of distance. Sure, nukes would do it, in space you can divert a huge object with a relatively small amount of force beacuse of the lack of resistance, and we would have few years of warning. YOU go learn physics.

Nuclear propulsion systems hardly contain enough plutonium to radiate a small house, let alone cities. Look it up.

Heh. You are comparing it to nuclear propulsion systems as they are documented to the public. Catch my drift?

i agree with the guy that said aliens are probobly at the same technological level that we are, and that people should stop worry about invasion... also, it is true that we dont have the right kind of ballistic missles to deter or destroy an astroid of large enough size to wipe out all of humanity. we probobly would have at least a few months warning though, because of already know asteroid patterns and satelites. also, 85% of all life on earth still includes 15% chance that some people could survive. look at animals like alligators. they were around in the time of the dinosaurs and have survived. they didnt have canned and died food to help survive either.

Check your astronomy yourself, a nuke could get to an area of about mars in a matter of months, plenty of distance. Sure, nukes would do it, in space you can divert a huge object with a relatively small amount of force beacuse of the lack of resistance, and we would have few years of warning. YOU go learn physics.
Like I said, "unless we had several years worth of warning." If we had that, then of course we could use a few nukes to divert it. What he was suggestion was completely destroying it with a few nukes, which is impossible. Not to mention that if it were approaching Earth, the closer it got, the faster it would move due to Earth's gravity, so eventually it could be going at a fast enough rate that we couldn't divert it. I do know what I'm talking about, as I've researched this thoroughly.

Yeah, but zombies are people too!

No they aren't, or else they wouldn't be called the "Living Dead".

And yeah, zombies are cool and it would be a cool way to end the world!

Check your astronomy yourself, a nuke could get to an area of about mars in a matter of months, plenty of distance. Sure, nukes would do it, in space you can divert a huge object with a relatively small amount of force beacuse of the lack of resistance, and we would have few years of warning. YOU go learn physics.

What does it matter !

Even if we do see it we can't fire an ICBM up there, it won't be able to change direction and follow a tragectory, and if we did create an ICBM that could, we are already dead.

We can't go and shove a nuke into the middle of it like in 'Armaggedon', for the reason we don't have the rockets that could make that sort of journey anymore, the last was the lately retired Saturn 5.

*I hope I remember that correctly from A short history of nearly everything by Bill bryson .. for the record, great book.*

Like I said, "unless we had several years worth of warning." If we had that, then of course we could use a few nukes to divert it. What he was suggestion was completely destroying it with a few nukes, which is impossible. Not to mention that if it were approaching Earth, the closer it got, the faster it would move due to Earth's gravity, so eventually it could be going at a fast enough rate that we couldn't divert it. I do know what I'm talking about, as I've researched this thoroughly.

The United States is currently at such a technological level as to be able to construct a laser which would be perfectly capable of destroying an asteroid of medium size. However, some of the massive rocks, the ones which are miles long and miles wide, would have to be diverted with a considerable explosion far enough from earth as for the alteration in trajectory to amount to a wide enough distance over the remaining distance to earth.

No they aren't, or else they wouldn't be called the "Living Dead".

And yeah, zombies are cool and it would be a cool way to end the world!

Tell me all you know about this living dead. I am intriged and wish to know more.

I'm gonna look it up to see if I got that right ..

No they aren't, or else they wouldn't be called the "Living Dead".

And yeah, zombies are cool and it would be a cool way to end the world!
they are the living dead people!

can I have a link to that site about that volcano?

Tell me all you know about this living dead. I am intriged and wish to know more.
They are dead people who somehow move around in search of people who's brains they try to eat. They cannot be killed except by severely damaging their brain or burning them. And they taste like chicken.

No, they wouldn't. You seem to be under the impression that all this would cause is an Ice Age. In fact, it would be the sixth great extinction; we'd probably see the destruction of about 85% of all life on Earth. And we can't do a thing about it.
Bullshit. The K-T impact was far more powerful than that and wrought less havoc than that. And there have been asteroid impacts that dwarf the K-T impact by far, and they had little effect. It's a matter of timing, nothing more.

They are dead people who somehow move around in search of people who's brains they try to eat. They cannot be killed except by severely damaging their brain or burning them. And they taste like chicken.

Oh! yeah, I've heard of those. If they ever get loose just break out the flame-throwers and brain targeting snipers.:sniper: How do you know zombies taste like chicken? Have you tasted them before?

[QUOTE=Lugdunensis]We Disease, not likely i dare you to find a single disease with a 100% mortality rate, and the virility it needs to wipe us all out. QUOTE]
Ebola read up about it, granted its not 100% mortality (i think anyway) but it is extremly virial the only reason its not killin us now is because its in sum isolated place in africa where no 1 moves around 2 spread it

[QUOTE=Lugdunensis]We Asteroids, nope weve got enough sensors all around our tiny blue marble to give us plenty of time to lob nukes at it, and still have time for coffee breaks. QUOTE]

Nukes wouldnt do anything to a asteriod 7 miles wide, just scratch the surface if u read up about the craters nuclear explosions leave the craters are not really very big at all even big nukes so throwing all the nukes we have (that can actuall be launched into space) we wouldnt really do much at all.

Bullshit. The K-T impact was far more powerful than that and wrought less havoc than that. And there have been asteroid impacts that dwarf the K-T impact by far, and they had little effect. It's a matter of timing, nothing more.
No. We're talking about a super-volcano going off; do you realize the sheer power of such an event? I recall there was a volcanic eruption in 1815 that caused there to be no summer for that year and for the next six years temperatures were lower by several degrees. We're talking about a volcano that has at least 1,000 times the destructive power.

I recall there was a volcanic eruption in 1815 that caused there to be no summer for that year and for the next six years temperatures were lower by several degrees. We're talking about a volcano that has at least 1,000 times the destructive power.

Why would the volcano make things colder??

Tell me all you know about this living dead. I am intriged and wish to know more.

The Science of Zombies
Part I
Perhaps because they were easier to control and kill, zombies never acquired the cachet of their undead cousins, the vampires. This phenomenon extended to science: zombie research was considered a less glamorous field and consistently lagged behind vampire research in funding. Since development of the vaccine in 1911, the zombie threat has been greatly reduced. However, this should not make us complacent. Most experts believe that in today's world, a zombie outbreak is far more likely than a vampire outbreak.

The Virus

Zombie plague spreaders:
the Norway Rat and the tick (inset)
The zombie virus comes from the same Mononegavirales family as the Human Vampiric Virus. The virus is propagated mainly through ticks of the family Ixodidae. The prevalence of these ticks in tropical climes is the main reason for the large number of outbreaks in those regions. The nature of the spread of zombie plagues generally depended on the place of origin. Most urban plagues were spread by aggressive rats that had been bitten by an infected tick. In the country, the tick would bite humans directly, or pass the virus through mice, raccoons and other animals.
As was the case with vampirism, humans infected with the virus would pass it from their saliva into the bloodstream of another through the bite.

STAGES OF THE DISEASE:
The stages of zombie transformation are the same that occur in vampires, with two major differences: in zombies, the onset of symptoms and transformation occurs much faster and has no relation to the cycles of day and night.
Stage One: Infection. Symptoms of zombie infection appear quickly: within one or two hours, the victim will develop a headache, fever, chills and other flu-like symptoms. Zombie infections last about half as long as their vampiric counterparts, mostly between three and six hours, during which the vaccine is 100 percent effective.


Stage Two: Coma. Zombie comas are considerably more brief than vampiric comas. While physiological changes-slow pulse, shallow breathing-are similar, the coma lasts only between four and six hours. Only the very young and very old do not survive zombie comas. Zombies have been found as young as five years old and as old as 90. As with vampires, the vaccine is 50 percent effective when administered during Stage Two of the infection: the longer the victim has been in the coma, the less effective the vaccine.

Stage Three: Transformation. Zombies awaken from their comas in a catatonic state. They are unresponsive to most stimuli as they shuffle about, trying to locate their prey. Unlike vampires, there is no acclimation period; a zombie will begin hunting immediately upon transformation.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN 1 FORM OF ZOMBIE VIRUSES!

To clear up this whole astroid stopping business

Source - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

'... But let's suppose we did see the object coming. What would we do? Everyone assumes we would send up a nuclear warhead and blast it to smithereens. There are some problems with that idea, however. First, as John S. Lewis notes, our missiles are not designed for space work. They haven't the oomph to escape Earths gravity, and even if they did there are no mechanisms to guide them across tens of millions of kilometres of space.

Still less could we send up a shipload of space cowboys to do the job for us, as in the movie Armageddon; we no longer possess a rocket powerful enough to send humans even as far as the moon. The last rocket that could, Saturn 5, was retired years ago and has never been replaced.

Nor could we quickly build a new one because, amazingly the plans for Saturn launchers were destroyed as part of a NASA spring-cleaning exercise.

Even if we did manage somehow to get a warhead to the asteroid and blast it to pieces, the chances are that we would simply turn it into a string of rocks that would slam into us one after the other in the manner of comet Shoemaker-Levy on Jupiter - but with the difference that now the rocks would be intensly radioactive.

Tom Gehrels, an asteroid hunter at the University of Arizona, thinks that even a years warning would probably be insufficient to take appropriate action. The greater likelihood, however, is that we wouldn't see any object - even a comet - until it was about 6 months away, which would be much too late ...'

There we go problem solved

Edit: Apologies for all typos and punctuation errors, typed this up quickly.

No. We're talking about a super-volcano going off; do you realize the sheer power of such an event? I recall there was a volcanic eruption in 1815 that caused there to be no summer for that year and for the next six years temperatures were lower by several degrees. We're talking about a volcano that has at least 1,000 times the destructive power.
I don't think that you what the K-T impact was.

Incidentally, the only volcanic event around the time you mention was Krakatoa, which made the skies kinda dark for a couple of months. That's something that blew up an entire island. Also, it'd help you're case immensely if you provided evidence. I'm sure that the reason that the scienitifc community always fails to mention this is entirely coincedental. And the fact that The Weekly World News did a report on it was an example of their excellent journalism standards.

Except for isolated pockets of semi-starved survivors, the human race will largely disappear in 2012 when the Yellowstone Caldera erupts spreading volcanic ash over most of the world and effectively obliterating most of the Central and Eastern US.

Oh shit we have an optimist here.

Hey CthulhuFhtagn, aren't you ignoring the most likely scenario for the extermination of the human race? The Great Old Ones rise and reclaim what was once theirs.

Why would the volcano make things colder??
Oye...it has to do with the sheer amount of ash and material flung into the atmosphere; it would create a shield around the planet that the sun couldn't penetrate for the most part. Please, please, for the sake of all of us go take a basic Earth Science course.

Hey CthulhuFhtagn, aren't you ignoring the most likely scenario for the extermination of the human race? The Great Old Ones rise and reclaim what was once theirs.
Check my first post on this thread. I answered "Me."

I don't think that you what the K-T impact was.

Incidentally, the only volcanic event around the time you mention was Krakatoa, which made the skies kinda dark for a couple of months. That's something that blew up an entire island. Also, it'd help you're case immensely if you provided evidence. I'm sure that the reason that the scienitifc community always fails to mention this is entirely coincedental. And the fact that The Weekly World News did a report on it was an example of their excellent journalism standards.
I'd post a source but frankly the source I got it from was some scientific papers sent to my family; as for the volcanic event, it was in 1815; Krakatoa didn't occur until 1883. I'd give a name to the volcano but it has slipped my mind.
And I know perfectly well what the K-T impact was; it was either an astoroid or a comet--most likely an astoroid--that crashed into what is now the Yucatan peninsula, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, among other species.

The Science of Zombies
Part I
Perhaps because they were easier to control and kill, zombies never acquired the cachet of their undead cousins, the vampires. This phenomenon extended to science: zombie research was considered a less glamorous field and consistently lagged behind vampire research in funding. Since development of the vaccine in 1911, the zombie threat has been greatly reduced. However, this should not make us complacent. Most experts believe that in today's world, a zombie outbreak is far more likely than a vampire outbreak.

The Virus

Zombie plague spreaders:
the Norway Rat and the tick (inset)
The zombie virus comes from the same Mononegavirales family as the Human Vampiric Virus. The virus is propagated mainly through ticks of the family Ixodidae. The prevalence of these ticks in tropical climes is the main reason for the large number of outbreaks in those regions. The nature of the spread of zombie plagues generally depended on the place of origin. Most urban plagues were spread by aggressive rats that had been bitten by an infected tick. In the country, the tick would bite humans directly, or pass the virus through mice, raccoons and other animals.
As was the case with vampirism, humans infected with the virus would pass it from their saliva into the bloodstream of another through the bite.

STAGES OF THE DISEASE:
The stages of zombie transformation are the same that occur in vampires, with two major differences: in zombies, the onset of symptoms and transformation occurs much faster and has no relation to the cycles of day and night.
Stage One: Infection. Symptoms of zombie infection appear quickly: within one or two hours, the victim will develop a headache, fever, chills and other flu-like symptoms. Zombie infections last about half as long as their vampiric counterparts, mostly between three and six hours, during which the vaccine is 100 percent effective.


Stage Two: Coma. Zombie comas are considerably more brief than vampiric comas. While physiological changes-slow pulse, shallow breathing-are similar, the coma lasts only between four and six hours. Only the very young and very old do not survive zombie comas. Zombies have been found as young as five years old and as old as 90. As with vampires, the vaccine is 50 percent effective when administered during Stage Two of the infection: the longer the victim has been in the coma, the less effective the vaccine.

Stage Three: Transformation. Zombies awaken from their comas in a catatonic state. They are unresponsive to most stimuli as they shuffle about, trying to locate their prey. Unlike vampires, there is no acclimation period; a zombie will begin hunting immediately upon transformation.


PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE ARE MORE THAN 1 FORM OF ZOMBIE VIRUSES!

Did you make that up, or is there a real Zombie virus. I didn't know there were such things as zombies before, I thought that it was just for camp fire stories, and movies.

Check my first post on this thread. I answered "Me."
I stand corrected.

Did you make that up, or is there a real Zombie virus. I didn't know there were such things as zombies before, I thought that it was just for camp fire stories, and movies.

Seriousely, as far as we (as a human race) and I know, there are no zombies, although there are some possibilities (see the movie "28 Days Later"). I mean, there are military and science labs doing illegal bio-research everyday and there really could be possibilities, but for the most part, i've never seen one (and most of humanity hasnt), but then again....

The information I posted was from a website. Read the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" to get some more interesting info on Zombies.

Seriousely, as far as we (as a human race) and I know, there are no zombies, although there are some possibilities (see the movie "28 Days Later"). I mean, there are military and science labs doing illegal bio-research everyday and there really could be possibilities, but for the most part, i've never seen one (and most of humanity hasnt), but then again....

The information I posted was from a website. Read the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" to get some more interesting info on Zombies.

hmmm, I'll go search for zombies on the internet. How could a movie prove or disprove zombies.

Zombie outbreak simulator can be found at
www.zombies.insertdisc.com/mattcordes/

And if all those superb methods fail, we might want to consider dissolution by hegemonizing nano-robots. There's just no good reason stopping with the eradication of human life after all.

http://www.zombiejuice.com/zsurvival/index.html

I'm going to start preparing.

hmmm, I'll go search for zombies on the internet. How could a movie prove or disprove zombies.

Like I said, see the movie 28 Days Later (http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808402795) because it might be the closest to zombies we may ever get to, but then again, lab research stuff like in Resident Evil is a possibility as well.

As said earlier, read the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" which gives pretty good insight into zombies. You should also check out www.fvza.org for some interesting info as well.

http://www.zombiejuice.com/zsurvival/index.html

I'm going to start preparing.
That site fails to mention one thing that's essential to surviving a zombie attack. Lots of duct tape. This message brought to you by the department of homeland defense.

Like I said, see the movie 28 Days Later (http://movies.yahoo.com/shop?d=hv&cf=info&id=1808402795) because it might be the closest to zombies we may ever get to, but then again, lab research stuff like in Resident Evil is a possibility as well.

As said earlier, read the book "The Zombie Survival Guide" which gives pretty good insight into zombies. You should also check out www.fvza.org for some interesting info as well.

check my post right above yours. I found a good survival guide.

A some up of what would happen if we were hit by an asteroid

Source - A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

These are his notes shortened:

* The asteroid would enter the earths atmospehere at such a great speed that the air beneath it couldn't get out of the way and would become compressed.

*Anyone that uses pumps will know that compressed air grows swiftly hot, the temperatures beneath the asteroid would rise to some 60 000 kelvins. (Some 59 000 degrees C), everything in it's path would vanish and melt away.

*The meteorite itslef would vaporise instantly, but the blast would blow out 1 000 cubic KM of rock, earth and superheated gases. Everything within 250 KM of the impact that hadn't already been killed by the great heat would now die. The blast would radiate outwards at the speed of light creating a shockwave.

*For those outside the zone of immediate devastation, the first inkling of catastrophe would be a flash of blinding light - the brightest ever seen by human eyes - after between a moment to a minute or so you will then see an apocolyptic sight of unimaginable grandeur: a roiling wall of darkness reaching high into the heavens, filling ones entire field of view and travelling at thousands of KM an hour. It's approach would be silent due to the fact it is travelling much faster than the speed of sound.

*Within minutes, pretty much the whole of the midwest would be flattened or on fire, and nearly every living thing would be dead.

*People up to 1 500 KM away would be knocked off their feet and sliced or clobbered by a blizzard of flying projectiles. Beyond this distance the devastation from the blast would gradually diminish.

*But thats just the initial shock wave. No-one could do more than guess what the associated damage would be, other than it would be brish and global. The impact would almost certainly set off a chain of devastating earthquakes, volcanoes across the globe would rumble and spew, tsunamis would rise up and head devastatingly for distant shores.

*Withing an hour, a cloud of blackness would cover the Earth and burning rock and other debris would be pelting down everyhwere, setting much of the planet ablaze.

*It is estimated that a billion and a half people would be dead by the end of the first day.

*The massive disturbances to the ionosphere would knock out all communications, so survivors would have no idea what was going on.

*The amount of soot and floating ash from the impact and following fires would blot out the sun certainly for months, possibly years disrupting all growing cycles.

Sounds fun :D

Check page 6 for my post on the asteroid and stopping it

Edit: Once again sorry for all punctuation and spelling errors.

That site fails to mention one thing that's essential to surviving a zombie attack. Lots of duct tape. This message brought to you by the department of homeland defense.

What is the duck tape good for?

I'd post a source but frankly the source I got it from was some scientific papers sent to my family; as for the volcanic event, it was in 1815; Krakatoa didn't occur until 1883. I'd give a name to the volcano but it has slipped my mind.
And I know perfectly well what the K-T impact was; it was either an astoroid or a comet--most likely an astoroid--that crashed into what is now the Yucatan peninsula, causing the extinction of the dinosaurs, among other species.
Do you know what it did? It sent the Earth through a virtual hell, worse than what you proposed, and killed fewer species.

I have never seen a reference in any volcanic event that major in 1815. That's the kind of thing that gets mentioned.

What is the duck tape good for?
Fuck if I know, but the government says to keep lots of it on hand in case of an emergency.

Yay for teh science.

Do you know what it did? It sent the Earth through a virtual hell, worse than what you proposed, and killed fewer species.

I have never seen a reference in any volcanic event that major in 1815. That's the kind of thing that gets mentioned.
Very well; I'll bow out of the argument and admit that I am probably wrong. I will say this, however: if it goes up, it won't matter what it does; I'm dead. I'm right on top of it, being where I am in Colorado.

check my post right above yours. I found a good survival guide.

I know, but those are internet survival guides and they can't be trusted. Only trust published sources such as the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks because it features so much more than any internet source (even stuff like terrain types, how different climates affect zombies, etc).

Hey, Eutrusca, who told you that Yellowstone was going to go in 2012? Or are you extrapolating that "end of the Mayan calendar" BS to the volcano?

The Yellowstone caldera, when it goes (which, since it's a huge volcano, will be difficult to predict with anything close to a reasonable degree of accuracy...most likely we'd get warnings only a couple of months or, at most, a few years in advance), will be a very nasty disaster. It'll kill a large portion of the North American population pretty quickly, due to the blast itself, choking clouds of ash, etc., etc. Then, the ash and ejecta will blot the sun for quite a long period of time (I won't speculate). This will lead to massive crop failures around the world. Quite a few people will die (I'm talking hundreds of millions at least). However, it's not what I would call an extinction-level event, because the entire continent of Europe will be out of the immediate danger zone, and possesses the technology to cope with the agricultural disaster that would follow. So, what we'd most likely see would be:
1. US more or less screwed. Survivors best chance would be to emigrate to Europe and Asia, cause nothing will grow in North America for quite a long time.
2. Third World equally out of luck on their own. They don't have the tech to cope with a cooling trend, and their agriculture would fail. Europe and other surviving industrialized nations would most likely assist them, however.
3. Europe and other industrialized nations continue surviving, naturally with consumption knocked down a few notches out of necessity. I doubt anyone will be eating a steak dinner twice a week, but, by and large, the world's developed nations (excluding US, Canada) should be able to pull through.

Eventually, the ash and dust would settle out, and life more or less as usual would proceed. Expect North America to be slowly repopulated, and the EU to become the only superpower (since America will be starting more or less from scratch).

So Yellowstone wouldn't be an extinction-level event. But it'd be very bad, no doubt. I'd put extinction more likely on either our own stupidity (nuclear war or environmental disaster) or an unfortunate bit of bad cosmic luck (asteroid/comet impact, gamma ray burst aimed squarely at us, etc.).

I know, but those are internet survival guides and they can't be trusted. Only trust published sources such as the Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks because it features so much more than any internet source (even stuff like terrain types, how different climates affect zombies, etc).

Yeah, and it seems kind of obvious to take weapons. :sniper: :gundge: :mp5: When fighting zombies, you must be prepared.

Yeah, and it seems kind of obvious to take weapons. :sniper: :gundge: :mp5: When fighting zombies, you must be prepared.

Depends on what kind of weapons though. Here are 6 basic rules:

- Dont pick guns and weapons that waste ammo
- Use your head: Cut off theirs
- Blades don't need reloading
- Aim for the head
- Never switch to full-auto
- Never reload on the spot!

Fuck if I know, but the government says to keep lots of it on hand in case of an emergency.
"The Government" said nothing of the sort. :headbang:

"The Government" said nothing of the sort. :headbang:
Don't make me use my duct tape.

they? :eek:
OH NO! its watching us its either a god, an alien or a robot!
well he made a spelling mistake so he can't be a god or a robot...
So alien invasion it is!

We do what we can to stop U all!

the bad spelling is just a way to break u all down...

i don't really know how the world is going to end but God certainly will have something to do with it

i don't really know how the world is going to end but God certainly will have something to do with it
Yeah, I suppose a holy war between a nuclear Iran and the west could do it. Oh, wait, did you mean the invisible guy actually making something happen?

...

I have never seen a reference in any volcanic event that major in 1815. That's the kind of thing that gets mentioned.
I suspect that this (http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/tambora.html) is what he was thinking of.

me :gundge: .... jk :rolleyes:

Self-reproducing microscopic robots will be invented. They will keep replicating and using up resources and defending themselves like a horde of angry ants until there are no more humans and all resources are bound up in little robots.

We call those genes

Asteroids are very easily taken out. A nuclear bast is certainly enough to divert a large rock, especially in space. A blast from a nuke diverts energy up and out on earth because of the detonation area. (the ground is more solid than the force exerted by the blast) Put this in space. If one were to detonate a thermo-nuclear device at the right altitude, in relation to an asteroid, it would certainly be enought to nudge it off a few degrees at least. This few degrees difference adds up over even a couple thousnad miles and could easily result in a total miss.

I suspect that this (http://volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/volc_images/southeast_asia/indonesia/tambora.html) is what he was thinking of.
Yes, thank you; that's what I was referring to.

I don't know, but I hope it's shiny.

[

[color=red]

Nor could we quickly build a new one because, amazingly the plans for Saturn launchers were destroyed as part of a NASA spring-cleaning exercise.

[

Actualy The Russians apparently have a rocket, the Proton-(something) which can. Acording to Pravda, and Space.com their toying with a manned mission to Mars around 2014, using largely existing technology.

A duck, a frickin big, angry duck.

*shudders*

2 words: Pointed Sticks.

My guess is cheese. Not sure how, but it involves cheese.

My pet theory on the end of the world is this:

A colossal black hole near the core of the galaxy exploded a very long time ago. That blast wave is approaching and makes a supernova look like a cheap firecracker. The wave consists mainly of gamma radiation. Lots of it. Lots and lots of gamma. The Gamma Nova irradiates our spinning planet in a day with radiation levels that make Chernobyl look good and everything drops very dead very fast in a blinding gamma dawn 600 times brighter than the sun that makes everything catch fire. Plus the atmosphere gets torn off and ionised into boiling gas along with the oceans as they vapourise. That all pretty much scours the world clean of all life.

This could happen at any time without warning. Have a nice day. :)

My pet theory on the end of the world is this:

A colossal black hole near the core of the galaxy exploded a very long time ago. That blast wave is approaching and makes a supernova look like a cheap firecracker. The wave consists mainly of gamma radiation. Lots of it. Lots and lots of gamma. The Gamma Nova irradiates our spinning planet in a day with radiation levels that make Chernobyl look good and everything drops very dead very fast in a blinding gamma dawn 600 times brighter than the sun that makes everything catch fire. Plus the atmosphere gets torn off and ionised into boiling gas along with the oceans as they vapourise. That all pretty much scours the world clean of all life.

This could happen at any time without warning. Have a nice day. :)

I hope I have camara when it does.

*Sigh* Better stock up on suntan lotion...

World War III.

The Marquies de Sade prophesiized that the whole world is going to out in one big sex orgy....I could go for that.

me :gundge: .... jk :rolleyes:

*shudders* (then runs and hides)