# 5/5/2000 **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 14, 1999, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752 "1999-09-14T23:12:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![bantmof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@bantmof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bantmof)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/21 "1999-09-16T05:41:00Z")
> [@](#): > > But I can see how everyone’d know why _those_ got all screwed up. I give up. How? > [@](#): > > I suppose we’d all feel like post-menopausal women and feel fat and bloated and cranky? You find that pocket calculator yet, Snappy? Gonna let us know (1) the size of the total gravitational effect of all the other planets, compared to that from the moon and sun, and (2) the gravitational differential across one earth-radius from same? ## Come on - I wanna know how worried I should be! peas on earth ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Alberts](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/839c29/32.png) [@Jeff\_Alberts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Alberts)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/22 "1999-09-16T07:24:00Z")
All I wanna know is are my subscription to Healing Crystal of the Month still be intact? That was a joke, by the way, just felt I should point that out so no one would think I was serious. It’s amazing what people will believe. This is worse than the Dark Ages! Jeff ---
**Author:** ![E1skeptic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3da27b/32.png) [@E1skeptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E1skeptic)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/23 "1999-09-16T10:50:00Z")
> [@](#): > > Aw, man! That’s really gonna screw up Cinco de Mayo! Hey, hey! At least we can celebrate Dieciséis de Septiembre in peace… BTW, you already had your 4th of July screwed by aliens, didn’t you? ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 1999, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/24 "1999-09-16T12:57:00Z")
Civilization already ended. It happened back in 1968, when Richard Nixon was elected to the Presidentistry. There has been no civilization since. ---
**Author:** ![Snappy\_Plissken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7bcc69/32.png) [@Snappy\_Plissken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snappy_Plissken)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 1999, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/25 "1999-09-17T22:20:00Z")
bantmof: Aww…I dun wanna do more schoolwork. I spent 6 and a half hours yesterday doing school work!..stupid grrr math…ehehe. I did no math or anything to figger out…anything. I just took what effects the book was talkin’ about, and like…simplified them. So I’m prolly really wrong. Just what my brain turned out for me, so I put it down. Sorry to lead you anywhere. I wouldn’t trust my brain if I were me. …er… Myself is dumb. =D Nevermind. * * * Snappy, The Crazy Toddite - Friend of Skippy ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [September 17, 1999, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/26 "1999-09-17T23:27:00Z")
Snappy Plisken wrote: > [@](#): > > Well ya see, if the magnetic field is disrupted…oops. Didn’t mean…magnets. Hehe. Meant um…compasses. Pardon. But I can see how everyone’d know why _those_ got all screwed up. Um … _I_ don’t know why. How would a change in gravity or gravitic tidal forces affect a _magnetic_ instrument? * * * I’m not flying fast, just orbiting low. ---
**Author:** ![bantmof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@bantmof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bantmof)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 1999, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/27 "1999-09-18T02:38:00Z")
> [@](#): > > I did no math or anything to figger out…anything. Yes, I can tell. 🙂 Here, I’ll do it for you; it only takes a few moments. Here are the relative gravitational effect on us from the other planets, assuming the moon is 1 by definition: Moon: 1 Mer: 0.00002 Ven: 0.0001 Mar: 0.00001 Jup: 0.0045 Sat: 0.0005 Ura: 0.00002 Nep: 0.00001 So all told, assuming I haven’t made too many typos in the process, all the other planets taken together make considerably less than 1 percent of the difference the moon alone does, as far as making you feel heavier or lighter (do you feel lighter when the moon is overhead? How about the sun?). And most of the effects the doomsayers are talking about would only come about via gravitational differential, which is much smaller effect indeed; truely unimaginably small. Now I’ll leave the same-side-of-the-sun case and the gravitational differential computation up to you as a learning experience. 🙂 Ok, not to pick on Snappy in particular, who for all I know is just goofing around… but there _are_ people who believe in stuff like this, and people make money writing books about it. What’s up with that? If people really think there are going to be all these terrible effects, why don’t they just spend 2 or 3 minutes and work it out for themselves? Anyone who graduated from high school and owns a pencil should be able to manage. – peas on earth ---
**Author:** ![johnh\_metalgod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/49beb7/32.png) [@johnh\_metalgod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnh_metalgod)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 1999, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/28 "1999-09-19T23:41:00Z")
if I remember right, this also happened in 1982? yes, no, maybe? ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 1999, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752/29 "1999-09-21T05:24:00Z")
Well, according to the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the world came to an end in 1914. The problem is that nobody but them noticed. (This paragraph is _not_ a joke post; they seriously believe this!) You are all aware that your zippers will stop working at midnight on 12/31/1999, right? It’s the YKK bug. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/5-5-2000/16752.md?page=1)