# According To One Of My Students, The END OF (Parts Of) THE WORLD IS NEAR! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 27, 2012, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031 "2012-09-27T15:43:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/21 "2012-09-28T16:01:23Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Is there any way you can keep in contact with him, and tell us how he reacts when nothing happens? I’ve always wondered how these kinds of nuts explain themselves a year or so later. It seems like it would be awfully embarrassing. Get him a $10 cell phone and ask him to call you if he’s still alive in January. It’s worth 10 bucks to get the back story out of this. My best guess is that there will be some other group of secret conspirators who foiled the plot, and that there is an ongoing secret war (with tanks!) going on between them. ---
**Author:** ![Whammo72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/77aa72/32.png) [@Whammo72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo72)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/22 "2012-09-28T16:05:29Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > It might possibly be a huge meteor that will hit, causing a 5000 foot tidal wave, going over 200 miles per hour, that - yes - will destroy even Las Vegas! The moon’s going to have to get a heck of a lot closer! SCARY! ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/23 "2012-09-28T16:18:48Z")
> [@FlyingRat](#): > > We’re having an Apocalypse Party in December to celebrate. I’m still gathering ideas for food/drink and costume ideas and appropriate post-apocalyptic films to watch. (Two items definitely on the list are a Mayan Temple Jello mold, and _America 3000_.) Ha, we are doing that with 2 other couples [the bunch of us have been friends for most of the 20 years mrAru and I have lived in Ct.] The official party invites are going out in the form of death certificates =) Party ‘favors’ are going to be decorate your own dias de los muertos [candy skulls](http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/), and an MRE [we still have a case left from the massive CT power outage of last year.] Menu is still a bit hazy, but I am thinking of a fairly normal for us fondue party - hot broth, hot cheese [[digby’s](http://www.florilegium.org/?http%3A//www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-DAIRY/cheese-goo-msg.html) is our normal - second post down] and dipping chocolate for dessert fanatics. Fresh baked breads, probably a nice sourdough, a rye and cornbread. For cooking in broth fondue cubed beef, cubed chicken, shrimp and precooked baby potatoes. For the cheese, the different breads, already cooked cauliflower and broccoli florettes, asparagus spears and whatever there is in teh fridge when someone rummages that strikes them as a great idea [probably after more than a few drinks] and mandarin orange wedges, slices of banana, pound cake and strawberries for the chocolate. Viewing is probably going to be [Whoops, Apocalypse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoops_Apocalypse). If people want, I also have [Red Dwarf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf) on DVD 😃 ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/24 "2012-09-28T16:56:32Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Is there any way you can keep in contact with him, and tell us how he reacts when nothing happens? I’ve always wondered how these kinds of nuts explain themselves a year or so later. It seems like it would be awfully embarrassing. Oh, he’ll be back. He is currently on a leave of absence (work related) - believe it or not, he got a fantastic high-paying job for a big name company and can pretty much work wherever he wishes - which soon will be the mountains in Colorado. But he is smart enough to know he does need his degree to get further in this field, so he intends to finish school (assuming earth still exists). And I have no doubt he will return, explaining that we were saved because of a top secret coup that brought Obama to his knees at the last minute and that secret warheads were successful in deflecting the meteor, but beware of August 2014 or some such date in the future. Plus, if Obama wins (as I personally hope and expect he will be re-elected), he will have ample fodder to remain glued to his websites and National Enquirer and FOX News to keep him busy. Do I envision him going psycho and shooting up people? Not at all. He is actually quite social and, other than his crackpot ideas, a fun/smart guy to be around. We have had FAR more dangerous people go through our school…and I am sure every college in the USA has their share - that I would be more concerned about. The silent loners, the students taking/not taking medication for Post Traumatic Stress, the students who are overwhelmed with debt and family problems and work and could snap at any moment…and the people I am most concerned about are those who are the quiet ones who seemed “normal” up until shit happens. I can understand some people wringing their hands and saying I am doing nothing - trust me, we have teachers/staff and security guards at school who know these students inside and out. We have had some students expelled, we have sent some students to professional counselors - but you can’t force mandatory psychological treatment on every person who acts a tad strange. So - carry on psychoanalyzing this guy if you wish - but I will carry on being entertained with his conspiracy/doomsday theories and keep you posted on any other “insider info” I might hear before he heads for the hills. (And to be honest, I would not be at all surprised if he cancels his trip - due to some new bits of insider info…) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/25 "2012-09-28T17:17:20Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > the massive CT power outage Here’s the CT: The power outage was planned by government operatives so that they could sneak a wave motion gun to their secret submarine base in Groton. (There’s a _secret_ sub base there besides the one everyone knows about.) The wave motion gun, which was built from plans from Iscandar, has been installed in a ballistic missile submarine. So equipped, the unfortunately-named **I** nternational **D** esignated **I** mperial **O** verlord **T** ribunal will be able to dictate its agenda with impunity. Of course actually using the wave motion gun from a submerged craft will generate massive waves of the more familiar type, wiping out the coasts and hundreds of miles inland. It’s just collateral damage – with the benefit of doing away with those sections of society that tend to have political leanings counter to the Tribunal’s agenda. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/26 "2012-09-28T18:04:40Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Here’s the CT: > > The power outage was planned by government operatives so that they could sneak a wave motion gun to their secret submarine base in Groton. (There’s a _secret_ sub base there besides the one everyone knows about.) The wave motion gun, which was built from plans from Iscandar, has been installed in a ballistic missile submarine. So equipped, the unfortunately-named **I** nternational **D** esignated **I** mperial **O** verlord **T** ribunal will be able to dictate its agenda with impunity. Of course actually using the wave motion gun from a submerged craft will generate massive waves of the more familiar type, wiping out the coasts and hundreds of miles inland. It’s just collateral damage – with the benefit of doing away with those sections of society that tend to have political leanings counter to the Tribunal’s agenda. That’s the most plausible theory I’ve heard for why traffic always slows down on I-95 near lake Saltonstall. ---
**Author:** ![YogSothoth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/8edcca/32.png) [@YogSothoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YogSothoth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/27 "2012-09-28T19:11:39Z")
Can you take advantage of him? Get him to buy you something expensive since after the end of the world, it won’t matter if you have credit card debt or not. ---
**Author:** ![pete66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8c91f0/32.png) [@pete66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pete66)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/28 "2012-09-28T21:54:00Z")
> [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](#): > > That’s the most plausible theory I’ve heard for why traffic always slows down on I-95 near lake Saltonstall. You mean Lake SitnStall. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/29 "2012-09-28T22:57:53Z")
My roomie just wandered in, and I mentioned the 5000 foot tidal wave, and we decided to google the largest known [tidal wave](http://geology.com/records/biggest-tsunami.shtml), and it was 1720 feet high and caused by 40 million cubic yards /30. something million cubic meters of rock falling off the side of a cliff into a bay in Alaska … keeping in mind the more or less 1 syllable version cause of a tidal wave is water being bounced off the bottom of the sea, it depends on the water being reasonably shallow [a tsunami rolls across the ocean at a fairly shallow wave until it hits the bottoms where the seabottom slopes up near shore] so the tidal wave caused by the Alaska rockfall was both channeled by being in a narrow body of water, with a shallow bottom and restricted by the walls of the bay. None of these are reasonably going to happen in the Pacific Ocean in such a manner and location for it to be bale to pile water anywhere near 5000 meters. To manage that, an asteroid would have to bounce into the earth fast enough, and be large enough that it would probably smash a huge hunk out of the earth, or even break us into large pieces. Somehow we both agree that it is just not going to happen. A casual perusal of the wiki on freak waves lists a bunch in the 90 foot/30 meter to 120 foot/40 meter range. We decided we will grant him a misunderstanding and allow a possible asteroid hit of 500 feet as vaguely plausable without slamming the earth into little pieces. ---
**Author:** ![jayrey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/47e85d/32.png) [@jayrey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayrey)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/30 "2012-09-28T23:10:53Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Is there any way you can keep in contact with him, and tell us how he reacts when nothing happens? I’ve always wondered how these kinds of nuts explain themselves a year or so later. It seems like it would be awfully embarrassing. I know one of these nuts. A few weeks ago, he claimed that civil war would erupt in the USA when the UN voted on the Small Arms Treaty. Refused to do anything (like pay his bills) because, “soon, it won’t matter. Our entire economic structure will collapse.” When the treaty wasn’t ratified, he said it was because “the globalists weren’t quite ready to implement it yet.” 😕 More recently, he was paralyzed with fear about Israel attacking Iran on Yom Kippur. Said he’d read about the upcoming attack on “a completely trustworthy” website. When it didn’t happen, he explained it away by saying that the operators of the website must have been specifically instructed to spread misinformation to confuse Iran. Really? :dubious: Sad thing is, he’s never the least embarrassed, nor does the repeated failure of any of these disasters to occur change his world view one iota. ---
**Author:** ![Imago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/85e7bf/32.png) [@Imago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imago)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/31 "2012-09-29T01:19:37Z")
> [@DMark](#): > > We have had FAR more dangerous people go through our school…and I am sure every college in the USA has their share - that I would be more concerned about. The silent loners, the students taking/not taking medication for Post Traumatic Stress, the students who are overwhelmed with debt and family problems and work and could snap at any moment… Erm… To be fair, most of these aren’t dangerous either. I particularly disagree with the assumption that PTSD sufferers are more likely to be dangerous. I am one. I am nearly incapable of even raising my voice in anger. The only thing less dangerous than me is me when my symptoms are bad. PTSD can (and it doesn’t always) result in angry outbursts and angry people can be dangerous, but that is still a long way off from all PTSD patients being a step closer to James Holmes than “the rest of us”. ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/32 "2012-09-29T11:54:17Z")
There have been people predicting the end of the world for centuries. Even Jesus is quoted as saying the world would end in that generation. The world is still here, but it has ended for many. Since one can’t stop it from ending I don’t believe in borrowing troubles.A comet has hit earth before, much of life was destroyed, but the world didn’t end! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/33 "2012-09-29T18:49:35Z")
My Dad got into the whole Y2K thing. Couldn’t convince him otherwise. He bought years of freeze dried food. Still has it.😃 When it didn’t happen, well, nothing was said. But I would never rub that in the face of a 73 (at the time) year old man. Though at the time, he was ‘with it’ enough that a bit of ‘told ya so’ was somewhat deserved. I figure, let him have his fantasies as long as it doen’st do any real harm. I believe that they want it to happen. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/34 "2012-09-29T19:21:17Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Ha, we are doing that with 2 other couples [the bunch of us have been friends for most of the 20 years mrAru and I have lived in Ct.] The official party invites are going out in the form of death certificates =) > > Party ‘favors’ are going to be decorate your own dias de los muertos [candy skulls](http://www.mexicansugarskull.com/), and an MRE [we still have a case left from the massive CT power outage of last year.] > > Menu is still a bit hazy, but I am thinking of a fairly normal for us fondue party - hot broth, hot cheese [[digby’s](http://www.florilegium.org/?http%3A//www.florilegium.org/files/FOOD-DAIRY/cheese-goo-msg.html) is our normal - second post down] and dipping chocolate for dessert fanatics. Fresh baked breads, probably a nice sourdough, a rye and cornbread. For cooking in broth fondue cubed beef, cubed chicken, shrimp and precooked baby potatoes. For the cheese, the different breads, already cooked cauliflower and broccoli florettes, asparagus spears and whatever there is in teh fridge when someone rummages that strikes them as a great idea [probably after more than a few drinks] and mandarin orange wedges, slices of banana, pound cake and strawberries for the chocolate. > > Viewing is probably going to be [Whoops, Apocalypse](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoops_Apocalypse). If people want, I also have [Red Dwarf](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Dwarf) on DVD 😃 I only have two questions: 1. Can I Be Your Friend? 2. Where Do You Live? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/35 "2012-09-29T19:29:24Z")
I worked in Y2K mitigation efforts in the last years of the 20th century. There was a genuine issue to be resolved, and it was resolved with a very few exceptions. When I was relatively sure that nothing was going to happen, I organized what we called a TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We Know It) party and counted down while watching newsfeeds from all over the planet. 12 years later and we all still remember the party. So, this year? The solstice? Yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/36 "2012-09-29T19:41:45Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > My roomie just wandered in, and I mentioned the 5000 foot tidal wave, and we decided to google the largest known [tidal wave](http://geology.com/records/biggest-tsunami.shtml), and it was 1720 feet high and caused by 40 million cubic yards /30. something million cubic meters of rock falling off the side of a cliff into a bay in Alaska … keeping in mind the more or less 1 syllable version cause of a tidal wave is water being bounced off the bottom of the sea, it depends on the water being reasonably shallow [a tsunami rolls across the ocean at a fairly shallow wave until it hits the bottoms where the seabottom slopes up near shore] so the tidal wave caused by the Alaska rockfall was both channeled by being in a narrow body of water, with a shallow bottom and restricted by the walls of the bay. As I recall, there was a boat in the vicinity that actually rode that out. The wave carried the boat and the people on board over the trees and earth and deposited them on the ocean side of the bay’s strait. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2012, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/37 "2012-09-29T22:13:27Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > a 5000 foot tall tidal wave? 😕:dubious: > > I don’t think that is within the realm of possibility. An asteroid strike could do it. From the Wiki page on [megatsunami](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megatsunami#Prehistoric): > [@](#): > > The asteroid which created the Chicxulub crater in Yucatán approximately 65 million years ago would have generated megatsunamis as high as 3 kilometres (1.9 mi); enough to completely inundate even large islands such as Madagascar. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/38 "2012-09-30T00:12:23Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > I only have two questions: > > 1. Can I Be Your Friend? > 2. Where Do You Live? If you like, and Connecticut 😛 > [@Chefguy](#): > > As I recall, there was a boat in the vicinity that actually rode that out. The wave carried the boat and the people on board over the trees and earth and deposited them on the ocean side of the bay’s strait. And then new underwear was found and donned :eek: ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/39 "2012-09-30T01:16:21Z")
I wonder why any Government would keep such impending doom secret. What perceived benefit comes of that? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2012, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031/40 "2012-09-30T01:41:21Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I wonder why any Government would keep such impending doom secret. What perceived benefit comes of that? I think the usual explanation is that since they can’t do a damned thing about it, they want to keep the peace and avoid riots breaking out due to panic. Second, extra-whacko explanation: They **do** have a plan for riding it out but it’s only for the Government/Scientist Elite and if we plebes knew shit was going down, we’d try to raid their special secret underground shelters and keep the Elite people out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/according-to-one-of-my-students-the-end-of-parts-of-the-world-is-near/636031.md?page=3)