# Are the planetary poles shifting as we speak? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 5, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549 "2012-08-05T21:23:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![wedgehed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8edcca/32.png) [@wedgehed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wedgehed)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/61 "2012-08-07T19:32:00Z")
Fortunately, I’m currently in Australia. I’ll just walk outside with my iPad, look up &…\*\* AAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHH!!!\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/62 "2012-08-07T19:53:34Z")
I know, right? It’s like the OP didn’t know that people from Australia, South Africa, and South America are members of this board. Like, what happens in the Southern Hemisphere stays in the Southern Hemisphere. You can’t go there, you’ll run into the energy barrier like they had at the edge of the galaxy in Star Trek TOS. You can’t communicate with people down there, they speak foreign languages like Argentinian and Inuit. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/63 "2012-08-07T19:54:34Z")
How does a brown dwarf several AU away change the direction of Earths angular momentum vector? ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_fun_ball/32/17664_2.png) [@Happy\_Fun\_Ball](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Fun_Ball)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/64 "2012-08-07T19:56:33Z")
OK, I watched some of the youtube videos; that is some seriously stupid shit! ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/65 "2012-08-07T22:39:41Z")
> [@chappy](#): > > Look at the pictures from Antarctica in July when it’s supposed to be dark. If it’s light in Antarctica in July, then there should be places in the Northern hemisphere where it is anomalously dark. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/66 "2012-08-07T23:18:29Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Why not? Seriously. Why wouldn’t they want to at least warn people so that some of them survive? The shadowy “government’s” don’t need ALL of the inland land, and they have lots of people with guns to protect the part of the land they do want to keep, so why not send out a warning so that the rest of it can fill up with refugees? Why automatically assume that everyone in the government wants to see massive numbers of civilian deaths? Ah, so, chappy - you’re ignoring perfectly reasonable questions that people are asking about your point of view. That’s another excellent way to establish yourself as an intellectually honest, reasonable debater. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/67 "2012-08-08T00:23:34Z")
[NOT MODERATING] TWEEEEEET! > [@Andy\_L](#): > > If it’s light in Antarctica in July, then there should be places in the Northern hemisphere where it is anomalously dark. If you have logical points to make, take it to GQ. [/NM] ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/68 "2012-08-08T00:31:23Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > [NOT MODERATING] > TWEEEEEET! > If you have logical points to make, take it to GQ. > > [/NM] \ Sorry\ ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/69 "2012-08-08T00:43:44Z")
What I love about the whole Nibaru/Nemesis/wandering planet thing is that it completely ignores the fact that there is absolutely zero evidence that any such thing has ever happened in Earth’s past. Athough it is somewhat arguable as to the periodicity of mass extinctions, but they occur on the order of millions of years and it certainly isn’t because the poles shift. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/70 "2012-08-08T00:44:44Z")
> [@L. G. Butts](#): > > How does a brown dwarf several AU away change the direction of Earths angular momentum vector? I heard that it’s planning the old “pssst… hey, earth, your shoe’s untied” and when the earth looks down, bam! angular momentum vector re-direction! Either that, or the brown dwarf is hiding a REALLY big horse shoe magnet behind its back? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/71 "2012-08-08T00:46:47Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > I know, right? It’s like the OP didn’t know that people from Australia, South Africa, and South America are members of this board. Like, what happens in the Southern Hemisphere stays in the Southern Hemisphere. You can’t go there, you’ll run into the energy barrier like they had at the edge of the galaxy in Star Trek TOS. You can’t communicate with people down there, they speak foreign languages like Argentinian and Inuit. Damn our secret is out! ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/72 "2012-08-08T00:47:04Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > What I love about the whole Nibaru/Nemesis/wandering planet thing is that it completely ignores the fact that there is absolutely zero evidence that any such thing has ever happened in Earth’s past. Tell that to Velikovsky. ---
**Author:** ![Enkel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Enkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enkel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/73 "2012-08-08T00:53:06Z")
> [@chappy](#): > > Look at the pictures from Antarctica in July when it’s supposed to be dark. Why haven’t you heard about that on the “standard” news and “government approved” sites? The problem is that it didn’t happen the next day… so, I’m guessing that since the lighted building was followed by some guys walking around, that maybe, just maybe, they drove up in a vehicle that had headlights? They do use some very large equipment down there and I’m sure they have built in lighting systems since it is dark down there. > [@](#): > > Listen and look at what the Inuit peoples are saying. Compare their observations to the effects of climate change. The only one that could give pause was the sun appearing to set at a different angle over a ‘mountain’. I think it went from directly over the mountain peak to off the the left of the peak? That could be explained if the mountain peak has lost 20 - 30 feet of ice and snow pack due to warmer temperatures. So it could be that the “peak” moved because it shrunk and slumped to a side. All of the rest of it was changed weather patterns. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/74 "2012-08-08T00:55:06Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Tell that to Velikovsky. Whose theories are pretty much woo? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/75 "2012-08-08T00:57:16Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Whose theories are pretty much woo? What do you mean “pretty much”? ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/76 "2012-08-08T01:01:35Z")
And I don’t think we really even need to look to a ‘companion star’ or distant planet. Relative motion of surrounding stars is relatively huge over millions of years. [This chart](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Near-stars-past-future-en.svg) shows the distances of the current nearest stars over a period of 100,000 years. It not completely unlikely that close brushes with other stars happens on a fairly regular basis when you’re looking at the ‘millions of years’ time scale. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/77 "2012-08-08T01:33:12Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Whose theories are pretty much woo? Woo it is. ---
**Author:** ![Twoflower](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/twoflower/32/22_2.png) [@Twoflower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Twoflower)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/78 "2012-08-08T02:00:37Z")
I actually watched one of the videos far enough to see that they don’t know the difference between magnetic poles (which have a long geologic history of changing) and rotational poles (which are quite stable). Verdict: utter bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/79 "2012-08-08T02:50:58Z")
> [@chappy](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCqnND7qHQA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCqnND7qHQA) I watched part of the video. Basically, it lists and shows videos examples of strange or unusual events of all kinds. Strange sounds heard in a large area, whales or dolphins beaching, large tornadoes, strange lights in the sky, solar flares, etc… First, a number of those events aren’t even strange or unexplained or something new : whales beaching is a common occurrence, large tornadoes or solars flares are perfectly normal events, etc…Some might be strange and unexplained or simply might have been unexplained _at the time the news were broadcasted_ . That would be the case for strange sounds, in particular. I know there has been some such cases that stayed unexplained, but most eventually are. And anyway, it’s not something new. Second, all these events are completely unrelated to each other (I guess a solar flare could cause an aurora Borealis hence “strange lights”, I suppose, but what’s the relationship between dolphins beaching and tornadoes?). Finally, and most importantly, what have all those things to do with a mysterious planet allegedly approaching? Could you explain to me why and how Nimburu (or whatever its name is) is causing strange noises in Nicaragua or dolphins to beach? I mean, if I hear a strange and unexplained noise in my apartment and a bird hits my window, it’s not an evidence that a meteorite is about to fall on Paris, is it? ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2012, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-the-planetary-poles-shifting-as-we-speak/630549/80 "2012-08-08T03:00:45Z")
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