Oh, that may be a problem as your cogent argument has swayed me to your side!
Bah…the LHC is just a feel good project to make us think we can stop Planet-X.
Unfortunately if we shoot a black hole at Planet-X and suck it into a singularity we will just be left with a black hole with the same mass and gravitational effect as Planet-X hurtling at us.
Not really an improvement in my view.
No it hasn’t.
Regards,
Shodan
From your link:
Why is the astronomer nameless? Should I dig my tinfoil hat out of the closet?
I’m sorry, but I’m not allowed to argue any more.
The astronomer, IIRC, was Joseph Brady.
-XT
Wait, I thought that Planet X contained a large supply of illidium phosdex. Shouldn’t we be sending people to stock up?
I WIN!!!
Regards,
Shodan
Hmm. He appears to be unknown to wiki… thanks though. 
Ok, thanks!
But… ummm… I was wondering why Cecil’s Straightdope article was reluctant to name him by name. I was hoping a wiki article might clarify (say, if the guy was a regualr quack).
Any ideas?
C’mon guys. It is a leitimate question from a new poster. Even if Cecil’s Teeming Millions have come to the “correct” conclusions, that does not mean that the answers are widely known.
I’ve got to run, (and will take a shot at the answer if it has not been answered by this evenng), but we ought to at least go through the motions of answering the questions.
I can’t find anything to indicate he was a quack. He seems to have been working with Livermore in the late fifties using early supercomputers. (Again, search for Brady.)
A google search of the name Joseph Brady +Planet X comes up with lots of hits. Either Cece didn’t know the name or didn’t think the name was important to the article.
The SD article is from '96, so there may have been some change between now and then — i.e. the name became common knowledge.
On a related note, it could be that Planet X means something different in Hebrew…
We did answer it in a straightforward fashion. See my and xtisme’s posts early on in the thread.
OK.
-
The Mayan Calendar was pretty good for it’s time. But it’s a Calendar, not a forecasting device.
-
The End of the World has been forecast many times. So has perpetual motion, Nigerian millions into your bank* and the collapse of computers in 2000. :rolleyes::smack:
*If you want to earn millions of dollars tax-free overnight, just send me your bank details. 
The Shaving Cream Atom?
Serious question. How difficult would this kind of information be to suppress? It would seem the most obvious course of action if government officials had such knowledge. After all, what could possibly be gained by informing the public? All it would seem to achieve, is to open the gates to madness. If they aren’t already open.
Depends on the size of Planet X. A comet? Easy to hide.
Something like a small gas giant? (See SixSwords last link.) Not bloody likely…
Note that many countries have observatories and astronomers.
Imagine the amazing coalition that needs to form to keep it quiet.
As to what could be gained by informing the public - that public could then elect officials who would actually do something, rather than suppress the news.
Impossible. There’s too many astronomers in too many countries; too many amateur astronomers who’d surely notice something as big and bright as an incoming planet.