[Don_1]

..... And on the matter of 'The End is Nigh', once again we have narrowly escaped doom and destruction as Asteroid 2005 YU55 passed us by last night without even causing so much as a plate to hurtle to the ground from its shelf.

There's no doubt in my mind, that the only doom and destruction we need to worry about is that caused by the financial wizards who now seem to have all the answers, yet in 2007 (and before) seem to have been oblivious to the encroaching melt down.

We can all be wise after the fact, but you economic Einstein's are being paid huge wads of dosh because you are supposed to be the best in the business. You erstwhile Nostradamuses should have seen it coming. But you didn't, did you? Or if you did, you were too busy making a personal fortune out of it to anything about it.

The time to show your worth has long passed. I suggest you hand back the wads of dosh you have squirreled away, stick your heads' where the sun doesn't shine and never darken our doorsteps again.

[CZARCAR]

winter solstice?

[Dharmansh]

Helium (⁴He) is a gaseous radioactive decay product, so in part, Dharmansh is not so far off.

This is the reason why ⁴He is mined with oil and natural gas, and also why ⁴He is much more prevalent on Earth than ³He.

CO₂ is also associated with volcanic eruptions.

Anyway, I don't foresee a cataclysmic out-gassing. 

There was a recent National Geographic Special about he Nemesis Theory.  Very interesting, however, the predictions of imminent doom are about ten million years too early!!!

Thanks CliffordK. As I am getting lots of knowledge from all you people. I am just in 9th standard so any of my question might be irrelevant, but being a student i am so curious to know certain things which I may not be able to get answers from my professors . So I believe this is the right place to satisfy curiosity with logical answers from the experts.

[CliffordK]

Thanks CliffordK. As I am getting lots of knowledge from all you people. I am just in 9th standard so any of my question might be irrelevant, but being a student i am so curious to know certain things which I may not be able to get answers from my professors . So I believe this is the right place to satisfy curiosity with logical answers from the experts.

We all are curious about many things...
And...  each of us learns more every day.

I assume that is essentially equivalent to a Freshman in High School.  I wish you the best of luck.  What you will realize is that there are always more questions...  but, hopefully you will have the opportunity to continue into college... and find a field that interests you.

As far as ⁴He.
There are several types of radioactive decay.

Alpha is a chunk with 2 protons, and 2 neutrons, or essentially a Helium nucleus (⁴He). 
Beta is a single electron.  Like alpha, it doesn't travel very far.
Gamma is a high energy photon (X-Ray, or Light).  It travels the furthest.

There is also Neutron Radiation and Positron Emissions.

But...  in reference to the original question, Helium (⁴He) is a gaseous substance.  I'm not a geologist, but the subterranean pressures are pretty extraordinary.  For example, if you followed the BP oil spill at all, essentially the pressure of the weight of the earth and the ocean caused the low density oil to squirt out of the well at a high pressure and volume.

Helium, of course, is also low density, but there is water, oil, and gas in many pockets under the surface of the earth, that could rise to the surface if there was a break or crack in the crust.   

Volcanoes, of course, are explosive, but with other (cooler) liquids and gases, they would likely just slowly bubble to the surface, perhaps with some subsidence of the soil above them.  Fire, of course, can be hard to extinguish around places where natural gas rises to the surface.

[Geezer]

Phew! Looks like we managed to squeak past the dreaded 11/11/11.

I think there must have been a typo in the Mayan calendar. They obviously meant 12/12/12, not 21/12/12.

[CliffordK]

Phew! Looks like we managed to squeak past the dreaded 11/11/11.

I think there must have been a typo in the Mayan calendar. They obviously meant 12/12/12, not 21/12/12.

Well...  We did also make it past 6/6/6 a few years ago without the world coming to an end!!!

is 12/12/12 supposed to be twice as bad as 6/6/6?

[venkyreddy97]

On December 25, 2011,

Santa Clause will realize that 7,000,000,001 people on the planet is just one too many people for him to visit in one day.

On December 26, 2011, Santa Clause will officially retire.

On December 21, 2012, Santa Clause will depart from the North Pole for his first vacation in the Bahamas!!!

nothing happens a routine day commenses n world goes on

[Don_1]

Phew! Looks like we managed to squeak past the dreaded 11/11/11.

I think there must have been a typo in the Mayan calendar. They obviously meant 12/12/12, not 21/12/12.

Well...  We did also make it past 6/6/6 a few years ago without the world coming to an end!!!

is 12/12/12 supposed to be twice as bad as 6/6/6?

Was 9/9/9 half as bad again as 6/6/6?

I'll tell you what though, we'll be in serious trouble on 13/13/13

[CliffordK]

I'll tell you what though, we'll be in serious trouble on 13/13/13

I think I need to get a copy of your calendar.
I'm having troubles locating that date on my calendar to mark it as a day to stay in bed!!!

[Don_1]

You need to go here.

[Geezer]

You need to go here.

Now look here! I didn't get where I am today reading a lot of nonsense like this.

[Don_1]

Sorry CJ

[NaphthenePalmitate]

On 12-21-2012 Godzilla will emerge from the sea, and the nation of atlantis will make them selves known and pretend to be our friends briefly to gain access to the japanese military Mecha Godzilla project. Shortly after the atlantians will deploy King Ghidorah and cause Mecha Godzilla to malfunction as they try to take over the world.

Meanwhile out in Detroit the autobots will crash land and decide to transform into automobiles [only cause it would be silly for something named "autobot" to transform into something else] Optimus Prime will put together a resistance to stop King Ghidorah.

Out in New Mexico Dr. Thomas Light will build a bitch made house cleaning robot named Rock. And six highly dangerous "industrial" robots [like one that throws bombs named bombman] which is cousin Albert Wily will reprogram and use to take over the world. During the process wily will steal the malfunctioning Mecha Godzilla as part of his global domination plot. And that bitch made house cleaning robot will volunteer to be transformed into a much more awesome robot megaman.

Which is when AstroBoy will get pissed that Megaman ripped off his original plot, and he'll be so freakin' mad he'll destroy the world on 12-21-2012

[Donnah]

I've heard lots of theories; Earth and all "our" planets are aligned with the centre of the Milky Way; we are coming to the end of an 11 year cycle when solar flares increase; the frequency of the earth is increasing and reaches the same Hz as a human upon waking...   It seems to be a time when a number of cycles come full circle simultaneously, including winter solstice.   

[CliffordK]

Halfway through the year, and no sign of the return of the Nemesis star., or any comet on collision course with Earth.

[Donnah]

No, but there seems to be a rapidly increasing number of entropy indicators.

[CliffordK]

It seems to be a time when a number of cycles come full circle simultaneously, including winter solstice.   

Most people seem to believe that the "end of the calendar" is merely the end of one cycle and the beginning of he next.  Thus, it would not be surprising to be occurring on or near the winter solstice.  And perhaps other cycles too. 

In the western culture, sometime about now is also the end of the Age of Pisces, and the beginning of the age of Aquarius.  Unfortunately it isn't well defined to a specific date.

[Boogie]

Isn't that the day that the sun appears to be in the center of the galaxy (from our perspective)?

[damocles]

It has just occurred to me -- the date we all need to fear is not that date, but the one just 100 years beyond it. By that time the whole world will have seen the sense of the Aussie convention DD/MM/YYYY, and we will all have 21/12/2112. Numerologically speakinig, the world will have a lot of trouble getting past that one!

[Donnah]

Does the universe use the same time counting system we do?