Pesky experts like Science 2.0's Hank Campbell were never concerned. His column headlined "Doomsday Comet Elenin Goes Out With A Whimper" was published on September 18, more than a week before Obama's cosmically uneventful visit to Colorado. As Campbell wrote, "Once rumored to be ending the world starting October 16th, 2011, its apocalyptic possibilities collapsed faster than the earthquake doomsday predictions of Harold Camping," the Boulder-born radio vet who predicted the end of days would begin this past May.
"Why the hype?" Campbell asked. "People can't (or won't) do basic math. Since it was 1/100,000,000,000th the mass of the Moon and wouldn't ever be even 90 Moon-Earth distances (22 million miles) from us, it might exert 1/100,000,000,000,000th the force of the moon's tidal pull on Earth. Essentially, nothing, unless the gravitational effect of a speck of dust on your car is a concern."
Apparently, he was right -- but while the I Survived 2011 Comet Elenin Facebook page has received just eight likes at this writing, a more downbeat Comet Elenin Facebook address is bumping up against 5,000 likes and continues to pump out threatening prophecy -- like a post about rising volcanic activity in the Canary Islands.
Here's one recent comment on the page:
If civilisation ends tomorrow, no amount of water or pot noodles are gonna save you anyway. Your either gonna die with a stupid look on your face or your gonna survive it and wish you didnt because your gonna be left all alone in a wasteland that once used to be your home.If it does ever happen, just find yourself a good place to sit and try enjoy the view because it will be the most amazing sight you can ever see! Oh yeh, and the last ;)
Meanwhile, over at YouTube, Comet Elenin posts continue to surface with regularity -- but many of them have a revisionist tone. The first one below features the following description: "Comet Elenin is not a bad event... it is the beginning of the beginning. Peace and Love always." As for the second, it's one man's satirical admission that he may have been wrong about Comet Elenin's destructive powers.
But just in case, keeping watching the skies!
More from our Videos archive: "Comet Elenin to light up Barack Obama's arrival at Denver International Airport? (VIDEOS)."