Joseph Gordon-Levitt to be Batman?

           As of late, rumours have been circulating the web, claiming that Joseph Gordon-Levitt will dawn the cape and cowl as Batman in the Justice League of America film.

           Now, while the reported Justice League film is months away from shooting, this hasn’t stopped internet bloggers who sniffed out some blood in the water. The root of the rumour may be traced back to an interview posted on hitfix.com, where Levitt stated that “if the script inspires me, and there’s a filmmaker that I respect and connect to” he would consider the role of Batman. That being said, his response simply comes across as a run-of-the-mill answer for any actor, when asked about playing a part in a film.

            However, to add some fuel to the Batman/Levitt fire is the fact that there have also been rumours (yes, more of them) that claim he will be given a cameo in the new Superman film Man of Steel, set to be released in 2013. At first glance, this may come across as nothing but hearsay, but that’s because there are some dots that need to be connected. They are as follows: Levitt had a role in The Dark Knight Rises; at the end of TDKR (spoiler alert), director Chris Nolan hinted at the fact that Levitt would take on the role of Robin (or Batman) in the Batman universe they created; Nolan is co-producing the Man of Steel film. Piecing together these tidbits of information, it seems possible that there may be a grain of truth to these rumours.

            Despite that Levitt has come a long way as an actor, from his humble beginnings on 3rd Rock from the Sun, is it possible that this 5’9, 150lbs. actor can suit up to play Batman? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

The Yeti Lives?

            The Himalayan "cousin" of Bigfoot is making headlines again, and it’s about time. It's been over 50 years since the legendary Yeti made some real news in the North America, after Eric Shipton documented large footprints during his ascent up Mt. Everest in the early 1950’s. A few years later, Sir Edmund Hillary reported seeing similar footsteps during his climb up the mountain. Some skeptics argued that these may have been the tracks of a bear, misidentification due to thawing/unthawing of snow, or a simple hoax. However, believers and researchers took it as the possibility that something was indicating a presence in the mountain region.
            Since that time, there have been relatively few mentions of the Yeti in North America. Occasionally there would be a "Yeti scalp", a hoaxed "snow walker" video, or a footprint found on a popular television show (e.g. Destination Truth). That being said, it appears 2012 will have a new story about the Yeti.

            Dr. Igor Birtsev, a leading researcher on the Yeti, obtained the various hair samples, which he found in a cave during an expedition. Shortly after the discovery, Professor Valentin Sapunov, of the Russian State Hydrometeorological Institute, was testing the alleged hair samples with the Zoological Institute of Russian Academy of Science (ZIRAS). Hair samples can be tested for DNA (e.g. mitochondrial DNA), or for physical traits through hair morphology under a microscope. The more samples obtained, the more tests can be done. The quality of the hair also plays a part, since degradation/contamination prior to sample collection may eliminate any possible DNA to be recovered. If DNA is recovered, it can then be amplified with primers, copied, and compared to what’s in the database.

            According to Sapunov, the results of the DNA tests have indicated that the hair samples do not appear to be from a known animal, but an unknown species of primate, with relations closer to a monkey than a homosapien That being said, it should be noted that “unknown species”, simply means that it is a species that has not yet been found, tested, and placed in a DNA database – it doesn’t immediately equate to “Yeti”.

            Despite these recent events, there are still individuals who remain very skeptical on the subject, and for good reason. It wouldn’t be the first time that Cryptozoologists and scientists have been mislead or duped with DNA testing before (a particular episode of the History Channel’s “MonsterQuest” comes to mind). One scientist in particular, Oleg Pugachev, is questioning Sapunov on his bold claims. Pugachez is the Director of the ZIRAS, and wishes to verify the results, the testing methods, and bring to light the fact that Sapunov has already claimed he believes there is a viable population of around 200 Yeti’s in existence today.

            As of right now, it seems reasonable to consider these first tests a “preliminary round”, as these tests will soon be looked at by others, and then corroborated or refuted.

It’s uncertain as to how long it will take, but one can assume that the coming months will tell us if the test results were just wishful thinking of a scientist/enthusiast, or the physical remains of an unknown species of primate – whether that be a pint-sized monkey, or the lumbering and legendary Yeti.

2012 Doomsday?

            December 21st 2012 is the end of the world aka Doomsday! Well, not really...
            Unfortunately, for many people unfamiliar with the current front-runner in Doomsday theories, the 2012 Doomsday prediction has grown into an entity of its own. From it's humble beginnings as misinterpretations from a hack of an archaeologist, to its illogical silver screen appearances, the 2012 Doomsday prediction is now embedded in the publics consciousness (with all of its various forms).
            The origins of the 2012 prediction can more or less be tracked back to Zecharia Sitchin, a self-proclaimed archaeologist, who took it upon himself to break down ancient Sumerian text, through his own eisegesis (interpreting a text into ones own ideas - I love that word). Sitchin graduated with an economics degree, and then worked as a journal editor. Upon coming to America, he began work as an executive for a fishing company. It was during him time in America that he began teaching himself ancient Sumerian language called “cuneiform”, which was an early form of primitive writing/expression. After Sitchin believed that he was more educated than Sumerian/Mayan scholars, he decided to translate various writings, and declared that ancient Sumeriasn had predicted the end of the world, and that they were visited by beings from another planet.

            Essentially, Sitchin believes the following: the Sumerian culture is derived from the “Annunaki” alien race; they live on a large planet called “Nibiru”, which has a long elliptical orbit in our solar system (and is out 12^th planet); Nibiru makes a return to our planet every few thousand years. All of this has been debunked, yet people still buy into a large planet hurdling its way towards Earth. If this planet did exist, it would have been detectable by a telescope years ago. There’s a good chance you could have even seen it with the naked eye years ago. I’m an amateur astronomer, and I can see Saturn and Jupiter from my backyard without a telescope. That being said, many people have claimed that the government knows of Nibiru’s existence, but has yet to share it with the public…and has silenced everyone who stepped outside and looked up at the night sky….*eye roll*

            From this outlandish theory, stems many others: a pole shift, a solar flare, a shift in consciousness etc. Numerous people have hopped on the 2012 bandwagon and added their own far fetched ideas to the growing theory. Needless to say, all of these have also been debunked by a discipline that most 2012 theorists are unaware of: science. I may come across as being harsh, but I'm only being truthful. Let's look at some of the proposed scenarios:            The first is the idea of a pole shift. This can mean a magnetic pole shift, or a physical pole shift. Magnetic pole shifts happen, and do so during the course of thousands of years (that's a fact). At the moment, we may be in one, but nothing will flip/reverse instantaneously on Dec. 21st, causing disaster. We've tracked the movement of the magnetic poles before, and will continue to do so in the future.
            The physical pole shift idea comes from a large outside force altering the Earth's axis and rotation (such as planet Nibiru). Long story short, it won't happen. The amount of energy required to stop the Earth, and then start spinning it in the opposite direction is more immense than theorists can comprehend. This is excluding the fact that a collision of that magnitude would destroy Earth; even a "near miss" collision from a large object would not alter the Earth's axis or rotation.
            Now we move to solar flares. In laymen’s terms, a solar flare is basically a large mass of energy released from the sun. These flares eject "clouds of electrons, ions, and atoms through the corona of the sun into space". They usually contact Earth a few days later. No one (anywhere) can make an accurate prediction that a killer solar flare will fire at the Earth in 2012 (let alone on Dec. 21st), while the sun is at its solar maximum (an 11 year cycle). It's incredibly difficult to predict when a solar flare will launch from the sun and come into contact with Earth. One of the biggest solar flares actually hit Earth in 2003, during the suns solar minimum. That being said, we are expected to see more activity in 2012/2013, but the Earth's ionosphere is more than capable of giving us a hand in shielding us from a harmful flare. So if anyone says that they can predict a solar flare (down to the day), they're lying. It's the same as saying the exact year, month, and day you're going to pass away.
            As for a shift in consciousness....well....I don't know how to address that, aside from saying "Maybe?" That's one of the more new age/spiritual takes on 2012. It's quite unlikely though, when you consider the current state of the world.
            I hope this sheds some light on the subject, and takes peoples minds off the negative doomsday theories they've been hearing.

Please check out http://www.2012hoax.org/ for more information, as they go into far more detail than I did, and touch on more topics.