Though technically astronomy related, but due its to raw stupidity and for planting wrong ideas in gullible reader's mind, it still doesn't deserved to be posted in anywhere in this forum except right here in coffee corner.
Photo of article: (deliberately captured in low res to comply with fair use and review)
Translation of report title: Venus Transit, arrival of the Devil? (Putting a question mark at the end of a moronic suggestion doesn't make a report sound more objective)
Whoever dares to ask me in a very serious tone if this implied association is true during my sidewalks will receive a big blow to their head from my jumbo golf umbrella!
Content summary: Venus Transit 6th day of the 6th month starting from 6am+ = 666 = Satan!!! And happening in the year 2012 = Mayan end of world prediction!
The Venus Transit photo in the report was actually quite nice. I pity the original photographer for having his/her astrophoto published in such a report! Might as well add a Diablo's head in the middle of the Sun.
REAL FUNNY PART:
The 1st and 3rd paragraph mentions the stupid suggestion of a linkage between Venus Transit 2012 with 666 sign of the Devil + mayan end of times crap. BUT the middle paragraph is so ironically more scientifically and factually accurate and precise than *some* (not all) local TV and mainstream newspaper reports so far!!
Some local mainstream TV/Print report on how long it will take for the next Venus Transit to occur
(1) 117 years later (wrong, got confused by year 2117),
(2) 100 years later (wrong),
(3) About 100 years later (correct, rounding down the year to nearest century)
Lianhe Wanbao = 105 years later! (Only off by 0.5 years for ease of memory, marketing, publicity! Impressive.)
Some local mainstream TV/Print report on date of previous Venus Transit:
(1) Year 2004 (correct year)
(2) June 2004 (more precise, including correct month)
Lianhe Wanbao = 8th June 2004 (WOW!)
Some local mainstream TV/Print report on date of next Venus Transit:
(1) 2117 (correct, mentioning year only for ease of memory, marketing and publicity)
(2) December 2117 (correct, more precise including month)
Lianhe Wanbao = 11 December 2117 (OH MY GOD!)
Some local mainstream TV/Print report on about frequency of Venus Transits:
(1) About 100+ years between pairs (correct when using rounding down/up and use of "about" to indicate not exactly)
(2) 8 years after 2004, 105 years after 2012. (more precise, showing trend using year 2004, 2012, 2117 as illustration)
Lianhe Wanbao = 4 times every 243 years. With intervals of 8 years, 105.5 years, 8 years, 121.5 years! (INCREDIBLE! Is this really Lianhe Wanbao I am reading!!)
Most local mainstream TV/Print report on day of Venus Transit 2012 and estimated timing of ingress (first contact) and egress (4th contact) as seen from Singapore:
(1) Monday, implying 4 June (wrong. most probably confused with partial lunar eclipse which was partially visible in Singapore on this day.)
(2) Tuesday night, implying 5 June (wrong. most probably got confused with 5/6 June 2012 titles without reading the content which explains why 5 or 6 June instead of same day for all locations on Earth)
(3) Whole transit can be seen in Singapore (wrong. error of at least 40 mins)
(4) 6:00 am ingress first contact (error of more than 10 mins)
(5) Event until noon or 12pm (error of more than 45 mins)
Lianhe Wanbao = 6 June, 6:11 am until 12:48pm (both ingress first contact and egress last contact with less than 5 mins error) !!!!!! (Surely I am NOT reading Lianhe Wanbao!).
*Perhaps* they had the benefit of reporting one day AFTER the actual event and thus could find accurate timings. But at least they *BOTHERED* to check or do *BASIC* research on it!
Imagine this scenario:
Mother: "Ah girl ar, what is this recent once-in-a-lifetime thing that I keep hearing people talking about?
Young daughter: "Oh. Venus Transit. Last one 8 years ago on 8 June 2004. This one 6 june from about 6:11am to 12:48pm. Next one 11 December 2117. It happens 4 times every 243 years, Venus looked like small dot on the Sun.
Mum: "WOW! You are so clever! How come you know so much? You go library do research is it?"
Young daughter: "No. I read about it from one short article about Satan and 666 in Lianhe Wanbao."
Mother faints.....
105 years from now, future space-age Singaporeans who can read Chinese will still fall off their chair (or whatever technologically advance sitting device) while reading this archived Lianhe Wanbao report while doing their 2117 Venus Transit research of the previous transit! Truly historic and very ironic!
P.S. No Venus Transit report from Shin Min Daily News on the same night. That's why I didn't buy it. What a pity, they might have included ingress and egress timings down to seconds!
