For an avid hockey fan like myself, there is nothing like watching one’s team, after years of waiting, finally win the most coveted prize in the National Hockey League (NHL): the Stanley Cup. I remember the moment my Boston Bruins won last year. My dad and I were overjoyed to see our team finally win for the first time since the ’71-’72 season. We even traveled to Boston for the Bruins duck boat parade to see the trophy finally return to Boston.

We are almost two months into 2012, and the spring semester at Mount Holyoke is well underway. Adventures we had during winter break and the parties we attended on New Year’s Eve are fading away into our distant memory. As we relinquish the past, we turn to the future. There is homework to do, exams to take and next semester’s housing assignment to anticipate.

Many believe that on Dec. 21, 2012, the Sun, Earth, and the center of our galaxy – the Milky Way – will align on the galactic plane. This will cause one of two things: an inundation of comets hitting the Earth or a gravitational pull from a massive black hole in the center of the Milky Way.

One popular theory is that in 2012, Earth’s magnetic poles – the North and South Pole – will reverse. First, the sun itself will reverse its magnetic poles, sending a solar storm in our direction and causing a short-circuit in the Earth’s electromagnetic field. The solar particles from the storm, known as a solar wind, will move up and down the magnetic poles until they form an electric current around the Earth’s equator, creating a magnetic field opposite that of the Earth.

Possibly the least creative, but equally scary, doomsday theory is that our planet will be hit by a large comet or asteroid, killing everyone on Earth. According to their most recent data, scientists at NASA reassure that this is far from possible.

The most plausible doomsday threat comes from the sun, which drives the life on our planet. The sun is a blessing, and without it we would not exist, but this blessing comes with a curse. The sun gives life and can take it away.

One doomsday theory involves the mysterious Planet X (also known as Nibiru or the Twelfth Planet), an Earth-sized object in our solar system that revolves around the sun in a 3,600 year orbit. Nibiru believers claim that Planet X is on a collision course for a close encounter with Earth. They believe that even a close encounter with this object would have catastrophic effects on Earth.

It happens without expectation: that strange feeling that you’ve been in a new place or situation before. Logic tells you it’s impossible to live two moments twice, but you cannot help the strong sensation that you have done just that. This confusing sensation fades as quickly as it came; you have just experienced déjà vu.

The Lytro camera looks ordinary: it’s just a handheld rectangular prism with a lens at one end and a digital screen at the other for viewing captured images. It’s more reminiscent of a childhood kaleidoscope than a cutting edge piece of technology. Weighing in at only 7.55 ounces, with the deminsions 1.61 inches by 1.61 inches by 4.41 inches, it’s the wave of the future.

In*Touch Sexual Health Educators is a peer education group dedicated to providing accurate and inclusive sexual health information to the Mount Holyoke community. Become a fan of us on Facebook for information on upcoming events! Have a question for Sex Out Loud? Leave it in the in*Touch drop box outside 309 Blanchard or email Emily (ander24e@mtholyoke.edu).