Posted by Ford Prefect [147.153.52.5 - LIBRARY27.client.mscd.edu] on 18 October 2002 at 14.12.24 ZuluTime:

In Reply to: New estimate on the end of the world, from The Weekly World News posted by wolfeman_psycho on 13 October 2002 at 11.56.57 ZuluTime:

...it would be the part about the plume of fire 30 times the diameter of the earth. Such ocurrences have occured daily since the sun existed. And 30 earths is a small one, a very small flare and nothing compared to a typical prominence or a coronal mass ejection.

This is blatant lying, and judging by how many people I know who actually believe the swill these dirt merchants publish, I'd have to say that they're doing this hoping to create some sort of panic for gullible individuals by using bad science.