Attention journalists of the world (those from Fairfax and Channel 10 in particular).
Nostradamus did not say anything about calm mornings, dancing horses and “the number of circles” being nine. The quote that’s doing the rounds was made up on 9gag a few weeks ago, as a mere two minutes research online would show.
You know, research? Investigating things? The stuff that journalists are paid for?
Seriously – you people disgust me.
(To clarify – I have no problem with reports including the supposed quote, they should just also include the fact that it’s a fake)
I can tell you what’s going to happen tomorrow – nothing. That is to say plenty will happen, but none of it will be any different to any other day on planet Earth. Sure, a cycle in a calender is coming to an end, but so what? Someone’s calendar is always ticking over. What makes the Mayans so damn special?
B’ak’tun come and go – after all they only last 394 years. Did the world end in 1617? Was human consciousness lifted to a new level in 1223? All evidence points to no. I ain’t holding my breath this time around.
And sure, you can claim that the end of the 13th b’ak’tun is special. That each ‘world’ lasts 13 b’ak’tun and then ends. The problem with that is that it’s an entirely modern idea based on fundamental misinterpretations of Mayan thought. There are only two Mayan inscriptions that even mention the end of b’ak’tun 13 – one of them merely notes that it’ll happen one day, the other says it’s the festival of an almost completely unknown minor god. That’s it. No prophecies, no predictions, absolutely nothing to suggest that the commencement of b’ak’tun 14 will be any different to any other point in human existence.
The end of the 13th b’ak’tun is upon us. The world won’t end, or be transformed, the human race won’t be wiped out or redeemed, and things will carry on into the 14th b’ak’tun just the same as it ever was – except that new age con-men will need to find some other way to sell books to the gullible (I’m guessing something to do with Nibiru).
I’m still going to take the opportunity to post this though…
In light of the latest news out of Israel, I thought it appropriate to direct readers to Nina Paley’s video This Land is Mine, which has been sitting around in my “stuff to blog about” pile for a few months.
I gave up on trying to figure out rights and wrongs in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict a long time ago. So much wrongdoing and so many atrocities have been carried out by both sides that as far as I’m concerned they’re both equally bloodied. The State of Israel has a right to exist in peace and security, but so do the Palestinians, and neither are going to get them until the fundamentalists on both sides (religious and otherwise) put aside their ideologies, pasts, hatreds and need for revenge and start over from scratch.
This, of course, is never going to happen. They’ll keep on fighting forever, or until one side is wiped out entirely. One is almost tempted to build a big wall around the Levant and let them get on with it.
Well, today’s the US Election, when we’ll see if the leadership of the free world (TM) is seized by the evil usurper Romney, or retained by the evil incumbent Obama.
(Personally I’m hoping for the evil incumbent)
For those needing a refresher on their Presidents, here’s Jonathon Coulton’s wonderful song on the matter…
(Note that this is the original 2005 version that doesn’t include Obama or the correct year of Garfield’s assassination)
(And a whole bunch of other cool people – including Eddie McClintock, Amanda Tapping, Colin Ferguson, Teryl Rothery, Corin Nemec and Gigi Edgely – but mostly William Shatner)
I didn’t really feel much when the bombings happened. No anger, no terror, just a sense of dull numbness and weary resignation. I think I was still – even over a year later – in a state of shock from the September 11 attacks. I’d kind of readjusted my mind into a state of acceptance that terrorism was the new reality and that a bunch of innocent people getting horribly murdered was the kind of thing that was going to happen from now on – where and when being mere, irrelevant details.
I didn’t really snap out of it until the 7/7 attacks in London. I guess enough time had passed for the shock to wear off – the fact that I have a disproportionate love of that city no doubt helped.
Now, on the tenth anniversary, I still don’t feel much. I’m just glad that there haven’t been any more attacks on Australians as bad as Bali.
