In the last three months the world has started going to pot, more so than usual. Much of Australia has either been underwater, burnt or knocked over by cyclonic winds. Christchurch in New Zealand has been nearly levelled by earthquakes and their aftershocks and now Japan has just this morning felt the wrath of an 8.8 magnitude quake with the ensuing tsunami. These are just the things that have happened in the last few months that I can come up with off the top of my head. We've all seen or heard of the apocolypse theories and the doomsayers have been running around for years preaching death and doom if we don't repent our evil sins. Is this it? Have we finally crossed the line one to many times? Are we to blame for what is going on? Have we takeen our world for granted for too long and stepped over the line one to many times? Can the world recover from the damage already done?
The last paragraph of Bentley Bear's post there was his/her proposed FOCUS, but, um, no. Nonetheless, given the earthquake (a fucking 8.9...holy shitballs) this thread seems appropriate with a different FOCUS. FOCUS: Talk about the quake in Japan or recent quakes in Christchurch. ALT FOCUS: Realistically, how and when do you think the world of men will end? I say the world of men because, as the great philosopher Carlin said, the planet will be fine...the PEOPLE are fucked. What do you think? Bang? Whimper?
In the words of Bill Hicks, "I have one word for you: dinosaur." CNN's reporting there "might" be a leak at a major Japanese nuclear plant. Jesus.
I've got family in Christchurch. Luckily they're alright. I was talking to my uncle after the first quake and even though they were a fair way from the epicentre, they get tossed out of bed and the swimming pool was emptied (why they have a swimming pool in Christchurch, I have no idea). And the second one was worse. Now, with the Japanese quake there's a tidal wave (tsunami, after it crosses the Equator) warning for New Zealand. I think what's scary is that if you look at a tectonic plate map, we've had quakes at two places around the edge of the Pacific plate of fairly large magnitude. The San Andreas fault is on the edge of that plate, and I remember hearing that a quake there is overdue. Time to play some Tool. I'm just waiting for the stupidity to came oozing out too. After the recent solar storm activity, a few people seriously blamed global warming as being the cause of what was happening on the sun.....
When we had the thread last year after the 8.8 and ensuing tsunami warning I bitched about how local people here where I live were going down to the beach to watch. Sure, the odds of it being huge were small, but we are in an area that is ripe to focus the waves and make it worse. You don't fuck with mother nature, and you don't second guess it. I am always wary of nature, but let me illustrate. The dot close to the water is where I live. The end of the line is the San Andreas fault and where the 1989 Loma Prieta quake was centered.
Can't embed the video, but this is insane: <a class="postlink" href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12709850</a> The flow of water causes fires, and then picks them up and carries them what looks like thousands of feet inland.
Meh. While it is shitty deal, people always think the end is near whenever a few disasters happen during a short time span. It was the same way when Katrina and the last tsunami happened. I remember few years ago there seemed to be a lot of plane and bus crashes on the news during about a 2 month span and idiots on facebook were writing shit like, "OMG WHAT DUZ IT ALL MEAN??/ To which I replied, "IT MEAN WERE ALL GONNA BE DIED!!!11" Much, much worse series of events have happened in the past, and I'm sure people reacted the same way back then. By the way, that tsunami video is fucking insane. Did anyone else notice that some cars were speeding away from it while others were slowly going toward it or just stopped in the middle of the road? That's the Darwin theory in action, folks.
Crazy shit has always been happening. The global coverage is what makes it seem like there is more these days. An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 and above occurs once every year or so. It just so happens that the last two have been near population centers. People who believe in the end of the world bullshit just ascribe signs to fit their world view.
I can't imagine what those people are going through, the pain a lot of people are going through right now is unimaginable. In comparison though, the nukes the US dropped on Japan killed well over 200,000 people. Why does everyone act shocked when there is an earthquake, it is just the nature doing what nature does. We live on huge plates that are floating around on magma and those plate move. When they move shit happens. If this had happened in an uninhabited area and had no negative effect on human lives it would not even be on the news.
Yep. Despite God's best efforts, we still hold the record for most devastation on Japan. USA #1!!!! That said, I don't consider this an act of god. It's clearly Bush's fault.
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/11/video-of-the-earthquake-and-tsunami-in-japan/?src=se Site has a bunch of video clips. Check out the boat vs. the tsunami and the footage of the whirlpool the tsunami created.
Don't forget that an earth quake levels Pakistan or Iran every third year or so, it's just that no one gives a shit because its Pakistan and Iran.
According to the latest I have heard (BBC live) a couple of hours ago, it was the cooling system that malfunctioned. There have been no reported leaks and the 2000 people living around the plant have been evacuated as a precaution. Since the plants are shut down automatically there is no risk of a catastrophic failure causing radiation leaks. The issue now is getting enough water in to cool down the core. Last I watched CNN regarding the plants, the interviewer was basically fishing for something to cause alarm as the interviewee tried to explain that these plants were built to withstand earthquakes of this nature and that there was nothing that was a cause for concern at the time. In other words, no need to panic just because precautions are taken.
Kinda makes you wonder what the global reaction would be if something like The Tunguska Event was to reoccur. Would be able to handle it well and be reminded, rather soberly and solemnly what a big scary, yet mysterious place the universe is. Or just collective global pantshitting as 24 hour news touts the end of days non stop. I don't think people would engage in that kind of fearmongering. Especially since it's never happened before
I am really not the type of person who gets caught up in end-of-the-world or conspiracy theories, but I must admit I'm starting to wonder about how much weight there is to the whole 2012 bit. It hasn't really been the natural disasters that have been getting to me, but with all of the unrest and upheaval and everything in the Middle East and North Africa, I've been wondering if something on the scale of WW3 is going to happen soon. I have absolutely no political knowledge to back either option up, though, so these are just plebeian fears. Even if something like that were to happen, though, I don't think it would be the end of life period, but more like "the end of life as we know it" and some serious, radical changes would happen. (I've also half-joked that I'm going fully on board with the 2012 theory if Palin gets elected president that year.) If that doesn't happen, I wouldn't be surprised if the end of the human race happened in a way similar to new (awesome) zombie movies, where there's some awful virus or infection that spreads and turns people against each other like that. 28 Days Later was so scary because you could see it happening. P.S I'm aware that both of these theories, especially where I'm getting them from, are silly.
I'm not enough of a history buff to call this a "theory", but: there's bad shit happening ALL the time. People are children for awhile, and everything is golden. Then you reach a magical age where you start to become aware of current events, political instability, natural disasters, etc, and it's like the world has suddenly fallen apart. It's especially easy to see everything hitting the fan at once in this day and age with advanced technology and communication. That being said, there are of course going to be times that are better than others, and times when nature is behaving itself, so there is some variety on the short term, but history is always pocked with horrible things like the Black Plague and Hitler's reign, the crusades, witch hunts, widespread slavery, the wipeout of natives in central and south America, AIDS, etc etc. You can add any number of things to that list, but horrible things have been happening, and will continue to happen, forever.