It's the End of the World as We Know it...And I Feeel finnneeee....

Oh R.E.M...so eloquent, and so fitting for this blog entry. Today, as I Googled "How the World Eats" (my students are learning about the world's utensils--or lack thereof), the little pop down menu thing (I don't know what it's called) highlighted "how the world will end." I was intrigued. I clicked. I read. I ingested a plethora of apocolyptic information--most of which I have read before, just never in one sitting.

First, we have a couple of nihilistic scientists...bent on proving the futility of all of our present day actions...citing the fact that we are mere blips in the life of the earth. They reduce the the 12 billion year lifespan of Earth (from big bang, I think, to the explosion of the sun in the next 8 billion years) to a 12 hour time frame, with the end of planet earth coming at 12 noon. We are now at 4:30 a.m., but, at 5:00 am (a mere 500 million years away!) plants and animals will cease to exist. They say,

The end won't come suddenly.

Some critters will retreat into the sea

in an effort to escape the rising heat,

thus reversing the evolutionary process

as we move back towards green slime,

or wherever we came from.

It's all down hill from there--the oceans will evaporate, the sun will explode and then turn into a dwarf...leaving Earth as a floating rock...maybe it will become a meteor or something?

Comments at the end of the article urge that the only thing that will destroy the earth is the coming of God, and that if we know that then we are always ready or some bs. One reader says something along the lines of, "Read the Bible, it says so in right in there. So it gots to be true."

Others say humans will destroy the earth through over-consumption and atomic wars. To this I say--Humans will not and cannot destroy Earth...they can decimate humanity and the present plants and animals, but the planet will still be here after we are gone. As for acts of God, who knows?

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=97756&page=1


Next Up, the ancient Mayan calendar ending in 2012. There are many online articles on this...probably many of these are created by whackos; but they are very interesting nonetheless. According to one site, the Mayans said that there were 7 ages of man. The fourth ended in August of 1987, and led to the start of the fifth, which we are in now. In this age, we are to realize our spiritual destinies. This will end in December of 2012. The sixth age will reveal to humans that we are gods in and of ourselves. The seventh will reveal our telepathic abilities. I could not find other dates or what the first four ages were meant to accomplish.

Some argue that it will not be then end of the world in 2012, just---ahem--the end of the world as we know it. There are predictions of mighty sunspots reversing the poles, causing flooding, earthquakes and confused endocrine producing pineal glands. At this time the winter solstice sun will occur at the same time that the path of the sun crosses the galactic equator (the equator of the Milky Way?)--known as the Sacred Tree to the Mayans. It will happen on Dec. 21st, 2012, at exactly 11:11 GMT...duhn duhn duuuuhhhhnnnnnn

There is much more on this...read it if you want.

http://www.greatdreams.com/2012.htm

http://abcnews.go.com/international/Story?id=5301284&page=1

Similarly, There is the Aztec predictions of the end of the world. Pretty cool fantasy book stuff. Their calendar also predicts an end of civilization in December of 2012:

The Aztecs had an extremely complex calendar system based on the stars. They used this calendar not only to create holy days and times, but also to determine the course of human life on earth. The Aztecs believed in the Legend of the Five Suns, the times of which coincide with periods in their history. Each sun is a period of time wherein there is peace and life. Once a sun dies, however, the world is absorbed in chaos as the gods destroy the world and renew it. There are only five suns, and we are presently on the fifth. The first sun was the Sun of Precious Stones, destroyed by Tezcatlipoca in its entirety with jaguars. The second sun was the Sun of Darkness, where life was destroyed by a large hurricane sent by Quetzalcoatl. The third sun was the Sun of Fire. Life was destroyed by a rain of fire created by Tezcatlipoca. The fourth sun was the Sun of Water, destroyed by a large flood of Tlaloc. The final sun that now exists is the Sun of Movement, Tonatiuh the Rising Eagle, destined to end in 52 years by a large earthquake that will tear the earth apart. http://library.thinkquest.org/03oct/00875/text/AztecA.htm

Lastly, at least for this blog entry, are the Ten Ways the World Will End from discovery.com. If we happen to survive past 2012, and the world is destined to end within the next 8 billion years, it very well could be one of these catastrophes that come from above. I'm counting on getting sucked into a black hole. I think that's the most badass way to go out of them all...

That is it for my day of apocolypses. I hope the entry doesn't seem to morbid or fatalistic. As an environmental studies major I was constantly learning about the ends of civilizations, the slow decline in everything we need to survive and other uplifting topics, so this stuff is pretty interesting to me! It's entertaining to see what other people do with there time if nothing else.

Happy days from Korea.

Amazing How it Billows and Swirls at the Same Time...

I said this once about smoke--but it can easily be applied to clouds. And, in case you have been eagerly awaiting this new development in the world of those big white puffy thing sin the sky....I am proud to pass on the news that The Cloud Appreciation Society (who knew such a thing existed...!?) has named a new cloud: Asperatus! The day we have all been waiting for! It is similar to the commonly known undulatus species (Yes...apparently clouds have "species"), yet its waves are more violent and chaotic than the undulations of the everyday undulatus. I wonder...Does this new cloud have aspirations? Did it hope and dream for this day of recognition? Now what? Maybe it will uncover a new species of rainbow, or a whole new genus of precipitation...

The (Common) Undulatus Clouds, Courtesy of Mike Davies

The (New and Exciting) Asperatus Clouds, Courtesy of Mark Ellis

Check out the BBC in Pictures article that tipped me off.

The Cloud Appreciation Society's Manifesto:

WE BELIEVE that clouds are unjustly maligned and that life would be immeasurably poorer without them.


We think that they are Nature’s poetry, and the most egalitarian of her displays, since everyone can have a fantastic view of them.


We pledge to fight ‘blue-sky thinking’ wherever we find it. Life would be dull if we had to look up at cloudless monotony day after day.


We seek to remind people that clouds are expressions of the atmosphere’s moods, and can be read like those of a person’s countenance.


Clouds are so commonplace that their beauty is often overlooked. They are for dreamers and their contemplation benefits the soul. Indeed, all who consider the shapes they see in them will save on psychoanalysis bills.


And so we say to all who’ll listen:Look up, marvel at the ephemeral beauty, and live life with your head in the clouds!

Yes, look at the clouds, save on psychoanalysis bills--but watch your step, especially if you're in Korea, where the state of the sidewalks poses a greater threat to one's safety than muggings.