Great article in the Miami New Times last week, profiling preppers and survivalists like these folk:
Jorge Villa – after a terrifying experience during Hurricane Andrew he devised his own bunkers, and sells them to folk – some of whom are worried about the end of the Mayan calendar – via his business U.S. Bunkers
Neal Wiseman – moderates a group called the South Florida Survivalist Network, and has a year’s worth of food stored for his family, should the need arise:
Chris Petrovich – prepper for 25 years. He has helped others “cache extra fuel and food, stashed in public-storage units and underground, at intervals on an 800-to-1,200-mile path out of Florida. Amid darkness and chaos, skirting burning sugarcane fields and accidents and roadblocks, they’ll drive from cache to cache toward a secret inland hiding spot, exhausting the last available remnants of the petroleum age.”
While Petrovich himself plans on staying, I agree with …
From DIY to Russian megabunkers
Preparing for when the SHTF
Crustal displacements and magnetic pole shift – both are scary
Don’t believe NASA – these are a genuine threat
More likely during eclipses and perhaps Comet Elenin is a factor?
At the heart of every galaxy there is thought to be a supermassive black hole. Our black hole is known as Sagittarius A*, and as far as these go, it is very quiet. But that could change in 2013 when a “suicidal gas cloud” gets sucked into it, causing the release of a lot of radiation. This is the first time I have heard of such an event in our galaxy, so it is interesting that they predict it to occur so close to 2012.
The kilo-electronvolt X-ray emission of Sgr A* may brighten significantly when the cloud reaches pericentre. There may also be a giant radiation flare several years from now if the cloud breaks up and its fragments feed gas into the central accretion zone. [Nature]
Since Max Planck Institute for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) first started observing Sgr A* in 1992 they have seen just two stars …
The long term trend is obvious to any Sci-Fi fan – one day all transactions will be cashless. We might even have a universal currency known as credits!
There are some indications in Europe that the shift away from cash has begun:
Italy - since 4th December 2011 amounts above € 1000 can no longer be paid in cash. This is to help stop tax avoidance, supposedly.
Belgium – soon the maximum for cash transactions will be € 5,000, down from € 15,000, for the same reason
EU – a directive has been issued regarding how they will enable a cashless society
Now a cashless society means that authorities get to track all transactions. And in the USA they are equating survivalist purchases with terrorism. So Preppers should probably only use trusted suppliers, and only pay cash.
And while cash can be kept safe, digital money can be taken from you with the click of a …
Doomsday Preppers is a new National Geographic series, launching on Tuesday, Feb 7 in the USA. Here are two of the survivalists they visit – one is your standard prepper and the other is a full-on survivalist team.
This group have a great Plan B: load up the buses and drive for 12 hours…
This woman believes a fuel crisis will cause panic buying and social mayhem - her apartment is full of survival supplies:
For me this is a must-watch series. Let me know what you think – leave a comment!
Update: NatGeo have set up a Doomsday Dashboard, which shows the latest tweets and lists the most envisioned doomsday scenraios based on twitter activity:
66% – MegaQuake
9% – 2012 Cataclysm
9% – Nuclear War / Radiation
9% – Pandemic
6% – Nuclear War
6% – Economic Collapse
3% – Peak Oil
1% – Solar Flare
There’s an interesting article over at Fox News, although I’m not sure “cashing in” is fair – Americans are heading south for 2012, and businesses are accommodating them. Perhaps it is Fox who are cashing in, using words like lure.
In the most prominent countries of the Mundo Maya – Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, and parts of Honduras and El Salvador – the tourism industry is gearing up for a record year, with dozens of Maya-themed offerings designed to lure visitors.
Anyway, here’s an overview of the attractions mentioned in the article:
Tapachula, Guatemala – 8-foot digital count-down clock
Mexico’s Riviera Maya are planning reenactments of a popular Mayan ball game
Paul McCartney will perform in the spring at Chichén Ixtá
Mass Mayan marriage ceremony in Belize on 12-12-12
See in the End of the World on the Carnival Triumph cruise ship
Of course no operators are mad enough to actually call it the end of the world, unless …
Suspected on killing a couple and a police officer, before being gunned down was Drew Ryan Maras, an author who was working on a book covering conspiracy theories and 2012 when he died.
BlogTalkRadio are replaying their interview with Drew from September last year:
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/radionsearch/2012/02/01/drew-r-maras-rest-in-peace
Meanwhile physicist Michio Kaku has spoken out again about the risk of a solar flare removing the technology of the last hundred years from our lives. Yet Congress has not approved the funding that would keep the USA safe from harm. His weekly video is titled We Are Sitting Ducks for Solar Flares
In the Chinese calendar, 2012 is the year of the dragon. It is the only of their 12 years that is named after a fictional animal. So are dragons really fictional?
I have investigated the possibility that dragons lived in historical times, primarily because a good book on the topic didn’t exist – see my 6 pages about Did Dragons Exist? I found that dragon myths can be found worldwide, and aside from the very obvious Komodo Dragon, there is another candidate that could explain dragons:
Megalania prisca, as we have learned from fossil evidence, lived in Australia, grew to be a staggering seven metres in length and weighed 600 kgs!
Finally someone has written a proper book on the topic, and I’m pleased to see that the author, trained zoologist Richard Freeman, agrees with me:
“I am absolutely certain, having reviewed many ancient reports of dragon activity, that many sightings – perhaps two …
The above trailer is for a TV series in development. Here’s the official synopsis for The Carrington Event:
Joseph Carrington runs an organic mini-farm on the outskirts of a large, southern town. His rustic lifestyle means he is a bit removed from his family: his wife has spent the last decade pursuing a career in pediatrics; his teenage daughter, Tracy, wants nothing more than to be moving on with her life in a big city; his 10-year-old son has been raised on television, video games and abundance.
It´s a typical day of drama and duties when a solar storm cuts power to the farm. Soon after they discover that all electricity and communications in town are at total blackout as well: Cell phones do not connect, battery powered radios get only static, nothing is transmitting from television networks. There is no way of knowing what is happening outside their encapsulated environment, except …
I think this is a great product – it’s an LED bulb that has a battery inside, meaning you get 7 hours of light when your power is out – and it doubles as a flashlight! When the grid goes down at 2AM, and you figure it would be smart to flee to your safe spot – you don’t want to be stumbling around in the dark wasting precious time…
http://store.axiomled.com/AX_RUDOLPH_50_p/ax-rudolph-50.htm
In this video, leading presidential candidates Mitt and Newt discuss the merits of the Axiom LED Rudolph:
There are several doom’n’gloom news services out there that report every solar flare as if it will cause the end of the world.
SpaceWeather.com has informed us:
Departing sunspot 1402 unleashed an X2-class solar flare today, Jan. 27th, at 18:37 UT.
Now X-class flares are the worst, but they range from X1 to X9:
X-class flares are big; they are major events that can trigger planet-wide radio blackouts and long-lasting radiation storms. M-class flares are medium-sized; they can cause brief radio blackouts that affect Earth’s polar regions. Minor radiation storms sometimes follow an M-class flare. Compared to X- and M-class events, C-class flares are small with few noticeable consequences here on Earth.
To put today’s flare in perspective, this is from SolarHam.com:
The latest solar flare ranks # 7 in the list of strongest solar flares during Cycle 24. Below is the updated list showing flare size, date, year and sunspot number.
X6.9 – August 9 2011 (1263)
X2.2 – February …
Planetary magnetic fields are generated by flows in the hot, liquid iron cores of the planets. Measurements made by Mariner 10 in 1974/75 showed that Mercury also has a magnetic field. According to the standard models, the dynamo effect in its metal core should generate similar field strengths to those on Earth. Mercury’s magnetic field is 150 times weaker than that of our planet, however. This has recently been confirmed by the Nasa space probe Messenger.
How can the large discrepancy in the field strength be explained? This question has now been answered by a group headed by Karl-Heinz Glassmeier at the Technische Universität Braunschweig. The solar wind – a constant stream of charged particles – plays a significant role. At an average distance from the Sun of only 58 million kilometres – around one third of the distance of the Earth – Mercury is much more exposed to these particles.
“We …
The leader of the free world has enough power to cause TEOTWAWKI via bad policy or religious motivation. And Obama might be out-voted just before the Mayan calendar ends in December. Even for those who are not in the USA (or Americans who don’t care about politics), each of the remaining four candidates are interesting in their own right
First off is the obvious choice for 2012ers (if they leave religion out of politics) – Ron Paul. The gentleman is obviously intelligent, and he cares about the big picture as well as the rights of the marginalized. A law has just been passed that allows US citizens to be held indefinitely without any trial – in the name of stopping terrorism. This single video is evidence enough that he is needed by the American people:
Next up is Newt Gingrich who just won South Carolina despite the polls predicting otherwise (suggesting to …
Ever wondered why we are hairless compared to other apes? Or why our tears are salty? Or even why we have breasts?
Elaine Morgan has devoted decades to the topic of Aquatic Apes, and I’ve been keenly following her work – here’s a 2009 talk she gave at TED:
What does this have to do with 2012? Well, it dovetails nicely with punctuated equilibrium, global cataclysms and evolution via habitats being flooded. A similar cataclysm in 2012 could lead to further human evolution. Do you want to evolve (with no guarantees it will be for the better) or hide??
After all the poorly written 2012 news items of recent weeks, Wired has come out with an excellent article on the scientific possibilities of doomsday. I’ve summarized their list and added my comments:
SuperVolcano
Wired: Yellowstone’s giant volcanic crater has risen about 10 inches in the last decade, suggesting molten rock may be building up underneath. During its lifetime, the megavolcano has probably experienced more than a dozen giant eruptions, Lay says. Lately, it’s been blowing off steam through little vents, but it’s unclear whether it’s gearing up for another Earth-shattering blast.
Rob: The scenarios that scientists should be wary of dismissing are those that have not been witnessed in the modern era. Supervolcanoes might have unique symptoms of an impending eruption. And there’s always the chance that they give us no warning. While they are a major long-term risk, the odds of one erupting in 2012 is low.
Asteroid Accident
Wired: …
This Top 10 list is actually from a car site, but everybody is talking about 2012 this month…
1. Knight XV – fully armored, hand built luxury SUV
2. Pirate 4×4 – not much luggage space!
3. TRAX STI – Subaru WRX turned into a snow mobile.
4. Hummer H1 – dying brand
5. Isuzu VehiCROSS – probably the best little 4WD out there
6. Marauder – quite blast-proof
7. SISU XA-185 – armored personnel carrier
8. Toyota Hilux AT38 Polar – the regular Hilux is my personal choice, and the better value than these dream vehicles for sure
9. MaxiMog – a Mercedes Unimog with lots of cool features
10. Dobbertin Surface Orbiter – hand built amphibious vehicle, read about it
The Knight XV is worthy of being the #1 choice for urban survival. Aside from being armor-plated, it can come equipped with extras like built-in oxygen survival kit, under vehicle magnetic attachment detection system, multiple armoring levels, …
The main thrust of this news item is evidence suggesting humans were fishing 43,000 years ago, whereas the previous earliest date was just 12,000 years ago. But of equal interest was the fish they were catching:
The new finds blow that record out of the water. Sue O’Connor at the Australian National University in Canberra and colleagues dug through deposits at the Jerimalai shelter in East Timor. They discovered 38,000 fish bones from 23 different taxa, including tuna and parrotfish that are found only in deep water. Radiocarbon dating revealed the earliest bones were 42,000 years old.
Amidst the fishy debris was a broken fish hook fashioned from shell, which the team dated to between 16,000 and 23,000 years. “This is the earliest known example of a fish hook,” says O’Connor. Another hook, made around 11,000 years ago, was also found…
I’d be interested to …
I’ve shown this pic before…
…but not the inside pics: Here’s two, the rest are at Digital Trends, along with the story.
What if the end date of the ancient Mayan Long Count calendar was not meant to be taken literally?
The first question you need to ask is this: Dec 21 is also the Winter Solstice (in the northern hemisphere) – the darkest day of the year, so it is a coincidence or deliberate?
The second question is, if the date is deliberate, then why?
If there is a scientific basis to the Long Count calendar, if it is ultimately reflecting a scientific prediction, then there are still more questions:
Is there anything about a Winter Solstice than can cause a catastrophe?
Could an ancient culture predict a catastrophe, thousands of years away, accurate to a single day?
Or is Dec 21, 2012 a symbolic date for a scientific prediction for approximately Dec 2012?
What we do know:
The ancient Germanic people celebrated the solstice with Yule logs
The very ancient Newgrange tomb in Ireland is aligned to the winter …
I check this web page all the time:
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/quakes_big.php
It lists every earthquake greater than 5.0 for the last week, and it is updated in real-time.
On most days there’s less than five quakes listed, and often just one or two. Today there are 39!
To be fair, when there’s a really big quake, a lot of aftershocks will make the list – so to account for them the list really looks like this:
8.6 OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
8.2 OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA (+ 22 aftershocks)
6.0 NORTH INDIAN OCEAN (+ 9 aftershocks)
5.3 BANDA SEA
5.5 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA
5.1 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.2 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.4 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.9 OFF THE COAST OF OREGON
6.5 MICHOACAN, MEXICO
I’ve definitely not seen such an array of large quakes in one day before. Hopefully it’s just a freak occurrence.
UPDATE: Very next day, GULF OF CALIFORNIA has had a 6.9 and a 6.2, while …
Our Sun operates on a cycle that takes roughly 11 years to complete. While the key indicator for when the cycle is at its peak is the number of sun spots, the root cause is the reversal of the Sun’s magnetic poles. And for some reason that scientists cannot explain, the Sun’s poles are currently out of step with each other:
“Right now, there’s an imbalance between the north and the south poles,” Jonathan Cirtain, NASA’s project scientist for a Japanese solar mission called Hinode, in a recent article on NASA’s website. “The north is already in transition, well ahead of the south pole, and we don’t understand why.”
Further, the asymmetrically reversing solar magnetic field could have an effect on Earth, resulting in increased solar flares and the accompanying bursts of radioactive particles called “coronal mass ejections,” or CMEs, that can hit Earth and cause brilliant Northern Lights displays and problematic geomagnetic solar storms, …
Great article in the Miami New Times last week, profiling preppers and survivalists like these folk:
Jorge Villa – after a terrifying experience during Hurricane Andrew he devised his own bunkers, and sells them to folk – some of whom are worried about the end of the Mayan calendar – via his business U.S. Bunkers
Neal Wiseman – moderates a group called the South Florida Survivalist Network, and has a year’s worth of food stored for his family, should the need arise:
Chris Petrovich – prepper for 25 years. He has helped others “cache extra fuel and food, stashed in public-storage units and underground, at intervals on an 800-to-1,200-mile path out of Florida. Amid darkness and chaos, skirting burning sugarcane fields and accidents and roadblocks, they’ll drive from cache to cache toward a secret inland hiding spot, exhausting the last available remnants of the petroleum age.”
While Petrovich himself plans on staying, I agree with …
