2012: The End of World

[Blondie Bear]

Yeah yeah, blah blah blah, humanity sucks. I think we're a fantastic species.

That's because you're fourteen. Wait 'til you can vote. Or have to work in retail or some other customer service job. Or can drive. People are the most selfish, self-centered, rude, horrid things on the face of the planet. Nothing matters to people so much as their own comfort; not the planet, not other people, not the future, not their own freaking children. I, for one, am amazed that (assuming one exists) the deity that created us hasn't wiped us out of existence by now.

 

[Kean]

That's because you're fourteen. Wait 'til you can vote. Or have to work in retail or some other customer service job. Or can drive. People are the most selfish, self-centered, rude, horrid things on the face of the planet. Nothing matters to people so much as their own comfort; not the planet, not other people, not the future, not their own freaking children. I, for one, am amazed that (assuming one exists) the deity that created us hasn't wiped us out of existence by now.

I hate to disagree with you BB but I can do all of the above mentioned, I have worked in retail since I was 15 years old, heck I even worked in The Magic Kingdom (Pure Evil!) but for every act of malice or hate in this world there is an act of kindness. There are genuinely nice, good people. People are selfish, they are rude and they can be horrid but they can also be selfless, gracious and absolutely delightful. Don't right us off yet.

 

[Blondie Bear]

^ You must live in a completely different part of the world than I do. Oh, wait . . . of course you do! People in Ireland must be wonderful, cause for every nice person I ran across while working retail, there were at least 100 icky people.

 

[Lou]

But, it's NOT gonna end in 2012!
That's just when the Mayan calendar ends. After that, we'll be enlightened and we'll go from "IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT" to "SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE".
(Blondie, do I get points for that?)

On December 12th, 2012, the world is SUPPOSED to come to an end, BUT the 13 crystal skulls given to us will all do their "thing" and save us somehow, supposedly with knowledge that shows us "the way".

So, I'm thinking it's GOT to be something we can fix easily, not like a comet strike. More like a war or just being the butt heads that we are.
I believe it. You can't say the Mayans OR the Native Americans were stupid people. If they say it....I go with it. Kinda like when TR tells me to do stuff.
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Edit:
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That's because you're fourteen. Wait 'til you can vote. Or have to work in retail or some other customer service job. Or can drive. People are the most selfish, self-centered, rude, horrid things on the face of the planet. Nothing matters to people so much as their own comfort; not the planet, not other people, not the future, not their own freaking children. I, for one, am amazed that (assuming one exists) the deity that created us hasn't wiped us out of existence by now.

SOOOOOO TRUE!
If I ever become president, I'm FORCING everyone to have to wait tables for 6 months and work in retail for 6 months. PEOPLE ARE EVIL!
I wrote to the paper once about it after they put out some article about how RUDE cashiers are and how they should "clear out their lines" before they leave. Well, HELLLO! I worked at Home Depot at the time and you could turn off your light, shut your gate, take the people who were in your line at the time and people would go AROUND the gate and still get in line.
It didn't matter if you were gonna hurl, poop your pants, had to go get your kid from daycare (like one woman had to or pay late charges) or if you'd get in trouble with your manager.
I clocked it one day and I stood there FORTY FIVE MINUTES after I shut my gate and turned off my light and even THEN people threw the biggest fit when I said, "Sorry, no more".

I'd like to see THOSE jerks be at work and told they couldn't go to the bathroom when they HAD to go. The buttheads.

Sorry, just had to pop in the complain.

 

[Kean]

Believe me I know retail. I work in a shop selling school uniforms. You wouldn't believe some of the things I could tell you about the people that we serve. But the people I sevre in the shop are not the sum of all people on this planet. I have been threatened, insulted and generally treated like crap while working but I have also had lovely customers that come back to me every year to get their kid's uniforms.

People have alot better reasons for hating humanity than working retail and don't hate it. I just don't think it's fair to brand everyone with the same brush.

 

[T.I.P]

Ooooooohhhh! This was a tough choice.
Although a comet would be terrific and dramatic, id have to go with Virus/Plague.
Y'know, something like 28 days later. and then i'd just go around shotgun blastin them.
(it'd be better than a boring ice-age or world war anyway)

 

[Lou]

:stripping down naked:
:streaking through the room covered in carefully placed cheese again:

INDIANA JONES IS GONNA SAVE US ALL!


:banana::banana::banana::banana:
:whip2::whip2::whip2:
:leaving room:

 

[Blondie Bear]

It's not just retail. It's the whole world situation. Look at what's going on in Burma. Or Africa. Or the Middle East. There is a very small percentage of the population who cares enough (and has enough resources) to go out there and help. But there are other people who steal the help that they're trying to give in order to increase the power of the corrupt government over the people who are starving. And they far outnumber the helping people.

I think the major problem is that our social evolution has outstripped our biological evolution, and our biological evolution cannot keep up with the political, social, and environmental climate. So we do stupid things because our biology tells us to, but they don't make any sense in the light of the world the way it is right now. The main outcome of that is overpopulation, which leads to all sorts of other atrocities.

 

[Lindsey McDonald]

I'd just like to say, since nobody else seemed to want to, that mini black holes under Switzerland has to be the absolute coolest way to go.


That is all.

 

[Lou]

While I'm usually against genocide, I do tend to agree with Blondie here.

I think retail is just an example. I mean, if you can't work in a store and not get treated like CRAP once a day, there is a serious problem.
Instead of trying to learn about others, SO MANY want to just hate what they don't "get". I spent most of the weekend with "the bigots" who are against the gay marriage in California. The amount of sheer HATE for people who aren't hurting a soul, (except maybe their OWN souls if you're in that religious sect) was MIND BOGGLING.
The Taliban SHOULD look like a bunch of lunatics in this world, and yet, they DON'T. They just make the splashiest entrance.
I've had TWO perfectly well behaved, kind loving dogs POISONED in my own backyard where they were securely in a fence in two DIFFERENT cities because someone HEARD that Chows were mean. Instead of coming to talk to me, they just poisoned the dog on the off chance that SOMEDAY they might get out and something could happen. Not that it matters that our cat and cock-a-poo are 300 times more vicious. WHO poisons an animal who's never done anything to them or ever gotten out of the yard just "because"?

I'm not really wanting us all to get wiped out. I kinda like my life. But, I DO think we could all use a good dose of "Do unto others....."


Boy, it's been a while since I did any streaking with cheese. I feel MUCH BETTER now. Even better that I did it for Indy!

 

[T.I.P]

Here is a future lesson for you. From now on, if anybody murders you dog, kill them. Thats what id do if someone even touched my dog.

 

[caitaintdead]

Well I always thought the place where they were creating black holes was in Paris, but it's actually Switzerland I believe now. If strangelets (strange matter, but I like the word strangelets) are created from particle accelerators then it destroys all matter around it, eventually consuming the entire world. Even if the entire world wasn't eaten up in a matter of days it would throw out the weather and atmosphere and the world would end.
The strangelet theory was always an interesting one, but nowhere near as terrifying now that the large hadron collider is operational and nothing has gone to badly wrong - YET!

Scientists have apparently done a lot of testing on the ash and rock surrounding the Yellowstone volcano, it erupts almost exactly to the day every 20,000 years, when was the last time Yellowstone erupted? 20,000 years ago. So obviously this worries me because it seems like it could happen now rather than just 'whenever', but on the other hand doesn't directly influence me living in Australia although I'm sure economically and socially a domino effect would change things drastically through the world.

The next ice age will happen, once again, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when, but I'll be willing to put bets on it being at least 20-30 years and not in the near future. I try not to think about global warming to much because it makes me feel guilty that I don't try harder to make a difference.

Otherwise, what about a super-Tsunami? I think I might have made that word up though, it doesn't sound right, but I just can't be bothered trying to get facts and figures for this discussion!!! I don't really know to much about this one either, but I would assume it would be caused by an earthquake or landslide somewhere. I think it was an earthquake that caused the Tsunami that devastated many Asian countries in particular Indonesia on Boxing Day in 2003? (Maybe 2004). What scares me about Tsunamis is that we would get hardly any warning, if we got a warning at all. If a super-Tsunami was to wipe out a significant stretch of land it would be terrifying!

Well I debated around some ideas for a little while, but I'm just not convinced enough that world will end in 2012 to make a bet on this one. I suppose the ideas that I think are most likely to happen aren't going to completely wipe out the world, instead cause mass destruction. I would bet on Yellowstone out of the choices listed above, mainly because I hate voting "other". Just a weird thing I have!

Kind of a sick discussion was had by all here, I quite enjoyed it!

Oh, and on the topic of people sucking, they do. I used to work in a pub and you have no idea how horrible people are until you see them after a couple of pints. Disgusting, filthy creatures. I to, think that all people should have to work 6 months in some form of hospitality or retail so they can understand the job some people have to perform. Couldn't be more disgusted by the majority of people. Maybe we can put all "nasty-to-cashier" types in the place that will get destroyed.

 

[T.I.P]

Black holes???? Creating a black hole in Switzerland, Really???
Do these things even exist???? What???

 

[caitaintdead]

Micro black holes I think they're called. They're trying to figure out how the Earth was created and if and how it will end when it does. Crazy stuff. I thought it was Switzerland, but I also thought it was France once to. I wouldn't bank on the facts and figures I gave, they might not be 100% accurate.

 

[T.I.P]

Hmmm, i want someone to start a thread on Blackholes/weird space stuff, seeing as i love
this type of stuff and find it really interesting. Blackholes aint been proven, but, its a great concept and if they are real, its very interesting
insane stuff. Theres supposed to be a supermassive at the centre of every galaxy, which imo, goes to show reality = insane magicness.

 

[Superstar]

You heard about that, right? The Mayan calendar ends in 2012, or some such thing, so the world is supposed to end there.
It got me to thinking. Maybe it's time to get our bets down, so we can go with a smile our face knowing we were right.

Anyone got money on Zombies?

YEAH!
Zombies!
Bring 'em on already.

Just think of all the pent up road rage and everything else you can let out before you go.

For the environmentalists, well what better way? Planet is hunky-dory.
Zombies don't use fossil fuels, they don't pave things over and they don't create shopping malls - so we can skip the whole retail thing discussed earlier.
They'll eventually die off and the planet can get a restart.

Just think of all the fun beforehand though!
Zombies; only way to do this properly.

 

[Washburne]

Let´s get one thing perfectly clear. Not all humans suck. For starters I´d like to think that I´m one of the "good" guys, not that I´m without flaws. I have loads but still, nobody´s perfect right? And I´m sure most of you are "good" people too. BUT as a species we´re awful. Make an scale and compare the good things we do against the bad things we do and you can´t get around the fact that "evil" is winning. Of course that doesn´t mean you should stop trying to improve the world, but does it look like we´re winning? Seriously? We´re destroying ourselves. Maybe I´m just a grumpy old man, but I do think we suck.

 

[T.I.P]

I just think the majority suck, not all of me!
Hows someone sitting there with millions, mansions and jet ski's gonna care about whats happening in the rest of the world?
I think if we took away everyones money, then we might start to care.

 

[Mr. Pointy]

I was gonna mention the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland and the black holes and all that stuff but you all have beaten me to it...it still worries the bejaysus out of me though 😉

So...my contribution to the armageddon debate is the super-tsunami that will result when the island of La Palma (in the Canary Islands) collapses into the Atlantic...

The growing concern is that the ideal conditions for just such a landslide - and consequent mega-tsunami - now exist on the island of La Palma in the Canaries. In 1949 the southern volcano on the island erupted. During the eruption an enormous crack appeared across one side of the volcano, as the western half slipped a few metres towards the Atlantic before stopping in its tracks. Although the volcano presents no danger while it is quiescent, scientists believe the western flank will give way completely during some future eruption on the summit of the volcano. In other words, any time in the next few thousand years a huge section of southern La Palma, weighing 500 thousand million tonnes, will fall into the Atlantic ocean.

What will happen when the volcano on La Palma collapses? Scientists predict that it will generate a wave that will be almost inconceivably destructive, far bigger than anything ever witnessed in modern times. It will surge across the entire Atlantic in a matter of hours, engulfing the whole US east coast, sweeping away everything in its path up to 20km inland. Boston would be hit first, followed by New York, then all the way down the coast to Miami and the Caribbean.

BBC - Science Nature - Horizon - Mega-tsunami: Wave of Destruction

Although this now seems less likely than first thought...

The volcanic island of La Palma in the Canaries is much more stable than is generally assumed, Dutch scientists working at the TU Delft have found. The southwestern flank of the island isn't likely to fall into the sea (potentially causing a tsunami) for at least another 10,000 years, professor Jan Nieuwenhuis states in the September edition of the university's science magazine Delft Integraal

New research puts 'killer La Palma tsunami' at distant future

Incidentally, while looking for info about La Palma, I came across this site -

http://armageddononline.tripod.com/

..which has articles about some of the Extinction Level Events we've already discussed...looks like interesting reading.

 

[InLoveWithBuffy]

Volcano FTW!! But I think that humankind will destroy the whole planet so there is no need of volcanos