Signs of the times: America at war with two countries and possibly a third before President George Bush leaves office, gas exceeding $4, food prices going through the roof, mortgage crisis, AIDS pandemic, terrorism, exotic new diseases, global warming, celebrity bimbos exposing their nether regions, surfeit of reality shows, overpopulation, nuclear proliferation, health care crisis...

These days it's not just Bible-thumpers who are in fear that we are living in the "last days". Everybody is doing the Armageddon shuffle, and trying to guess who is the Antichrist. 

I'm not quite ready to don a white robe, scale the highest nearby mountain and wait for Jesus, but I'm sure wondering what the hell is going on. It's difficult to keep your mind on mundane everyday activities, when you can hear the approaching hoofbeats of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. 

I'm afraid to turn on the TV, because every day there's a new theory as to why we are in imminent danger of annihilation. No wonder so many folks never watch the evening news, and walk around like zombies with their iPods shielding them from reality. 

*There's a huge volcano under Yellowstone with enough firepower to destroy civilization. If it ever blows its top it will make the Mt. St. Helens explosion look like a firecracker. The Yellowstone volcano erupted 600, 000 years ago, I'd say we are due for another eruption.

*A meteorite hiding behind the Sun can strike the earth with no warning

*When CERN's new Hadron Collider goes online in August it may unleash a baby black hole that will destroy not only the earth but the whole freakin' universe.

*A flu pandemic may kill millions, if not billions.

*A Megatsunami could flood coastlines around the world, including the entire east coast of the United States. Civilization could be washed away in a matter of days.

*Now I hear that sunspots or sun flares may destroy the earth on Dec. 21, 2012. The same Sun that makes our crops grow, and our skins tan, can destroy us.

"Survival groups around the world are gearing up and counting down to a mysterious date that has been anticipated for thousands of years: Dec. 21, 2012.

Across the United States, Canada and throughout Europe, apocalyptic sects and individuals say that is the day that the world as we know it will end, ABCnews.com reports.

Ancient Mayan societies, known for their advanced mathematics and astronomy, followed a 'long count' calendar that lasted 5,126 years. When their charts are translated to the Gregorian calendar, the international standard used today, time runs out on Dec. 21, 2012.

Believers say there are other links besides just the Mayan calendar that portend catastrophe. The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years on the same day, which marks the winter solstice. Some say that will disrupt the energy flow to Earth, or that the high rate of sunspots or sun flares that NASA has predicted for 2012 could affect Earth magnetic fields."

Quotation from AOL News

We can always hope that our physicians will come up with a cure for any deadly disease, and that our scientists can figure out a way to blow up or change the course of a meteorite that's heading our way. But there is no way that we can control solar activity, we don't even have the technology to control the weather on our little blue planet. 

The ancients worshipped the Sun, perhaps our only recourse is to eschew common sense and rational thought, and fall down on our knees and beseech Mother Sun not to destroy us.

I'm not one to bow down before anyone or anything, if solar activity heats before 2012, I will max out my credit cards, tear off the "do not remove tags" from my pillows and mattresses, step on a crack, ignore speed limits, toss away my recycling bin, bring down my bong from the attic, and party like it's 1999.

In the meantime I will live each day as if it were my last, and continue to write my essays hoping they will still be available online after 2012.

For more info on solar storms read this SOP newswire story:
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