2012 News

Latest

According to The Telegraph, “a phoenix rising from the flames in Wiltshire, may give a warning about the end of the world.”

The image could just be of a phoenix, with no other connotations, however it is not the first crop circle to have a 2012 connection. Is it a message from others who care about us? Or is it just feedback from our own society, either from pranksters or a governmental entity?

The 400-foot design was discovered in a barley field in Yatesbury near Devizes and depicts the mythical phoenix reborn as it rises from the ashes.

Investigators claim more formations are referencing the possibility of a cataclysmic event occurring on December 21, 2012, which coincides with the end of the ancient Mayan calendar.

Interestingly, according to Lord Pakal, it may be referring to next month’s eclipse, as one of the last places to watch it is Phoenix Islands…

Mayan

Showing impeccable timing, considering all of the sensationalist coverage of 2012 recently, is next week’s Sixth Annual Tulane Maya Symposium. Held at Tulane University in New Orleans it features many academic researchers including Anthony Aveni & Barbara and Dennis Tedlock. Hopefully some of the presentations, such as Ends of Time:  The Maya Mystery of Creation 2012 will be made available to those unable to make the conference. Read more here.

Authors

First off, it is fiction. But so was the Da Vinci Code… A review in the Chicago Tribune says:

They developed a way to send bursts of energy through a tiny, artificially created singularity… ”

That singularity is the narrator of D’Amato’s absolutely amazing new thriller about the end of the world—Jed DeLanda, a descendant of the Maya living in the year 2012, a math prodigy who spends his time playing Go against his computer and raking in profits from online trading.

…D’Amato’s genius is in making that possibility personal. His DeLanda is believable and very likable, even when he’s spouting ancient history and obscure mathematical theory.

Publishers Weekly says:

“A remarkable, unique, stand-out book. Prodigious in its scope, its originality, its ambition, its intelligence, and the mastery of its research. In a word: awesome. Or brilliant. Make that two words: awesome and brilliant.”
—Raymond Khoury, author of The Last Templar and The Sanctuary “Fans of the late Michael Crichton will welcome this engrossing thriller. . . . The period details are as convincing as those in Simon Levack’s superb Aztec mysteries.”

If I get a chance to read my preview copy in the next few weeks, I’ll let you know if is worth buying, but based on the previews, I’d say yes!

Articles

You are no doubt aware of the potential for a catastrophic space storm (from our Sun), as described recently by NASA. Now Wired asks a pair of experts, author Lawrence Joseph, and John Kappenman, CEO of electromagnetic damage consulting company MetaTech, about what might occur in our immediate future:

Lawrence Joseph: Ultra-high voltage transformers become more finicky as energy demands are greater. Around 50 percent already can’t handle the current they’re designed for. A little extra current coming in at odd times can slip them over the edge.

The ultra-high voltage transformers, the 500,000- and 700,000-kilovolt transformers, are particularly vulnerable. The United States uses more of these than anyone else…

Power grid operators now rely on one satellite called ACE, which sits about a million miles out from Earth in what’s called the gravity well, the balancing point between sun and earth. It was designed to run for five years. It’s 11 years old, is losing steam, and there are no plans to replace it.

ACE provides about 15 to 45 minutes of heads-up to power plant operators if something’s coming in. They can shunt loads, or shut different parts of the grid. But to just shut the grid off and restart it is a $10 billion proposition, and there is lots of resistance to doing so. Many times these storms hit at the north pole, and don’t move south far enough to hit us. It’s a difficult call to make, and false alarms really piss people off. Lots of money is lost and damage incurred. But in Kappenman’s view, and in lots of others, this time burnt could really mean burnt.

Opinion

This year we have perhaps more apocalyptic Hollywood movies than ever before;

Her examples include “Watchmen” (where nuclear conflagration is just minutes away) and the recent hit “Knowing,” where Nic Cage is our last hope to save the planet. She notes that two of this summer’s most anticipated box-office behemoths are “Terminator Salvation” and “2012,” both of which involve potential planetary demolition. Kennedy also lumps in destruction sequences from such family films as “Monsters vs. Aliens” (where the Golden Gate Bridge is gleefully wrecked) and “Wall-E,” which is set in a city that bears the unmistakable look of post-apocalypse.

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