The End of the World As We Know It, But I Feel Fine

Hello to you, dear Reader!

What better way to start the day than by reading an online article about different ways the world could end! That's how I kicked it off and I'd like to share the findings with you!

No 1: Asteroids
Hurtling straight in at No 1, a change in gravity may see an asteroid collide with Earth as early as 2038. But scientists say they can't predict the effects until 2028 at the earliest. Either way, please do get back to me on that, would you?

So now you can start planning how to tell your dream girl or dream boy how you feel, before an asteroid smashes into you both! Or you can go out and vandalise your neighbour's car, safe in the knowledge you'll escape the claws of Justice, if not those of the Reaper.  

No 2: Solar Storms
Blazing the trail at No 2 are solar storms. The sun's magnetic field goes potty and sends massives geysers (not 'geezers') of hot gas and charged particles from the surface up into space. Solar flares can wipe out 300 transformers in 90 seconds and cut off power for 130 million people.

The Sun is set to reach the peak of its activity cycle in 2013. So if you've got nothing planned, set your watch because you've got this to look forward to now! Nothing like going out in a blaze of glory!

No 3: Pole Shifts
Drifting in at No 3 was a shift in the poles. Now we face the threat of a magnetic field reversal that would cause the Earth's entire mantle to shift, in turn causing the North and South Pole to move and triggering all kinds of cataclysmic events.

But NASA have played it all down. They predict this ain't gonna happen and that such a shift would not see Earth meet its fate. Call me cynical if you like but, with all those shuttles and spaceships right next to them, they're not likely to stick around if they're wrong!

No 4: Supervolcanic Eruptions
Smouldering at No 4, it's supervolcanic eruption. Mount Toba, Sumatra, Indonesia was the last supervolcano to erupt, which it did 75 000 years ago.

Thousands of kilometres of black ash and sulphur were belched into the atmosphere, blocking out the sun and causing global temperatures to fall by 21 degrees C, and gas poisoning produced acid rain. Only a few thousand of the population were said to be left.

International scientists are now saying that the Yellowstone caldera, in Wyoming, is showing signs of activity. This supervolcano is thought to erupt every 600 000 years, but the last eruption was 640 000 years ago, so it should be any moment now. In the meantime you can be digging out last summer's sun block!

No 5: Global Warming
Getting hot under the collar at No 5 is our old favourite: global warming. If the temperature rises by just 6 degrees C, rainforests will be obliterated and heat-related deaths will be more frequent.

Soil will become infertile and air quality will be so poor it would harm, if not possibly destroy, human respiratory systems. Natural disasters will also be more common.

That's in the worst case scenario, though. For all you sun freaks out there, the good news is that London would also be as hot as Cairo!

Okay, I'm messing around, but suppose you were told the world really was gonna end. You had one last day on Earth and were determined to go happy.

What would you do before you went?


Source: Yahoo! News:http://uk.news.yahoo.com/38/20110304/tsc-five-ways-the-world-could-end-98fda55.html

Bad Hair Life?

Last night I had the weirdest dream/ nightmare.

In it, I went to a barber's and the guy cutting my hair disappeared in the middle of the job. Rather than the smooth and sophisticated short and spiky look I wanted, he gave me the flattest, most God-awful comb-over you can imagine.

I had a side parting that started half way down the left hand side of my head. To make matters worse, he'd also dyed my hair without my permission. It was a kind of Zack Morris from Saved By The Bell colour. Yuk!

But help was at hand - or so I thought. The girl who I asked to sort it out merely trimmed the edges. In the end, I kicked up a stink John McEnroe would have been proud of and had it all shaved off.

But what did it all mean?

For a bit of fun, I looked for interpretations on the internet. One plausible interpretation was that having your hair cut badly in a dream suggests feelings of a decreased sense of power. You may have been criticised unfairly and feel off-balance, off-centre or even worthless.

I may have come in for a bit of stick in the past year or so, but Deputy Dawg, where did the rest of it come from!

A funnier interpretation I found - this time of the 'so bad it's good' variety! - was on a forum. According to one internet surfer, if you dream this and are planning to get your hair cut, you should 'just' wait until the correct lunar phase to do it.

Apparently, the full moon phase is the time to look at your achievements so far and keep things on track, to make adjustments and to clear the deadwood (and why not the Jedward with it!) out of your life. If you want your hair to grow back thicker, this is the phase to take the scissors to it in!

Our astronomer friend goes on to say that the full moon to third quarter phase is the time to take stock of your life, study and make plans. Healthwise, it's a good time for depilatory treatment, dying your hair or begining a health and fitness programme. Wanting your hair to grow back quicker? Quit fooling around and get to your hairdresser! 

Conclusion

Study lunar cycles, ladies and gents. Then , as you do, find a gym, hairdresser or beauty parlour open between midnight and 6:00 am, the third quarter hours! I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to go without sleep just so they can wax your hairy back at 3:00 am!

Okay, so I'm just having a bit of fun. But going back to my own dream now - what do you think it meant? I'd love to hear your interpretation. Mentally, I feel pretty tough these days. So reduced power isn't the culprit for my sub-conscious comb-over!

Maybe you'd like to tell me what you dream about? Who knows? We may even share the same ones.

Xbox - Making Peace a Two-Player Game?

Evening all!!


Moments of clarity - they're great, aren't they!

They can come at any time... You can be walking along, minding your own business, or you can be in the middle of something, when all of a sudden things become as clear as day. You can be searching like mad for inspiration that just doesn't appear, then suddenly, bang! - there it is!


The other day I had the most wonderful moment of clarity. I was just in my kitchen, making a cup of tea (the tea bag went in first, then the milk!) while my stepdad was on his Xbox -- the game was Fallout -- when it dawned on me how to bring peace to the world.

Yes, I know. It came to me just like that!

It didn't take men in suits talking around big tables to come up with it. There were no guns, tanks, soldiers, barracks, bombs or warplanes involved in the solution itself either. Just a guy playing quietly in his sitting room on a computer game.


He was playing against an online opponent. It made me think to myself: Wouldn't it be nice if instead of going to war we could just go online and sort it out all that way?

Bombs could be thrown, gunshots could be fired and buildings could be demolished, yet the only thing that might be spilled is a can of lager or cup of tea accidentally kicked over. Families wouldn't lose their homes; wives and husbands wouldn't lose their other half; and children wouldn't lose parents (or vice versa).


There seems to be no end to the things we can do on the Net these days: shop, play games, chat to friends, share photos, download music, watch TV, etc. Can we not solve all conflict on there, too?

I really hope we can.