What is 2012 All About?

The galactic plane, or how we see the Milky Way galaxy, appears as an elongated S in the night sky. To the Maya this was the great serpent or snake, their deity. In 2012 as our solar systems crosses the galactic plane the great serpent will no longer be visible. Basically to the Maya their God disappears. How could they be anything but terrified by such an event?

However, there is more to this. The crossing of galactic plane has been “linked” scientifically to such events as an increase in solar particles which “heat up” the sun producing more radiation. It is also theorized that the Earth’s magnetic field could collapse for a period of time before restoring itself in a reversed polarity (north becomes south according to a compass).

These two events, would have devastating effects on life on Earth. The increase in solar radiation coupled with the reduction of the Earth’s magnetic field, which protects the Earth from most of harmful solar radiation would result in a heating of the Earth. This has already begun. Global warming is happening, but the real cause may not be green house gases, but degradation in our magnetic field and increased solar activity.

The loss of the magnetic field would also destroy most of the satellite communications and interfere with most forms of telecommunications. The likely result would be long term disruptions in world wide communications and transportation. We could be thrown back to the dark ages technologically for several thousand years until the pole reversed itself and the magnetic field restored.

Given how quickly mankind reverts to barbarism in the absence of social order. Prolonged world wide famine created by draught and lack of technological aids would inevitably cause mankind to deteriorate into something far less civilized than we are now.

I won’t even get into the possibility that gravitational effects maybe affected by this occurrence as well, which could result in asteroids changing orbits resulting in more impacts with the Earth. Even a single impact event of a significant nature would have a catastrophic affect on the world’s climate, leading to the equivalent of a nuclear winter.

Mass extinctions have been linked by Cambridge scholars geologically and through astrophysics to times where the Earth has crossed the galactic plane. It is not as far fetched as one may think. It will all happen in one day, no. In fact it already has begun and events will occur over several thousands of years. How we deal with them will determine how civilized we have actually become.

Let Your Skeletons See The Light Of Day

My Pappy knew Al Capone. I didn't know this fact while he was alive. In fact it took almost 20 years after his death for this story to come out. And only because it suddenly became popular in his old home town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan to say you had a family member who knew the notorious gangster.

My grandfather was just a lad in the late 1920's when he lived in Moose Jaw. It was during a time when prohibition still existed in the US but not in Canada. Illicit transportation of alcohol, rumrunning, to the US became big business. With a direct rail connection to Chicago, Moose Jaw became the hub for bootleggers. Moose Jaw became known as "Little Chicago" with  its speakeasies, prostitution and gambling houses.

Since he was only a lad, he wasn't involved in the big business aspect of organized crime that had invaded this small rural town in western Canada. Being small in stature got him the job of a message runner through the tunnels of the underground city that lay beneath Moose Jaw. As a tunnel runner he would relay message from the various mob controlled establishments that allowed them to always stay one step ahead of the local law enforcement.

My Pappy was not proud of his youthful ways and when questioned about his activities would only say, "I've seen and done things in my past that I'm not proud of." Then with a twinkle in his eyes, he'd give us a wink, but would never elaborate. We, as a family, found out more from my grandmother just before she passed away. It was when Moose Jaw rediscovered its colourful past and began offering tours of the tunnels that she realized it was now okay to let the skeleton out of the closet about her husbands checkered past. 

Now, once again, Moose Jaw is booming with gambling houses, only now they're called casinos and they're not run by the mob. I wonder what my Pappy would say now about all of this? He'd probably only smile and give us a wink.

My Ancestors Were Idiots Or Were They?

Don't get me wrong. I love my family. But really, what were they thinking?

All of my family ancestry is from the British Isles. A proud collection of countries that for hundreds of years ruled the seas and colonized most of the world. So why would my ancestors decide to come to Canada when they had they whole world at their disposal? Lies, it was all a pack of lies.

All those years ago, almost a hundred now, my grandparents and great grandparents decided to leave their native lands to escape famine or religious prejudice. For some reason they thought Canada was a safe place to immigrate to. And well, they were right, it is a country of political, social and religious tolerance.

They could have moved to South Africa, for at the time the Afrikaners were in control of things and they would have been fine. They could have moved to Australia except back then it was considered beneath most civilized people to go to a land of convicts. They could have even gone to the Caribbean countries, but their social conscience on slavery prevented them from doing so.

Of course all these countries have changed over the years. Apartheid has ended in South Africa; Oz has become a respectable nation within the Commonwealth no longer living under the cloud of its past; and the Caribbean countries are flourishing with tourism dollars. All these places have become very popular places to move to NOW.

But back then the big draw to Canada was the promise of vast tracks of land for these agrarian peoples to call their own.  An opportunity for them to make a new life for themselves and their families. Just one problem; someone forgot to tell them it was horribly cold here in the winter. If they had, the Canadian prairies would still be a very lonely desolate place. But the world would also be missing most of its wheat supply. 

I'll give my ancestors this much, they were a tough breed. Much tougher than we are today. We have much better living conditions than they ever had and yet we complain about the cold. In fact, thanks to global warming, our winters aren't nearly as cold  or as long as that of our forefathers. 

So, really I can't say my ancestors were idiots, they just didn't know any better. And once they got here, they did the best they could with what they had to make the best life they could for their families. And they did this quite well. Well enough that many have been able to leave and move to those more climatic compatible regions of the globe. But for those of us who have stayed in this God forsaken corner of the world; that have endured bitter cold winters and draught filled summers, we can hold our heads high. We can be proud of what they have built and left for us.  

So, in the dead of winter, when we meet a new arrival to our country in the line up at Tim Horton's, we can smile at them and ask, "Cold enough for ya?" because we are Canadians.

Celebrity Meltdowns and Why We Love Them

The saddest commentary about human nature I heard this week was the "Britney Spears: when will she die?" pool. Have human beings stooped to such a low that we are now actually betting on when celebrity's in personal crisis will off themselves? How incredibly insensitive we have become.

We as a society seem to revel in watching the mighty fall. I know there is some deep seeded psychological reason for why we do this. Can't we change? Can't we modify our behaviour so that we actual feel some compassion for these people. For that is what they are after all, just people, like you and me, except with millions of dollars in the bank.

But have you ever thought how you would feel if you were in their shoes. No privacy. Always having to be at your best whenever you go out into public. How many of you have ever gone to Wal-Mart on a Sunday morning with your hair standing on end looking more trollish than human. Imagine now having dozens of photographers taking our picture trying desperately to get that one shot of you blowing your nose, scratching your ass, or stuffing that doughnut into your mouth.

Living a life where you have to be constantly on your guard. Constantly looking your best, even if you're feeling your worst. Every single day of your life. Day in. Day out. Never ending scrutiny. How many of you think you could stand up to it and never break? Never have even a momentary lapse of good judgement and do something incredibly stupid, or embarrassing, or just plain human?

And yet here we are. All of us, with the exception of that "guy" in that youtube video begging us all to leave Britney alone, watching and waiting for the mighty to fall. As we sit back all smug like, saying things like, "I knew she was going to freak out." Or, "Her life is over at 25, what a waste." Or, "She's just trailer trash with money."

I'm not going to get all emotional, like our friend in the video, but perhaps we should cut these people a little slack. Perhaps if we took a moment to look at what their lives really must be like, rich and famous may not be all it's cracked up to be. Sure they have their perks, but the price they pay is very high. And I'm sure if we just treated them like the rest of us, from time to time, they may actually appreciate it.

But until society loses it fascination with seeing the mighty fall, I'll place my bet on March 24th for Britney's death. Come baby, just hang in there a little longer.

Lack of Common Sense: Ignorance or Stupidity

"Common sense is not so common." When Voltaire penned these words some 250 years ago I wonder what was going through his mind? Was he merely making a satirical comment of his time? Or was he thinking, as I am today, that it always has been true and forever will be?

So what is Common Sense? It is defined as sound practical sense. I take this to be basic stuff, that everyone should know, no matter how old you are or from whatever part of the world you live in. It's the stuff that is in our genes. It's our inherent knowledge, like we know if you drop something it will fall to the ground.

Next, let's define the other two words:
Ignorance - one who lacks knowledge.
Stupidity - one who is foolish.
One may, at first, assume they are both mean the same thing, but if you think about it they are really quite different. My view is that ignorance can be "fixed" through teaching and learning. While stupity, can afflict even the most brilliant of persons and is neither taught or learned, it simply is.

Before we look at people let's look at the plight of the hapless Dodo Bird. It's name is from the Portuguese word doudo, which means simpleton, halfwit or stupid person. So does this mean the Dodo was a stupid bird. Hardly, it had managed to survive for thousands of years on it's tiny island. But it's isolation in an environment free from natural predators caused it to loose it's most basic of common sense survival skills; to flee when faced with something unknown. The result was devasting. Had it been given sufficient time it may have learned this skill once more and been able to survive. But time was not on the Dodo's side so it became extinct in a few short years. It died from evolutionary ignorance. It didn't know that other things could and would kill it.

So now let us examine what usually happens to people who lack common sense. In todays world, not much. Maybe a lawsuit, a divorce, time in jail or a hospital, a demotion or being fired, but rarely does it end in death. A far cry from a million or so years ago. Then a lack of common sense would have likely meant you were something else's dinner. A fate not unlike that of the Dodo. A lack of common sense was a quick way to insure your genes were removed from the genome pool. We now give these individuals an award, a Darwin Award. Awarded each year, posthumously, to honor those who improve the species by accidently removing themselves from it.

Those who learned from others mistakes survived, at least long enough to pass their common sense genes along, or more aptly put, the genes that allow their offspring to learn to have common sense too. So in prehistoric times, common sense was one of our competitive advantages over the rest of the animal kingdom. It allowed us to move our way to the top of the food chain. So what happened? Why is it that we have seemingly lost this ability and yet remain atop the natural order of things?

We have become intelligent enough to allow us to become stupid. It didn't happen overnight. Like most things that involve evolution it has taken an awfully long time and has happened almost invisibly to most. Then along comes Voltaire, who states it like it's an obvious observation, and all people say is, he's being nothing but satirical. Yet, sadly, it is still the truth.

I don't dispute there are ignorant people out there, but almost everyone on the planet knows that if they jump from the roof of a two storey building, roughly 3 meters, they are likely going to get hurt or possibly even die. So why do people do it? Are these people who lack common sense ignorant or stupid?

I would have to say they are simply stupid. The truly stupid person ignores the danger and continues on their path of self destruction to whatever end that may take them. What is usually the last thing a stupid person says before they die?
"Betcha never seen anyone do this before!"
Sadly, they never live long enough to know if they won that bet. And hopefully, for the sake of all of humanity, they have not had the chance to procreate either.

The Writing Process

In the writing process there's always at least one magical moment. That moment is usually when you first get an idea about what to write about. Then begins the torturous task of trying to convert that cerebal spark into something that people will understand and appreciate.

Sometimes you can struggle for what seems to be an eternity on this conversion. What's worse is that sometimes you have to come to the horrible conclusion that it just isn't going to happen.

As a fellow writer once put it as the opening line in a novellete, "Sometimes, things are better left unsaid." And this is one of those times.

Political Correctness

The topic of Political Correctness versus Politcal Incorrectness, formerly known as the language I grew up speaking, is a topic that has been done to death. From comedians to politicians everyone has had their say on this issue. So, that being said, I'm going to give you my opinion on the subject. Let me know if you agree, disagree, or stopped reading at the end of this sentence.

No one can say that the transisition to PC from PI (yes, for those who can find me you can slap me upside the head for using short forms, but in this case I'm just being lazy) has not been a good idea in principle. My feelings are that people should respect one another and one way of doing this is to not call each other derogatory names. It has been a long time coming that we can now say it is socially irresponsible for anyone to call anybody the "N" word no matter what race you are. I have, in the past, been called whitey, honky, pinky (by one of those guys in the Blue Man Group, which by the way, should look at changing their name to Blue Person Group or Blue Group to get in line with the rest of the politically correct world) and I know it doesn't feel very good.

We have all heard and seen many examples of people who have slipped up and used Politically Incorrect language. From politicians, to talk show hosts and even the occasional actor it seems there's usually three possible explanations for inappropriate behaviour: alcohol, old age, and the inability to know when the microphone is on. Unfortunately, it's these sensationalized events of momentary stupidity that grab the headlines, while most of us live in a completely different world where we are simply trying to get through the day without saying something that'll get us brought up on some human rights or sexual harassment charges.

But in our effort to be so Politically Correct have we gone too far? Have we moved in a direction where we are turning all the names of our professions into enigmatic eunuchs? I'm sorry but I fail to see the connection between Political Correctness and gender neutral occupational names. Has this reach such heights that we are now worried about offending an entire sex? Someone will likely tell me this is the logical outcome of the feminist movement at the end of the last century. Call me old fashion (or something worse), but this looks more like the castration of men and the complete loss of feminity in women for the sake of trying to erase the historical inequities of the workplace. So, has it helped? Last time I checked women were still getting paid a good deal less than their male co-workers for doing the same work, even if they have the same job title.

The title of the job should be simply a description of what the person does. Take for example, the police. When I was growing up they were policemen unless it was a woman then she was a policewoman. That made sense to me and I thought a perfectly acceptable description of their profession. What I didn't like were people who called them cops, pigs, smokies, and I'm sure there are countless more that I am not familiar with, but all of which are not flattering. So can someone explain to me why we then had to further change the name to the gender neutral police officer?

Let's look at another example, the Chair. In the beginning there was the Chairman, as most were men, but as women climbed the corporate ladder there emerged the Chairwoman. These ladies of the feminist revolution soon demanded that the name be changed to Chairperson, but the men demanded it be prefixed with Madam or Mister. Both found this to be a cumbersome title and it was eventually shorten to simply the Chair. To me it seems strickingly ironic that a position of extreme power has been relegated to the lowliest type of furniture one can have. I mean really, a chair. People running billion dollar corporations being referred to as a simple piece of furniture that one places one's ass on. Talk about not being very flattering. Even judges get a bench.

So, if not a chair what would be a more appropriate piece of furniture to reflect a position of such grand stature? Perhaps a sofa or chesterfield? At least these are larger places to plant one's ass. Or maybe we should move away from that concept into other types of furniture. Maybe a Chest of Drawers, or Dresser, although that does sound a little too masculine. Maybe an Armoire would be a better choice, foriegn words always carry a mystique about them. Now there's a piece of furniture with some stature to it!

Okay, I guess that isn't going to work. I supposed if we have to be stuck with a Chair then might I suggest a Chair with some style and class. I can see it now at the introduction to the Board the latest successful candidate who will lead their billion dollar, multi-national company through the first half of this new century.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Board please allow me to introduce to you, your new Wingback ...."