Mickey Z
Cool Observer
Monday, February 19, 2007
Top Ten Ways Civilization (as we know it) Will Soon Cease to Exist
11. The Democratic Party
Posted by Skeptic on from 02/19 at 10:10 AMany of them, however if you look at what most people are discussing today....
some of the ways civilisation is going to end if you look at todays UK tabloid papers…
1. Britney spears has a very short haircut2. PRINCE William’s girlfriend Kate Middleton has topped a poll of natural beauties
3. Girlfriend of famous english soccer star wayne rooney has revealed that their relationship has sometimes had “difficulties”
4. STAFFORDSHIRE Bull Terriers are the dog of choice for thieves, a recent survey shows
5. GWEN Stefani says she wants to have more kids before she gets too old.
6. WOMEN laugh more than men at work according to a study out today.
7. SOME of the BBC’s most high-profile presenters are being targeted by a sick prankster who sends used toilet paper in the post.
8. CHOCOLATE, supercharged with plant compounds, can boost brain power while fighting heart disease and cancer.(some peopel lnked with this story have links to major chocolate producers so i wouldnt take it at face value)
9. A year ago, she was just another fading celebrity...but three weeks in the jungle, enticing male TV viewers by showering under a waterfall in a skimpy white bikini, has meant a multi-million pound comeback for Myleene Klass.
10. A controversial plastic surgery group is offering interest-free loans for patients seeking operations.
and people wonder why things r so f*cked up!
Posted by michael on from scotland 02/19 at 11:34 AMThe other day CNN had the following headline on the first page of their website, “How can Britney’s career be saved?”
I have to disagree with part of what Vonnegut said. We weren’t a mistake...humans lived on this planet for tens of thousands of years without causing the sort of problems we have today.
But, we are past the point of no return now. People will not change until that day when the shithouse goes up in flames.
Posted by JOS on from Oak Park 02/19 at 12:18 PMI must admit to being more fascinated than ever with Britney after her head-shaving stunt. And part of me really believes that chocolate can save the world.
I must have just woken up in a funny mood today…
Posted by James on from Hell's Kitchen 02/19 at 01:16 PMhey when kier told me “welcome back to yurp” the other week it got me thinking about yurp and merka the two most rich continents.
i found this out…
“A merkin (first use, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, 1617) is a pubic wig, worn by prostitutes after shaving their genitalia to eliminate lice or to disguise the marks of syphilis. There are many different ways of wearing a merkin, although most involve placing the merkin on the vulva or the scrotum”
so next time you hear people saying “proud to be a-merkin” you might laugh.
Posted by michael on from scotland 02/19 at 02:21 PMincidentally, there was no entry i could find for “yurp”
closest was “yorp”The Yarkovsky-O’Keefe-Radzievskii-Paddack effect, or YORP effect for short, is a second-order variation on the Yarkovsky effect which causes a small body (such as an asteroid) to spin up or down. The term was coined by Dr. David P. Rubincam in 2000.
Imagine a rotating spherical asteroid with two wedges attached to its equator. The reaction force from photons departing from any given surface element of the sphere will be normal to the surface, such that no torque is produced. Energy reradiated from the wedges, however, can produce a torque because the wedge faces are not parallel to the sphere’s surface. An object with some “windmill” asymmetry can therefore be subjected to minuscule torque forces that will tend to spin it up or down as well as make its axis of rotation precess. Note that the YORP effect is zero for a rotating ellipsoid.
Posted by michael on from scotland 02/19 at 02:34 PMHellos to everyone...interesting talk here today. The end has already come for 3 people in my little town. In the past couple of days, 3 have died from heart attacks caused by shoveling the horrible snow.
The planet will survive. Am I the only one who thinks that maybe it will be an improvement when the planet rids itself of humans, or maybe I have just seen too much snow recently.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/19 at 04:24 PMMichael #2: ‘any of them, however if you look at what most people are discussing today ..’
Nothing to add to your comment!
And thanks for this message from Texas, Mickey - as always, I call in at your blogspot first and am never disappointed.
‘Hello’ from a still very warm Daylesford (about 92F today) to Skeptic, JOS, James and Rosemarie. This heat really turns one’s (few remaining) grey cells to mush, so Helga bids ‘adieu’ and wishes her fellow expendables a pleasant morning/afternoon.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/19 at 06:47 PMRosemarie #7: ‘Am I the only one who thinks that maybe it will be an improvement when the planet rids itself of humans, or maybe I have just seen too much snow recently.’
You are not the only one, Rosemarie - Helga from down under concurs.Stay warm ..
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/19 at 06:50 PMThe world will be fine. It’s the people I worry about. I think Iraq is just the start of a very long war which for the time being will be centered in the Middle East. I still see a day of reckoning with China down the road a bit. Of Course, If someone launches a Nuke then all bets are off!
Posted by David on from Louisville KY 02/19 at 07:29 PMHoo-boy, where to start with all this good news? By greeting the Expendables, of course.
Re: The List: is the accepted definition of civilization the first and last mistake of h. sapiens? All of the entries boil down to dumb-ass hairless chimps, so I refuse on principle to choose: they’re all correct, and may well follow each other in turn (exept maybe for #6, though one mustn’t underestimate NASA).
Re: stress & “civilization”: found this gem in a book I’m reading on trauma: “[O]f all species, there is only one that develops long-term traumatic aftereffects - the human. The only time we see similar effects in animals is when they are domesticated or consistently subjected to stressful conditions in controlled laboratory environments. In these cases they develop acute and chronic traumatic reactions.”
Note to Expendables: when searching out remote or formerly inaccessible areas of nature, Rule #1 is that you will find the rubber sole of one (1) Chuck Taylor All-Star sneaker. Among other places, I have found them at 10,500ft in the Sierra Nevadas, and at the bottom of a winter-drained lake in Eastern MA.
Merkin Muffley for President! http://tinyurl.com/3t9te
Posted by Zen Prole on from Urth 02/19 at 08:21 PMRMJ, thanks for the heads up, I didn’t know DV ran that article (the same one I linked to at Online Journal the other day). How are things?
Andy, xin nien kuai le. You’d be surprised, I think. A lot of Taiwanese are very passive about the independence situation, not wanting to rock the boat or disturb the status quo. They figure Taiwan has de facto independence, so why cause trouble? Others are more in favor of not only de facto indpendence, but would like to see it formally recognized, as you might expect. I sympathize more with the latter group. It’s hard to say which is the majority view, but I’ve been surprised in my experience that so many people favor the status quo.
RE: humans being a mistake: reminds me of that Far Side with the broken jar on the hillside, some naked humans running away, arms in the air, and a voice from the clouds saying, “Oops!”
Posted by Jeremy on from Taipei, Taiwan 02/19 at 10:38 PMHey Jeremy,
One bizarre thing about coming to China is that people want to ask you your opinions about the major issues just cos you’re not from China. I generally avoid answering then over time found normal friends with common interests. There are plenty of local activists here and in fact, barely a week can go by without picking up your phone to get an automated message telling you about how bad the government is.
I’m not sure how much people on this blog know about China. China is like a mini-world when it comes to travel and work. You have a passport for your city of birth called a Hu Kou. So you need to apply to move city or to work in another city. Then this is circumvented by illegal employment of the poor on construction sites and dangerous jobs who are, of course, abused in their right-less situation.I feel for everyone with the snow situation, I spent two years living in Calgary, Canada and went through a lot of shovelling.
Andy
Posted by Andy on from Shanghai 02/19 at 11:21 PMGood morning to all Expendables.... My day started with a double-header. Chalmers Johnson was on Book TV. He discussed his new book, “Nemesis”, the 3rd on the topic - the end of the U$A. He said the same kind of things that many hear say. The Empire is ended and it is too late to do anything about it. He talked for an hour and took calls from listeners. Then Ralph Nader was on. He discussed his new book, “The Seventeen Traditions”. I have not read it yet but recommend it as a gift to anyone having children. Ralph’s values and how he got them is very clear.
Now I am off to fight with the snow. AH, just one more thing, DN is reporting that we will be using bunker busters, among other things to kill the people in Iran. Chalmers Johnson says that the political process does not work. The only hope would be a mobilization of the masses. He also said that the usa is only 24 hours away from total bankruptcy and that is how the Empire will end - 24 hours from whenever China and Japan call in our loans. Is it too late to start learning Mandarin?Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/20 at 08:17 AMMorning all...Mick, I put a link to your poll on Derrick Jensen’s forum.
By the way, I like that the answer “activists will take it down” is gaining ground.
Posted by Daily JOS on from Chicago 02/20 at 10:25 AMRosemarie #14: ‘Chalmers Johnson says that the political process does not work. The only hope would be a mobilization of the masses. He also said that the usa is only 24 hours away from total bankruptcy and that is how the Empire will end - 24 hours from whenever China and Japan call in our loans.’
Rosemarie, re the USA being only 24 hours away from total bankruptcy, Gore Vidal once said in an interview that the only thing that would save the rest of the world from further US imperialist ventures was - the impending bankruptcy of the US economy.
Posted by Helga Fremlin on from Daylesford, Australia 02/20 at 05:22 PMHi Helga...I think that Johnson and Vidal are both right.
Posted by RMJ on from Churchill 4 Prez Hdqts 02/20 at 05:45 PM
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