Magnetic north and the end of the world

Magnetic pole moving…dead birds, crabs and fish all over the world…2012 looming on the horizon…nations rising up against nations…prophecy, or business as usual?

If you’ve looked at the news services lately, you’ve no doubt heard about the mass fish and bird die-offs all over the world this week. Some would write it off as coincidence, others believe that the movement of the magnetic poles has caused it.  Still others believe that it’s a sign from God of the impending apocalypse.  Others point to the Mayan calendar’s end at 2012, or Nostradamus’ predictions for all these things.

Well folks, I don’t pretend to be an expert in human history, nor would I claim to be a theologian.  I do consider myself a to be a literate man and a Christian, and having read much of human history and the Bible, I have to say that I don’t think these are signs of anything more than the normal course of world events. While many prophesies in the Bible refer to fish kills, birds survive.  In fact there are many Biblical references to birds picking over the carcasses of men killed in battle or gorging themselves on the dead fish, but the only mass die-off of birds in the Bible that I am aware of is in the book of Genesis, chapter seven. All the birds died except those gathered in the Ark with Noah along with every other living creature.  I don’t think there is Scriptural support for dead birds being a sign of anything.  I don’t have the Bible memorized and am not an expert in its contents, but so far I haven’t found anything there to support it.

In the New Testament, Matthew, Mark and Luke all relate Jesus’ instructions on how to tell when the end time is upon us.  Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 all tell of coming wars, earthquakes and famine.  In fact, the texts are almost identical. Yes, we’ve have had all these things, in abundance in the last few years, but I don’t believe it’s an indication of the end times.  Why?  Well, whether you are a person of faith or not, looking back through the many thousands of years of recorded history both Biblical and otherwise, you find that such things are business as usual for the human race.  War and famine go hand in hand.  You can’t grow crops or raise livestock when the fields needed for these activities are full of men killing each other with rocks or swords or bullets or bombs so people starve. Most of us are aware of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but what about the other conflicts that don’t make our nightly news?  Are you aware that since 2003, there have been at least 49 major armed conflicts in the world, many of which are ongoing?  These range from drug cartels that have overthrown legitimate governments to ethnic conflicts; some have been religious wars with different varieties of Islam at war with each other to the never ending fight between Israel and its Islamic neighbors. 

The US-Iraq war is the most famous of this group, some feared that it would spark a world war. How many nations would it take to call it a world war?  Did you know that almost 50 nations have been involved so far in the Iraq war? By far the most war torn part of the world is Africa with an estimated 400,000 deaths in Somalia alone.  There have been more than 20 major civil wars on the African continent since 1960.

What about a little closer to home? Are you aware that there have been more than 30,000 fatalities since 2006 in Mexico’s Drug War? That’s just one door south folks.  This is why I don’t think what’s happening now is an indication of the end times.  War is what humans do best.  No, it’s going to have to be something beyond the normal  course of history to live up the Gospel predictions.   

Well, what about earthquakes? Ok, what about them?  There are more than 1.3 million earthquakes every year on average. Most don’t do any damage and many go unnoticed by the mass of the human population of the earth. Of these, about 15 per year are magnitude 7 -7.9, which can cause significant loss of life and property.

As I said before, famine follows war and natural disaster.  People in the wealthiest of nations perish from hunger every year, let alone the war torn areas.  The only thing a human  does  as well as going to war with his neighbor is ignoring him so completely that the person can literally starve to death right under his nose and he won’t even know it. 

No my friends, the “wars and rumors of wars” will be something far worse than the normal state of affairs.  You won’t have to wonder if it’s the end, it will be very clear. Civilization will collapse quickly and  completely. Anarchy will grip the entire world in a matter of days. No one will be safe anywhere.  Am I basing this opinion only on Biblical references?  No, look back through the history of the world.  Every civilization that has ever existed has followed this pattern.   The Mayans, Incas, Aztecs, Greeks, Romans, and any others you can come up with have struggled together, found prosperity and wealth, became convinced of their own “immortality” or in some cases their own “divinity”, set out on a time of conquest to enlighten the barbarians, then fallen into decadence and chaos and even disappeared completely, leaving only ruins as evidence of their existence.    There are a few exceptions, those being the civilizations that have been wiped out by some natural cataclysm like a volcanic eruption (Mt. Vesuvius comes to mind) but the end result is the same. The survivors will set upon each other like dogs, justified in their actions by the need for self preservation. This has all happened before and it will all happen again.

So what do the dead birds, fish, and crabs and the movements of the magnetic poles have to do with it?  Absolutely nothing.   Our world has become so populated, our people so technologically interconnected that these days, anything that happens can and will be witnessed, photographed, recorded on video and out on the evening news before the sound of whatever happened dies on the air. Fifty or a hundred years ago, no one would have paid any attention much to these things let alone hear about it half way round the world.  When people were fewer in number and had to struggle for food, a mass die-off might even be kept secret by the few people who knew about it.  The potential for extra food was enormous and precious.  Not the dead animals necessarily, but the other creatures that would arrive to eat them.  Such an event would draw all manner of feathered and wooly beasties to scavenge off the dead and present a valuable chance to harvest food and other resources from the scavengers.   Fast forward to today, such a thing is an opportunity to harvest not food or resources, but ratings and money.  Sensationalize it a bit and you sell more subscriptions or have a story before your competitors get it.  Same thing with the magnetic pole movements.  It moves around all the time.  Scientists first started recording and tracking it’s movements in 1831 (nearly two centuries now).  One of the first things you learn in a map reading class is how to figure the difference between where your compass says north is and where your map plots it.  This difference between magnetic north and “true” north is called declination and that difference is usually noted on a topo map.  These things are not a sign of the apocalypse, just the normal workings of the earth, but it causes a stir to hear it on the news. When the ramp up to the apocalypse begins, you won’t have to wonder if it’s started, you will know beyond the shadow of a doubt.

What's going on in the world today?

So what’s going on in the world today…..hmm…lets see…Starbucks is changing it’s logo. Taking their name off the logo and going only with the sea nymph. Until I read the article, I’d never paid enough attention to it to recognize the lady without the words.  I don’t drink coffee, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Phusion Products has pulled their “Four Loko” beverages off the market, and I hear they are being recycled into ethanol for use in automotive fuel. If you’re not familiar with these drinks, they were energy drinks containing alcohol and caffeine.  In a 23 oz serving, you could be a wide awake drunk after consuming these, leading to even more bad decisions about driving and what have you. Since they are converting the drinks to fuel, I wonder if the caffeine will make your car jittery?  That last sentence is a joke, in case you didn’t get it.

Probably the most important thing that happened in this country today was the reading of the Constitution of the United States, word for word on the floor of the House of Representatives. Critics have said this is nothing but showmanship by Republicans, but I think it is a great idea. This was the first time in the history of the nation that this most important of legal documents has ever been read in its entirety on the House floor. I am convinced, looking at the past performance of our legislative body, that this is probably the first time most of them have been exposed to it, let alone having read it. They will have to get schooled in the Constitution’s provisions however.  The house approved a package of rules for the 112^th Congress that requires all bills that come before the house cite their constitutional authority.  No telling what may happen if we start getting laws that are actually based on the Constitution.

Further update on the dead birds.  Seems there was a similar occurrence in Sweden a day or two after the dead bird events in Arkansas and Louisiana.  More than 100 jackdaws, a bird similar to and a cousin of our common crow fell out of the sky on to a road.  But birds aren’t the only things dying in great numbers.  Over the last two weeks, there have been reports from all over the globe about various animals dying en-masse. There were of course the thousands of drum fish in the Arkansas River, and Kentucky is now reporting a mass die-off of black birds, robins and starlings. A beach in New Zealand has been covered with what is being called a “carpet” of dead snapper numbering in the hundreds.  More than 40,000 dead “devil crabs” washed up on in beach in England.  The Baltimore Sun reports an estimated 2 million spot fish have washed ashore in Chesapeake Bay, and more than 100 tons of sardines, croaker and catfish have washed up on beaches near Paranagua, Brazil this week, and finally in Port Orange, Florida, hundreds of dead fish float in the waterways frequented by kayakers.  The boaters report seeing dead fish at every turn, surrounded by swarms of pelican and buzzards.  Animal apocalypse? End of days prediction? Or did they die of shock after hearing that US Congressmen had to actually read the Constitution?

Things are getting interesting in other parts of the world too.  Iran and North Korea have (apparently) some form of nuclear weapons and now China appears to have a new stealth fighter jet.  Russia has stealth fighter technology now too.  Both Iran and North Korea have the capability and the will to set of major conflicts in the world. Are Russia and China arming peacefully, simply assuming a defensive posture in response to these very real threats that are literally on their doorsteps?  Or is there a more insidious plan at work?  Both are current allies, or at least not enemies, but in this day and age of political correctness and neutered politicians, if something did happen,  we’ll all be eating rice, and turning towards Mecca to pray in Russian before they sort out who might be offended if we defend ourselves.

See you all next time.

Stuff and Nonsense

My last post mentioned Tiger Woods and his adventures and how through his lack of self control and poor judgment he got to spend Christmas half a world away from his kids.  Now Brett Favre is in hot water for harassing female masseuses.  What is it about being rich and famous that makes these guys think they can do anything and there’ll be no repercussions?   If the two that are after Favre now are successful, you’ll probably see women coming out of the woodwork to get their piece of the pie.

Well, at least the lawyers will have a banner year.  This should greatly increase their incomes.

It gets worse than that though.  The commander of the USS Enterprise, Capt. Owen Honors, may be relieved of duty over making some stupid videos.  His supporters say he was just trying to relieve some of the boredom and tension that goes with being deployed in the Middle East.  Detractors say he is a gay-bashing pervert. Whether the videos  were offensive or not, a man in that position should know better.  To clarify, Honors was not captain at the time, but was serving as the executive officer, which placed him second in command.  If you are a professional or amateur comedian, people expect something offensive. Eddy Murphy has built a career being offensive. If you are in a position of authority either in the military, civilian government or the private sector, you take your career and your bank account in your hands when you do things like this.  These days, there are people out there just waiting for a chance to bring someone down.  You let people take photos or videos of you in compromising positions, enough money will allow those things to leak and you better be ready for it.  Honors was a member of an elite group. There are only eleven aircraft carriers in our Navy, and the carrier is always at the forefront of our naval defense.  Whatever his intentions, this will no doubt be a continuing embarrassment both for him and the Navy.

Back to silly television celebrities…let’s take a look at Gordon Ramsey for a minute. If you are not familiar with him, you’re probably better off.  He is a famous chef, who now has a couple of television shows where he goes to different restaurants and eateries that are struggling to stay in business and miraculously fixes everything that is wrong and turns them profitable.  He’s foul mouthed and has all the on screen personality of a sledge hammer but from what I’ve been able to gather, he knows his stuff when it comes to the food service industry.  At any rate, even he is not immune to a bit of vanity.  Saw a headline where he’s experiencing some difficulties, some complications I guess you could say, with a recent hair transplant procedure. Seems he’s had more than the normal amount of swelling, causing his face to puff up. His docs say it will pass in time.  The article I read said he paid $45,000 for the procedure.  Always did think he had “the big head” as my grandma called it.  Forty-five grand just so he can continue getting haircuts. Could have gotten a new BMW 5-series for that.

Oh, I almost forgot.  An update on the birds and fish that have been mysteriously dying in great numbers here in Arkansas…depending on which source you listen to, the dead birds number between three and six thousand, and the dead fish anywhere from seventy to one hundred thousand. Suffice it to say, lots of feathers and fins.  The preliminary reports from the necropsies performed on the birds seem to indicate fright induced trauma.  The likely culprit was New Year’s Eve fireworks that frightened a whole flock of roosting blackbirds into taking flight.  The dead birds have injuries consistent with colliding with each other and objects on the ground like trees, buildings and the ground itself, as well as indications of elevated stress levels. There is now a report of a similar occurrence in Louisiana.

The fish at last report, were all of one species, that being the freshwater drum. They are bottom feeders, considered rough fish and can get quite large.  World record is over 54 pounds and they put up quite a fight when taken on rod and reel.  The die off appears to be some sort of disease that as yet has not affected other species.  The fact that it is only one species makes it unlikely that this is a pollutant or some other man made calamity since those things would be extremely unlikely to target a single species.  It’s more likely that they became overpopulated, and Mother Nature hit the reset button. More will be known when the test results come in.

Stay tuned boys and girls…more to come.

Some things just don't add up

Ok folks, this addition to the blog will be a collection of things that just “don’t make no sense” to borrow a phrase.  First of all, gas prices….what is up with that?  They claim that increased holiday travel has increased demand.  Humbug, I say.  Every school vehicle in the country nearly has been parked for 2 weeks, teachers’ cars at home in the driveway, parents have not had to take children to school…ain’t no way a trip to Grandma’s made that much difference.   But of course, we can’t drill for our own oil, thanks to current administration orders so we are at the mercy of OPEC.   All I know is that it cost $67 to fill my truck up this morning. That’s got to be good for the economy, right?

Shania Twain is married again boys.  A sad day for men everywhere, I know, but what gets me is that she’s married the ex-husband of the gal that Mutt left her for. I question Mutt’s manhood outright for leaving a babe like Shania anyway but what’s up here?  Misery loves company, I guess.  The ultimate revenge:  You run off with her, I’ll marry her ex.  Oh well, who understands the lifestyles of the rich and shameless anyway?

There’s a headline talking about Heidi Montag and all the problems she’s experienced after a “plastic surgery binge”.  Supposedly she had ten procedures in one day, and some of them went wrong.  I just got one question…well, ok, two questions.  Who the heck is Heidi Montag, and why do I or anyone else for that matter care about her plastic surgeries?

Miley Cyrus in in the news again with “racy photos”.  She’s an 18 year old celebrity, whose money and fame is going to her head, along with the normal crap that teens have to go through.  So what?  I got a bottle of whiskey at home older than her, so why does anybody over the age of 19 care?

Then there’s Tiger Woods.  US Magazine has as story about his “magical Christmas without his kids”.  As if that’s supposed to make me feel sorry and at the same time all warm and fuzzy for him.  Horse hockey!   He didn’t get to spend Christmas with his kids because he couldn’t keep his willy in his pants.  There were what…14 or 15 women he cheated with that the media found out about?  Sounds to me like he was too busy to even know who his kids were, much less miss them at Christmas.

The last story in the news I’ll mention this time is a quirky one.   Beebe, Arkansas is a little town northeast of Little Rock population of about 5000.  Not much goes on in Beebe to catch the attention of the national press, but they finally got noticed.  Story has it that on New Year’s Eve, about 3000 blackbirds rained down out of the sky in the middle of the night, dead as doornails.  Lots of theories about what caused it, but no scientific conclusions yet.  Freak of nature or omen of impending doom?  You decide.

Happy New Year everybody.