Orangutangents

The End is Nigh... the sequel...

Don't panic, I'm not going to start getting biblical on everyone and declaring the end of the world is nigh, this is just my way of declaring a cessation of orangutangents for a wee while. Brian and I need to start doing other things, and there are a few projects long overdue for finishing off that I need to get on to. 

But, it did get me wondering (wait for it), how many times has THE END been predicted? It seems quite a lot. Coins were minted in Roman times declaring it (not sure how they were gonna spend 'em), many notables throughout history have simply said 'yup, this year we're toast', various religious personages have stood on their blessed soapbox and stated the same, people have proven it through the use of mathematics, astronomy and various signs, and of course every thousand years on the calendar people stockpile beef jerky and head for the hills. One guy predicted the end on no less than three occasions (presumably giving up after third time lucky), in 1806 a hen in Leeds, UK, began laying eggs with the words 'Christ is coming' written on them (it was a hoax, what a surprise), in 1910 'comet pills' were widely sold in case the passing of Halley's Comet caused a deterioration of the atmosphere (take two aspirin and save the world?), and pyramidists, Baptists, scientists and numerous other professions since the dawn of time seem to have thrown in their ha'penny's worth at some point in time. And then of course we have all the conspiracy theorists and UFO nuts who say that there's some sort of cosmic end in sight. If we're gonna snuff it like that folks, there ain't gonna be a warning, or some form of interplanetary planning committee. 

But if it is the end, and they get it right, they aren't going to get any applause, and may not even get the satisfaction of saying "there you go, I told you the frogs were going to take ov..... aaaaaaargh!"

More recently we've had more scientific worries, whether CERN is going to envelop us in a black hole (or some other scarily wordy scientific anomaly), whether the first atom bomb was going to set light to the atmosphere (Einstein was genuinely worried about this one, but no-one listened to him which was a great shame), and of course whether too many episodes of the X Factor could actually warp the space time continuum. 

So, should we be concerned? Probably, yes. We're still at 3 minutes to midnight after all. But, we all live on a very small lump of rock whizzing around a ball of fire, with a very thin layer of not much between us and a lot of nothing (footage above is from Japan's Himawari-8 satellite, recently talked about on io9.com). That's kinda concerning in a way anyway, although I do very much enjoy staring out into that nothing.

Someone once asked me if I'm a glass half full or a glass empty kinda guy. I don't think I'm either. I prefer to think of myself more as someone who's looking forward to the next pint. I do like a good beer as you know, and so while there is good beer, a few stories, and good company then I'll do what I can to avert the end of the world in my own quiet way and try not to worry too much... all yours Brian. 

THE END