Prophecy R Us

You come to me, seeking answers. I tell you: Obstacles you will face, great challenges. But in the end, after the give and take of war, you will prevail. Yay!


Delphi, Greece, 2008.

Jogging through the ruins

Imagine Greece or Rome at the height of their splendor. Musta been pretty dope, especially considering the alternative - "barbarian lands", IE, anything outside the Polis proper. But all cities fall, eventually, and so I give you redshirt's Thanksgiving 2008 trip to Delphi:

Funny story. I missed the 8 AM bus cuz I went to the wrong subway terminal because apparently with Greek written in English you can spell things any way you want, and so the travel book sent me to the wrong station and even after sprinting, I missed the 8 AM. No problem, I thought, Delphi is open till 5, according to the same travel book. Plenty of time to explore. I catch the 10 AM bus and arrive at Delphi at 1. O hai! Winter hours, we're closing at 3. And so commences redshirt's quick jog through Delphi.

Some columns and tumble down stone and brick. Hop-hop!

Bitchin' amphitheater dudes. Also, vertigo. Hop-hop!

Whoop-Whoop! Top of the hill, home to the Delphi Rams. Fun fact! This stadium was a late addition to the most Holy sacred site of Delphi, a Roman construction. Leave it to the Romans to bring football into the Vatican plus Mecca and Jerusalem combined, figuratively speaking. Savages.

This is it - the Oracle at Delphi. Her temple, at least. Imagine those pillars extending all the way around that central stone structure, with a kick ass roof too. And then imagine standing within such a temple, overlooking that view, on some stormy night in 450BC and a General and entourage arrive in the dead of darkness, seeking prophecy. And some lady would give it to them, high on gas, and thus history unfolds.

Fun fact about Delphi you may not know! The site was not only the location of the famous Oracle, but also served as the bank of ancient Greece. Each major city-state had a building on site dedicated towards storing their wealth. Athens, Sparta, Corinth, you name it - if you were a city-state of any shake, you had gold stored at Delphi. Twas Holy, after all. And who better to protect your money than God?

Alternate Dimension OIan Mills

Olan Mills is a Prophet, don't ya know? He foresaw the double image silhouette, which is beyond time, place, dimension. Even weird ass centaurs in Crystal World know the shot. Eternal and infinite. Bless you, Olan Mills.

New Year's Eve in the Dawn of Apocalypse

Happy New Years! One of my favorite holidays, tainted only by the fact it's based on a Christian calendar. But I can rise above that. Of all the holidays, people are most open and friendly on this night, willing to kiss strangers in the Common - when else does that happen? Mardi Gras in New Orleans, perhaps. The best night - Halloween might run some competition, but it gets a little too serious and demanding. New Year's is all about the part-aying. But don't drink and drive kids! Except on rural country roads, then it's cool.

And why not drink and drive? We've got less than a year left before the dreaded MAYAN APOCALYPSE! December 21, 2012, and the World ends, by some means which is not clear. But there's a cosmic alignment involved for sure. So feast and and be merry while ye can, for surely DOOM is nigh.

I'll admit I used to half believe in this Mayan Apocalypse bullshit - but it was a long time ago, 1998 or so, and I happened upon a Weekly World News article that was quite convincing. After further research, it seemed likely the world would end in 2012, due to a MAGNETIC POLAR SHIFT.  Because it's true, the magnetic poles on Earth do shift on semi-regular schedules, with North becoming South and South North. Think what that would do to our electronics were it to happen? Frazizzled.

There are lots of ways, in fact, our World (that being our human existence, and not the World itself) could easily end, tomorrow in fact. Herewith is REDSHIRTS TOP TEN APOCALYPSES (not in order):

1. Asteroid Impact. This is inevitable. It will happen at some point, the only question is when. Tomorrow? A million years? Sometime in between? Who knows. We might have years of warning, or, even with our awesome technology, a killer asteroid could sneak up on us unawares and be on our doorstep in days.
2. Super Volcano. Also inevitable. There are a dozen or so super volcanoes on Earth that when they explode, are powerful enough to darken the skies with ash for years. Can you imagine how tough it would be to live on this planet without sunlight for 10 years? We'd starve.
3. Nuclear War. The most likely doomsday scenario. All it takes is some dumb Repuglican with his/her finger on the button and we're all doomed.
4. Solar storm. Also inevitable. Our reliance on electronics would cripple most of so called "modern" society. If strong enough, could toast most living things.
5. Gamma Ray Burst. If a star of certain mass goes supernova and happens to have one of its poles pointed directly at us, we could be in the line of a sight of a high mass, super powerful gamma ray burst that would fry most life on Earth.
6. Global Warming. Happening right now. The real deal and we'll find out how well we can deal with Change - no thanks, once again, to Repuglicans, the crazy fucks.
7. Magnetic Polar Shift. Also inevitable. An event that would have zero impact on a tribe living in the Amazonian rainforest, but which would devastate "modern" society.
8. Ice Age. One of the consequences of global warming could be a new ice age, ironically. Snowball Earth would freeze most life to death.
9. Geologic Instability. Also inevitable. Imagine all the plates of Earth undergoing a vibratory effect that levels anything over 30 feet tall.
10. Super Virus. A bacteria that proves lethal to any human that comes into contact. Easily enough to conceive of, and gosh darn we've got people researching the subject worldwide.

Scared? You should be (but of course shouldn't be). Life is a tenuous proposition on this planet, and we could be shaken off like so much lice. And so, take nothing for granted! There is nothing permanent here at all, in the least bit. Every moment is a gift and you should treat it that way. Let us pray:

Dear ambiguous New Age God, give my Chakras the Crystaline Energy to survive the coming Tribulation.

I don't believe in a prophesied apocalypse at all anymore, in case you can't tell. I worship Science now and believe you me, it's the only Faith that delivers.

The Passion of The Sisko

Take your time. There's lots to absorb.

Have you watched Star Trek:Deep Space Nine? I know of many Trekkies who have not - and I did not, at first, when it originally aired, thinking it a crass knockoff by assumption alone (I was, and am, a Fool). But lo, was I wrong. Verily. I watched the entire show greedily in 2001 and was blown away. I've never watched it since, and am a bit afraid to do so, actually, since I'm fairly certain it won't live up to my memories of it, and thus, another totem, fallen. I've only got a few left, so I've started to cherish them.

For instance:

Nah. I've got no point here. I just wanted to post this wicked cool drawing. Art!

I have no idea who either artist is, but I am confident the same person did not draw both of these. So, to the 2 folks out there in this beautiful, terrible world, thanks! You rock. These are awesome.

Especially of The Sisko, hallowed be the Prophets (Wormhole Aliens).

Also too: Wolf 359 Never Forget

Cephalopod's enough!

From the sexy....

 to the celebrated (Paul the Oracle's new monument in an aquarium in Germany - you remember Paul, don't you?!)...

 to the menu, Cephalopods are an important part of everyone's life!

In fact, they're amazing creatures, for many reasons, just a few of which I touch on, now:
1. Their camouflage abilities are without equal anywhere in the living world. Not only can some of these guys change their colors in real-time to match their surroundings, but they can change their shape and texture - to look exactly like a rock, for example. Imagine the sensors and brain power required to do that? Which leads me to
2. They're wicked smart. Right at the top of the list of "Most Intelligent Earth Creatures!" For example, I watched a science experiment with two Octopii in two separate cages, yet each could see the other. One octopus was then prompted to navigate a puzzle in order to obtain the treat inside, while the other octopus could watch. It would take some time for the first octopus to figure the puzzle out, but the second one would always solve it much, much faster. Replace the octopii and try again, and then again, then again, and finally, you must conclude: Octopus can learn complex tasks by watching.

This is an amazingly powerful skill that might seem simple to you and I, but is really revolutionary.

And the list goes on. Cephalopod's as a group are one of the most intelligent lifeforms on the planet, and I will not be surprised when our AI loving human relations begin molding AI on cephalopod forms, rather than human. In many ways, they are more advanced on a variety of fronts.

Regardless, won't you take a moment today, step back, and think of the wonders of our cephalopod cousins?

You know the birds will be doing so - yumyum!

Long Prophesied

Here's a picture of a "real life" "superhero" - Z. You can read all about Z's adventures, as well as the rest of his Justice League, here. 

It's an OK start - I like the numbers I'm hearing about (100-400), though I assume that's inflated, and very few people are serious.

I've been waiting so long for this - since the 70's, really, with the combination of heavy doses of comic books and "Death Wish" with Charles Bronson; mix in Bernie Goetz and the Guardian Angels, plus my first discovery of "The Punisher", and it's seemed to me only a matter of time before someone takes it to the next level - and goes full costumed crime fighter/vigilante.

Now, it might have happened many times and we've never heard about it, since it seems likely the cops would want to keep it quiet. But I think we've entered the age of Super-Vigilante's, for the following reasons:
1. Martial Arts. Many, many more people know how to fight than in the past.
2. Steroids - many more people can take drugs to increase their size.
3. Special Forces - our latest wars have been heavily focused on Special Forces; these folks, once they leave the military, can easily move on to high-paying mercenary work - why not a few in the hero biz?
4. Breakdown of our culture/EXTREME - everything's more extreme these days, both good and bad. Thus, the chances that someone will take this theme in both directions: Super heroes AND Super villains.

So, while Z and his group are getting close, they're not quite there yet, cuz frankly they're not crazy enough. But soon. I sit in my High Castle and declare: Soon.

As foretold by the Ancient Scribes...

The Chosen One has entered His Temple! But seriously, how weird would it be to get a private tour of an Egyptian pyramid, come into some obscure little room, and bam! There's a picture of you carved in the wall? Weird, right? Look to Obama's lower left in the above pic for the PROPHECY REVEALED!!!