The Apocalypse and Other Stories

Recently, I've noticed a reoccurring theme sweeping the internet, the idea of the apocalypse. When I say recently I'm talking about the last few months, but with an increase in this past week. I've had at least two conversations in the last couple of days with Hayley about this, and it seems that, apparently out of no where, suddenly people think the world is ending.

Until now I had taken the idea with a bucketful of salt, I mean my dad has been sprouting ideas about the world's end for years. He places it in about eight or nine years time I believe, and all I could do was cower when it came up at dinner yesterday. Thankfully, Hayley knows how to handle parents, nodding and smiling is always good, but don't agree too passionately or you'll never get rid of them. The thing with my dad is that he places the happenings of revelation at that time.

About three months ago I stumbled upon an article proclaiming that the end of the world was coming because of the oil companies drilling in the Atlantic ocean. It stated that there is giant methane bubble under the seabed and that it would rupture, and because of the size, would wipe out the entire human race. It also stated that this would happen in the next six months.

Another of these scheduled apocalypses is the idea that the gulf is not moving as it should. This year it didn't slow down as it should when winter came. This "change" is being blamed for a number of circumstances such as the dropping of flocks of birds from the sky (which google maps has been plotting since a couple of days ago), the strange weather patterns like the flooding in Australia or the unusually early cold snap seen here in the UK this December.

Next, of course, is the idea that the earth's polarity will swap over. This has been shown to happen every so many hundreds of thousands of years, and some people think it'll be this that causes a cataclysm, though how the scientists are not really sure.

And let's not even start on this 2012 thing.

With all these apocalyptic theories flying about, I have to wonder, how many should I pay attention to, if any? Should I worry that these are my last few days on earth? Well, that's wouldn't get me anywhere. What do these people think they're accomplishing with their theories? The general public are acting as if these people are walking around with signs saying "the end is nigh" and shouting about destruction.

As far as most of us are concerned, they may as well be yelling about a giant antelope about to jump on the world with hooves made of solid silver and a horn that spouts lightning, because, to be honest, what the hell can we do about it?