Secret Conspiracies and the End of the World

On Thursdays, I have a four hour phy sci lab class. And for 4 hours, I sit around and socialize with my lab partners. Thank you Edwin for doing the last two labs! We're not lazy, it's just that there are 6 people in our group and only so many people can be on the Mac or crowding around the frog skin. Last week, our human respiration lab, we discussed drugs and smoking. It turns out my FEV1/FVC ratio is below the norm, which means I have obstructive lung disease. Am I worried? No.

This week we discussed crazy physics (yeah, what nerds right?), conspiracy theories, and how 2012 is the beginning of the end of the world. We started out with physics... I have no clue how physics came up. But it eventually led to a discussion about how small (and insignificant, gosh these boys are emo) we are compared to the vast amount of space that is out there. Then that led to Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Since we were focused on space/sky... Gan worked us into this chemtrail theory. You know those white streaks from airplanes/jets in the sky? Are they suppose to be there? Contrails are only suppose to last for a couple of minutes, but sometimes those streaks last for a long ass while (those are chemtrails.) Some people believe that the government is testing something and they are releasing it through the chemtrails. Could it be some strategy to test airborne terrorist drugs? Or many it's a way to control the population? If you Google chemtrail, there's an article, or more like blog, about it. In it, the person wrote how the Discovery Channel did a documentary on it, only to have it pulled from the network. Suspicious right? The writer, a doctor, also wrote about how parents would come into the office complaining about their kid's breathing. Doc claims it's due to some heavy metal the kid inhaled from playing outside. Doc prescribed them some medicine, symptoms went away, only to return when the kids go out and play. Yeah I know this sounds crazy, but interesting at the same time right? I'm not some crazy nut that believes in every conspiracy theory she hears, but come on, you have to admit, they're fun to learn about right?

We also discussed the significance of 2012. Supposedly the Mayans even predicted that the end of the world would start at that year, which is scary because it's only 3 years away! So, the Mayans came up with an extremely accurate calendar, even predicting eclipses down to the very hour. They were obsessed with time, and with no internet or TV to distract them, you know they double checked their calculations. The Mayans made this prediction because in 2012, the earth will move into the center of the galaxy. It will cross from one side of the galaxy to the other. Scientists predict that this will cause a change in the earth and the layers of the earth will move, causing the locations of the pole to change, and in effect, change everything else from our weather, water levels, etc. And supposedly the poles have changed before.

More evidence for 2012: Have you heard of I Ching? This is so cool (not I Ching, well it's interesting but this other tidbit) Merce Cunningham, a modern dance choreographer, used the idea behind I Ching to choreograph his dance Torse (I believe it was Torse, he could have also used it for other dances.) Anyways, I Ching is an ancient classical Chinese text and it basically allows you to tell your own fortune/make predictions about your life. Look up the Korean flag, notice those four sets of three lines that surround the red circle? Those are symbols from I Ching. I Ching uses 64 hexagrams (a set of 6 lines, a combo of broke and solid lines) to symbolize elements. These hexagrams are broken down into halves, so sets of three lines like what you see on the Korean flag. These sets of three lines have meanings like earth, heaven, wind, fire etc. Also, the flag of the Empire of Vietnam (the one with the yellow background and three lines: solid line, broken line, solid line) contains the I Ching symbol for fire. After the Empire of Vietnam, we have the Republic of Vietnam. The flag changed the symbol from fire to heaven, with the three solid red lines. Interesting, right?

Okay time for the freaky part. So some time ago, when computers were already invented, this one guy, took all 64 hexagrams and turned it into a plot. The plot produced a wave, a bunch of jagged ups and downs. It's a random wave, with long dips, short dips, steep highs, etc. Anyways it turns out that if you follow the slopes with time, when ever there was a dip, something bad happened in history, like war, and whenever there was a high point, something good happened, like some huge discovery. Anyways homeboy mapped it out and at about 2012, the wave hit a low and it ended right there. Freaky right? Okay, I need to remind everyone that I am not some gullible twit, but because I have heard of I Ching, and possibly because I happen to be Asian, this stuff seems more interesting than crazy to me.

I told my roommate and her boyfriend about all these crazy things (and more believe it or not... there are more freaky stories) and the BF found the History Channel program of 2012 on YouTube. So YouTube it and check it out. I personally think the program shouldn't have included the Web-Bot gig. That killed it and turned the show into something like Eagle Eye where computers will be doing more than just stock market predictions.

Alright let's leave it at that. I have one more stories I wanted to share, one about Nikola Tesla, but I'm going to read up on him first.

Here is part 1 of 4 from YouTube. If you like it check out the rest of the episode.