The matrix, asteroids, and poltics...oh my!

The end is near.  That is to say, the end of the American way of life…whatever that is these days.

A week or so ago, someone I follow on Facebook posted this link to a list of “32 Signs That the Entire World Is Being Transformed Into a Futuristic Big Brother Prison Planet.”  Not a title that especially rolls off the tongue, but there you go.  We’re all getting plugged into the Matrix.  What are a few of these signs of impending shackles?
I’m glad you asked.  One of them is the level of Internet censorship in China.  I fail to see how one nation with one of the worst human rights records in the world is indicative of the rest of us, but it makes the list apparently.  Another is the fact that FBI Director Robert Mueller made the comment that “homegrown terrorists represent as big a threat to American national security as al-Qaeda does.”  I really don’t see anything wrong with this statement.  Oklahoma City, anyone?
Then there are the VIPR teams.  These cadres of Federal agents are said to establish security checkpoints at major transportation hubs. The author of the text raised objections to calling these teams “VIPR.”  My first response was “better than calling them Cobra.”  But the guy beat me to it by writing, “What is next?  Are we going to find out that the TSA has hired Cobra Commander and Destro as consultants?”  By the way, that would be epic. 

There are a few valid points made.  Officials in the UK have announced that all private emails, texts, phone calls, and Internet histories of their citizens will be recorded and stored for one year.  The state police in Michigan have an “extraction device” that can pull up data from the cellphones of anyone they pull over.  DARPA has developed a computer video surveillance technology that brings about an end to public anonymity.  If you’re outside, consider yourself on camera. 

But wait!  There’s more!  A nifty little cartoon is even provided that takes you on a tour of “Plannedopolis;” a future city where everything from your transportation, to your food intake, to your very career is planned for you.
While there are admittedly a few eyebrow-raising points on this list, it’s all mostly a load of Teabagger tosh.  So if you harbored any grand designs of fighting with Neo against the Matrix, you’re likely to be disappointed.


I did a post not long ago on asteroid impacts.  Turns out that astronomers nearly called for a worldwide Impact Alert back in January of 2004.  While a mere 36 hours away, the asteroid 2004 AS1 was thought by NASA’s JPL to have a 25% chance of striking the Earth.  Before going public with this information, it was finally determined that the asteroid would miss us by about 30 times the distance of the Earth to the Moon.  Good thing, too.  We found that 2004 AS1 is about 16 times larger than its originally estimated 30 meter length.  That’s more than enough to wipe out a city.  Procedures for future Impact Alerts were reviewed but I’m still looking for the results of that.  Even if we had warning, would they tell us?  Or would be like that sucky movie, 2012?


Good to see that Weinergate is proceeding apace.  I know that kinky sex is the umbra of politics, but I care less and less about it every day.  It’s hard to care about a leader’s private life (or private parts, nyuk nyuk) when unemployment, high gas prices, and any number of economic issues are hammering us all.  Dare I say we work on those first?


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