3 Years Left

According the Mayans, we only have 3 years left to enjoy ourselves. According to them, the world will come to an end on December 21st, 2012. In that spirit, Hollywood, never an organization willing to pass up the opportunity to make money off cultures, has released a movie called 2012 about that very cataclysm. I went to see it the other day because I like disaster movies. As movies go, it wasn't too bad although the science was rather incorrect. It starts off by saying that neutrinos are beginning to react with other particles in the Earth, heating us up, whereas before they hadn't; that's just not true. While the majority of neutrinos pass through matter unimpeded, they do react occasionally which is how we detect them. There was also the concept of total crustal displacement, essentially the crust moves as one, put forward by Charles Hapgood and supported by Einstein. While so much is true, Hapgood opposed the idea of plate tectonics which we now know drives crustal movement. It's simply impossible for the whole of the Earth's crust to move as one quickly. But who knows, maybe the Mayans were right and it'll end some other way. If it does, at least I won't have to deal with being 30.

At the end of 2012, the survivors are headed for Africa which has been raised and is the best choice for restarting humanity. The Drakensberge ("dragon mountains" in Afrikaans) are the new roof of the world. By a strange coincidence, lately I've felt a wanderlust to visit South Africa, particularly the Drakensberge, but for no particular reason. Maybe I'll head off in a little while.

Last Tuesday was also the last trivia session at University House until February. We came in second this time. I look forward to next season and I shall be honing my skills in the interim.

On Thursday, I had another ACTTAB Christmas party. This is the staff party, not an official corporate event, and, like last year, it was held at the Hellenic Club. Though many people showed up, I thought there were fewer than last year. We had dinner and drank well into the night and, I suppose, the next morning. After dinner, I decided that it was about time I picked up a vice. Drinking, narcotics and smoking are too damaging to my health so, for the first time in my life, I decided to gamble with my money, instead of my life. I only had about 3 bets and none cost more than AUS$4.00. I think I ended up down by about AUS$2 by the end, though because I'd found AUS$15.00 on the floor, I was up quite a bit. I'm not going to make a habit of this, though I did have some fun by sarcastically asking my supervisor how I should fill in the betting slip. After it all, I felt as though I'd had a bit of fun and participated in an important part of Aussie culture. Maybe next year I'll bet a little more.

Rather annoyingly, some of the power is out at Fenner Hall. ACTEWAGL, the local utilities company, has set about upgrading the local generator and that has necessitated a reduction in the availability of electricity. Originally planned to last only an hour, the power will continue to be rationed, so to speak, until 18:00 tomorrow. It's a bit inconvenient, especially as the Summer Duty Warden I was getting calls about it at 07:00, but there's nothing that can be done except wait and hope everything will be alright. I just hope it will be worth it after all this trouble.