Reform US Electoral System

Predicting anything is tricky, as anyone gambling on sports events such as .... oh I don't know, golfs 'Ryder Cup', will have found out last week.  But usually there is some sort of form when it comes to politics. Opinion polls are often very good indicators of what the people of a country are thinking (well, in true democracies .... not the Russian kind), and so we can take a punt on predicting the results.

US Presidential Race Prediction 2012

This map for example is my entirely spurious prediction for the US Presidential 2012 election next month (Obama must be favourite this time, incumbant always has the edge in a tight contest, if they are up for the fight).

Mayan Calendar Art

Despite all the evidence to the contrary, 2012 has seen an explosion of 'mockumentaries' which claim that the Mayans predicted the end of the world.

Mayan Scribes Calendar Calculations Go Past 2012 AD 

Now any reader of this blog will be aware that we at PC towers are as keen on the word 'Apocalypse' as the next 'Forteans', but also that we prefer it to be just far enough away, as to not ruin the weekend.

 

The Future Of Things

While we are still talking of making predictions, we can now add a new name to those of the great seers ...

 

John Elfreth Watkins, Jr.

 

..... American engineer John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. who in the December 1900 edition of the Ladies Home Journal wrote an entitled “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years ”, with 29 predictions ..... some, where right, and in fact his hit rate was better than your average savant.

Predictions 2012

Like seers throughout the ages, from Old Mother Shipton, to Nostradamus, blog commentators always feel impelled to have a stab at the coming years events .... its a chance to look stupid within months, weeks or even days.

Nosterdamus And Mother Shipton

But what the heck, here we go for 2012:

• Iran will test fire a Nuclear Bomb sometime this year, with all that this implies.
• All the 'Arab Spring' states will end up with Islamist parties in power, with all that this implies. 
• Nigeria will move closer towards a civil war based upon the Islamic Christian splits that already exist.
• North Korea will attack South Korean forces in another calculated gamble that they can force more aid from them.
• Pakistan will continue to slide backwards, and the army will take over again (that's if they ever really let go).
• Greece will pull out of the Euro, and at least one other state will follow suite.

Oh and one last one ..... the Mayan Apocalypse of 2012 will not be the end of the world .... well not unless the world reacts badly to one of the above, in which case maybe it will be. And that's my thoughts for the year ahead .....

End of the World ... Not

Recently there have been many reports of the end of the world ... many have been wrong, but the banker for all these nutcases has been the Mayan Calendar cycles which many believed meant the universe, or at least our little bit of it was going to come to an end next year ....

Bolon Yokte' K'uh  - Mayan God Of War. Due back next year.

.... maybe in 30 days ... but more likely at some point towards the end of 2012.