December 15, 2024
Counting the Minutes: Turning To G-d
November 24, 2024
Can Sanity Prevail Before a Doomsday Scenario?
(Source Photo: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/ai-generated-atom-bomb-8412004/)
Can Sanity Prevail Before a Doomsday Scenario?
October 9, 2022
The Apocalypse
It looked like it was ready for just about anything.
What fun to drive and pretend your "Mad Max"
Maybe you really are. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Itzchak O.)
The Apocalypse
April 5, 2021
The Bombs Will Fall On Iran’s Nukes
Since Iran has rejected any new negotiations or participants to the Iran nuclear deal, we must assume that the flaws of JCPOA will not be resolved and that Iran’s existential threats remains unabated. Further, Iranian elections this coming June 2021 are forecasted to bring more dangerous Iranian hardliners to power. Therefore, regardless of whether the US reenters the deal with Iran now, it will only mean a short term stopgap for restrictions placed on the Iran’s dangerous program for weapons of mass destruction. The end game for the Ayatollahs has not changed in gaining nuclear destructive capability and threatening Israel, the Sunni Muslim states, and the western world with this.While reentering the Iran nuclear agreement buys the world some time, and not that much frankly, the US, Israel, and other key allies will need to continue planning in earnest for what comes after the failings of the JCPOA deal, and that will most assuredly bring us back to the massive and devastating bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities with the Mother of All Bombs (MOABS) and other highly advanced weapon systems fitted for this.
The Bombs Will Fall On Iran’s Nukes
March 26, 2021
The Fallacy of Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a failure waiting to happen.
It is being sold as a hedge against not only inflation, but also doomsday!
However, Bitcoin is not gold which can be sold or bartered in a true doomsday scenario.
Bitcoin is a digital cryptocurrency and as such it is dependent on technology.
In a doomsday scenario, there is a great chance for the interruption for extended periods of time of our technical infrastructure whether through terrorism, war, cyber attack, or an electromagnetic pulse.
Even with Blockchain distributed ledger, there is a high probability that you will NOT be able to access or trade Bitcoin from any digital wallet if the infrastructure is severely or broadly damaged.
Your gold watch, ring, or coins will still hold value as currency, but your Bitcoins will be useless!
If you think losing your password to access Bitcoin is a problem, what happens where you can't access the Internet.
A digital doomsday is not as far fetched as you may think and the vulnerability of Western Civilization, in particular high-tech countries like America have much at stake.
If you think Bitcoin will be your hedge again a major disruption in our way of life you are caught in the greater fool theory. ;-)
(Credit Photo: Pixabay)
The Fallacy of Bitcoin
March 10, 2021
Fashion Masks
For the end of the world.
If not Covid then for the next big one!
You want to look you best when the world is destructing.
Always look your best! ;-)
(Credit Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Fashion Masks
June 21, 2016
It's Getting Mighty Hot
It's Getting Mighty Hot
April 5, 2016
Have A Nice Doomsday
An anti-nuke demonstration outside the White House with signs that say:
"Live by the bomb, die by the bomb."
and
"Ban all nuclear weapons or have a nice doomsday."
This was particularly interesting juxtaposed to the editorial in the Wall Street Journal yesterday by the UAE Ambassador to the U.S. who reflected on "one year after the Iran nuclear deal" and outright stated:
"Don't be fooled. The Iran--we have long known--hostile, expansionist, violent--is alive and well."
And he goes on to cite the multiple ballistic missile tests by Iran (October, November, and March), the firing of rockets by Iran dangerously close to a U.S. aircraft carrier (December), the detaining of US Navy sailors on their knees broadcast to the world (January), an $8 billion purchase by Iran of Russian fighter jets, planes, and helicopters (February), and the seizure of shipments by Iran of large weapons caches supporting terrorism around the world (February, March, and April) including just yesterday when the U.S. seized thousands of AK-47s and RPGs headed for Yemen.
The editorial ends...
"Our hope for a new Iran should not cloud the reality that the old Iran is very much still with us--as dangerous and as disruptive as ever,"
Let's pray that our earnest yearnings for peace with Iran (and North Korea for that matter) does not end in the polar opposite...a "nice" nuke doomsday scenario by the leading state sponsor(s) of terrorism worldwide. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy from Washington Artworks)
Have A Nice Doomsday
May 16, 2014
Rise Oceans Rise
According to the Wall Street Journal, the Antarctica alone holds 60% of the world's fresh water "locked into millions of cubic miles of polar ice."
NASA glaciologists states: "Ice is going to retreat in this sector for decades and centuries to come and we can't stop it."
In other words, we may have "reached the point of no return."
Sea levels are seen rising 10 to 12 feet--that's almost 1.8 x Magic Johnson across all our oceans.
The New York Times says that just a four foot rise would inundate cities like New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans.
WTOP reports that the impact will not just be in low-lying cities but even Washington, DC along the Chesapeake Bay is at great risk.
And while over time barriers may be able to be built up around DC to protect it, other areas like New York City is "almost unenclosable."
Global warming has is changing our earth's ecosystems, and like the National Deficit, we can try to prove it false, ignore it, or hope for a technological breakthrough or miracle to save us.
Yes, there are lot's of doom and gloom scenarios, and it's hard to know when to take catastrophe seriously and when it is Chicken Little.
While I wouldn't go looking for high ground just yet, maybe that Miami oceanfront--as much as I love it--may not be the best long-long term investment around. ;-)
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Rise Oceans Rise
September 26, 2012
Mural of Brotherhood
This was posted up next to a local school near their track, field, and basketball courts.
When all the world is topsy-turvy with riots and fighting, WMD and threats of annihilation, and all sorts of financial doomsday scenarios--it is uplifting to see this simple and pure painting spreading happiness.
Let's create a world for our children and grandchildren with more joy, positivity, and stability, and less stress, fear, and uncertainty.
(Source Photo: Andy Blumenthal)
Mural of Brotherhood
October 9, 2011
End Of The World, Almost
End Of The World, Almost
April 26, 2011
Doomsday In Style
Doomsday In Style
January 26, 2008
Doomsday and Enterprise Architecture
Enterprise architecture is about planning and transitioning from the baseline to the target state.
However, as architects, there are times when we need to plan for the worst and hope for the best, as the saying goes.
As the price of oil has reached and exceeded $100 a barrel and significant new findings of oil are becoming a rarity, some people are starting to get nervous and are planning for a day when oil will be scarce, pricey, and society as we have come to know will cease to exist. Yikes, doomsday!
Are these people simply uninformed, pessimists, or non-believers that technological progress will outpace the demands we are placing on this planet’s resources?
The Wall Street Journal, 26 January 2008, reports about everyday people, like the Aaron Wissner in Middleville, Michigan, a school computer teacher with a wife and infant son, who became “peak-oil aware.” This term refers to his “embracing the theory that world’s oil production is about to peak.
These people fear the worst; “Oil supplies are dwindling just as world demand soars. The result: oil prices ‘will skyrocket, oil dependent economies will crumble, and resource wars will explode.’” Mr. Wissner’s forebodings include, “banks faltering” and “food running out.”
And they believe that we cannot stop this from happening. “no techno-fix was going to save us. Electric cars, biodiesel, nuclear power, wind and solar—none of it will cushion the blow.”
So Mr. Wissner and his family are preparing and transitioning themselves for the worst, they “tripled the size of his garden…stacked bags of rice in his new pantry, stashed gold…and doubled the size of his propane tank.”
According to the article there are thousands of people that adhere to the peak-oil theory.
Of course, there are many doomsday scenarios out there that end in war, famine, disease, and so on. During the cold war, people built bomb shelters in their back yards, and school children had drills hiding under their desks. These days, many fear that globalization will drive this country to economic ruin. Al Gore and other environmentalists espouse the global warming theory. And since 9/11, fears are heightened about terrorists hitting us with nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological agents. Even Hollywood has entered the fray with movies such as Armageddon about meteors hitting the Earth or The Day After Tomorrow with the greenhouse effect sending us back to the ice-age.
Whether you adhere with any of these various doomsday scenarios or visions of the future (their believed target architecture, not necessarily their desired one) and how they are preparing (transitioning) to it or you think they are just a bunch of nut-balls, it seems important as an enterprise architect to recognize that targets are not always rosy pictures of growth and prosperity for an organization, and the transition plans are not always a welcome and forward movement. Sometimes as architects, we must plan for the worst--hoping, of course that it never comes--but never-the-less preparing, the best we can. As architects, we don’t have to put all the enterprise’s eggs in one basket. We can weigh the odds and invest accordingly in different scenarios. Our organization’s resources are limited, so we must allocate resources carefully and with forethought. Of course, no architecture can save us from every catastrophe.
Doomsday and Enterprise Architecture