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- Survival groups around the world are gearing up and counting down to a mysterious date that has been anticipated for thousands of years: Dec. 21, 2012. Across the United States, Canada and throughout Europe, apocalyptic sects and individuals say that is the day that the world as we know it will end, ABCnews.com reports. Ancient Mayan societies, known for their advanced mathematics and astronomy, followed a "long count" calendar that lasted 5,126 years. When their charts are translated to the Gregorian calendar, the international standard used today, time runs out on Dec. 21, 2012. Believers say there are other...

BUSKIRK — A few years ago, Kathleen Breault was just another suburban grandma, driving countless hours every week, stopping for lunch at McDonald's, buying clothes at the mall, watching TV in the evenings. That was before Breault heard an author talk about the bleak future of the world's oil supply. Now, she's preparing for the world as we know it to disappear. Breault cut her driving time in half. She switched to a diet of locally grown foods near her upstate New York home and lost 70 pounds. She sliced up her credit cards, banished her television and swore...

1.) Tragically, horrifyingly, but quite predictably, it’s going to happen. The only question being which American city or cities? In a recent conversation with a former high level intelligence operative of our government, I raised the possibility of terrorists successfully detonating a nuclear weapon within the United States. His response was sobering in its hopelessness. First, he stressed how grateful he was that he did not work in Washington, DC, and that his family lived far enough out to survive the coming nuclear blast. When I pressed him as to why he was so sure that Islamic terrorists – with...

European, Asian and Canadian companies are taking advantage of the weaker dollar to buy their U.S. counterparts at a record pace, increasing investment in the United States but also raising fears about a potential loss of jobs and autonomy. "We could be looking at the world's largest tag sale if we continue to see declines in the dollar," said Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners. In the latest large deal aided by a weak dollar, Commerce Bancorp, which is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, agreed Tuesday to be acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada in a cash-and-shares deal...

US plans to change daylight saving hours this spring could wreak havoc on computer systems, Gartner claims. The analyst firm said utomated systems could run haywire this March. Disruptions could affect calendars, billing programs and security systems as well as undermining automated trading systems.

Space shuttle Discovery was moved to the launch pad Thursday to await a launch that could be as early as Dec. 6 — an effort to avoid potential New Year's Eve computer glitches. The worry is that shuttle computers aren't designed to make the change from the 365th day of the old year to the first day of the new year while in flight. NASA has never had a shuttle in space Dec. 31 or Jan. 1. "We've just never had the computers up and going when we've transitioned from one year to another," said Discovery astronaut Joan Higginbotham. "We're...

Y2K-like fears create shuttle scheduling crunch 22:07 06 November 2006 NewScientist.com news service Kelly Young The shuttle Discovery is being prepared for a December launch in the Vehicle Assembly Building at Florida's Kennedy Space Center (Image: NASA) NASA hopes to get its next space shuttle off the launch pad and back on the ground by the end of 2006 in order to avoid the spectre of problems once ascribed to 'Y2K'. It is now considering moving the shuttle Discovery's planned lift-off ahead by one day, to 6 December. The space shuttle's computer software is about 30 years old and does...

Solar flares will disrupt GPS in 2011 14:29 29 September 2006 NewScientist.com news service Jeff Hecht Navigation, power and communications systems that rely on GPS satellite navigation will be disrupted by violent solar activity in 2011, research shows. A study reveals Global Positioning System receivers to be unexpectedly vulnerable to bursts of radio noise produced by solar flares, created by explosions in the Sun's atmosphere. When solar activity peaks in 2011 and 2012, it could cause widespread disruption to aircraft navigation and emergency location systems that rely heavily on satellite navigation data. Particularly intense solar activity occurs roughly every 11...

Remember the Y2K panic back in 1999? That was the largely unfounded and shamelessly hyped by rapaciously greedy computer companies fear that all computers would cease functioning on Jan. 1, 2000, at midnight, due to somewhat inept programming and planning back in the early days of the digital age. Never happened. But what did happen was that corporations all over the globe stocked up on computers. Lots of computers. Servers. PCs. Workstations. You name it. They wanted to be ready for the big breakdown at the millennium. Then, the computer business stalled for a few years. Now, sources are telling...

Thoughts On Urban Survival (Post-Collapse Life in Argentina) My brother visited Argentina a few weeks ago. He’s been living in Spain for a few years now. Within the first week, he go sick, some kind of strong flu, even though climate isn’t that cold and he took care of himself. Without a doubt he got sick because there are lots of new viruses in my country that can’t be found in 1st world countries. The misery and famine lead us to a situation where, even though you have food, shelter and health care, most of others don’t, and therefore they...

SOUTHERN ILLINOIS -- Speaking with the fervor of an evangelist at a tent revival, Alan Keyes, the Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, made a campaign swing through Southern Illinois last week, marking his first visit to the area. Keyes made appearances in Marion and Mount Vernon to rally downstate support in his race against Democratic candidate Barack Obama. During both stops Keyes said Democrats are in for a surprise on Nov. 2. "I don't care what the pundits say. This state on election day is going to go Republican up and down the ticket," Keyes predicted. Keyes joined the race...

Soon after the Warsaw Pact collapsed in 1989, Bush the Elder began retrieving the thousands of "tactical" nukes we had forward deployed in NATO countries for use against invading Warsaw Pact armies. Did the Soviet Union follow suit? Well, no. It turns out that, although the Soviet Union had more than 15,000 tactical nukes for use against invading NATO armies, none had ever been deployed outside the Soviet Union. Apparently, we are the only nuke power that has ever based our nukes – tactical and strategic – in foreign countries. Why bring that up now? Well, President Bush has just...

Some important points in the article below: 1. Clinton officials refused to act on intelligence memo which warned of possible terrorist attacks "specifically targeting American citizens" citing lack of specifics. 2. Clarke et.al. were blindsided by the customs agent apprehending Ressam, by their own admission. 3. Clarke's so called "Millennial Plan" focused on overseas threats only. 4. Despite his obsession with overseas threats, Clarke could not predict or stop USS Cole 9 months later. ***************************************************************************************************** On High Alert: Casting a Global Net, U.S. Security Forces Survive Terrorist Test By Neil King Jr. and David S. Cloud. Wall Street Journal....

Bringing back a song for my pal gonzo. He was the FReeper most prepared for trouble during the Y2K hype. This is destined to be a Christmas classic. MIDI - 12 DAYS OF GONZO - 1st version On the 1st of Y2K at gonzo’s house you’ll see…a sniper nest up in the tree On the 2nd of Y2K at gonzo’s house you’ll see 2 .45s…and a sniper nest up in the tree On the 3rd of Y2K at gonzo’s house you’ll see 3 Remingtons…2 .45s…and a sniper nest up in the tree On the 4th of Y2K at gonzo’s house...

July 10 — Charles Taylor, the Liberian president who has been indicted by an international court for crimes against humanity, has few remaining supporters in the United States. But one prominent American who has stuck with the West African leader is religious broadcaster and Christian Coalition founder Pat Robertson. IN RECENT BROADCASTS of his cable TV show “The 700 Club,” watched by an estimated 1 million households, Robertson has defended Taylor as a fellow Baptist and Liberia’s “freely elected” leader. The “horrible bloodbath” taking place in Liberia, he has repeatedly said, is the fault of the State Department. “So we’re...

MONTREAL (CP) - The family of accused terrorist collaborator Mourad Ikhlef said Monday they fear for his life after he went missing following his deportation to Algeria. Ikhlef, who was flown to Algiers from Montreal on Friday, had claimed he might be killed if he were sent back to his North African homeland. An official with the federal Immigration Department, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed Ikhlef's deportation on Monday, adding the department didn't know his whereabouts. "I don't know what the situation is," said the official. "I'm not even going to speculate why he hasn't shown." Ikhlef's brother,...

This isn’t the first time in our history that we’ve had the possibility of dangerous weapons in the hands of a leader we didn’t trust, and this won’t be the first time we’ve responded to this possible threat with a military assault. In 1992, the U.S. federal government conducted a military siege at Ruby Ridge, ultimately killing Randy Weaver's dog, son and wife. Mr. Weaver was suspected of being a cult leader, hording weapons and ammunition for anti-government purposes. The government was never able to prove their allegations, but ends-justify-the-means justice was the explanation for the loss of life. Did...

Papa Smurf Runs For SenateLibertarian U.S. Senate candidate Stan Jones, speaks Sept. 23 during a debate at the Great Falls Civic Center in Great Falls, Mont. Jones has a distinct blue-gray skin color, the result of taking too much of an anti-bacterial form of pure silver. (CBS) GREAT FALLS, Montana — Montana's Libertarian candidate for Senate has turned blue from drinking a silver solution that he believed would protect him from disease. Stan Jones, a 63-year-old business consultant and part-time college instructor, said he started taking colloidal silver in 1999 for fear that Y2K disruptions might lead to a shortage...

As I was using up some of our last dozen canned vegetables, I remembered all the threads prior to Y2K. People were stockpiling all kinds of stuff. I remember someone posting that they had 500 rolls of toilet paper in an outdoor shed. So I thought it might be fun to see who still has any Y2K leftovers and maybe share creative ways we are using them up. Speaking for our house, the canned vegetables have come in handy as we like stews and homemade soups. About a dozen cans is all we have left. Did you have leftovers you...