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Mashups of two different but familiar stories are a common basis for internet videos, often because they are just plain strange. Can you imagine any stranger combination than Mad Max and Kung Fu Panda? Wastelander Panda is the story of a fighting panda set in a post-apocalyptic world. Epic Films produced this as part of a TV series in development. -Thanks, Marcus!
Redditor Vidzilla composed a story about the end of the world using the internet: website screenshots, photographs, social networking, generators, and news sites -you know, the way internet surfers get their information. The saga begins on January 1, 2012 and ends on the 14th (redditors who followed the story had to wait for each installment). You should click on each day in order, and enlarge the images to follow the progress, but beware that the images become increasingly graphic and may be disturbing to some people. There are also some links in the images for further reading. Each day’s reddit link also has a discussion in the comments. Link -via Metafilter
Some people still think the world will end in 2012, because that’s where the Maya calendar ends. C.G.P. Grey explains how that strange idea came about. An even simpler explanation came from Dan Pirraro a couple of years ago. If this goes too fast for you, the script is at Grey’s website. Link -via The Daily What
2012
may be the end of the world, but that won't stop Mexico from cashing in
on the whole Mayan
apocalypse prophecy thing!
The country's tourism agency, which stressed it does not itself believe the world will end, hopes to attract 52 million visitors to southeastern areas that were the heart of Mayan territory over the course of next year. The whole of the country usually attracts 22 million visitors annually.
More than 500 Mayan-themed events have been planned including ceremonies with Mayan priests performing rituals, burning incense and chanting.
In the jungle near Cancun messages and photographs will be placed in a "time capsule" and buried.
The town of Chiapas, on the Guatemalan border, is installing an 8ft digital clock in its main park which will count down to the much anticipated date.
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The Bible says in Matthew 24:36 “No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” That never stopped people from trying to predict when the world will end. Smithsonian has a list of ten predicted apocalypses from ancient times to 2009 (when this list was first published).
An Assyrian clay tablet dating to around 2800 B.C. bears the inscription: “Our Earth is degenerate in these later days; there are signs that the world is speedily coming to an end; bribery and corruption are common; children no longer obey their parents; every man wants to write a book and the end of the world is evidently approaching.”
The world hasn’t changed much since then; everyone still wants to write a book. Link
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Predictions about the future tend to give us some ray of hope, but fiction can be totally depressing. Unrestrained fantasy, action, and shock value often make movies about dystopian futures into hits. Here’s a list of 18 movies that all start out with a description of the future: “In a world where…” life as we know it has changed to something awful and our victim/hero dares to do something we consider normal, causing conflict with the powers-that-be. Make your selections carefully. Link [edit 3/17/11 by Alex - be careful, malware redirect has been reported on this link] -Thanks, Danny!
First it was the birds, then some fish. Now, 200 dead cows turned up last week in Illinois. Is the Apocowlypse coming?
The 200 dead cattle were discovered on a farm field on 4th Street in Amherst. Sunday, the bodies were taken out in semi-loads to be disposed of.
The farm’s veterinarian says preliminary results show the animals died of acute interstitial pneumonia, also known as AIP. Samples from the dead animals were sent to Madison for testing.
The vet says the steers began to die early last week, with the last dying Saturday. The animals started showing symptoms of illness and then died within 12 hours. The vet says animals didn’t respond to treatment.
The experts claimed it was Acute Interstitial Pneumonia, but we all know that it’s just code word for military death ray.
Link – via Huffington Post
Pictured above is Pestilence Pony from the television show Robot Chicken. It was used for a particular sketch featuring the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelation (6:1-8) as My Little Pony toys. Seth Green, one of writers and producers of Robot Chicken, is promoting an online petition to convince Hasbro to make these ponies.
Link via Popped Culture | Image: Cartoon Network
The Antichrist
"The Apocalypse, or Book of Revelation, is not only the last Book of the New Testament, but its most difficult, puzzling, and terrifying. It provided challenges to medieval illustrators and was the source for a number of popular images, such as Christ in Majesty, the Adoration of the Lamb, and the Madonna of the Apocalypse and contributed to the widespread use of the Evangelists’ symbols."
When the Apocalypse comes, would you know what the Antichrist would look like? Regardless of your religious beliefs (or non-belief), surely you’ll agree that the apocalyptical illustrations of the medieval Beatus Apocalypse are gorgeous.
Another great find by peacay of BibliOdyssey: Link
Artist TokyoGenso illustrates the city of Tokyo as it would appear after humans have been wiped out. Mother Nature gradually moves in, takes over, and tears the evidence of civilization apart. This picture depicts Haneda Airport; see more at Pink Tentacle. Link -Thanks, Marilyn Terrell!
Science is wonderful of course, but it can also be vaguely terrifying if you take things to their logical (or not so logical) conclusions. Take batteries that run on human blood:
So scientists have developed a battery that is powered by human blood. The idea is a cybernetic power source, to keep your pacemaker or whatever running. But, lets think about this for a second…what do we have way too much of on this planet? People. And what do we have way too little of? Power. A battery that runs on human blood is an easy fix for both of them. Jonathan Swift would be proud of this, screw eating the poor, lets just power all our gadgets with them.
From the Upcoming 
ueue, submitted by redsfaithful.
Jalopnik asked its readers for suggestions on what vehicles would be best for surviving and traveling in a post-apocalyptic world. Nine existing vehicles and one semi-fictional vehicle made the cut. Pictured is the Dobbertin Surface Orbiter.
Built out of an old milk tanker, the Orbiter was designed to circumnavigate the globe on land and water, which is good for when you’re on the move and forced to deal with the suddenly changing seasons that the nuclear fallout will likely bring. And like all good survival vehicles, it comes complete with a kitchen and porta-potti.
Link -via the Presurfer
Many religious cults are based on apocalypticism, the belief that the world is going to end. Check out ten such beliefs, their founders, and followers. One such cult is the Panacea Society.
In 1792, part-time fortune teller Joanna Southcott started collecting “divine revelations” and had them sealed in a box with strict instructions to open it only for Jesus. Her followers called themselves Southcottians and were mostly early-19th century Spiritualists. Southcott dramatically announced that she was pregnant with the messiah, Shiloh, whose birth would kill all but her followers. However, Southcott was a 64-year-old virgin who showed no signs of pregnancy. To Southcott’s credit, she began doubting her beliefs when she failed to give birth but died before she was able to do anything about it. The sudden power vacuum among the Southcottians brought out all sorts of leadership, all of whom claimed they could psychically communicate with Southcott’s box, and transformed the Southcottians into a bizarre cult that refused to bury Southcott’s corpse, believing that she would be resurrected. They renamed themselves the Panacea Society under the belief that they had healing powers, and still believe that Shiloh will descend from heaven to reboot the world at a later date.
There are nine other cults profiled at Ty.rannosaur.us. Link
How will the world end in the immediate future? Slate has a both serious and fun look at this question, allowing users to suggest up to five of one hundred forty-four possible problems that could bring about the end of America and/or the world. These include alien invasion, a swine flu epidemic, and Vermont achieving independence, among many other options.
The application focuses primarily on the United States and its demise, but many problems you could throw into your chosen apocalypse would impact the entire world (e.g. asteroid collision).
What nightmare scenario do you choose?
Disney comissioned artist former Deus Ex designer Warren Spector to come up with his interpretation of a very twisted Disney World as concept art for the Wii game Epic Mickey.
…images from both Gambino and Glover, covering rotted Epcots, foreboding Cinderella castles, terrifying scorpion-like mecha-Country Bears, and more — all of which come with the obvious caveat that they may or may not reflect anything of the current state of the project.
From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by xpresscm.
In 1979, an anonymous group erected a massive stone structure in Elbert County, Georgia. This modern-day stonehenge is more than twenty feet tall and arranged to serve as a calendar and a clock. Its slabs have instructions in eight languages for reconstructing society after the collapse of civilization. The instructions are more philosophical than technological, but perhaps nonetheless prudent:
PROTECT PEOPLE AND NATIONS WITH FAIR LAWS AND JUST COURTS. LET ALL NATIONS RULE INTERNALLY RESOLVING EXTERNAL DISPUTES IN A WORLD COURT. AVOID PETTY LAWS AND USELESS OFFICIALS. BALANCE PERSONAL RIGHTS WITH SOCIAL DUTIES. PRIZE TRUTH—BEAUTY—LOVE—SEEKING HARMONY WITH THE INFINITE. BE NOT A CANCER ON THE EARTH—LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE—LEAVE ROOM FOR NATURE.
If you were composing brief instructions for survivors of the collapse of civilization, what would you write?
Link via Instapundit
