Well, I'm a Calvin and Hobbes fan and I know there are a lot more out there. This little clip feels appropriate for the season. I always loved Calvin's Snowmen series. Since we didn't have a real apocalypse, I thought I would share a "salute to Calvin's snowpocalypses" as the creators of this film described it.

My first day back at my computer after weeks of being out with complications due to the flu. Somewhere in my mind I had been planing on writing about my experiences but the events that occurred yesterday have rendered such a topic meaningless. And yet I don't feel ready to write about the horrific events that happened in Newtown, Connecticut. It's still too painful, too... full of anguish. It's just too soon for me to write about it. Over the next few days I will be visiting with friends and family many of whom have small children and I will be thankful that tragedy has not touched their lives. And all of that happiness and relief will be mitigated by the sure and certain knowledge that out there are others who will not have that simple pleasure this holiday season.

I came across this piece of nonsense today and was reminded that the world is supposed to end this month. As I write this it's Dec 2nd and according to one doomsday scenario the end is on Dec 21st. At my old job I would be spending this month attempting (with little success) to calm people down and reassure them that the end is NOT nigh. I'm not going to bother debunking the photo here (it's a fake and so is the claim) or the end of the world. After all, that's not my job any more. One of the scenarios involves the planet Nibiru or planet X destroying the solar system. This idea was first put forward for May 5, 2000. Notice the numbers? When that didn't happen it was rescheduled to May 5, 2003 and you guessed it May 5, 2005. Now it has been tagged onto the Mayan prophesy so it's supposed to be Dec 21, 2012. I have answered those desperate calls for reassurance since sometime late in 1999. This time, I going to try something different. I'm going to try making a little money off this nonsense. So, I'm willing to take bets from any and all comers. I am betting that the world will not end and here are my terms. I will accept that I have lost the bet if ten percent of the earth's population dies with one week of Dec 21st. (i.e. between Dec 14 and Dec 28) My apologies to those who believe that it won't be the end of the world but rather some sort of transition. I don't think that will happen either but I can't think of a way to define win/lose conditions.