You’ve probably heard this crazy rumour going around that the world is going to end in 2012. It’s all a bunch of mildly entertaining nonsense, but it provided the inspiration for 2012, a disaster-porno that came out this year about doomsday.

The movie had a clever viral marketing campaign that has now been revealed as a hoax.

A website for something called the Institute for Human Continuity popped up on teh internets claiming that it’s scientists knew that the world would soon come to an end.

Included on the website was a lottery for determining who would be saved when 2012 came.

When you look at the site now, it states boldly, and over and over again, that it’s a part of the 2012 movie experience. But before the movie came out you had to do some digging to find connections to the movie anywhere on the site.

I read somewhere (though now I can’t seem to find where I read it) that NASA had emails pouring in from worried people asking about the IHC, some who said they would kill themselves so that they wouldn’t have to witness the apocalypse. I hope nobody got too worked up about this hoax, but it is fun to read some of the comments on Yahoo Answers from believers in the 2012 doomsday that were written about the IHC before the hoax was revealed:

there is a saying that goes: tell people the truth they wont believe it anyway. keep your minds and eyes open and watch the signs. the ihc is not a joke. the truth hurts and to most people ignorance is bliss

its for the movie 2012 but when i went 2 the website it looked tooo real, i was freakin out 4 a moment, and i got a ticket just in case

I’ve seen this ad on tv about 2012 (the end of the world?) so i went to the website and i’m not really sure what to think of it. i’m confused and scared cuz i believe all that crap about 2012 lol what you guys think? i mean they are even letting you sign up for a ticket to “survive” i know it sounds stupid and very movie-like but i don’t know.

The Institute for Human Continuity. Its a lottery for survival of course [...] they came up with a plan to make a lottery for survival, so that each individual will get a fair chance at surviving 2012. I honestly don’t think its that fair because there are people out there who don’t have computers or TVs, how would they know about this survival lottery?
If you are one of the winners you get 1 boarding pass to safety in space. Sadly it is only one, so you would half to leave your loved ones behind if they don’t win So I encourage you to encourage you family to sign up for this!
The government it basically hiding all this information from us, finally the word is getting out. They cant be trusted what so ever. Yeah people out there are probably telling you that it wont happen and that 2012 is just bogus, well to be honest i would rather be prepared and aware of it. All i know is that i wont beliving a normal day on the day of december 21st 2012. Its a tragedy really, and its hard to believe that the earth might just be destroyed in only 3 years…
Oh and if your wondering what the tragedys might be, they have predicted 3 events, and might i tell you, the world coming to an end in 2012 is a 94% chance now.
1: Solar Acctivity
2:Crustal Displacment
3:Planet X
[...]
I think you should spend time with your family, dont waste your money on stuff that wont give you memories, go enjoy the world, because you might not ever get to see it like it is now, when december 21st 2012 comes.
good luck too you all!

Fortunately these comments are the minority!

The movie, 2012, has generated so much hype that my dad asked me to show him the teaser trailer to the movie on ‘Tube Yube’ this past weekend. The movie’s big draw-card is that it is another ‘end of the world’-type movie, but it differs from the ‘been there, done that’ feel ofDay After Tomorrow in that it’s supposedly based on real predictions and the fact that the traditional Mayan calendar ends on 21 December 2012. Scary stuff.

So the movie is based on a good premise, but does it live up to the hype? Seeing as it’s not yet out in South Africa, I’ve had to go with what’s out there in the social net… there is a surprising amount of commentary about the movie, and.UK’s The Guardian goes so far as to say it feels that viral marketing is getting too clever for its own good. The movie trailer alone is sure to interest many who would usually give this type of movie a miss, by stating “search ‘2012’ for the truth” – a quick Google search brings up over 1 000 websites and 175 books based on the idea that everything will come to a halt in 2012. It’s not often that a movie IS based on a form of truth. Lots of past events, and many common fears, yes. Potentially catastrophic future events… not so much.

The Guardian article goes on to state that 2012’s hype was linked to a web campaign on the Institute for Human Continuity (IHC) site. This gives readers a chance to enter the ‘IHC lottery’, which ‘guarantees every citizen on the planet an equal chance of survival in 2012”.

We’re not supposed to believe everything we see on TV or on the net, but if a website looks legit, people will start quoting it and passing links on to others. Before you know it, there’s mass –if not global – worldwide panic. This is what actually happened. The IHC website sparked many people to contact NASA – good old security system of the skies – asking them to stop the destruction… so many queries were made, in fact, that NASA in turn set up a specific site to deal with these concerns, comparing the hype about 2012 to that of ‘Y2K’. This was all about the movie, before it had been released, with the NASA page last updated on 9 November, and the international release date of the movie between 11 and 13 November.

My verdict? A very effective campaign by Sony, in that it definitely sparked people’s interest in the movie… if not a bit out of control in terms of mass hysteria. See it in SA from 2 December and decide for yourself whether the movie justifies the hype.

For more on the movie, visit www.whowillsurvive2012.com.

Here you have a white guy, Paul Henry, making a blanket, offensive, prejudicial statement that encourages people to victimize a minority in society that doesn’t have much ability to stick up for itself. He’s then surrounded by a legion of supporters who claim that any move to stand up for intellectually handicapped people is some kind of sinister PC agenda. Paul Henry also cries foul like he’s been maligned unfairly.

But if Hone Harawira makes an offensive statement against a strong majority with plenty of ability to stand up for itself, watch the backlash come thick and fast. It matters little that European colonisers did in fact do much raping and pillaging throughout their history.

Plenty of calls for Harawira to step down, huge controversy, nevermind the fact that he was democratically elected and did nothing illegal, which is Paul Henry’s prime defense.  The Maori Party gets hounded for comment, but TVNZ gets to hide from scrutiny by saying it’s going through the usual processes.

All this against the recent backdrop of people desperate for the right to smack their children. They’re no-where near present in the same numbers to defend the handicapped.

Hmmm… wonder where our bad domestic abuse statistics stem from, and the festering racial tension?

What’s up with that New Zealand?

So Paul Henry decided it was time to take aim at Susan Boyle. He decided the best basis for ridicule was that she looked like, as Henry put it, a “retard.” So, to Henry, people with mental disabilities can be readily picked out based on their looks and are good targets for verbal harassment. Never mind that these people have to deal with enough stigma and prejudice, especially from kids who don’t know better, they ought to cop it on the chin with good humour from television personalities who love to claim they know better. Yep, Paul Henry will make sure anyone who manages to work beyond peoples’ close minded perceptions gets a well deserved additional dose of what kept them back in the past. There’s nothing like celebrating the kind of attitude that keeps other people like Susan Boyle in obscurity because people like Paul Henry ridicule them out of any self-esteem they might otherwise posses. Perhaps Paul Henry gets a good chuckle at the expense of John Kirwan for his experience with depression and Susan Devoy’s colleague who suffers from bipolar disorder. I mean, if any mental disorder or sickness is fair game, John Kirwan’s depression is a laugh to Paul Henry too. John Kirwan talked about his mate who told him to harden up. Good thing that mate wasn’t Paul Henry he would have had a laugh at Kirwan’s expense on TV. Apparently, as long as you keep it lighthearted, it’s all good and any public backlash leaves you hard done by. Notice how he pulls the same defense as finance companies and politicians. As long as it’s legal, it’s all good and who cares about ethics and morals.

It’s funny to watch people wring their hands like they really care about things like bullying. We have these marketing campaigns that take on violence and other forms of harassment like verbal and mental abuse that are often gateways to violence for people who like to victimize others. But when push comes to shove on the issue only the victims actually care to do anything to make people change their behaviour. Watch as Paul Henry again gets away with bullying people on national TV, probably with a fair few calls of support from the celebrity addled audience who love to back his every move.

Yep, we’ll march for the right to smack our children, even though the right hasn’t been taken away, but we don’t care about the bullying of people with mental disabilities. Well, maybe we care, but certainly not enough to do anything substantive about it. Where’s Family First on this? Apparently the mentally disabled in our family don’t warrant a defense, or perhaps it’s not as much fun as sampling porn in order to ‘complain’ about how it’s breaking down the family unit.

If citizens and action groups truly believe in reducing abuse that breaks down family units, perhaps they should stay consistently visible on all the issues. We can’t claim we’re strong on these issues if we fail to come out in support for some of the most vulnerable members of our families.

IHC spokespeople ought to be making a call to action, and should feel aggrieved that their efforts to increase awareness and breakdown barriers have been stomped on by someone glorifying the kind of behaviour that makes their work harder.

Can’t say I’m surprised Paul Henry has no regrets, there’s not much about his public persona that suggests he has the kind of compassion for the less fortunate to conjure such emotion. It’s emblematic of a country struggling with abusive behaviour in the homes that public personalities get away with bullying people without the same capacity to hit back at them. Oh but witness Paul Henry cry poor me with the little backlash he does cop. Classic bully behaviour. Gives it, but can’t take it.

What: Let the Music Take You Solo Show

When: 13th Nov to 18th Nov 2009

Where: India Habitat Centre

A solo painting exhibition by Prodeep Mookherjee to please your artistic desires.

teste por email

On October 25:

1828 The St Katharine Docks opened in London.

1825 The Waltz King, Austrian composer Johann Strauss II, was born.

1838 Georges Bizet, French composer, was born.

1854 The Battle of Balaklava took place during the Crimean War (iCharge of the Light Brigade).

Charge of the Light Brigade by Richard Caton Woodville.

1864 John Francis Dodge, US automobile pioneer, was born.

1881 Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, was born.

1888 US polar explore, Richard E. Byrd, was born.

1917 The start of the  October Revolution, involving the capture of the Winter Palace, Petrograd, Russia.

 1938 The Archbishop of Dubuque, Francis J. L. Beckman, denounces Swing music as “a degenerated musical system… turned loose to gnaw away at the moral fiber of young people”, warning that it leads down a “primrose path to hell”.

1941 Australian singer Helen Reddy was born.

1941 US writer Anne Tyler was born.

1949 IHC was founded.

1971: The Christchurch-Dunedin overnight express, headed by a J^A-class locomotive, ran the last scheduled steam-hauled service on New Zealand Railways (NZR), bringing to an end 108 years of regular steam rail operations in New Zealand.

 Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia.

EDIT: Issac fail at reading right… oops. Oh well, site is still hilarious.

I stumbled across this after seeing a commercial for their elections. These people firmly believe in the 2012 fiasco. They have what they call Operation Safe Haven which is hilarious. I believe that the funniest set is in the space colonies and subterranean and floating-water cities.

If you want to save yourselves you can enter the lottery to get into one of their safe havens.

The most amusing thing about the site though is how they know when it is going to happen. Here is the quote that I found highly amusing, “the Institute of Human Continuity is dedicated to scientific research and public preparedness. After more than two decades of rigorous research from the worlds top astronomers, mathematicians, geologists, physicists, astrophysicists, engineers, futurists… we know in 2012 a series of cataclysmic forces will wreak havoc on our planet. The IHC has developed a number of initiatives to prepare the world for this inevitability.” (Emphasis added)

The initiatives can be found here as well and they are planning a subterranean city in Antarctica.

I’ve never found something so hilarious and I perused this site at my own amusement; however, I found that this was more disturbing when I realized that they actually completely buy into it.

Enjoy the insanity!

Isaac Mills

To date The IHC Lottery has been by far the most popular posting on Circa71. Thanks to everyone who has expressed their comments and opinions—both are always welcome and appreciated. So I thought I would also post a copy of the recent letter I received from IHC Communications Director, Dr. Soren Ulfert which talks about the process of electing a new leader of the post 2012 world. Also if you’d care to follow the IHC on twitter you can do so @theIHC more info is also available at theIHC.com

If you were recently reminded that our civilization would collapse in the year 2012, you are not alone. Thankfully, we have the Institute for Human Continuity (IHC). They have proactively created an alternative habitat for humanity—at least, for those chosen in their lottery. (Isn’t fate cruel?) Yet, as you probably know, it’s all just an elaborate ruse. However, Sony Pictures gives no indication that this is the case in their commercials or on their website.

This campaign for the movie 2012, releasing in November, is pretty daring. They purport to have real ’scientists,’ and have even fabricated a history behind the plot. It began at a summit in Timaru, New Zealand in November 1978 where ’scientists’ revealed that catastrophic events would occur in 2012. So, according to this storyline, they’ve waited until 2009 to let us know. Now, they’re holding a lottery to see who gets to keep living.

I felt compelled to sign up for this chance for  salvation. Their count claims that I am among 11M+ who have registered for their lottery to decide who gets to join their new hydro-topias (ocean cities). Unless this is the most successful marketing campaign in history, that is impossible—though I guess when you lie so many times you begin to think, “What’s one more?”

There will definitely be more big promotions related to the IHC leading up to the movie’s release. When a campaign gains momentum, they never stop there. They create spin-offs because the promo has immediate credibility. Expect to see more lies.

Sony will be turning a quick buck off of this, but Nostradamus must be spinning in his grave.

Check this out!

Apparently this is just some viral marketing campaign for the movie 2012 directed by Roland Emmerich coming out later this year. I was just sitting here watching some TV, when a commercial for this site came on. I was thinking you’ve got to be kidding me!!! A lottery for the 2012 end of the world? So I googled it and this site came up, and for a few minutes I was actually believing the site was for real, and fear started to creep up on me. However, looking into it more I soon realized that it was a viral marketing ploy… But still, I can’t imagine how many people actually believe this lottery is real. Has viral marketing gone too far? What do you think?

Institute For Human Continuity: The IHC, Keeping You Safe For …

The Institute for Human Continuity, or IHC, has got you covered. At the IHC website, you can learn exactly what plans are in play to keep the human race going after disaster strikes and register with a lottery to secure your own place …

Paula Neal Mooney ★ – ★★★ What&s going on today?

The Institute for Human Continuity, or IHC, has got you covered. At the IHC website, you can learn exactly what plans are in play to keep the human race going after disaster strikes and register with a lottery to secure your own place …

Paula Neal Mooney ★ – ★★★ What&s going on today?

The Institute for Human Continuity, or IHC, has got you covered. At the IHC website, you can learn exactly what plans are in play to keep the human race going after disaster strikes and register with a lottery to secure your own place …


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I saw a commercial today for IHC and was really disturbed by what I saw.   They have a lottery that you can sign up for: “The ICH lottery guarentees every citizen of this planet an equal chance at survival of 2012.  Our work gives the world hope that in the future beyond 2012, order will once again emerge from the chaos.”  You then must enter your full name, email, birthday and where you live (continent).  As if that by doing this (there’s already 11 million people signed up and more counting) you will somehow live through an enormous world disaster.  On the commercial: “The Mayan’s predicted it and science proved it.” 

And you can even sign up for the “post 2012 leader of the world” and the winner will recieve prizes.  After googling the site, the headline beneathe (the preview you see for a site) said this: “With the Mayan calendar ending in 2012, a large group of people must deal with natural disasters such as volcanic eruptions, typhoons and glaciers.” 

I’ve heard so many things about 2012 that sincerely bothered me and for a time, I believed them.  Until recently when I thought to myself…false prophet.  FALSE PROPHET.  And Nostradamus was the first to come to mind: the TV shows on him, the hyped up media.  And so I came across information I couldn’t hold back from sharing. 

Passages in Matthew:
Matthew 24:36-51

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the father.  As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.  For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away.  That is how it will be at the coming  of the Son of Man.  Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left.  Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.  Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your lord will come.  But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the theif was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into.  So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

On: Nostradamus

Christianity is based soley on the Bible and no other practices or methods of recieving word from God.   
Here’s what I found out about Nostradamu’s own practices in the way that he had recieved prophecies that predicted future events in the world.  I took an exerpt (which was most of the page written, anyways):

Nostradamus wrote about the invention of the air balloon, the development of safe air travel, nuclear warfare, Nixon and the Watergate Scandal, the deposition of the Shah of Iran in 1979 and the rise and fall of Ayatollah Khomeni, plus many other world events.

He was so popular in his own day as stories of his prophetic powers circulated that Queen Medici, wife of Henry II of France, commissioned him to write horoscopes for her family. He did this most reluctantly. “The king’s eyes”, he predicted, “would be pierced in their golden cage”. Four years later King Henry was killed in a jousting accident.

He prophesied the date of his own death too, ordering that a plaque with the date 1700 be placed in his coffin. 134 years later, in the year 1700, his body was exhumed and placed in a more prominent resting place.

It is not generally known that Nostradamus was not 100% accurate with all his prophecies, as many claim. For example, he predicted that France would grow in power and be victorious in a struggle with Spain during the 16th century. In fact, the opposite happened and France was driven out of Italy by the Spanish in 1559. A family line in France that he predicted a great future for also died out.

However, his amazingly successful prophecies spanning the centuries have caused many to believe that he definitely had supernatural insight. What must be questioned is THE SOURCE OF THIS INSIGHT. Where and how did Nostradamus get his information? It is vital for the Christian to be sure about this because Nostradamus has much to say about “the end times”. Can these prophecies be trusted?

Nostradamus is very clear about his methods and declared open that he used the “aid of astronomy .. other methods .. and even the Holy Scriptures” to bring himself into the place where these revelations were available to him.

He wrote of his fascination with astrology and the occult since the age of nine years, and recorded that, after the death of his first wife and re-marriage to a lady of means, he spent much time along studying “secret forbidden books” and meditating. The literature that appears to have influenced him the most, and from which he quotes extensively, is an occult book “De Mysteriius Egyptorum” by a fourth-century Neo-Platonist name Tamblichus.

He wrote that he never predicted anything of his own accord but, following the methods of his occult masters, he would place a bowl of water on a brass tripod, touching it with a ceremonial occult wand engraved with hieroglyphics. Then, as he gazed intently into this water, it would mist over and clear and he would see pictures, names, dates and faces in the water.

At the same time, a “divine power .. a god” would inhabit his body, leaving him with a feeling of disembodiment and in a trance-like state. A voice would begin to tell him what he was seeing and he would write it all down.

This is none other than pure occult practice, very far removed from the scriptural methods of the Biblical prophets and Christians would do well to heed the words of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:9-12 where he emphasises that those who practice occultic methods “are an abomination unto the Lord”.

Moses said something else of interest in Deuteronomy 13:1-3 as well: “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder, AND THE SIGN OR THE WONDER OF WHICH HE SPOKE TO YOU COMES TO PASS, saying ‘Let us go after others gods which you have not known, and let us serve them’, YOU SHALL NOT LISTEN TO THE WORDS OF THAT PROPHET or that dreamer of dreams, for the Lord your God is testing you to know whether you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul”.

In other words, “touch not the unclean thing” (2 Cor. 6:17) – leave it strictly alone and have nothing whatsoever to do with it. Good advice for those who love to watch the “Nostradamus videos”!

Why would satan take so much trouble to share this kind of information with a man like Nostradamus? Simply because people who trust his prophecies will also trust his predictions for the future .. regardless of what the Bible says.

Instead of looking for the Return of the Lord Jesus Christ .. the most momentous event this world will ever experience – and completely ignored by Nostradamus – they will be looking for Nostradamus” “third antiChrist .. the man with the blue turban”. Satan’s world ruler – Scripture’s antiChrist – will take his place in world affairs and followers of Nostradamus will trust him completely while they scan the horizon for a prophesied Eastern leader.
Seven years of tribulation? Not so, says Nostradamus. He predicts 27 years of war, followed by world peace and the ushering in of the golden age lasting 1000 years – the longed for “age of Aquarius” – culminating in the end of the world in the year 3797 A.D. Does that sound familiar to those who know something about spiritism?

I found this, also:

“Black Arts:  ‘I sit at night alone in my secret study, resting upon a brass tripod: a thin flame comes forth from the Solitude, making succesful that we should not be believed in vain.’  C1 Q1

Nostradamus is using an ancient practice of divination which is traced back to Ancient Babylon {1900 BC} and beyond.In a trance-like state, Nostradamus sees a flash of light and his visions begin….

“The divining rod in hand is placed
In the middle of the tripod’s brass
legs. With water he anoints the hem
of his robe and foot; Fear. A voice
Is heard. He trembles in His Robes,
Divine splendor. The divine one
Sits nearby.” C1 Q2

Na última segunda-feira, em uma aula bem descontraída, o professor Fabiano explanou um pouco sobre fatores humanos e interação com o usuário. Fatores como modelo de processamento do cérebro humano, percepções, memorias de longo e curto prazo etc. Listamos o conteúdo estudado nos tópicos a seguir:

Modelo de processamento Humano: temos a memoria de longo prazo que mantem informações por períodos longos ou até a vida inteira e a memoria de trabalho ou de curto prazo que mantem informações temporárias, é nesta última que são armazenados informações sensoriais correspondentes aos cinco sentidos.

Percepção: Algumas sensações captadas pelos nossos sentidos, podem tomar uma outra forma, como por exemplo quando assistimos TV(crt) e não notamos a lista preta que aparece no momento da atualização da tela, isso é percebido quando se filma tal aparelho.

Modelo da Estrutura da Memória: as memorias são estruturadas da seguinte forma; a memoria sensorial recebe uma informação, e em seguida ou perde ou transfere a mesma para a memória de curto prazo, uma vez nesta memória a informação pode ser mantida por um determinado período, em seguida é perdida ou transferida para a memoria de longo prazo, nesta última a informação permanece armazenada até que o cérebro através de associações solicite a informação.

Vimos também que os seres humanos são mais heurísticos do que algorítmicos na execução de suas tarefas, e que os mesmo possuem características físico-motoras que podem facilitar ou dificultar suas atividades.

Conhecendo tais fatores, e em que os mesmos podem contribuir na construção de uma interface mais amigável e com uma melhor usabilidade.

Thiago Amorim

Baixe a Apresentação.

17 PHP practices that should be banned forever

http://www.samuelfolkes.com/2009/08/17-php-practices-that-should-be-banished-forever/

It is possible to change your linux shell font type and size:

$ vi /etc/default/console-setup