This Is Really Happening

...so, those of you who know me know I have special hope for the world, and that I really wish for drastic and positive change.  Right now, and it may seem silly, but my hopes are directed at the year 2012.  December 21, 2012 is one of those apocalyptic dates, the date the Mayan Calendar ends, the date of all kinds of crazy predictions.  The Mayans believed that this date would hold drastic world changes, but also that it would bring on the age of enlightenment, or something like that.  I like that, and hope for it.  This world is a mess, I'm bored, and things need to change!  DRASTICALLY.   So, I keep my eye out for interesting things that make me think of this.  Some are just ways to point out how wrong the world is right now.  Others are things that could happen.  We'll see what comes of it, but I plan to have this be a recurring theme.  Just like Warren Ellis has 'Our Doomed World' come up on his website quite often, I now have This Is Really Happening.  It works.  Oh yes.  So, here are two points for today:

• Watching an episode of Chronicle, which is a pretty interesting show.  This episode is about struggling retail in this lovely recession of ours.  And then comes Wal-Mart, the evilest retail empire there is.  And, shocker, one of the very few companies that is POSTING A PROFIT in February!!!!  Why is this?  Because Wal-Mart undercuts prices like crazy, and everyone is hurting for cash, so they can go to the Evil W and get things cheaper.  BUT FOLKS, THIS IS KILLING US!  Wal-Mart is renowned for opening up a store, pricing everything lower than all the businesses in the area (businesses run by your friends, family, neighbors, etc), and putting all these businesses OUT OF BUSINESS.  Then, well, if their store isn't turning a big enough profit, they shut it down.  They decimate local economies, and then leave.  PURE FUCKING EVIL.  Capitalism at its worst.   Look, I know you're hurting for cash.  Hell, I ain't got no job.  I understand.  But you can't fall into the trap of shopping at WalMart.  The company that censors art (they won't sell CD's with anything they deem offensive unless they can censor it, change the cover, whatever they want), sells more guns than just about anyone, treats its employees like crap, the list just goes on.  STOP SHOPPING AT WALMART!!!!  SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESS.  If you all go to local places, they can charge less for things because they actually get your business.  They sell stuff, are able to order more stuff, get stuff cheaper when they buy bulk, and you can eventually pay decent prices for things.  You have to pay a bit more at first, but its for the best interest of everyone.  Trust me.
• Secondly, heres an interesting NASA report on what would happen to us if a big solar storm comes a calling, which it might.  What would the world do without electricity for an extended period of time.  What would we do?  Think about it!