Sometimes it's fun to load Celestia into the desktop, center on planet Earth, and slowly back out of the Solar System and the Milky Way (at several times the speed of light) just to get a little perspective on my place in this corner of the Universe. Today was one of those days when the world was scheduled to end (again), and although it's still early days, depending on your time zone, there are people on the planet on the other side of the dateline who can reassure us that they have managed to arrive at the 22nd pretty much intact. There are always exceptions, of course. And for some of us, small and vulnerable as we are, the end of the world is really just a question of definition. So it goes.
And I guess 2012 holds its own special threat of Armageddon as well, at least if you're Mayan. I'm not, but since my own cultural heritage carries enough baggage of signs and portents to sink a continent, I see no reason to go looking for trouble. And one continent on one teeny planet around one star among billions in one galaxy among billions ... like I said; it's really just a question of definition. Right now there's a thrush singing down in the woods below the house. Whether a Hermit Thrush or a Wood Thrush, I can't remember right now, but it probably doesn't matter to him what I call him. The apple trees are blooming, the lawn needs mowing, and all those other species are just as eager to live as we are.
It's an evening in May -- not the end of the world, just the end of the day. And a nice day, at that.
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