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PREDICTIONS PREDICTED

Anthony Cox noted on Saturday: “Every other day The Independent seems to lead with a story about the end of the world because of climate change ...” The very next edition of that sad, predictable rag:

image

The associated copy is hilarious:

2030: RIP The Arctic polar bear breathes its last

World turned on its head as last wild polar bear runs out of ice …

2040: Burned to death: How man reduced the mighty Amazon to ashes

Life-giving rainforests now a wasteland …

2050: The last drops of rain fall to earth

World hunt for food as India faces starvation after monsoon fails and harvests are doomed

2060: Tsunami horror hits Britain

Methane ‘bubble’ blamed for catastrophic seabed slide as wave wipes east coast off map

If The Independent believes its own predictions, why is it still recklessly producing newspapers?

(Via Garth Godsman)

Posted by Tim B. on 11/05/2006 at 11:12 PM
  1. I think the real coming catastrophe is displayed above the wave picture. Teenagers - ::shudder::

    Posted by Andrea Harris, Administrator on 2006 11 05 at 11:27 PM • permalink

  2. I guess I’ll cancel my November 5, 2060 98th birthday trip to the UK Islamaland then. But I will pre-set the DVD-R to get the news while I’m out dancing and romancing.

    Posted by andycanuck on 2006 11 05 at 11:31 PM • permalink

  3. I thought the Amazon was supposed to have been an ashen wasteland already… at least according to the end-of-the-world predictions of 20 years ago.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 11 05 at 11:32 PM • permalink

  4. 2070
    Survivors atop mount Snowdon hear via crystal sets, Sheik Abdul claims Islam’s aims have now been achieved through the will of Allah -the infidel has been destroyed.
    At least some things will never change.

    Posted by davo on 2006 11 05 at 11:33 PM • permalink

  5. My fave:  The last drops of rain fall to earth

    So how’s that work? Global warming makes water ... uh ... disappear?  Water no longer evaporates? Evaporates but it all just stays in the sky and doesn’t fall? No more storms? It—oh never mind. At least we’ll be rid of those bastard polar bears.

    Posted by Shaky Barnes on 2006 11 05 at 11:37 PM • permalink

  6. Found this when I opened the inbox at work this morning. Seeing as how the red-letter day has been and gone it’s not exactly an advance warning.
    Not that a tsunami in the Pacific basin would especially endanger Perth.
    I haven’t tried the link at the end. Didn’t seem wise.

    Warning - TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002 PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER/NOAA/NWS ISSUED AT 2312Z 30 OCT 2006

    THIS BULLETIN IS FOR ALL AREAS OF THE PACIFIC BASIN

    .. TSUNAMI INFORMATION BULLETIN ...

    THIS MESSAGE IS FOR INFORMATION ONLY.

    AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS NOTE REVISED MAGNITUDE

    ORIGIN TIME - 2139Z 30 OCT 2006
    COORDINATES - 38.2 NORTH 144.8 EAST
    LOCATION - OFF EAST COAST OF HONSHU JAPAN MAGNITUDE - 7.1

    MEASUREMENTS OR REPORTS OF TSUNAMI WAVE ACTIVITY

    ALL DETAILS HERE http://www.oceanwide.com.au

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 05 at 11:39 PM • permalink

  7. World turned on its head as last wild polar bear runs out of ice …

    The polar bear parties just won’t be the same without decent martinis.  Fortunately they have each other for hors d’oeuvres.

    Life-giving rainforests now a wasteland …

    But we need more wasteland conservation!

    2050: The last drops of rain fall to earth

    George Bush has stolen all the gravity to give to his pals in the gravity industry.  Fascist.

    World hunt for food as India faces starvation after monsoon fails and harvests are doomed

    India out-sources food production back to western countries.  All hail globalisation!

    2060: Tsunami horror hits Britain

    ...via the iTsunami Store.

    Methane ‘bubble’ blamed for catastrophic seabed slide as wave wipes east coast off map

    So that’s what that smell was.  And here I was thinking it was the smell of journalism’s rotting carcass coming from the Independent’s office.

    Posted by Craig Mc on 2006 11 05 at 11:44 PM • permalink

  8. Interesting to see that the comrades at our ABC are running the documentary series ‘Wild Europe’, about the geographical history of Europe as a landmass, in a prime Sunday night spot.  It’s studded with jazzy CGI images of the Eiffel tower under water, or St. Paul’s Cathedral in the middle of a desert, and this is probably what sold the comrades on it.  But when you actually watch the show, it rams home, again and again, without any cavil or apology, the message that climate change is always happening.  Not exactly the Ultimo line.

    Posted by cuckoo on 2006 11 05 at 11:57 PM • permalink

  9. 2070: Rolling Stones announce world tour

    The “when hell freezes over” comment returns to haunt them.

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 06 at 12:00 AM • permalink

  10. As the section at the top says:

    The Independent - Who are they? What do they want? And what the hell do they mean?

    Pretty close to the truth, even if it does require some selective reinterpretation of their page layout.

    Posted by PW on 2006 11 06 at 12:05 AM • permalink

  11. Jumpin Jihadis. The more disturbing part of that paper is the frontpage call to donate sperm. Are you man enough?

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 06 at 12:05 AM • permalink

  12. Awright, when did the National Enquirer buy the Independent?

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 11 06 at 12:06 AM • permalink

  13. Oh, and…

    Life-giving rainforests

    Let’s send all greenies into the rainforests, then.

    Posted by PW on 2006 11 06 at 12:07 AM • permalink

  14. Damn. You see more logical restraint in an Irwin Allen movie.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 11 06 at 12:10 AM • permalink

  15. Check the Sports section--I’d like to lay down some wagers if they’ve got the results.

    Posted by JDB on 2006 11 06 at 12:12 AM • permalink

  16. And another thing - a feature on “Kids these days and the strange words they use”?

    Here’s one from my youth - “lame.”

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 11 06 at 12:12 AM • permalink

  17. Hmph-it seems to me that the real disaster news in the paper for our antipodean friends is that they tied Wales in rugby.

    I know that New Zealand has the Haka.  Perhaps the Welsh began the match by singing Men of Harlech.

    Posted by 68W40 on 2006 11 06 at 12:18 AM • permalink

  18. # 15 stuff that, I am going straight to the lotto results.

    Posted by surfmaster on 2006 11 06 at 12:23 AM • permalink

  19. #17 - No, just two hours of Bread of Heaven.

    They also sent us into a stupour by having the best looking national anthem singer ever. Katherine Jenkins

    Posted by Infidel Tiger on 2006 11 06 at 12:27 AM • permalink

  20. That wave looks like a perfectly forming tube, about 2-3m high, in crystal blue water on a clear sunny day… not bad at all for the North Sea.

    The only horror is the thought that England will one day have better surfing conditions than Australia.

    Posted by Zoidberg on 2006 11 06 at 12:31 AM • permalink

  21. 2070: Scientists fear global/cooling warming will either melt solar icecaps or bring on an iceage.

    Posted by jonnyswell on 2006 11 06 at 12:39 AM • permalink

  22. Somewhat OT, but I just saw this in The Australian.

    Do you have an inordinate amount of “youths of no appearance” in Brisbane?

    Firearms are only tools, and a tool that women can learn to use as easily as anything else.

    Posted by trainer on 2006 11 06 at 12:45 AM • permalink

  23. APRIL FOOL!! oops,it’s november...i thimk. that newspaper had me goimg. shoulda realized it’s MSM type reporting.

    Posted by stats on 2006 11 06 at 12:55 AM • permalink

  24. Christ! Australia better start saving.
    When the tsunami hit Indonesia in 2004, we sent them $1 billion. Better get ready in 56 years to send what, with inflation, $7 billion to old Blighty. As a fully Muslim nation by then, maybe Saudi Arabia can pitch a lazy 7 bill as well.

    Posted by Bonmot on 2006 11 06 at 01:14 AM • permalink

  25. The newspapers are conserving: They use less and less paper each year.

    Posted by bobpence on 2006 11 06 at 01:39 AM • permalink

  26. The tsunami is not as unlikely as it sounds, although bugger all to do with global warming.

    About 6,000 years ago the southern North Sea then dry land and called by archeologists Doggerland was struck by a massive tsunami. We don’t know the cause, but the funnel shape of the sea would have concentrate the tsunami.

    Posted by phil_b on 2006 11 06 at 02:14 AM • permalink

  27. #17 ... Not entirely 91B30… The All blacks gave England a jolly good belting at Twickenham to keep the antipodean end up!

    Posted by Isumbras on 2006 11 06 at 02:58 AM • permalink

  28. Christopher Monkton in the Telegraph is a must read.  Sorry for no link - Bolt has on if you need to look for it.

    Posted by Razor on 2006 11 06 at 03:02 AM • permalink

  29. World turned on its head as last wild polar bear runs out of ice ...

    Well, hopefully they’ll stop going psychotic and sexually abusing rabbits.

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2006 11 06 at 03:17 AM • permalink

  30. Why the heck do people associate “warmer climate” with “dry”.

    If Earth’s history is any guide, warmer periods are also wetter.

    ‘Course, I guess that doesn’t fit the “WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!’ theme.

    PS Anyone notice Britain survives 10 freakin years after the “last drops of rain fall to earth”.

    That’s pretty impressive.

    Posted by Quentin George on 2006 11 06 at 03:30 AM • permalink

  31. 27. Isumbras

    #17 ... Not entirely 91B30… The All blacks gave England a jolly good belting at Twickenham to keep the antipodean end up!

    Petty, I know, but a real dislike of mine is how some Australians and NZers refer to the area as the antipodes - don’t understand why you’d want to define your location from the point of view of people on the other side of the planet. Perhaps we should start calling ourselves colonials…

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2006 11 06 at 03:31 AM • permalink

  32. I thought Tsunamis where caused by undersea earthquakes..seems the indie should be nominated for a nobel prize in physics for their new discovery.

    Posted by owls001 on 2006 11 06 at 05:28 AM • permalink

  33. owls001, you forget that Gaia is angry!

    Posted by flying pigs over mecca on 2006 11 06 at 05:35 AM • permalink

  34. A methane bubble with the power to trigger a tsunami - man, that’s a lot of reverberating pizzas.

    Posted by SwinishCapitalist on 2006 11 06 at 06:40 AM • permalink

  35. So, if there’s no more rain, but enough water for a tsunami to drown all of Britain--what the hell happened to all the desalinization plants?

    Did people forget how to operate them?

    Posted by ushie on 2006 11 06 at 06:55 AM • permalink

  36. No more ice for the Polar Bears?

    Shit, we’re doomed.

    Posted by kae on 2006 11 06 at 07:31 AM • permalink

  37. 2060!, who cares I will be 6 feet under by then.

    Posted by Torontosteve on 2006 11 06 at 07:36 AM • permalink

  38. I don’t know how they missed this one.

    Sun Fights To Rise Again

    Posted by Arty on 2006 11 06 at 08:03 AM • permalink

  39. And to think that if Al Gore had been allowed to assume his rightful place as President, none of these things would have happened! It’s all Bush’s fault, I tell you!

    Posted by ErnieG on 2006 11 06 at 09:00 AM • permalink

  40. PS Anyone notice Britain survives 10 freakin years after the “last drops of rain fall to earth”.

    That’s because people have been surviving by drinking mildew.

    Posted by rick mcginnis on 2006 11 06 at 10:09 AM • permalink

  41. Paris Hilton has Elvis’s baby.

    Siamese twins claim to be Princess Diana’s secret love child.

    Secret bunker under the White House holds alien remains.

    Global warming is a scientific fact.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 11 06 at 11:25 AM • permalink

  42. RebeccaH, that reminds me of the winner of a contest to come up with the perfect tabloid headline:

    DWARF RAPES NUN, ESCAPES IN UFO

    Posted by ErnieG on 2006 11 06 at 12:17 PM • permalink

  43. #42, now that’s funny!

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 11 06 at 02:44 PM • permalink

  44. God. When future historians look back on our era, you know they’re going to be reading stuff like this--this and photos of Howard Dean screaming and Kos screenshots and 9/11 conspiracy theory books--and they’re going to think we were all insane. We’ll be the early 21st century equivalent of medieval villagers, accusing neighbors of being werewolves and fretting about being visited by succubi, only we won’t even have the excuse of being whacked out on ergot.

    Posted by ak on 2006 11 06 at 03:20 PM • permalink

  45. I’m more interested in the box feature at the bottom right…

    MEN OF BRITAIN: Are you man enough to donate sperm?

    I would suggest that the Editor of the Indie was doing exactly that (and a bit of one-handed typing) when he wrote this lame-brain story.

    Posted by Apparatchik on 2006 11 06 at 07:19 PM • permalink

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