2016: A Damnable Year

A little bit of good news: Syrian Celebrity Twitter Girl safely evacuated from Aleppo.

I was almost sure she'd become this generation's Anne Frank.

So Joseph Kabila, president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, who is term limited, is facing calls to step down. He has so far refused.

Why do I bring this up and in this thread?

DR Congo was the site of the "African World War". If he is overthrown or if DR Congo falls to civil war again, we will have a Syria level conflict in the heart of Africa.

This fucking year man. It seems like 2016 wants December to be the revv up to something even worse next year.

It's the Congo. Unfortunately, it can't go sixteen years without a major war or dictatorship. <_<

It's, like, a rule or something. -_- Belgium screwed the pooch so hard, it can't really recover... -_-'

My personal view is: the place can't function stably as a single political entity, even though you're never going to convince the strongmen of this. <_<

edited 20th Dec '16 6:34:46 PM by Euodiachloris

Another plague facing Africa: presidents who want another term and won't take no for an answer....

It's hardly new. <points at Robert "Just Call Me A Limpet" Mugabe>

Actually, I take that back: limpets are quite inoffensive things. He's a great, big, engorged, economic and social disease carrying tick.

edited 20th Dec '16 6:41:14 PM by Euodiachloris

How about this: Explosion in a fire work market in Mexico kills 29.....

2016 is still not done with us, is it?

I have vague memories of the last Congo crisis - I think that one was about Kabila and his predecessor. That place has issues and I am not sure how to settle them.

I'll be interested to see if any of Congo's neighbors try anything. Rwanda in particular.

You know, just to share a story, in January I saw in Facebook a "Let see what Tarot card will define your year", I dont belive in that but I said "Fuck it, let see it anyway"

The card I got? THE TOWER.

11 month later.....yeah, it was pretty damn foreshowing, that is sure.

Well damn.

edited 21st Dec '16 9:21:56 PM by rmctagg09

I had a sign shortly before the election, my twenty something year old goldfish died, we'd named him Armageddon as a joke due to how old he'd gotten and the joke was the world would end when he died.

Well, at least it wasn't the 10 of Swords. Yay.

TBH, the moment I realized this year was gonna be "special" was when the Bundy Standoff started.

Honestly, the first 10 months of the year were very good. Sure, bad stuff happened, but statistically things were far better than virtually any other year. People are WAY biased towards the past, it was much worse. Racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, hunger, poverty, health, education, literacy, incomes, and overall quality of life were much worse in the past. Statistically, the years 2011-2015 were the best years for humanity so far. All the bad things weren't unique at all.

Then the US, the most powerful and influential country in the world, elected a racist, sexist, homophobic, facist, nationalist, white supremacist, climate change denying, lunatic for president, with an even worse cabinet, putting our future in jeoparady.

Now, my stance on this year is that it planted the seeds to some of the worst years since the 1950s, if not farther back.

edited 22nd Dec '16 7:14:44 AM by WhatArtThee

Also, if this website is anything to believe, we're in for much worse years.

It's a website which uses sources from scientists, government groups, and more to predict the future. It's not looking so good.

In chronological order... (Note these are rough estimates) (WARNING: HIGHLY DEPRESSING CONTENT AHEAD. IF YOU ARE SENSITIVE TO THIS DON'T READ, THOUGH YOU CAN PROBABLY HANDLE IT IF YOU POSTED IN THIS THREAD.)

In 2017, a major crisis in Yemen will begin to unfold, due to poor economy and a water crisis, leading to looting, rioting, violence, and by 2025 a mass exodus as anarchy reigns. In 2019, the Larsen B Ice shelf will collapse, causing rising sea levels.

By 2020, the Arctic will be ice free in September, for the first time in it's history, the Glacier National park in Montana will be completely ice free, places like the Andes, Alps, Himalayas, and Kilamanjaro will start to see similar, and US-China relations will start to go south. In 2021, Southwest US, including Nevada, Arizona, and So Cal, will be faced with crippling water shortages, as Lake Mead, a source of water for 25 million, dries up. In 2022, war over water will start to become commonplace, and we will run out of Antimony. In 2023, Borneo's rainforests will disappear, leading to the extinction of species like the Orangutan, and Gorillas will go exctinct in the wild of Central Africa. In 2024, Climate change will lead to millions in Bangladesh being displaced, and African Elephants will go extinct.

By 2025, unemployment will begin to soar due to automation, with the participation rate in the US falling to 55%, Rhinos will go extinct, as will many species in Britain, bioterrorism will start to cause mass causalities, solid waste will reach crisis levels, the Arctic will be ice-free all summer, and the island of Kivalina will be abandoned. In 2026, the Maldives will be evacuated, and reserves of Indium will run out. Silver reserves will run out in 2029, lake Chad will evaporate, leading to civil war and famine in places like Niger, Chad, Cameroon, and Nigeria, and the Madagascar radiated tortoise will go extinct.

edited 22nd Dec '16 9:52:59 AM by WhatArtThee

What exactly was good on the first 10 months? The year had just begun, and we had already mass assaults on woman in Cologne, and by the time JANUARY was over Volkswagen had ruined the reputation of the German automobile industry, Nord-Korea had successful weapon tests, more than 70 people died in a terror attack in Libya (and that wasn't the only one, just the biggest one with the highest number of victims), the drinking water in Michigan was contaminated with lead, 130 people were killed in Syria, additional 400 kidnapped, there is an outbreak of the Zika Virus in South-America, an american militant Group takes over a Wildlife Refugee for three weeks (because apparently it is now normal for Americans to built their own little armies), David Bowie and Alan Rickman died of cancer, the Chinese Stock market crashed and you know, it is kind of sad that I skipped a lot of war-related events because we have gotten so used to them.

Oh, and "Mein Kampf" is published again, due to it moving into the free domain, which is kind of an odd timing considering how the war went. Are we sure that Hitler isn't the devil?

And that was just the first month! It only got worse after this...

I somehow hope that we will at least do some things better next year...I have to....

edited 22nd Dec '16 8:52:17 AM by Swanpride

That link is strangely both freaky and comforting. Freaky in the sense that some bad stuff is coming within this century, and also the advancements in technology will create, frankly, an alien world to what we're used to (check out the prediction on superhuman powers!). But also comforting in the sense that, despite how bad things look right now, humanity will adapt and survive, and it puts current events into perspective.

Honestly, if this year has taught me anything, it's that things have gone to shit and are only going to get shittier, whether it be due to facism, climate change, the rise of automated service, or what have you. That would be enough reason for anyone to give in to despair, and for a while, I sort of did. But I was so scared shitless that, now, I no longer have any scared shits to give. The point is that I'm going to keep fighting to make the world a better place however I can, because the only alternative is to give into despair. And that would be far too easy.

Anecdotal evidence doesn't make a year worse. Bad things like that happen EVERY year, not just this one. In terms of statistics we were better off then virtually any other year, of course now it's different.

edited 22nd Dec '16 9:38:32 AM by WhatArtThee

But have you seen such a ridiculously long chain of bad things in the same year?

Yes, actually most years have been WORSE, we just know more now because we're so connected. People back in the 1960s in America didn't care about what was going on in Libya, but now we know all about it.

Here's what they say about the years through 2060, at which point we finally start turning things around.

By 2030, the population will reach 8 billion people. This causes enormous amounts of stress on resources, leading to conflicts over them in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. CO 2 levels have reached 450 PPM, bringing environmental destruction and crop shortages. Retirement ages are increasing, with most expected to work through their 70s. A declining manufacturing base, ballooning national debt, and overstretched military have sent the US into a tailspin. Depression has become the most common disease. In 2031, Bangkok will be abandoned due to global warming, reserves of lead will run out, and chocolate will become a rare luxury. 2032 will bring the extinction of leatherback turtles, and Britain's Ash trees. By 2034 the majority of Caribbean coral reefs will be wiped out. 2035 will bring the final collapse of the EU, splitting into the Northern and Southern Unions, and Tin reserves will run out, 2036 will bring the extinction of lemurs.

By 2040, US Manufacturing jobs will be gone, with the labor force participation rate down to 40%. The Arctic will be ice-free all year round, Koalas will face extinction, and the Congo rainforest will decrease by a third. 2041 sees the global temperature rise by 2 degrees celcius. The southwest and Southeast US will see arid desert conditions, The Alps will be devoid of snow, rivers like the Rhine and Danube will start drying up, record heatwaves are reported all around the world. Similar situations strike South America and Asia, biblical droughts strike Africa, and islands get abandoned. 2042 sees the population reach NINE billion, with yet more impacts on the world, and more ice melts. 2044 will see permafrost melting reach a tipping point, causing untold chaos.

In the second half of the 2040s, most Gulf Coast cities, such as Houston and New Orleans, will be abandoned.

edited 23rd Dec '16 7:26:04 PM by WhatArtThee

@What Art Thee: Having skimmed through that website, its prediction of the future seems a bit too optimistic to me. In particular, the parts about human survival in the face of climate change. I also didn't see anything about nuclear war in there.

I am guessing that nuclear war is not in there because Trump is Putin's puppet, he probably won't go on war with Russia.

You didn't think that just means nuclear war isn't a likely possibility?

And again just one of the multitude of reasons why nuclear war isn't all that likely.

edited 22nd Dec '16 10:17:55 AM by kkhohoho

Well, who knew Rumsfeldia would actually happen?