Way back in the 1970s or early 1980s, in Tagaytay City, a group of men and women and their children was waiting for the world to end. Their leaders told them it was just a matter of days.
The appointed day, and a couple or so of resets, came and went by. But life kept on with its meandering ways. No catastrophic event took place. Tagaytay remained famous for its bulalo, fruits, and retreat houses. Mount Taal did not even bother to belch and show off some of its fiery potential.
The group's leaders, meanwhile, reportedly vanished.
Today, as if our daily lives were not grinding enough, we are being bombarded with news reports, commentaries, and predictions of the coming global demise. Today's purveyors of mass hysteria and fear are telling us that based on their studies some ancient peoples separated by thousands of years had predicted that some cataclysmic events would take place in the year 2012.
That's barely two years.
Thanks to the Internet and our mobile phones, such inane stories can easily be disseminated. And some equally inane minds are specially susceptible to such foolish ideas.
Should we be concerned? Should we panic and start hoarding canned goods, flashlights, and batteries? Should we start digging holes where we could hie off our wretched selves?
I don't know about you. But I don't see any reason to be concerned. Humanity has seen so much catastrophic events, so much worse than what today's prophets of doom can imagine and concoct.
The two great wars, for example, were so much more filled with unimaginable horrors and universal hurt and pain. World War II's dying days saw the destruction of Manila, and the wholesale pillaging, rape, and murder of hundreds of thousands of its citizens by the Japanese occupation armies.
Indeed, we have seen far worse.
Nokia Takes a Bite
Media attention seems to converge on the lawsuit filed by Finnish mobile phone giant Nokia against high-flying Apple. The patent infringement lawsuit alleges that Apple has illegally incorporated Nokia's wireless technologies into the bestselling iPhone. Nokia said that it tried to negotiate with Apple, providing the Cupertino-based company with options to settle its alleged infringement.
All the other mobile phone vendors seem to have complied with Nokia's licensing requirements. Apparently, Apple did not think it had to.
The case, which comes at a very bad time for Apple, can cost Steve Jobs' company quite a sum of money, and may even hurt its reputation. Some industry analysts say that Nokia seems to have strong evidence backing up its allegations against Apple.
That's all for the meantime, folks. Join me again next time as we keep on watching IT.
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