Today, Discovery landed after a 13 day mission, bringing home Sandra Magnus who'd been in space for 134 days. How coincidental that Reader Orgone Gnostic turns our attention to this semiotically-supercharged Yahoo news item:
BONN, Germany – From an Antarctic research base to the Great Pyramids of Egypt and beyond, the world switched off the lights on Saturday for the second Earth Hour, dimming skyscrapers, city streets and some of the world's most recognizable monuments for 60 minutes to highlight the threat of climate change.
Unreal. Were they looking at the Piri Reis map at that base?
Time zone by time zone, nearly 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries joined the event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund to dim nonessential lights from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
An agreement to replace Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012, is supposed to be reached in Copenhagen, Denmark, this December, and environmentalists' sense of urgency has spurred interest in this year's Earth Hour. Last year, only 400 cities participated; Sydney held a solo event in 2007.
Expires in 2012! Hilarity. And whose ox was gored during this darkness festival?
In Switzerland, the city of Geneva plans to switch off the lights on its theaters, churches and monuments. Among these are the Reformation Wall, where floodlights normally illuminate 10-foot (three-meter) statues of John Calvin and other leaders of Protestantism. The city's motto engraved on either side of the statues is: "After darkness, light."
I'm fascinated by this Earth Hour phrase, seeing that hour comes from Hora, which I believe is ultimately derived from Horus. But if this is a Horus ritual, where's our Hathor? Right here:
Earth Hour 2009 has garnered support from global corporations, nonprofit groups, schools, scientists and celebrities — including Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett and retired Cape Town Archbishop Desmond Tutu..
4 comments:
Wow, that was a can of worms! Jeepers this ritual gets friggin weirder every passing hour, I mean the whole Cate Blanchette thing to seal the semiotic deal. My brain hurts!
"After darkness, light". Sends shivers down my spine. The bad kind. Why does darkness come before light? Is it really necessary to order things that way? What came first, the chicken or the egg?
Why don't they just say "After slaughtering millions, we will come to you as peacemakers... Then the darkness comes again."
In don´t feel fear, indeed we are seeing a global demonstration that is common of the era After Internet. Fiat Lux, as genesis says. And many are using the internet to upload their joy. Just see the Earth Hour in Brazil:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ireneribas/3393094505/
You can search earthhour in Flickr and it´s amazing the huge imageload that people are sharing...
Hi Chris,
This Earth Hour event was also the subject of CNN's Larry King Live earlier in the week.
I had to sit through the Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards so dimming the lights was not an option at 8:30 for us. But we were treated to a ritual of sorts during the KCA.
Host: Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. His mission throughout the night to create the greatest slime explosion ever from an onstage volcano, announcer acknowledged "pyramid." There's a nod to Leo DiCaprio for Nick's Big Help Award for his help with all things green.
Get this: The Rock cross dresses as Miley Cyrus. Then he appears as an Hawaiian high priest to perform a ritual in front of the slime "pyramid." Oh and he needs a "key" which he takes from around Hugh Jackman's neck...it's a skull and bones key that Hugh says won't activate the "pyramid" but will open the door to a "john." LOL. So, still in search of a "key," The Rock calls on the volcano "pyramid" gods and the Jonas Brothers appear out of the smoke. They say they have no "real" key but can sing in the "key" of G. They do and the volcano "pyramid" erupts with slime.
Unbelievable!
BTW. A re-broadcast is raging right now. Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox appear to push Transformers Revenge of the Fallen.
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