With all the hoo-ha going on about Ken Ring's quake forecasts and with the world watching in horror as Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant teeters on the brink of meltdown, I find myself wishing that I'd spent more time at school on left-brain subjects.
Latin, English, French and drama werea breeze for me; maths and science not so much.
But I really need to fill in the gaps in my knowledge because without a basic understanding of science, it's hard to distinguish between the scientists and the nutters - whether or not the moon has anything to do with earthquakes; whether the Fukushima meltdown can possibly be compared to Chernobyl; whether man's interference with the planet is a catalyst for earthquakes. Who knows?
I believe that Ken Ring is a scaremongering charlatan - albeit a well-intentioned one - but I have no scientific evidence with which to rebut him or his supporters.
I believe that there's very little man can do to influence the shifting of the tectonic plates, despite what the proponents of the Haarp theory believe - but again, that's just gut instinct and not certain knowledge.
Conspiracy theories and whacky predictions become the stuff of mainstream when people live in darkness, and it seems that there's a lot of us who might as well be living in the 16th century given our gullibility and desire to put our faith in soothsayers.
