CM=45%, O=57%, D=50%, P=83%, T=48%, C=50%, H=Terminal You better memorize the above, because it's coming at you very fast, in fact the next fifty to one hundred years could be your last. You're probably wondering what the hell this all means, what does CM or O stand for? In short they stand for the periods in Earths lifetime, indicated by sedimentary levels. For instance, if you were to rip up a five foot layer of rock from the Earth you would probably encountered "bands" of material, each one of these "bands" represent a snapshot in Earths past. In each on these periods, Earth has seen an extinction event, wether it be small or large. It seems that every couple of hundred million years life on Earths dips to dangerous levels [url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/06/Extinction_intensity.svg] (See this chart)[/url], in fact we're already experiencing an extinction event right now, a small one, but nonetheless an extinction type event. Nothing troubling here, until you take into account that during everyone of these extinction events the APEX species is wiped off the face of the Earth. The Apex species is the species than dominates over the rest, controlling both recourses and land. So who is the APEX species right now? You guessed it, us. Even though Earth is going through a small event now, we are long overdue for a "Hyper event". In other words, an event that could exterminate the CURRENT APEX species, or for a lack of better terms, "us". Before I show you why this is, I have to show you the past events that Earth has experienced. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian-Ordovician_extinction_events]Cambrian event.[/url]: A relatively small event, only wiping out 40-50 percent of marine species, probably due to climate change or tectonic plates. Little is known about this event, only that it was the first major extinction event, occurring 500 million years ago. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Late_Devonian_extinction]Late Devonian event.[/url]: This marks Earths first major extinction event, occurring 364 million years ago. 50% of all genetic diversity was wiped out. Causes range from asteroid impacts to overwhelming plant growth. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permian–Triassic_extinction_event]Permian Event[/url]: The mother of all extinction events and the last "Hyper" event to have occurred. This extinction was so devastating that Earth was on the brink of losing genetic diversity and losing the capability to support life. Occurring 251 million years ago, it is a miracle the Earth recovered at all. Causes range from the Siberian Traps (A mega volcano range near India) erupting, asteroid impact, Gamma Ray Burst (Near Earth Hyper Nova) and Ocean related methane explosion. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cretaceous–Tertiary_extinction_event]Cretaceous–Tertiary event[/url]: Everyone should be familiar with this one, the one that killed off our old friends the Dinosaurs. About 50% of all genetic diversity was killed off, only small insignificant animals survived. Occurring 50 million years ago it was most likely cause by an asteroidal impact off the coast of Mexico. Now we arrive at the Holocene event, the event going on as we speak. [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction]Holocene event.[/url] Already over 45% of genetic diversity is threatened and much more on the brink. Wether this is man-made or something else entirely is yet to be seen, but one thing for sure is that the worst is yet to come. If you haven't noticed every event leading up to this one, all APEX species died out, however, this has not happened yet in the event transpiring right now. It is also notable, that the pattern for these events is a 100 to 75 million year time spread. The last event occurred 65 million years ago, so it appears we are safe for now. Well we're not, not by a long shot. If you remember the "Hyper" event that occurred 251 million years ago you know that one of these has not occurred for 251 million years. Extinction events usually occur in increments of 100 to 200 million years. We are more than due for another "Hyper" event. Numerous causes have already reared their ugly head. Just a couple of months ago we learned that H5N1 (Bird Flu) cases are starting to jump in China and other asian areas. All it needs to do is get on board an airplane and it could infect the rest of the world, it will be just like the Black Death was for the Europeans. Other factors are asteroid impacts, gamma ray bursts, war, nuclear war, mass climate change, mega eruption (most notably Yellow Stone Caldera) and Methane explosions. Now you should understand CM=45%, O=57%, D=50%, P=83%, T=48%, C=50%, H=Terminal Why is "H" terminal? Because we are the current APEX species, and at the end of this extinction event, we'll be gone. If you want to learn more about Extinction events and what is in store for us, I suggest you read [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinction_event]This[/url] thoroughly. I don't think 2012 or some religious end date will be the end of us, I think the source will be much more close to us than that. Whether or not the Myans or religious groups predict the date is coincidental. It may be hundreds of years from now, maybe even millions. But I think the most disturbing thing is, that it could happen tomorrow and you wouldn't even know it until it was too late. [Edited on 01.20.2009 10:14 PM PST]