2020 in Oklahoma ?

Looking through my WordPad index for something else, I found a snippet I'd saved in 2012, from a thread of comments at Common Dreams under an article by George Monbiot headed "Stop This Culture of Paying Politicians for Denying Climate Change".
NC Tom's imaginative comment I'd stumbled across again, two years on, rings ever more insightful by the month. At present, in our drought-ridden south-western section of Oklahoma, outdoor watering of grass and gardens is restricted to just two designated days and must be done before 9 am. A complete ban on outdoor watering waits in the wings.

Comment written by NC Tom in 2012:

The year is 2020. 86 year old [James] Inhofe is up for re-election. Perryton and Woodward Oklahoma have been abandoned because of lack of water. The only farmable land is near the state's lakes, where they can be used for irrigation. The meager rainfall the state has been receiving for the last decade has not been able to keep those lakes full, and their level noticeably drops every year. The situation is unsustainable.

At a mid October campaign rally, the still defiant Inhofe railed against those "ecology nuts" that said man made climate change was getting so bad that within 10-15 years the heartland of the country would be uninhabitable. "What the hell do those idiots know?" He yelled as loud as his old man lungs would allow so he could be heard over the bank of fans that were doing their best to keep him cool. "This is just 'La Grande Nina'* causing this little heat wave. Plus it's mid October, and it's supposed to be hot!"

That first Tuesday in November most of Oklahoma was experiencing daytime temps of 140 − 145 degrees F. For safety reasons it was decided to hold the election at night, when the temps got down to the tolerable mid 90s.

Turnout was better than expected because everyone who went to the polls would get a free hand held fan with the image of none other than Jesus Christ himself on it, with the slogan "Jesus Cools" sprawled across the top.

The next morning the election results were no surprise, Inhofe won hands down. His campaign platform of "Don't let the environmental wackos, take away your pickup." was hugely popular.

Later that day a representative from Koch Industries congratulated him on his win. Inhofe thanked them for all the money they had given him over the years, and he also thanked them for the retreat they had built for him and his family in northern Alaska, called "Tulsa Two" or 2Ts for short.

He chuckled over the phone, "I don't know why everybody is whining about the weather around here, up there at 2Ts things are just fine..."

*Note: La Grande Nina was coined by the Heritage Foundation, in an attempt to explain away the high temps.

Then there's this, from Tuesday this week:

Oklahoma Being Swamped by Earthquakes, But It's Probably Just A Coincidence There's All This Drilling Right Nearby

A series of earthquakes rocked Oklahoma over the weekend - six Friday night alone - thus continuing an alarming trend: Already this year, the state's 252 quakes have "crushed" last year's record of 222 quakes.

Hmm.
“What you’ve got to understand, son,” says the doctor, “is it’s all the fault of the alien space bats.”
(Cory Doctorow, The Rapture of the Nerds: A tale of the singularity, posthumanity, and awkward social situations.)

Predictions of Gin Chow & The Sexagenary Cycles

In The Best of the Illustrated Astrological Journal (1933-35), an old volume I picked up in an antique store some time ago, a brief article Gin Chow, Chinese Prophet of Lompoc -by Thomas F. Collison, caught my interest.

Gin Chow, an immigrant from China, lived in Lompoc in the Santa Inez River valley, Santa Barbara county, California. He gathered the reputation of being a sage and prophet due to an ability to accurately predict the weather and timing of earthquakes.


The article tells that Gin Chow made no claim to be clairvoyant, and denied that he was a soothsayer, yet his fame spread. He used Chinese astrological doctrine, "The Yellow Road zodiac", ancient lore touching on the "fates of men and the fates of nations, and the way of the rains and the droughts and the hot spells and cold spells and earthquake phenomena", using cycles of 60 years.

Gin Chow correctly predicted that Yokohama would quake in 1923 and that Santa Barbara would fall in ruins in 1925. He believed that the destiny of China and United States "They tied up together....China is old man, Amelica is infant, but wise baby. China not been wise. She pay too much 'tention to ancestors, by Amelica she benefit much if she help China".

Other predictions by Chow cited by Thomas Stroke in his 1958 book California Editor include a a 1932 prediction of a United States war with Japan that would end in 1946 (World War II ended in 1945).

Wikipedia has a page on Gin Chow, and records that
Chow's last prediction came in 1932. He had been seriously gored by a bull and doctors believed him to be on his deathbed. Chow assured them that he would die one year later. He died in June 1933.

Chinese Astrology follows the cycles of the Moon. A complete cycle of sixty lunar years is made up of five twelve year cycles. The twelve-year cycle is sometimes called "The Yellow Road of the Sun".

I searched online for more information and found this. I suspect some astrologers might argue with the first sentence!

All astrology derives from ancient Chinese philosophy developed between 4000 and 2000 BC. At its heart is the concept of complementary opposites, and the interaction between elemental forces within a 60 year cycle dominated by the Moon. No one force or element dominates another, but each requires the others for its existence. As time progresses through the cycle, life forces change, but are always held in balance by an opposing force.
The present 60 year cycle started in 1984 – the year which George Orwell foresaw as a new world dominated by what he believed to be the dark forces of information technology in an age of fearsome new weaponry – and will end in 2044.
http://www.myqualities.com/astrology/Chinese-Astrology.asp

Hmm. Using that 12-year count we are currently in the span 2008 to 2020, the third of five 12-year segments since the previous cycle ended in 1983. I feel no affinity at all to Chinese astrology, so am drawing a blank here. There's more detail on the Sexagenery Cycle in Chinese astrology at Wikipedia