End of the world: 21 December 2012

Posted on 10:10 am, December 6, 2012 by Samuel J

Apparently the Vogon Constructor Fleet will be removing the earth on 21 December to make way for an intergalactic highway construction project.

All I can say,

Don’t Panic

What are your plans for the last two weeks?

About Samuel J

Interested in economics and politics.

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59 Responses to End of the world: 21 December 2012

Nuke Gray

#661943, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:19 am

Now this is a great excuse to not buy any Xmass presents! Think of the money you’ll save, if the Vogons, or Mayans, are wrong! (If we all Do die, saving money won’t be on our minds, I suspect!) And it makes a perfect excuse- I was busy worrying about the whole planet- what were YOU doing?!
A Lurker

#661948, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:25 am

My plans? Not worrying about the end of the world.

Mind you the parties on the 20th December would be pretty cool.

Btw, I wish they’d remake the entire Hitchhiker’s Guide series, sticking accurately to Douglas Adam’s books because in my opinion, that last movie they did of the Hitchhiker’s Guide was pretty woeful
m0nty

#661949, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:26 am

Julia Gillard is relieved about the whole thing.
dianeh

#661950, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:26 am

I’ll be working, taking care of the family and preparing for Xmas.

I am going on holidays after the world ends.
Lysander Spooner

#661971, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:49 am

I’ll still be plotting the end of the ALP for kicks.
Rabz

#661975, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:51 am

Joy – looking forward to the Vogon poetry readings I’ll be subjected to after making good my escape from planet earth.
candy

#661978, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:52 am

I like Marvin the paranoid android as my favourite character.
Jannie

#661983, posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:55 am

Wayne Swan must have known about this all along.
Fleeced

#661990, posted on December 6, 2012 at 11:01 am

Quantum immortality will see me through.
face ache

#662000, posted on December 6, 2012 at 11:14 am

Stop it this minute! The hitchhikers guide was the biggest load of twaddle I have ever read. Aimed at moronic undergraduates. And to swell Adams bank accounts. But then, in 1969, I thought The Lord of the Rings was very good, so what do I know?
.

#662019, posted on December 6, 2012 at 11:25 am

At least you showed the true and proper screen version.
Jannie

#662022, posted on December 6, 2012 at 11:27 am

Lord of the Rings was always a bit too intelectually highbrow for me. At least Adams was a practical guy who invented the 5G ipad.
tbh

#662023, posted on December 6, 2012 at 11:29 am

Love it, HHGttG is brilliant. Even the movie was alright, though a lot of fans hated it.

I’ve got a holiday planned in January. If the world ends before that, I’ll be very cross.
Dr Faustus

#662076, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:11 pm

Rabz: Listening to Wayne Swan speak on the ALP’s economic achievements is Vogon poetry.
Steve D

#662097, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:38 pm

Wait, they’re all different…the radio play, the books, the original TV series, the movie, the computer game…tweaking the story was the only constant!

And, given the current federal government, I can only concur with revised definition from ‘harmless’ to ‘mostly harmless’.
Gab

#662100, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:43 pm

Fear not. A newly found Mayan calendar proves we’re going to be around for at least a further 6,000 years.
Anne

#662104, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:47 pm

Loved HHG,, the trilogy + So Long…Fish. I’ve never seen the TV show/movie. Must see if I can rent it.

Another favourite book from that time was “The House of God”. Did they make a movie out of that?
Infidel Tiger

#662108, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:50 pm

Very good article on how Australian consumers are being price gouged on cars. ($ or google needed)
Infidel Tiger

#662114, posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:53 pm

The Porsche Cayman is a case in point. The focused two-seater debuted at LA and was one of the highlights. My attention was drawn to the more distinctive styling, better interior and heightened performance credentials. Desirable? No question.

Porsche chief Matthias Mueller revealed the price starts at $US52,600 ($50,260) for the 2.7-litre base model, and at that price I’d buy one in a flash. But, of course, I can’t because that’s the US price and here the same car starts at $115,500. Why the enormous difference?

Well, Australian taxes are one reason. In round numbers, that $115,500 includes $9300 in GST and $13,000 in luxury car tax. There’s also a 5 per cent import tariff, which in this case I’d estimate at about $3000.
Digital Pass $1 for first 28 Days

So that $115,500 contains more than $25,000 – or 22 per cent of the price – which goes straight to Canberra. Just as well we believe in free trade.

Sickening.
papachango

#662117, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:01 pm

IT – what’s the price of a porsche got to do with the imminent End of Days?

Might as well pay the inflated, tarrif-laden price, whack it on the credit card, then hoon around like a madman for the next 2 weeks…
Infidel Tiger

#662118, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:05 pm

Woops.

Wrong thread.
Anne

#662120, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:06 pm

It is “sickening”, IT. I need a new car but it galls me to think of the fleecing by this government.

Would buying a second hand car, one or two years old avoid those taxes?
Anne

#662122, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:07 pm

Wools, I hitched a ride with IT…
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

#662123, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm

“So this is it,” said Arthur, “We are going to die.”
“Yes,” said Ford, “except… no! Wait a minute!” He suddenly lunged across the chamber at something behind Arthur’s line of vision. “What’s this switch?” he cried.
“What? Where?” cried Arthur, twisting round.
“No, I was only fooling,” said Ford, “we are going to die after all.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Nah. Get one of these. AUD $12.95 and works every time.

Don’t all thank me at once. Some of my poetry has the Vogon touch and you might hear more of it yet.

And Julia will still get to publish her memoirs: The Bogan Touch.
Anne

#662124, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm

I mean “woops”. Damn stubbly fingles!
Token

#662125, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Rabz: Listening to Wayne Swan speak on the ALP’s economic achievements is Vogon poetry.

+1000
Alx

#662126, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:08 pm

Hi Infidel,

the article fails to take into account the rise of the A$ and the potential destruction of brand loyalty that would occur if people suddenly found 30% had been wiped of the value of their second hand cars (this is happening by creep mind you, and red book are not keeping pace, based on my recent experience of the used car market). But I fail to understand why we still have a tariff on cars when the industry gets so many subsidies already, and the point of an LCT when these cars are usually far safer and often more fuel efficient.

For a vision of socialist protectionism, look at the kind of cars they used to drive in East Germany and the Soviet Union…(model not included)

http://www.drivinggirls.com/gallery_driving_east_german_veb_sachsenring_trabant_601.htm
Splatacrobat

#662128, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:09 pm

Julia Gillard is relieved about the whole thing.

Now I know the world will not end if Gillard has said it is so.
Nuke Gray

#662130, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:10 pm

Sorry, Candy, I thought Marvin was too frivolous and light-hearted.
Rabz

#662131, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:11 pm

Would buying a second hand car, one or two years old avoid those taxes?

Yes, which is why I will never buy a new car ever again.

The depreciation in the first 12 – 24 months is all those lovely taxes.

Best that some other sucker pays them.
Splatacrobat

#662133, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:12 pm

That Trabant must be the deluxe model as its got an am radio.
Splatacrobat

#662136, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:15 pm

Liberace used a Trabant convertible when he toured East Germany. The roof didn’t go down but his chauffeur did.
candy

#662137, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:15 pm

“Sorry, Candy, I thought Marvin was too frivolous and light-hearted.”

Hey Nuke, you must be real popular at parties!
Rabz

#662139, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:16 pm

For a vision of socialist protectionism, look at the kind of cars they used to drive in East Germany and the Soviet Union

Yep – under capitalism you get Beemers and Porsches, under spud peelerism you get frigging ugly, underpowered, smelly, noxious semi mobile shit heaps like trabants, if you’re ‘lucky’.

You also get to live in these.

No comparison, really.
Alx

#662145, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Anne,

An element of the taxes on the initial purchase price is included in the value of second hand cars, even if you avoid paying GST again by buying from a private seller.

Rudd introduced legislation that basically made it impossible to import used vehicles from overseas (I wonder if this had anything to do with his car dealer mate?), effectively granting monopolies to the authorised local agents for each car make. There are exceptions in the case of collectible or rare vehicles only.

Otherwise it would now be very attractive, given the high AUD, to import prestige makes from the UK, HK or other RHD countries, where they are usually half the price.
Anne

#662147, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:20 pm

Thanks Rabz,

Would buying a second hand car, one or two years old avoid those taxes? The depreciation in the first 12 – 24 months is all those lovely taxes. Best that some other sucker pays them.

Yeah, like left-wing lawyers! Ha.
Anne

#662156, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:28 pm

Utter bastardry!

Thanks Alx.
Keith

#662166, posted on December 6, 2012 at 1:38 pm

So Gillard would prefer the world ending to facing up at the next election.
Bruce

#662215, posted on December 6, 2012 at 2:40 pm

21 December. Hmm. As I recall thirty years ago I listened to the radio series on ABC Radio National at 11pm before going on night shift at a gold mine in Queensland.

Sounds like an excuse to dig out the tapes and experience again that great Vogon poetry.

Maybe when they arrive on the 21st they’ll settle for just detonating the ABC. I have noticed it has gone downhill, minutely, since those nights.
The Beer Whisperer

#662229, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:00 pm

“Mind you the parties on the 20th December would be pretty cool.”

And the best part…..no hangover!
The Beer Whisperer

#662233, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:05 pm

“Fear not. A newly found Mayan calendar proves we’re going to be around for at least a further 6,000 years.

Gab
6 Dec 12 at 12:43 pm”

I always suspected they just ran out of stone. Or got bored, one of the two.
Tator

#662238, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:06 pm

Dr Faustus,
I cover my ears with my towel to protect myself from the Goose’s ramblings. Now that is one use they didn’t come up with in HHGttG. One could say Gillard is as daft as a ravenous bugblatter beast of Traal, cause if its victim can’t see it, it assumes it can’t see its victims.
For a trip down memory lane,
http://www.thebigcdomain.com/media/hhgttg.html
Tator

#662240, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm

I also have the original BBC radio play on MP3 and it gets listened to whilst on long trips, nothing like a good farce of a comedy to keep you upright whilst driving.
The Beer Whisperer

#662241, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:08 pm

“So that $115,500 contains more than $25,000 – or 22 per cent of the price – which goes straight to Canberra. Just as well we believe in free trade.”

So, what about the other $37500? Not that taxes aren’t ripping us off, but clearly they’re not the only ones gouging.
Tator

#662249, posted on December 6, 2012 at 3:18 pm

Also have all the books in audio format as read by Douglas Adams, plus the 2005 movie, tis always good for a laugh
Forester

#662291, posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:03 pm

You’re all forgetting that the rich don’t pay the full price of vehicles because the Government gives them a big tax cut if they lease them, the more you drive it the bigger the tax cut. At the end of the lease they get to sell the car for more than the residual is worth. The poor can only afford overpriced second hand gas guzzlers.

You would expect the Trade Union Party to stuff this up but I expected Howard and Costello to have fixed this nonsense over a decade ago.
Nuke Gray

#662299, posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:09 pm

Candy, what are ‘parties’? They sound like ways to pretend we’re not all doomed!!!!
Forester

#662301, posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:10 pm

I remember listening to the original THHGttG radio series very late in the evening on JJJ way back in the early 80′s

I’m pretty sure the books came later.

The books were great but didn’t have the sound effects of the radio series.

One of my favourite bits was when they all got off the spaceship on an alien planet, atmospheric Pink Floyd music in the background…

Zaphod Beeblebox says “Robot knock it off!”

and the music changes to the Beatles “I go for that Rock and Roll Music”…
cuckoo

#662348, posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:42 pm

I will be spending a year dead for tax purposes. If Gillard is re-elected, don’t bother reviving me.
manalive

#662395, posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:24 pm

The World’s End, I’ve been there; the beer is not that bad after the second pint.
jumpnmcar

#662417, posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:47 pm

Up here the construction industry always shuts down for 2/3weeks, starting the friday before Xmas. And that’s the 21st.
I might even manage a wry grin if the world ends with a mega instant ice age snap freeze, that grin will remain for ~~prosperity~~(sorry, sincism ) posterity.
Abu Chowdah

#662422, posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:52 pm

I loved the BBC series, which I had on cassette.

“Hand me the rap rod, plate captain!”
tbh

#662426, posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:54 pm

I loved the BBC series, which I had on cassette.

“Hand me the rap rod, plate captain!”

That’s one of my favourite lines too. I also loved his names for the characters, like Oolon Colluphid and Wowbagger the Infinitely Prolonged, with his endless stream of insults.
Anne

#662469, posted on December 6, 2012 at 6:17 pm

I will be spending a year dead for tax purposes. If Gillard is re-elected, don’t bother reviving me.

What a great line, Cuckoo! I’m keeping it.
Splatacrobat

#662472, posted on December 6, 2012 at 6:18 pm

Will this wind be so mighty as to lay low the mountains of the errrrrrrrrrrrrrth?
Cold-Hands

#662474, posted on December 6, 2012 at 6:23 pm

As I recall thirty years ago I listened to the radio series on ABC Radio National at 11pm before going on night shift at a gold mine in Queensland.

The Original Radio Series named a real person as the author of the “worst poetry in the universe”. Later iterations of the guide changed the name to “Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings of Sussex” to avoid embarrassing Adam’s friend- apparently no lawsuit was involved.
Elizabeth (Lizzie) B.

#663172, posted on December 7, 2012 at 7:56 am

Up early, awake in fright. I dreamt I sat next to Julia Gillard in a train. She was wearing another jacket that clashed with her hair colour. I don’t go on trains and nor does she. Prophetic. What does it all mean, so close to the final days, the final hour on the 21st?
Mike of Marion

#663230, posted on December 7, 2012 at 9:22 am

Gillard being a media tart and an obvious fool being connected with such ‘fatalism’ – her bull would make Don Dunstan kick her out of the Labor Party if he was still alive!!!

Dunstan was ‘pro-life!!!!!!!!!!!’

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Dunstan

One famous demonstration of Dunstan’s charismatic style and media-savvy came in January 1976. A soothsayer predicted that due to Dunstan and the state’s social liberalisation—which he saw as sinful[121]—God would destroy Adelaide with a tsunami caused by an earthquake.[121] This was publicised by the media, prompting a not insignificant number of residents to sell their property and leave; some businesses had clearance sales while many who decided to stay indulged in doomsday parties.[121] Dunstan promised to stand on the seashore at Glenelg and wait for the imminent destruction. He did so on 20 January, the day of the predicted storm, and nothing happened, although he made newspaper headlines in the United Kingdom for his defiance.[121]
Andy Wilmot

#666058, posted on December 9, 2012 at 4:16 pm

Like everyone else I do not know what will happen on 21.12.2012 . All I can say is it is good to be eighty miles inland and fifteen hundred feet above sea level .