Astro Blog
by Adrian Duncan | Oct 15, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
When Europe and the USA opened up trade with China in the 18th and 19th centuries, there were all sorts of wonderful products they coveted, like furniture, silk and tea, but the Chinese had no particular desire for Western products. Britain had (literally) a quick fix for this, developing poppy fields in India and selling opium to China. Very soon there was an enormous Chinese demand for opium. The Chinese government tried to put a stop to this by banning the import of opium, to which a large proportion of the population in coastal cities became addicted. In the 1st Opium War, when the British navy shelled these cities into submission, China was forced to provide unfettered access to trade with the Treaty of Nanjing in 1842.
That would teach the Chinese to interfere with free trade!
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by Adrian Duncan | Aug 30, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
This is a watershed moment for Israel, and although ex-Prime Minister Netanyahu, recently ousted, thinks he can return, he will never get the job back. When observers look at the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the irony is striking. Historically Jews were exiled repeatedly from their country, and now the same fate has struck Palestinians, particularly those suffering in Gaza. A look at the history of the Jews provides an answer to Israeli motivations and their fate in the 21st century. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Jun 24, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
The Scots are a fearsome bunch. Emperor Hadrian certainly thought so, which is why he in AD 122 built a wall from coast to coast just south of the Scottish border, to keep marauding Scots out. Having carved out a huge empire, Rome gave up at the Scottish highlands and retreated behind their wall. Historically, Scotland has been fiercely independent – the union with England only taking place in 1707. Prior to that, Scotland made alliances with France against England, and for England there was always the threat of invasion from the North.
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by Adrian Duncan | May 1, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
Alle i den astrologiske verden har vidst, at 2020 ville være et specielt år, selvom man ikke kunne vide præcist hvorfor. Det skyldes den sjældne konjunktion mellem Saturn og Pluto (som sker hver 36-40 år) som får ekstra skub fra Jupiter, og i skrivende stund Mars. (Note 1) Man skal helt tilbage til 1500-tallet for at se denne tredobbelt konjunktion. Med corona-virussen ankomst ved vi nu hvorfor.
Skoler, børnehaver, restauranter, cafeer, og alle større arrangementer er aflyst. Flytrafikken er næsten standset. Ansatte sendes hjem. Gaderne er tomme. Der er en verdensomspændende forsøg på at forsinke spredningen af corona-virussen – den er for omfattende at standse, men kan den bremses en smule, så undgår man topbelastningen af akutte indlæggelser og mareridt scenarier, hvor folk ikke kan behandles. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | May 1, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
I 1948 skrev George Orwell romanen Nineteen Eighty Four. Det siges at han vendte de sidste to chifre af lancerings-året om for at komme til tallet 1984 – en epoke hvor Big Brother var allestedsnærværende på utallige skjulte og synlige skærme. Den 4. maj 1984 blev Mark Zuckerberg født. I vores nye digitale tidsalder, hvor vi alle sammen bærer rundt på vores personlige skærm, eksisterer vi online i en verden, Zuckerberg har skabt: Facebook. Langt over en milliard mennesker bruger Facebook her i 2020. Og via hans filantropiske initiativ Internet.org har han planer om, at internettet blive tilgængeligt for alle. Så vil alle være på Facebook, og det er derfor ikke nogen dårlig ide at lære manden at kende samt at forstå hvad Facebook er i stand til. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | May 1, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
Har fremtiden nogensinde været så usikker? Hele verden skal forholde sig til en pandemi og en nedlukning, som påvirker næsten alle mennesker på planeten. Regeringer skal forholde sig til et umuligt valg mellem at lukke ned for den vækstmotor, som de er så afhængige af og at varetage befolkningens sundhed. Statsledere har valgt at prioritere sundhed fremfor profit, selvom corona virusset ikke er særlig dødbringende i forhold til andre alvorlige sygdomme, dog alvorlig nok til at overbelaste hospitaler og sundhedspersonale. De ledere, som har tøvet – Boris Johnson, Trump, Bolsonaro – måtte se på store dødsofre i deres befolkning (og de fik selv Covid 19). …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | May 1, 2021 | Uncategorized
There’s a theory going around – formed a couple of millennia ago – that at one point the Earth was a dark, formless void from which light sprang forth. This was good. There was night and day, and there was water and dry land, and that was good too. For light, the Sun was created for daytime and the Moon for night. That was by Day Four and by Day Six, God had created all living beings, especially us. On the seventh day He rested. That must have been Sunday. (Note 1) According to some Christian creationists, this took place less than 10,000 years ago, but they may be wrong. …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Mar 15, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
History may not exactly repeat, but it certainly rhymes. A transiting planet may return to its original position, but all the other planets have moved in the meantime. So there are echoes, but not repeats. In the bombshell interview Meghan Markle gave to Oprah Winfrey together with Prince Harry on March 7th 2021, Meghan revealed how close to suicide she had been whilst pregnant with her first child. Princess Diana, of course, struggled with bulimia through her early years of marriage with an unsympathetic royal household, so the echoes are clear. Even more surprising perhaps, is the fact that Meghan Markle was born just five days after Diana married Charles, so that this marriage chart and her birth chart are very similar. Both charts straddle the solar eclipse at 8 degrees Leo which took place in the summer of 1981. Both channel the difficult Mars in fall in Cancer square the monumental Jupiter-Saturn conjunction exact at 5 degrees Libra. (Note 1) …Read More
by Adrian Duncan | Feb 19, 2021 | Adrian's Articles 2000
Has the recent future ever been as uncertain as it is now? How could things have come so far, that every country in the world has gone through its own experience of pandemic lockdown, which has affected the lives of almost every individual on the planet? Governments have been put in the unenviable position of closing down the very engines of growth that they so depend on. Leaders have chosen to prioritize health over profit, even with a virus which is only mildly deadly – just deadly enough to overload hospital capacity. Those leaders who hesitated – Boris Johnson, Trump, Bolsonaro – not only saw dreadful spikes in mortality amongst the population, they also contracted the virus themselves.
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by Adrian Duncan | Dec 18, 2020 | Adrian's Articles 2000
The world is now going through a huge transition presaged by the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn at zero Aquarius on the winter solstice in December 2020. A few years ago, it seemed impossible to know what this would mean, and how such a transition could take place. But then the 2020 pandemic arrived. It shook every country in the world, not just through fatalities, but by changing the habits and rhythms of everyone’s daily lives. Those in privileged positions worked from home and still enjoyed a healthy economy. Others risked much more as essential workers and had to expose themselves to the corona virus daily. Many simply lost their jobs. Many went hungry and are still hungry. The pandemic precipitated the biggest economic crisis in modern history. …Read More
