1413: Suddenly Popular

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Suddenly Popular
Are Your Teens Practicing Amplexus? Learn These Six Telltale Signs!
Title text: Are Your Teens Practicing Amplexus? Learn These Six Telltale Signs!

Explanation

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If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

Many phrases that used to be of mainly academic interest become popular when an important event or global trend is described with such phrases in the media. Randall presents a timeline of past examples, and predicts phrases that may be popularised in the near future.

World Wide Web
Though first proposed in 1989, and the first test being completed in 1990, it took until around 1994 for the world wide web to start becoming well known.
DNA Evidence
Prominent coverage of the O. J. Simpson murder trial in 1994 brought widespread discussion of DNA Evidence, making it famous and showing its limitations.
Militia Movement
After the standoffs at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and the Branch Davidians compound in Waco, Texas between U.S. Government Agencies and militias, people started becoming more aware of their presence, culminating with the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing on the second anniversary of the fire at the Branch Davidians compound.
Supermax
(Super-Maximum Security prisons)
Butterfly Ballot
In United States presidential election in 2000, Florida had a major recount dispute that took center stage in the election. Thus, the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election was not known for more than a month after balloting, because of the extended process of counting and then recounting of Florida presidential ballots.
Al-Qaeda
The September 11th terrorist attacks brought the Al-Qaeda terrorist organisation into the spotlight almost overnight.
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi, though developed in the '90s, first became popular in the early 2000s.
Tsunami
The 2006 Pangandaran earthquake and tsunami was the first tsunami to be widely captured on camera, bringing these previously obscure seismic events into the public eye.
Viral
Radicalize
Metadata

From this point onwards, phrases were in the future at the time of publishing

Lahar
A Lahar is a mudslide caused by the eruption of a volcano. Randall is speculating on a future natural disaster being caused by such an incident.
Insect-Borne
Some diseases are insect-borne, meaning specific species of insects are the main vector in spreading to humans. Malaria is an example of an insect-borne disease. Randall predicts some deadly insect-borne disease will emerge around this time.
Earth-Crossing
Earth-crossers are asteroids that crosses the orbit of Earth. Most of them are harmless because they cross the orbit when Earth is not there. For this phrase to become popular, the Earth-crosser would have to become hazardous asteroid, meaining it crosses the orbit so close to Earth it may collide with it. Such an asteroid would rate 5 or more on the Torino Scale. As of 2014, there is no known asteroid either having this rating or being potentially dangerous in the early 2020s. Because of the next two phrases, it seems that Randall here predicts an asteroid of at least 9 on the Torino Scale.
Thermohaline
Thermohaline circulation is one of the ocean circulations. This circulation equals the temperature and salinity of oceans in all parts of the world, stabilizing global climate. If this phrase becomes popular, the thermohaline circulation would probably become problematic or come to at least partial halt. This may be caused by an impact of a large asteroid.
Snow-Blindness
This phrase suggests the asteroid impact caused long impact winter. Snow-blindness is an eye condition caused by excessive exposure of cornea to UV light which leads to (temporarily if treated properly) blindness. The source of the excessive exposure is light reflected from snow and ice.
Amplexus
Controlled Hydroplaning
Paradoxical Reaction
Drone Desertion
Desertion is the abandonment of a post or duty, usually military in nature. With the increasing use of autonomous drones by the military this hints at an event where drones 'decide' to desert.
Rapid Hair Growth
I Swear Allegiance To The God-Empress In Life And In Death
May be a reference to The God-Empress of Ponykind - a My Little Pony / Warhammer 40,000 fanfic.

Transcript

Title: Obscure words and phrases everyone suddenly becomes very familiar with.

<-- World Wide Web
<-- DNA Evidence
1995
<-- Militia Movement
<-- Supermax
2000
<-- Butterfly Ballot
<-- Al-Qaeda
<-- Wi-Fi
2005
<-- Tsunami
<-- Viral
2010
<-- Radicalize
<-- Metadata
2015
<-- Lahar
<-- Insect-Borne
2020
<-- Earth-Crossing
<-- Thermohaline
<-- Snow-Blindness
2025
<-- Amplexus
<-- Controlled Hydroplaning
2030
<-- Paradoxical Reaction
<-- Drone Desertion
<-- Rapid Hair Growth
2035
<-- I Swear Allegiance To The God-Empress In Life And In Death
2040


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Discussion

N.b. The phrase "Tsunami" is clearly located after 2005 so cannot be referring to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. 141.101.98.4 10:53, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

While the actual tsunami did occur in 2004, it was late December, and I would argue that it was by far the most prominent tsunami at that time. Widespread use of the word would have spanned into 2005. See List of Historical Tsunamis --141.101.99.233 10:58, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

You know, you shouldn't argue: BOTH tsunamis obviously took part in the word becoming popular. -- Hkmaly (talk) 11:03, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
I agree, but I also believe that the 2004 tsunami has to be listed in the explanation.--141.101.99.233 11:07, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
And more important here - the scale is not very clear and he may have meant 2004, but could not fit it in, with the other sentences. Kynde (talk) 09:02, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Unless someone disagrees and convinces me, I think that something like "Social Engineers" (or perhaps hackers) should be added to the list of people who were aware of and who used metadata prior to the popularization of the term, so I'll add it if I remember next time I come here, or someone else can feel free to do so in my stead -- Brettpeirce (talk) 12:19, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Drone Desertion... Skynet? Smperron (talk) 13:15, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Given that Paradoxical Reaction comes before Drone Desertion, could we assume that because of something done to the AI of drones, presumably to make them "smarter", it has actually led to them deserting on their own? ;) -- I could see how Randall could string a few of the future phrases together to form some logical sequence of events. Jarod997 (talk) 13:51, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Amplexus refers to a copulation behavior in frogs. I can only assume Randall chose this word without a hypothetical event in mind. 108.162.219.198 13:32, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Given the theme, I feel there has to be some event that Randall had in mind that would cause humans to adopt this copulation method. Smperron (talk) 13:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC)
Agreed, consider the title text: "Are Your Teens Practicing Amplexus? Learn These Six Telltale Signs!" --108.162.216.84 18:45, 28 August 2014 (UTC)
For example, the earth-crossing body was a vehicle for a reptilian race which starts by controlling the drones and then takes over the world. The sexual practices of the ruling elite become popular among the youth of the sunjugated population. The god-empress is of the reptilian overlord race.162.158.38.82 20:41, 25 January 2019 (UTC)

Rapid hair growth: Global temps drop, prompting the human body to grow thicker body hair? Smperron (talk) 13:36, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

Does anyonr else feel "May be a reference to The God-Empress of Ponykind - a My Little Pony / Warhammer 40,000 fanfic." is a bit of a stretch? Spaceside (talk) 13:50, 27 August 2014 (UTC)

I personally think it's a reference to Homestuck, especially since this page's number is "1413", while "413" is an important number in that webcomic. 141.101.88.219 19:25, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Thermohaline circulation-changes predicted due to increased freshwater runoff in the arctic with climate change (melting glaciers and permafrost) and decreased sea ice cover. Whatever the cause, some evidence and speculation that this could lead to the onset of an ice age, possibly explaining "snow blindness". 108.162.216.125 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)


I think hydroplaning is not the same as aquaplaning... 108.162.231.208 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

If we are going so far as to say that 2038 has to do with the 2038 problem, you may notice that each year uses 12 pixels, and therefore the sentence "I Swear Allegiance To The God-Empress In Life And In Death" can be shown to be on April 2038, not on January 19, 2038. 108.162.221.201 14:59, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

That even adds more credence to the scenario, since it would probably take a few months before the radical change to society was complete, and the phrase "I Swear Allegiance To The God-Empress In Life And In Death" would become well known. (talk) 02:32, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

I thought you were joking, but then I saw this [1]. You are a living example of the reason of the existence of religions. 108.162.221.201 13:30, 29 August 2014 (UTC)

Assuming no major mutations, wouldn't human amplexus be "spooning"? 199.27.128.140 18:59, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

No - it would be doggy style - but without penetration Kynde (talk) 08:58, 29 August 2014 (UTC)
There's actually a term for that too, but I don't want to make this discussion into a sex position glossary (it starts with an "h" and ends in "ing").141.101.98.210 08:21, 31 August 2014 (UTC)

It could be the propensity to snuggle for a long time between intermittent sex acts due to it being effing cold all the time.(pun intended) 108.162.228.11 12:12, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

As there are no known earth crossers, I have an alternate scenario for "earth crosser" - "thermohaline" - "snow blindness": Global warming, creating Hypercanes, these would disrupt oceanic layering (thermohaline) and may go hand in hand with desertification (deserts can also lead to something akin to snow blindness). So, alternatively, Randall may predict that global warming may come much faster and harder than predicted... Just my two cents (and maybe we should think "Dune" with the last entry? not the story - the background... Bene Geserit anyone?) ... wont do any changes before discussed (or people shout "oh no - surely not"!)... Tier666 (talk) 17:28, 30 August 2014 (UTC)

2011 SM68 is coming close in 2016 and 2019. (292220) 2006 SU49 is coming close in 2029. (99942) Apophis is close in 2029. 2012 MU2 is close in 2015. 2014 DA is close in 2027. -- See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torino_Scale for list of object which have ever been considered at risk of hitting earth. Giving the timing, I would think that "2011 SM68" is the closest match for Randall's timeline, as the 2016 passage would give additional data for a probability of hitting earth in 2019 -- and two years after that everybody would know what hit them :-( 199.27.128.209 06:17, 1 September 2014 (UTC)
As far as I know, it is called snow blindness only when it is caused by snow or ice and the same condition is called by the medical term photokeratitis in desert. There are no known Earth-crossers around 2020 that would be really worth mentioning (2009 JF1 has the highest probability) but the problem is that we might not know the object yet (especially if it would be a comet) STEN (talk) 22:23, 1 September 2014 (UTC)


under controlled hydroplaning i understand 3 things 1. a joke about the word plan in hydroplaning 2. some kind of advanced engine enabling boats to use hydroplaning to move 3. a car computer to stear while the car is hydroplaning

Originally, I thought it has something to do with seaplanes because they are also called hydroplanes. Regarding the boats, there are already boats using (hydro)planing. STEN (talk) 22:29, 1 September 2014 (UTC)

the title: "i swear allegiance to the god-empress in live and death" makes me imagine that he could mean his own

death maybe due to: 1. reduced dyieng age because of the ice age 2. that he doesnt want to grow older than that 00:44, 1 September 2014

How is "Tsunami" ever an obscure phrase before 2005!? I've known that word as a normal part of speech all my life (which started in the eighties). Note that this is also unlike, for example, "metadata", which I've also known all my life but that word simply went viral around 2013. --Zom-B (talk) 20:51, 3 September 2014 (UTC)

RE: The phrase "God-Emperor" being popularized by Dune in 1965 is a little misleading. The phrase was never used until the book God Emperor of Dune which was published in 1981. Love the series... perhaps a little too much.--108.162.216.209 21:44, 22 September 2014 (UTC)

The oath also reminds me of the oaths to the Seanchan Empress in Wheel of Time, may she live forever. --ShadowDx (talk) 04:39, 26 October 2014 (UTC)

Removed reference to StarCraft because it made no sense. Neither Arcturus nor Valerian Megnsk (the only characters to have the title Emperor in the franchise) ever claim godhood at any point. I mean, Arcturus was a head-case and a manipulative bastard, but he never claimed divinity, especially not publicly. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 05:49, 7 December 2015 (UTC)

The explanation section mentions the Singularity occurring at some point in this timeline, but I see nothing in the comic or more detailed explanation that supports this. 162.158.63.86 18:30, 10 April 2021 (UTC)