More theories, it all HAS to add up

A myth tells of how Pelops overcame the king and won the hand of his daughter Hippodamia so that he could become king, with the help of Poseidon, his old lover. Another myth tells of the hero Hercules, or Herakles, who won a race at Olympia and then decreed that the race should be re-enacted every four years. Some people state that the Greeks believed that the gods enjoyed watching sporting events. These games also served as a way to ready men for battle with skills like running, wrestling, throwing the javelin for accuracy, and throwing the discus for distance.

The idea to revive the Olympic Games as an international competition came to Pierre de Coubertin, a French pedagogue and historian, in 1889 and he spent the following five years organizing an international meeting of athletes and sports enthusiasts that might make it happen. His reasons for this are not entirely clear (well, they are. But just like Dan Brown fudges facts, I want to too. So, play along). What's notable is that the first modern Olympic Games were held only 2 years after the proposals for them were approved in 1894.

---

Speaking of the French, the Algiers' crises of 1958 brought about the collapse of the Fourth Republic. The new Fifth Republic gave a 7 year term to the President until, in 2000, a referendum reduced it to 5 years. Whether it was coincidence or fate, or clever plotting, the course had been set.

---

The French revolution has been said to inspire the have been inspired by the American revolution. George Washington took office as the first President of the US in 1889, and the country has had elections at 4 year intervals since then. In keeping with the pattern, the latest President took office in 2009. The elections for this were held in 2008.

---

(I admit, this one is really wild) 

The number 116 is a noncototient. While the number 116! + 1 is prime. A significance, not to be forgotten (since we talked about the French), is that the Hundred Years War between France and England lasted 116 years. 116 is also the fire emergency number in Peru.

---

How is all this related you ask. Let me explain. 116 years after the first Modern Olympic games (whose original intention was to help atheletes prepare for battle) proposed by a Frenchman, the French and the American democracies (probably the oldest modern democracies) will go into elections to elect a new head of state. In 2012. 116, a number who the South American people of Peru associate with emergency, links these events.

(And like Dan Brown and other conspiracy theorists, crazy madcap idea comes right here ---->) I have lived in France and America for education. More proof of why I MUST (LOL) have something to do with this, can be found right in this post.

Sigh, I'm so full of myself. I love it. :P I guess I should think more about work now. Till later!

PS: Many sentences lifted as-is straight from Wikipedia. And I have used "artistic freedom" to freely (and wrongly) interpret stuff I want to, so that it fits my "theory". :D

2012

"... winning gold medals at the math olympiad was just a dangling carrot to get you all motivated. Winning medals there is not a true measure of success of this program. We will know whether our experiment was truly successful after, say, 10 years. Let us meet in 2012. I predict that each of you will have done something truly great. That will be the true measure of success for this program." -- Prof. P.

Well, it's not an exact quote, but it sums up what P meant in 2002. So, the date 1st June 2012 draws closer, just 29 months and few days away. At 6 pm, we are scheduled to meet in Pune. The golden medal guy has promised that, as always, he will be 5 minutes late. Among things changed, some are on their way to getting married already. Some have shifted fields. Mathematics no longer takes up a chunk of our lives. Some don't need it altogether. But the prediction says that we will still have benefited from the program, and I generally agree with it.

-----

I am scheduled to graduate with a PhD in August 2012. A couple of others might graduate in 2012 too.

-----

Sometime around 3000 BC (well, historians aren't quite sure about the exact date), the Mayans invented a calendar, that had a last date. Theories suggest that this corresponds to 21 December, 2012. For proof, refer to the movie that goes by the same title.

-----

The book "Foucault's Pendulum" by Umberto Eco writes about a fictitious conspiracy theory that 3 editors are working on that intends to be "the mother of all theories" and that ties in all myths and legends and reveals a greater Plan. In it, a "normal" character chides one of the leads about such theories saying, that you can choose any number, and any fact, and assign it a greater meaning. Making a conspiracy theory is quite easy and you can make it personal by (forcibly) relating it to events in your life. Maybe I should make a movie based on the above lines, make myself the lead character, and show how I was destined to be the saviour.... or the first one to go in the apocalypse.