THINGS TO COME IN 2022

Around this time of the year I in the past proved to the world that I'm a terrible prognosticator of things to come in the next year.  So much so that two years ago, as a joke, I only predicted what was sure to happen.  I still missed three, for the Summer Olympics were delayed to the following year, the cricket version of the World Cup was not held in Australia and the Dubai World Expo was moved into 2021.  

So a  year ago I tried to pull off the same stunt, and here is what happened:

• 2021 will be better than 2020.  
• I think I was more right than wrong.  
• Sure, more people died from this present pandemic in 2021 than 2020.  However, vaccines and the Omicron variant are indicators that the pandemic will end at some point later this year.  Omicron is good?  Yes, for it's very contagious, but the death rate (with vaccinations) is not much worse than the seasonal flu.  Those anti-vaxxers will still suffer, but stupidity shouldn't be rewarded.

• The January 6 coup attempt of Donald Trump FAILED!!!  Democracy survived. 
• Joe Biden is doing fine enough.  I just about stopped watching CNN and MSNBC because politics became boring, which is a whole lot better than those stunts of Trump. 

• 
  The UK will actually leave the European Union.  This did occur on January 31.  2-0 (I think 2021 was better than 2020, and I'm doing the scoring.)

• 
  All three Mars expeditions will get to Mars in February.
• I was right.  Score:  3-0.
• The UAE's Hope Mission made it to a Mars orbit on February 9.
• China's Tianwen 1 also did the same, on February 10.
• NASA's car-sized Perseverance rover touched down at Jezero Crater on Mars on February 17.
• There have been more than 50 Mars missions, and more than half failed.
• 
  The Tokyo Olympics will be held.  Yup, so I am now 4-0.
• The World Cricket Cup would be held in India.  Wrong.   The Pandemic struck again.  It was held, but in the UAE and Oman, with Australia winning for the first time.  Record 4-1.

• 
  The Dubai World Expo will begin later this year.  Correct, for it began on October 1 and will run through March of this year.  5 right to 1 wrong.
• Donald Trump will not win the Nobel Prize.  Correct:  6-1.

• 
  Joe Biden will be inaugurated on January 20, 2021.  7-1.
• The USA will rejoin the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.  Did so on February 19.  8-1.
• The Sun will rise on January 1, 2022.  Yes, it did.  9-1.

I'm getting better at this, but won't try for perfection in 2022.  Instead, I'll just point out some coming highlights:

• Venus will be at Inferior Conjunction (at 12:36 PM Hawaii time) on January 8.  Never saw this term before?  On this day Venus is between the Sun and Earth, but not perfectly in line, for Venus is 5 degrees above the sun at conjunction time.  However if you want to watch:

Warning, never point an optical instrument directly at the sun without proper solar filters.  The intense sunlight can melt the internal optics, coatings, and glues that hold the components together, let alone damage the human eye.

• 
  The year of the Water Tiger begins on February 1.
• The Beijing Winter Olympics will be held from February 4 to 20.  This becomes the first time one city has held both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

• 
  February 6:  Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, 70 years on the throne, continuing as longest reigning British monarch.  Queen Victoria almost made 64 years.
• Also on February 6 is the Super Bowl in Los Angeles.
• Watch for the end of the world in March, for the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator in Switzerland will be more powerful.  

• 
  It discovered the Higgs Boson in 2012.
• Since 2010, scientists have published more than 1000 papers.

• Walter Wagner of Hawaii sued in 2008 to stop the experiment because the device could produce a black hole and destroy our planet.  Two court judgements dismissed the suit.  Well, what can you expect.  He graduated from Cal-Berkeley.

• 
  Turns out he was partially right, in that a tiny quantum black hole can be formed.  But it would be too small to cause any harm.

• 
  But could this experiment lead to quantum wormholes, tiny doors leading to the rest of Universe, allowing for time travel?  Again, the surprising answer is maybe.  But that was surmised almost two decades ago.  Here is a more recent explanation.

• 
  So far CERN has spent almost $5 billion, and is thinking about spending an additional $23 billion to build another accelerator almost four times the length of the Large Hadron Collider.

• 
  Should we be worried about the end of life in March?  No.  Perhaps miniscule black holes, wormholes and strangelets, but if those appear, the physics world would go bonkers and produce 10,000 more papers.
• The Oscars will be bestowed on March 27.
• 
  Floriade 2022 will open in the Netherlands on April 14, and end on October 9.  If  you go in April, lots of tulips.  Held every decade, the site this year is Almere.  I went to Floriade 2012.
• Kentucky Derby will be raced on May 7.
• From May 10-14 is the Eurovision Song Contest, emanating from Turin, Italy.
• The U.S. mid-term election date is November 8.  The party out of power alway wins, but I don't think this will happen this year because of the Trump effect.

• 
  The FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar from November 21 to December 18.
• At my last check, 13 teams of the 32 have already qualified.
• Will the USA win this tournament?  Well, we never have, and a year ago the odds were +6600, which means if you bet $10, you will win $670 total.  At +550, Brazil was favored.  In November, France was favored at +600 to Brazil's +650. The USA improved to +6500.

• We missed  even qualifying for the previous World Cup in 2018.  This year we are in good position to make it to Qatar.  However, it all depends on how we play for eight more matches, and this might not be known until our final playoff match against Costa Rica on March 30.

• 
  The USA automatically will have a team in 2026 because we are co-hosting with Mexico and Canada.  The total teams go up from 32 to 48.
• 
  A few interesting events to watch for  in 2020 include:
• Will Germany phase out their three remaining nuclear powerplants?
• When will the Jeddah Tower in Saudi Arabia be completed?

• 

  Will Pluto be raised to planet status again?  What about the other 150 planets in our solar system?  In any case, the answer to those questions will almost surely not come in 2022, for you think the Senate dallies?   This field takes a long time to make decisions.

• 
  Will this be the year when insects, slime (algae) and lab foods be commercialized?
• Will the next God of War come in 2022?  Will cost $50.
• And the biggest question of all:  WHEN WILL THE PANDEMIC END?

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