New Year’s Eve is upon us, observed with much glitter and glamour, noise and champagne. We set off fireworks, drop crystal balls, kiss our loved ones.
But why? It’s just another turn of the calendar. Nothing really changes from one day to the next. Yet it’s been looked at as an important turning point for at least 4,000 years.
The new year symbolizes new beginnings, clean slates, a chance to start over. It also marks another year survived; here we are, still standing. We can try again, make things better, do things differently — at least that’s how we feel on Dec. 31.
But some things will be new, besides our calendars.
• Paid Leave Oregon Qualified employees will be able to take up to 12 weeks off per year. Employees and their employers will start contributing to the program in January, but benefits will not be available until September. For more information see Oregon.gov and tinyurl.com/yc7dj4zw
• Oregon farm workers will be paid overtime. The number of hours worked per week before overtime kicks in starts at 55 and will be increased incrementally until 2027 when it will be 40 hours.
• Real ID identification will be required for air travel beginning May 7, 2023. If you do not have one and expect to travel, you need to get yourself to the DMV. Visit tinyurl.com/yc5svun8 for application requirements.
Mystery: “Exiles” by Jane Harper; “City Under One Roof” by Iris Yamashita
Thriller:“Someone Else’s Life” by Lynn Liao Butler; “The Bandit Queens” by Parini Schroff
Young adult: “Highly Suspicious and Unfairly Cute”by Talia Hibbert
Historical Fiction: “London Seance Society” by Sarah Penneer
Fiction: “The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise” by Colleen Oakley; “Small World” by Laura Zigman
February: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”
March: “Creed III” and “Shazam! Fury of the Gods”
April: “Super Mario Bros. Movie”
Everyone’s making predictions for what the year will bring, whether it be the economists, astrologers, psychics or ancient seers.
Nostradamus is famous for his long-range predictions, which he published in 1555. His prophesies were written in cryptic verse, originally in Middle French, and since translated many times. It’s impossible to make any concrete predictions from his writing, it’s only possible to work backward from an event (the assignation of President Kennedy or the 9/11 attacks, for example) to find writings that fit.
That said, modern-day seers comb through his words, looking to what can potentially apply to the upcoming year. He foresaw a Great War, lasting seven months, which could apply to Russia and Ukraine. Though it started in 2022, it certainly fits the bill.
He also predicted that “the light of Mars will go out.” What does this mean? Some interpret it to mean a catastrophe on the planet, others think it could refer to our quest to explore and possibly inhabit Mars.
Other predictions point to civil unrest, worsening of global warming and economic disaster — all a pretty safe bet given where we currently are.
A more current mystic was Baba Vanga, a Bulgarian clairvoyant who made many predictions from the 1970s until she died in 1996. Most of her predictions have not come true, but that doesn’t stop people from looking to her for what is upcoming.
Vanga predicts a major solar eruption. It could be a huge solar flare, or perhaps a coronal mass ejection — both of which could cause electrical outages and geomagnetic storms. The last major such event was in 1859.
She predicts the testing of bio-weapons by a big country, and the potential explosion at a nuclear energy plant. She also foresaw the advent of “designer babies” created in labs, a change in earth’s orbit and the landing of extraterrestrials here on earth.
Astrologer Jessica Adams predicts that Ukraine will win the war against Russia this year. On the other hand, astrologer Tatiana Borsch predicts just the opposite.
British psychic Craig Hamilton-Parker predicts world-wide famine, and a solar flare or other cosmic event that will affect earth. He also sees Putin losing power (or possibly dying), but the war continuing.
Others see global upheaval with new political powers and changing alliances. They predict economic turmoil and social unrest globally, siding with Nostradamus on these.
Economists disagree on whether the U.S. will dip into a recession or not.
Techies seem to agree that we will see a huge increase in the use of artificial intelligence.
What do you predict for 2023?
