William Stickevers specializes in archetypal, financial, and geopolitical astrology. In the first half, he shared his thoughts on what he sees coming in the next year and beyond, based on significant planetary alignments. The Jupiter-Saturn conjunction, which began in late December, marks the start of a new 242-year cycle, he reported, with our planet moving from an earth sign to the air sign Aquarius, heralding a new age of innovation, technology, and social reform. Further, due to these disruptive and unforeseen changes, he predicts that those with wealth and power in the pre-COVID era may have a reversal of fortune by the end of the decade.
Among the disrupting elements, he listed such things as cryptocurrency, civil disobedience, quantum computing, self-driving vehicles, class warfare, and out-of-control inflation. Stickevers, who is launching a "Crypto Astrology" group, is very bullish on digital currency and believes the decentralized financial system will overtake the current centralized one by 2030. He suggested that bitcoin will rise in value to around $80,000 in May and hit about $120,000 in December 2021. In terms of geopolitics, he sees a possible China/Taiwan conflict as more of a hotspot than either North Korea or Iran. Stickevers also foresees pandemic restrictions lessening by May of this year and a rise in the stock and housing markets over the summer (but followed by problems in the fall). During the second hour, he offered astrological readings for callers.
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In the latter half, senior astronomer at SETI, Seth Shostak, talked about his continued work in the search for ET intelligence, 'Oumuamua - the first known interstellar object detected passing through our solar system, and a signal picked up by the Breakthrough Listen project. Shostak said he found the 'Oumuamua theories of Avi Loeb, a Harvard astronomer, fascinating to consider. Loeb has postulated that a distant alien civilization likely designed 'Oumuamua and that it's against the odds that such an object would randomly head into our system, orbit the sun, and then leave. Shostak conceded that was a somewhat persuasive argument but believes a more prosaic explanation than alien activity will be forthcoming as additional data comes in.
The Breakthrough Listen project using the Parkes telescope in Australia found a curious radio signal coming from the direction of Proxima Centauri. But the frequency of the signal-- 980MHz, indicates it may be due to terrestrial interference, Shostak noted. One of SETI's first runs was looking at signals from the Zeta Reticuli system, yet nothing unusual was discovered. That system has relatively new suns, which could mean it's less likely to host life, he explained. He also talked about the METI program, which seeks to send messages to extraterrestrial civilizations rather than look for signals.
During the last half-hour, George played his recording of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Telltale Heart."
News segment guests: Howard Bloom, Mish Shedlock