Wired has an interesting article on Nasa's predictions for violent solar storms to erupt in 2012 and their cataclysmic effect on the world's power grids. It's great to see this getting the attention it deserves. Personally I believe that preparing for societal collapse through personal physical and mental preparation like spiritual development (esp. meditation and martial arts), and basic community-resilience preparation such as community gardens and farmer's markets, take top priority at the present time.

"Three hundred and sixty degrees away from the samurai lives the ninja. Both his powers and his weaknesses are opposite to those of the samurai. The ninja is the outlaw, the anarchist, the iconoclast. The philosophical conflict between samurai and ninja is a universal theme, in feudal Japan just as among Homeric heroes. Aiax is a samurai, Ulysses is a ninja. Aiax an unshakeable mountain, full of pride and of his boundless strength, ready to fight face to face against an entire army. Ulysses, a shadow warrior, strikes when the night is dark and disappears before sunrise.