Unforseen/unintended results...

The family and I were driving to Mass, yours truly began opining about the true uncertainty of life in general,

"Take this volcano eruption in Iceland that's disrupting air travel in Europe. The number of flights are diminished so the security is able to be more thorough. Let's say that Al Queda had a 9/11 style attack planned that is now derailed because of tighter security. This then follows along till 2012 and B.O. is able to cite a lack of Islamic attacks as proof of his effectiveness, he is reelected and has four more years to push his ideology. God help us all."

"OR, lets say that this decrease in air travel hits the economy hard so we never recover and when 2012 comes, B.O. and his crew get ushered out the door because of it. We elect a politician with strong conservative beliefs. All because of the weather."

"OR the ash that's suspended in the atmosphere causes drastically colder weather. All thoughts of "going green" go out the window as John Q. Public clamors for more oil for the house furnace. We start drilling within our borders like crazy, opening every refinery we can as fast as we can. When the weather rights itself after a few years we have a super glut of cheap oil, the Arab nations go broke, terrorism is no longer funded by oil and Al Queda & Co. are completely out of business."

"OR the volcano that's erupted proves to be the start of a worldwide chain reaction where every volcano begins erupting and the planet finally comes apart like a rotten apple with a firecracker that explodes within it."

"Nobody really can foretell the results. And this was a completely unforeseen, natural event."

The wife's only comment, "Lovely, just lovely."

For some reason she didn't seem impressed.