2012... what is this all about...

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RedBull

91 posts

Master Geek

#44872 29-Oct-2009 17:42

Heyy, seriously! WTF is it all about? is it just another big internet/media hype? Just like the Millennium? Y2K? I highly doubt that it is real. Any info would be useful.

Thanks Lucy :] x

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270 posts

Ultimate Geek

#268217 29-Oct-2009 18:24

The ancient Mayan calendar wraps around, just like ours does at the end of every year. Nutters have been making money off it for ages, with books and lecture tours about how it means the end of the world. Sort of like a New Age version of the Apocalypse.

Lately Hollywood has been hyping it up in order to sell a new disaster movie.

Basekid

70 posts

Master Geek

#268236 29-Oct-2009 19:22

It is the title of a sweet looking movie, that's what!

sjadd

61 posts

Master Geek

#268386 30-Oct-2009 01:08

The Mayan's had a whole bunch of calendars representing different time periods, Dec 21 2012 marks the end of the 13th "Baktun". A Baktun covers 144,000 days, the one we are in now began Sep 20 1618.

13 Baktuns make up a "Great Cycle" or "World Age", which equates to 5125.36 years, so additionally Dec 21 2012 also marks the end of the Great Cycle that began in 3114BC.

But wait there's more! 5 Great Cycles make up a "Grand Cycle", and because we are apparently in the 5th Great Cycle, Dec 21 2012 marks the end of a Grand Cycle too (25630 years). A Grand Cycle does actually relate to a cosmic event, it is the time it takes for us to circle from one side of the Milky Way to the other (or something like that).

And all this is a basically a big excuse for the loonies to sell some books...

Adamal

544 posts

Ultimate Geek

#268423 30-Oct-2009 08:43

I say the Mayans just got too lazy to make a continuation calendar.

8d52797c436

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#268434 30-Oct-2009 09:02

sjadd: The Mayan's had a whole bunch of calendars representing different time periods, Dec 21 2012 marks the end of the 13th "Baktun". A Baktun covers 144,000 days, the one we are in now began Sep 20 1618.

13 Baktuns make up a "Great Cycle" or "World Age", which equates to 5125.36 years, so additionally Dec 21 2012 also marks the end of the Great Cycle that began in 3114BC.

But wait there's more! 5 Great Cycles make up a "Grand Cycle", and because we are apparently in the 5th Great Cycle, Dec 21 2012 marks the end of a Grand Cycle too (25630 years). A Grand Cycle does actually relate to a cosmic event, it is the time it takes for us to circle from one side of the Milky Way to the other (or something like that).

And all this is a basically a big excuse for the loonies to sell some books...

I still find it amazing that the Mayan's were able to figure stuff like that out. It seriously can't be a coincidence...

BurningBeard

1030 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#268492 30-Oct-2009 11:23

8d52797c436: I still find it amazing that the Mayan's were able to figure stuff like that out. It seriously can't be a coincidence...

What do you suggest it is then??

____

Even the Mayans are sick of it...

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33261483/ns/technology_and_science-science//
and page 2:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33261483/ns/technology_and_science-science/page/2/

Bernal suggests that apocalypse is "a very Western, Christian" concept projected onto the Maya, perhaps because Western myths are "exhausted."

People tend to forget all the other "end of the world" prophecies that never came to be.

http://www.space.com/searchforlife/091022-seti-2012.html

My very metal Doctor Who theme

8d52797c436

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#268494 30-Oct-2009 11:26

Oh, I'm not saying that it's the apocalypse or anything like that. I just find it amazing that with primitive technology they were able to accomplish some pretty cool things, if it is true that they had a calendar that was based around incredible events like the time taken to cycle from one side of the milky way to the other.

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BurningBeard

1030 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#268498 30-Oct-2009 11:33

8d52797c436: I just find it amazing that with primitive technology they were able to accomplish some pretty cool things

Yep, so do I. I think we need to give human ancestors a bit more credit when it comes to that sort of thing.

My very metal Doctor Who theme

sjadd

61 posts

Master Geek

#268531 30-Oct-2009 12:33

8d52797c436: Oh, I'm not saying that it's the apocalypse or anything like that. I just find it amazing that with primitive technology they were able to accomplish some pretty cool things, if it is true that they had a calendar that was based around incredible events like the time taken to cycle from one side of the milky way to the other.

Yes agree totally.

I think I was wrong about the circling the milky way thing though. Apparently it's to do with the Precession of the Equinoxes:

"On the day December 21st 2012 at exactly 11:11 am, the earth will be in the perfect alignment with the sun and the direct center of the Milky Way Galaxy. This is a rare astrological event that occurs once every 26,000 years. The earth will also undergo a Precession of the Equinoxes by this date."

All I know is: whichever Mayan figured all that out was a hell of lot smarter than me!

Adamal

544 posts

Ultimate Geek

#268541 30-Oct-2009 12:53

sjadd:

"On the day December 21st 2012 at exactly 11:11 am, the earth will be in the perfect alignment with the sun and the direct center of the Milky Way Galaxy. This is a rare astrological event that occurs once every 26,000 years. The earth will also undergo a Precession of the Equinoxes by this date."

So.... On this day, does anything happen other than it getting a few spots on the news, people stopping for a minute and then getting on with their lives?

bazzer

3438 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#268542 30-Oct-2009 12:56

"There has been speculation that the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar is somehow calibrated against the precession, but this view is not held by professional scholars of Mayan civilization."
http://www.instituteofmayastudies.org/Milbrath2012.pdf

LesF

176 posts

Master Geek

#268567 30-Oct-2009 14:09

Yeah yeah, I remember all those book and movie makers also telling us that *all* the aliens were going to reveal themselves to us by flying fleets of their spacecraft over every major city in the world, in .. wait for .. the year 2000.

Strangely, they all went quiet on that subject afterwards.

8d52797c436

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#268569 30-Oct-2009 14:12

See the thing is though, everyone makes fun of people for making apocalypse claims, and we all sit here and make fun of them once its over. If one of these do ever come true, it's not like we'll be able to say 'Wow dude, you got it right!!'

BurningBeard

1030 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#268571 30-Oct-2009 14:14

8d52797c436: See the thing is though, everyone makes fun of people for making apocalypse claims, and we all sit here and make fun of them once its over. If one of these do ever come true, it's not like we'll be able to say 'Wow dude, you got it right!!'

So we should listen to every crackpot who comes up with an armageddon scenario based on crap they made up?

I don't need to wait for their prohpecies to fail for me to mock them, I'll do before the said date also.

My very metal Doctor Who theme

8d52797c436

264 posts

Ultimate Geek
Inactive user

#268572 30-Oct-2009 14:16

BurningBeard:
So we should listen to every crackpot who comes up with an armageddon scenario based on crap they made up?

Nope, I just feel sorry for the guy who does get it right. It's like an extreme 'Boy who cried wolf' scenario.

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