2012

[Jairus]

This has been bucking around politcal forums for oh since I started using political forums. You can go to this website to have a look at their 2012 threads which can get ugly or in depth:
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/
1: A lawn chair
2: A cold drink
3: A pair of sunglasses
4: A good book.

i recommend 'good omens'

I love Good Omens. I cannot recommend it enough. Heck, consider me a Pratchet fanboy: READ HIS BOOKS!!! (My favorite is tied between Hogfather and Witches Abroad, for the record.)

[Kasarn]

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

[Zorro]

You will be filing a 2012 Tax return so get back to work.

[Vekar]

For a book to read on 2012 I would suggest "The Prince" by Niccolò Machiavelli or Sun Tzu: The Art of War. Two darn good books from different sides of the world that look at politics and war at two VERY different angles.

[Jack McSlay]

this is like... the third time I hear about a prophecy from nostradamus about the end of the world

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

Unlikely. systems are gradually switching to timestamp formats. Sure, 32-bit timestamps will expire exactly on Tuesday, January 19th 2038, 3:14:07 GMT time, but as computes quickly switch to 64-bit platforms we might as well expect the timestamps to switch to 64-bit format, which should expire on year 292271023045 (that's billions of years  )

[Archanon8957]

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

Actually their calendar does abruptly stop at december 21, 2012

[Jairus]

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

Actually there calendar does abruptly stop at december 21, 2012

It's our year 2012: it wasn't their year 2012, is what Kasarn I think is trying to say. Hold on... ah, Wikipedia does have an article on the Long Count calendar... why am I not surprised? Okay, for the Maya the date would have actually been more like "13.0.0.0.0," and there's some mentions of dates AFTER the end of the current calendar as well as a previous cycle that didn't seem to worry the Maya. In short, I'm not going to make a big deal out of it. To them, it might have been more like our year 2000 celebrations.

[Reese Tora]

Jairus, you might have given us a bit more information from that article:

According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details of creation accounts known to the K'iche' Maya of the Colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fourth world.[8] The Popol Vuh describes the first three creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. In the Maya Long Count, the previous creation ended at the start of a 13th b'ak'tun.

Maya stelae occasionally show dates beyond 2012. Most of these are in the form of "distance dates", where a Long Count date is given with a distance date to be added. For example, on the Tablet of Inscriptions from Palenque the following Long Count date was found: 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24 March 603 Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is given as 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol,[11] or 21 October 4772 – almost 3,000 years into the future. The king Pacal of Palenque predicted that on this date the eightieth Calendar Round anniversary of his accession will be celebrated, suggesting he did not believe the world would end in 2012.

(or that he was about as good with maths as our current leader. *zing*)

Despite the publicity generated by the 2012 date, Susan Milbrath, curator of Latin American Art and Archaeology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, stated that "We [the archaeological community] have no record or knowledge that [the Maya] would think the world would come to an end" in 2012.

In other words, it looks like the fear mongers and book writers just latched onto a few almost accurate key points and ran with it.

As for Nostradamus... it's easy to shoot a fish in a barrel if you use a shotgun and have thousands of people willing to look for events that appear to correlate over a thousand years.
I'll further add that I hope people are using Nostradamus quotes that are actually from his book of prophesy instead of something someone typed up to throw on the net.

[Kasarn]

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

Unlikely. systems are gradually switching to timestamp formats. Sure, 32-bit timestamps will expire exactly on Tuesday, January 19th 2038, 3:14:07 GMT time, but as computes quickly switch to 64-bit platforms we might as well expect the timestamps to switch to 64-bit format, which should expire on year 292271023045 (that's billions of years  )

How do you convert a common analog clock to 64-bit time?

[Brunhidden]

its too bad we cant ask the mayans- chances are its their version of a cute kitty wall calender, and we just don't know where to get the next one with the horsies on it for next eon, always a popular holiday gift but try finding stores that specialize in them...

[Mao]

I think it was already covered in this thread, but it isn't so much that the Mayan calendar ends, it's just that an age ends.  The way I understand it, is that, that's much like the end of a calendar year, or millennium.  Just rolling over to a new age or calendar, much as what Brun alluded to in his post.  As for why they don't have a lot of info past that, it might have something to do with the fact that at the time, they were already getting pretty far ahead of themselves.  I think that were they still around as they were then, they've have the next age thought out pretty thoroughly as well.

[Alondro]

this is like... the third time I hear about a prophecy from nostradamus about the end of the world

The Mayan calender does not end in 2012. It's basically the same as our year 10000 problem.

Perhaps future societies using a different calender will think that we predicted an apocalypse on their equivalent on 1st January, 10000 because most of our time pieces can't count above the year 9999.

Unlikely. systems are gradually switching to timestamp formats. Sure, 32-bit timestamps will expire exactly on Tuesday, January 19th 2038, 3:14:07 GMT time, but as computes quickly switch to 64-bit platforms we might as well expect the timestamps to switch to 64-bit format, which should expire on year 292271023045 (that's billions of years  )

Oh noes!  On 292271023045 our computers will crash and bring chaos!  Whatever shall we do!   D:

Doomed in 292271023045.   

[Brunhidden]

I think it was already covered in this thread, but it isn't so much that the Mayan calendar ends, it's just that an age ends

could it be that the Mayans foresaw this would be a specific new age? perhaps it is when we return to being a space faring race, as we briefly were in the 70s, if i recall the Mayans and Aztecs had images of people in what could be called space ships carved onto walls. or perhaps they saw it would be the end of the fossil fuel era, and the return to some mystical super power source of days long past like crystals or blood sacrifice

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I have a little list of people I'd be prepared to start sacrificing, if it'd help the oil crisis...

[Ragesquid]

The whole "global warming" thing actually reminds me a lot of a statement in the Bible. That the weather would suddenly start acting all wonky.

Tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods in places they don't usually happen? I recall hearing about that in the news, recently.

There's also the bit about the "lion laying with the lamb". I've been seeing a lot of pictures with tigers nursing pigs and whatnot.

I believe it also mentioned something about economy.

All coincidence? Maybe. I don't like dragging religion into things, because it only leads to argument. I will simply say that the Earth won't last forever. Whether it ends tomorrow, or another thousand years from now, it will happen.

[Vekar]

Brun:
Others say it is proof that aliens have been to earth before long before anyone ever came up with the idea of a spaceship, such as the Aztecs and Quatzecoatle who was a tall, WHITE, black bearded man... When Cortez came they believed the gods had returned. Summerians also tell tales of the same "gods" coming to earth from the heavens and some Native American tribes believe the same.

You know what folks, I think it will be darn fun when 2012 comes around, we will either displess this as myth and nothing will happen or we are going to see some serious changes start to take hold here on the third rock from the sun.

[Reese Tora]

The whole "global warming" thing actually reminds me a lot of a statement in the Bible. That the weather would suddenly start acting all wonky.

Tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods in places they don't usually happen? I recall hearing about that in the news, recently.

There's also the bit about the "lion laying with the lamb". I've been seeing a lot of pictures with tigers nursing pigs and whatnot.

I believe it also mentioned something about economy.

All coincidence? Maybe. I don't like dragging religion into things, because it only leads to argument. I will simply say that the Earth won't last forever. Whether it ends tomorrow, or another thousand years from now, it will happen.

And the lord spake thus: the land shall rise up with great earchquakes, and the seas boil and be as blood, and the weather shall become quite wonky...

Just generally speaking, practically all 'prophets' predict great disasters, from the bible to Notradamus to Sylvia Browne.  Disasters happen all the time, and it's a safe bet to say that a river known for flooding will flood, a region known for storms will have one, and that there will be earthquakes in places prone to have them.  It's a great combination, prophetically speaking, of sensationalism and a safe bet, and if it doesn't happen, no one will think about it.

--edit--

great earchquakes

great LlEarcth quakes

[Jairus]

And the lord spake thus: the land shall rise up with great earchquakes, and the seas boil and be as blood, and the weather shall become quite wonky...

Sir, if I had a little more room in my signature, I'd put that in there. You just completely made my evening.

[Archanon8957]

And the lord spake thus: the land shall rise up with great earchquakes, and the seas boil and be as blood, and the weather shall become quite wonky...

Sir, if I had a little more room in my signature, I'd put that in there. You just completely made my evening.

LOl!
That makes two.
I might've damaged my lungs i laughed so hard...took me completely by surprise

[Zorro]

<---- Survivor of the Y2K Bug and many more FALSE Chicken Little Theories.   You WILL be going to work a day job in 2013.   

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

<---- Survivor of the Y2K Bug and many more FALSE Chicken Little Theories.   You WILL be going to work a day job in 2013.  

Of course. That's why I know we are all in hell.

[Brunhidden]

<---- Survivor of the Y2K Bug and many more FALSE Chicken Little Theories.   You WILL be going to work a day job in 2013.   

Of course. That's why I know we are all in hell.

except for me, i will be working nights and have a summer cottage in purgatory

[Vekar]

So llearch you live above my place then, the burning cauldron of fire, torture and endless torment. Nice to know your neighbors.

World will still be here in 2012, 2013, 2050, 2100, 40,000, 80,000 folks, unless someone finds a way to make the earth implode. It is a question of how many humans will be left by then if any.

[Brunhidden]

In the year 2525
If man is still alive
If woman can survive
They may find

In the year 3535
Ain't gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, or say
Is in the pill you took today

In the year 4545
Ain't gonna need your teeth, won't need your eyes
You won't find a thing to do
Nobody's gonna look at you

In the year 5555
Your arms are hanging limp at your sides
Your legs not nothing to do
Some machine is doing that for you

In the year 6565
Ain't gonna need no husband, won't need no wife
You'll pick your son, pick your daughter too
From the bottom of a long black tube

In the year 7510
If God's a-comin' he ought to make it by then
Maybe he'll look around himself and say
Guess it's time for the Judgement day

In the year 8510
God's gonna shake his mighty head
He'll either say I'm pleased where man has been
Or tear it down and start again

In the year 9595
I'm kinda wondering if man's gonna be alive
He's taken everything this old earth can give
And he ain't put back nothing

Now it's been 10,000 years
Man has cried a billion tears
For what he never knew
Now man's reign is through
But through the eternal night
The twinkling of starlight
So very far away
Maybe it's only yesterday

[Cogidubnus]

I understand our galaxy is going to collide with the Andromeda galaxy at some point. They say that might do unpleasant things to our humble solar system. I also understand it's also not going to happen in 2012, however.

[Vekar]

Actually if you consider how slow the galaxies in general move... The sun will probably be burnt out long before it ever gets to us. I do believe we need another 500 million years for the galaxy to simply cycle us around to the other side as it currently stands. Sun dies in 6 billion years.
Dont worry, by then humanity is going to be gone or moved to another galaxy or plain of existence perhaps.

[ShadesFox]

The end of the world is a tricky business, but ultimately has two rules.  You have to have something that is in the future, but not so far into the future that people will ignore it.  Second, when you are wrong don't admit to it or apologize, make a new prediction instead.

Plus before the sun dies there is another star that is not to far away that will explode and cause a wave of gamma rays that will probably kill everything on Earth.

[King Of Hearts]

http://www.exitmundi.nl/

Not sure if everybody has ever been to this site...

Couple of good End of the World scenarios here, a nice read if at the least.

[Reese Tora]

And the lord spake thus: the land shall rise up with great earchquakes, and the seas boil and be as blood, and the weather shall become quite wonky...

Well, we had a quite nice 5.3 (I heard 5.7 but it was revised) earthquake today here in California, the shimy 'n shake sunshine state, so if the seas boil and become as blood, you'll know I'm on to something.

(see, that's how psychics become 'accurate'; you latch onto anything that they get even remotely right, and, as Shades mentioned, ignore what they get wrong.  A one in a million correct result is not so impressive when you realize that a million guesses were made.)

[Alkarii]

What I believe about Dec. 21st, 2012 won't have much relevance to the topic (since it'd be repeating the whole "I don't believe shit's gonna happen"),  but I will make a prediction for the 20 days leading up to it, and I'm thinking it's most likely to come true by 11:59 PM, Dec. 20th, 2012, maybe a short time later.

And that prediction is:  plans for a mass suicide or two (or twenty) will be partially or fully formed by then, and on the 20th, the event will come close to being carried out.  Some might drink the cheap kool-aid knockoff laced with poison like that one cult did a couple decades back.

Now, as far as the world "ending as we know it," well... think of it.  That's happened at least once in the past hundred years.  the world of the 21st century is completely different from the world of the early part of the cold war, which itself was vastly different from the world of the first two decades of the last century.

Looking at the thing with the Mayan calendar, I don't think it's anything other than their version of the millenium thing from eight years ago.  Besides, if you're going to create calendars that have that long of a time span on them, it'd be pointless to get the next ones made until a few years before they're actually going to be needed.  That's like going out right now and getting a calendar for the year 2046.  Why the HELL would you need a calender for a year (and maybe two months extra at each end) when that particular year is 38 years away?  That makes as much sense as a hotdog made of rolled up lettuce or something.