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News Briefs 08-08-2008

By G. Calofon

“It could happen to you, it could happen to me, it could happen to everyone eventually…”

Quote of the Day:

“Forever poised between a cliché and an indiscretion…”

Harold MacMillan

G. Calof
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12 Comments

  1. Apocalyse Now..? Rubbish!
    “…2012 marks the termination of the 13th b’ak’tun (Mayan Long Count Calendar) cycle, and possibly the end of the world. Again.”

    Anyone who bothers to understand the Mayan Long Count Calendar would see that 2012 is simply the end of a cycle of counting and not the end of the world. I imagine these doomsayers are drafting up their “We were not wrong” statements in blaming something else but them.

    There have been references by the Mayans of dates beyound 2012 and the reason there is no new long count calendar ready to take over from the one finishing in 2012, go talk to the Spanish – Hola – you’re all Christians now so forget about your heathen calendar!

    Cheers

    1. Base 20 Calculations
      A brief study of Mayan mathematics will show that the way they did calculations was very labor intensive. Add this to the fact that only a sub-set of the priest cast (which was a very small sub-set of general society) could do mathematics.

      Calculating their calendars was considered, by most accounts, to be a ‘holy’ activity and done to certain ritual and involved carving stones (also a very labor intensive endeavor). Performing calculations for a single year would be time consuming, and going out a whole 400 year age would have been an immense multi-generational enterprise (146,000 days, each with cycles for civic years, religious years, Sun, Moon, Venus, and solar and lunar eclipses). This is such a great undertaking that they must have picked a place to stop, so they would know when they were done, and the full Baktun end must have seemed a natural place to stop.

      The Spanish conquistas put an end to the folks that could calculate the next Baktun, as more likely than not, that whole series of calculations would have been performed over the last couple of generations in preparation for the changing of the age. Age changeover would have coincided with all calendar cycles ‘synching’ up, so would have been cause for great festivals, as even minor calendar synching-up gave rise to festivals in their eras.

      Too bad the high-priest astronomers and their progeny are all dead, so now there is no one to cast the next Baktun calendar cycle so that the generations 400 years from now would look at 2412 as a year of impending doom.

      1. Hang On…
        What if we simply had someone calculate the next cycle? All of the pertinent astronomical data exists or can be derived with existing computer programs. We just need a willing Mayan dude, a computer with internet access, and a sweet setup with the Guatemalan government (ritual reenactment). Four years is plenty of time. Whew! World saved!…today. Now just gotta do something about this annoying World War 3 thing.

      2. Well said
        Thanks for that succinct explanation. I still grin when people keep this “2012 doomsday” idea alive.

        By odd coincidence my TDG user number is 2012…does this have any ominous meaning…Nah! 🙂

        Cheers

        1. That 2012 of yours tihz_ho
          If we hear a loud bang from the direction of China in four years time, and you don’t post here for a while, we’ll have to assume the worst! I promise to post a suitable memorial blog in your honour.

          Best of luck, Kathrinn!

          1. Going out with a bang… (Ouch)
            Thank you Kathrinn,

            …and damn you Mayans…:)

            If it comes down to it and you are posting my memorial blog…please write it by incandecent light. 😉

            Thank you

            Cheers

          2. My pleasure tihz_ho
            Hope it won’t be necessary, but if so I promise I’ll use incandescent lights. If they’ve all been confiscated by then, I’ll use candles – that should up my ‘carbon footprint’ a bit!!

            Best wishes, Kathrinn

  2. robot armies
    Yes we have the technology, or almost. In 30 years we will have it, we won’t need soldiers any more.

    How about doing away with the physical robot armies too? We could just make a few robots, and make economic simulations of how many each country could produce or buy.

    Then we run a few simulations, and decide who would have won the war, if we actually had one.

    The winner gets whatever they wanted, and then pays the loser to restructure their country, in the way the winner prefers.

    —-
    It is not how fast you go
    it is when you get there.

  3. olympic games
    Actually the games started 2 or 3 days ago, depending on your time zone. Futbol is already under foot.

    Oh that was bad, I am sorry.

    —-
    It is not how fast you go
    it is when you get there.

  4. Stargazer alert . . .
    It would be very difficult indeed to watch a meteor shower through a telescope. Best to lie down on a blanket in the back yard and just watch the area around Perseus. They will originate from there, but shoot out in every direction.

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