The End of Time

[bassin_bug]

A fallacy based on bad astronomy. Here's what NASA says on the subject:

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/fea...012-guest.html

Here's what I consider the most pertinent part of that article:

"Fast-forward to 1995. That year John Major Jenkins packaged several of these themes into Maya Cosmogenesis 2012. According to Jenkins, the winter-solstice point and the centerline of the Galaxy will line up exactly on Dec. 21. Arguing that this motivated the Maya to contrive the calendar to end on that date, Jenkins concludes that it will be "a tremendous transformation and opportunity for spiritual growth, a transition from one world age to another."

In fact, astronomy cannot pinpoint such a "galactic alignment" to within a year, much less a day. The alignment depends on the rather arbitrary modern definition of the galactic equator, and/or the visual appearance of the Milky Way. There is no precise definition of the Milky Way's edges -- they are very vague and depend on the clarity of your view. (Jenkins says that he personally established the Milky Way’s edges by viewing it from 11,000 feet, far above anywhere the Maya lived.) So to give a precise visual position for its centerline is not meaningful.

Jenkins did acknowledge that the winter-solstice Sun actually crosses the center of the Milky Way anytime between 1980 and 2016. Elsewhere he expands this approach zone to a 900-year period, and settles for an imprecise alignment to which Dec. 21, 2012, is arbitrarily and circularly assigned. Real astronomy does not support any match between the Baktun-13 end date and a galactic alignment. The advocates both admit and ignore this discrepancy."

One of the things bothering me is if there have been polar shifts in the past, why didn't the world end THEN? Why now and why is everything based on so much supposition and so little fact? I think the whole thing is a hoax.

I wonder what the Mayan and other explanations will be when nothing happens on 12-21-2012.

[Grumpy]

"One of the things bothering me is if there have been polar shifts in the past, why didn't the world end THEN?"

Well, Bug, depending on which suppostion you want to believe, "modern man" came into being somewhere between 8,000 and 25,000 years ago, which leave plenty of leeway for those aliens to have begot us after the last Pole Shift. Beside, the idea isn't that the "world" ended, it is that "the end of time" came for the previous peoples on earth and we started in the aftermath.

Grumpy

[apb]

...Well, Bug, depending on which suppostion you want to believe, "modern man" came into being somewhere between 8,000 and 25,000 years ago, ...

Modern man, as in Homo sapien, originated in Africa around 120,000 years ago and spread out from there. Several competing theories right now on how that spread occurred.

Andrew

[Tim_T]

I think it could be the end of times. The most popular rapper is a white guy from a trailer park (Eminem), the best golfer in the world is black (Tiger Woods), a white Canadaian (Steve Nash) was two time NBA most valuable player. A former UK basketball coach is at U of L and KVD is set to supplant Rick Clunn as the best tournament bass angler in the world!

Another sign of end times is when Chuck Norris sayings have been supplanted by John Wall sayings.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Modern man, as in Homo sapien, originated in Africa around 120,000 years ago and spread out from there. Several competing theories right now on how that spread occurred.

Andrew

In my opinion, modern man came to be when they introduced the first cell phone that had texting capability. Before that it was just all talk.

[apb]

One of the things bothering me is if there have been polar shifts in the past, why didn't the world end THEN? Why now and why is everything based on so much supposition and so little fact? I think the whole thing is a hoax....

Probably more of a missunderstanding of what is going on. It is the magnetic poles that are shifting, not the actual north and south pole. No land/water is moving.

I wonder what the Mayan and other explanations will be when nothing happens on 12-21-2012.

Probably the same as many other "explanations" of the world ending or "rapture" that never occured.

Andrew

[stoner]

http://www.december212012.com/