Friday, January 30, 2009

Apocalypse in 2012? Date spawns theories, film

Here's a recent CNN article on the topic which you might like to check out:

"There's going to be a whole generation of people who, when they think of the Maya, think of 2012, and to me that's just criminal," said David Stuart, director of the Mesoamerica Center at the University of Texas at Austin.

"There is no serious scholar who puts any stock in the idea that the Maya said anything meaningful about 2012."

But take the fact that December 21, 2012, coincides with the winter solstice, add claims the Maya picked the time period because it also marks an alignment of the sun with the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and you have the makings of an online sensation.

The article does a good job of talking to knowledgable, skeptical scholars such as Anthony Aveni ("I think that the popular books... about what the Maya say is going to happen are really fabricated on the basis of very little evidence"), as well as 2012 'celebrities' such as John Major Jenkins ("The trendy doomsday people... should be treated for what they are: under-informed opportunists and alarmists who will move onto other things in 2013").

But even if 2012 is just another year, you can always enjoy (?) seeing the world collapse via Roland Emmerich's next disaster flick - 2012.



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"There is no serious scholar who puts any stock in the idea that the Maya said anything meaningful about 2012." Find out more about the history and culture of the Maya »

But take the fact that December 21, 2012, coincides with the winter solstice, add claims the Maya picked the time period because it also marks an alignment of the sun with the center of the Milky Way galaxy, and you have the makings of an online sensation.

Long Count 101

• The Long Count calendar was one of several created by the ancient Maya.

• It consists of the following units of time:

kin = one day
uinal = 20 days
tun = 360 days (18 uinal)
katun = 7,200 days (20 tun)
baktun = 144,000 days (20 katun)

• The calendar shows the number of days elapsed since the beginning date: August 13, 3114 B.C. (some scholars think the date is actually August 11, 3114 B.C.)

• The dates are written as numbers separated by periods in the following order:

(baktun).(katun).(tun).(uinal).(kin)

• July 20, 1969 -- the date of the first moon landing -- would be written as: 12.17.15.17.0

• December 21, 2012, would be written as 13.0.0.0.0 and the day after that as 0.0.0.0.1

Source: Howstuffworks.com

Type "2012" into an Internet search engine and you'll find survival guides, survival schools, predictions and "official stuff" to wear, including T-shirts with slogans such as "2012 The End" and "Doomsday 2012."

Theories about what might happen range from solar storms triggering volcano eruptions to a polar reversal that will make the Earth spin in the opposite direction.

If you think all of this would make a great sci-fi disaster movie, Hollywood is already one step ahead.

"2012," a special-effects flick starring John Cusack and directed by Roland Emmerich, of "The Day After Tomorrow" fame, is scheduled to be released this fall. The trailer shows a monk running to a bell tower on a mountaintop to sound the alarm as a huge wall of water washes over what appear to be the peaks of the Himalayas.

'Promoting a hoax'

One barometer of the interest in 2012 may be the "Ask an Astrobiologist" section of NASA's Web site, where senior scientist David Morrison answers questions from the public. On a recent visit, more than half of the inquiries on the most popular list were related to 2012.

"The purveyors of doom are promoting a hoax," Morrison wrote earlier this month in response to a question from a person who expressed fear about the date.

A scholar who has studied the Maya for 35 years said there is nothing ominous about 2012, despite the hype surrounding claims to the contrary.

"I think that the popular books... about what the Maya say is going to happen are really fabricated on the basis of very little evidence," said Anthony Aveni, a professor of astronomy, anthropology and Native American studies at Colgate University.

Aveni and Stuart are both writing their own books explaining the Mayan calendar and 2012, but Stuart said he's pessimistic that people will be interested in the real story when so many other books are making sensational claims.

Dozens of titles about 2012 have been published and more are scheduled to go on sale in the coming months. Current offerings include "Apocalypse 2012," in which author Lawrence Joseph outlines "terrible possibilities," such as the potential for natural disaster.

But Joseph admits he doesn't think the world is going to end.

"I do, however, believe that 2012 will prove to be... a very dramatic and probably transformative year," Joseph said.

The author acknowledged he's worried his book's title might scare people, but said he wanted to alert the public about possible dangers ahead.

He added that his publisher controls the book's title, though he had no issue with the final choice.

"If it had been called 'Serious Threats 2012' or 'Profound Considerations for 2012,' it would have never gotten published," Joseph said.

Growing interest

Another author said the doom and gloom approach is a great misunderstanding of 2012.

"The trendy doomsday people... should be treated for what they are: under-informed opportunists and alarmists who will move onto other things in 2013," said John Major Jenkins, whose books include "Galactic Alignment" and who describes himself as a self-taught independent Maya scholar.

Jenkins said that cycle endings were all about transformation and renewal -- not catastrophe -- for the Maya. He also makes the case that the period they chose coincides with an alignment of the December solstice sun with the center of the Milky Way, as viewed from Earth.

"Two thousand years ago the Maya believed that the world would be going through a great transformation when this alignment happened," Jenkins said.

But Aveni said there is no evidence that the Maya cared about this concept of the Milky Way, adding that the galactic center was not defined until the 1950s.

"What you have here is a modern age influence [and] modern concepts trying to garb the ancient Maya in modern clothing, and it just doesn't wash for me," Aveni said.

Meanwhile, he and other scholars are bracing for growing interest as the date approaches.

"The whole year leading up to it is going to be just crazy, I'm sorry to say," Stuart said.

"I just think it's sad, it really just frustrates me. People are really misunderstanding this really cool culture by focusing on this 2012 thing. It means more about us than it does about the Maya."




THE AQUARIAN CONSPIRACY: FACT OR FICTION?

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There is a sizeable portion of the otherwise reading population that refuses to look at ANYTHING connected to Lyndon Larouche. In its most acute form, this intellectual close-mindedness centers primarily on his lack of what some believe is an essential positive regard for the British royalty. Perhaps the most "outlandish"OR "true-blue" publication has been Chapter VII of EIR, DOPE, INC. (3rd Ed. 1992). Following the chapter is a fragmentary chronology of events. True or false. You decide for yourself.





Canada's Stonehenge: scientist says Alberta sun temple has 5000 ...
The Canadian Press, EDMONTON - 17 hours ago
... in southern Alberta is really a vast, open-air sun temple with a precise 5000-year-old calendar predating England's Stonehenge and Egypt's pyramids. ...

Canada's Stonehenge Discovered
PitchEngine (press release), WY - Jan 7, 2009
This Sun Temple pre-dates Stonehenge, contains a lunar calendar and solar calendar more accurate than ours. (Calgary, January 7, 2009) In a remote location ...



Virginia Tech Engineers Study Space Weather

Conditions That Affect Our Lives

from Mitch Battros - Earth Changes Media

For the past 15 years, engineers and scientists have gained a greater understanding of global warming, the effects of geomagnetic storms, the impact of the solar wind interacting on the magnetized region around the Earth, and other dynamic processes that occur in the Earth's near-space environment. Among their tools, they use a high-latitude network of radars to obtain increasingly sophisticated views of electric fields, plasma structures, atmospheric waves, and other effects in the ionosphere and atmosphere.

"The Earth's magnetosphere is immersed in the tenuous, fully-ionized outer atmosphere of the Sun, which is responsible for the solar wind and its structured and dynamic magnetic field. In the aftermath of severe solar disturbances, such as solar flares, energized solar wind plasma impinges on the Earth's magnetic and plasma environment and initiates a broad range of interactions. These reactions lead to the onset of disturbances in the magnetosphere" says Virginia Tech's J. Michael Ruohoniemi, lead principal investigator.

Equation:

Sunspots => Solar Flares => Magnetic Field Shift => Shifting Ocean and Jet Stream Currents => Extreme Weather and Human Disruption (mitch battros)

Ruohoniemi goes on to say: "During these events, the magnetosphere- ionosphere system passes through a range of states that can be described as quiescent, mildly disturbed, and storm-like. As each transition takes place, the effects of disturbance reach to ever increasing fractions of the Earth's plasma environment.


Virginia Tech engineers study space weather conditions that affect ...
EurekAlert (press release), DC - Jan 28, 2009
The consequences of these solar-induced disturbances are often described as space weather and they can threaten harm to humans in space, perturb spacecraft ...
Virginia Tech engineers study space weather conditions that affect ... FirstScience
all 2 news articles »


Canada.com
Spitzer Watches Wild Weather On A Star-Skimming Planet
Space Daily, CA - 15 hours ago
Now, thanks to NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope, scientists have measured how this planet's atmosphere responds to a super-summer day. ...
NASA Telescope Spots Weather Changes Outside This Solar System Bloomberg
HD 80606b: The Hotheaded Exoplanet SkyandTelescope.com
UC Santa Cruz astronomers document distant planet's exploding skies San Jose Mercury News
Discover Magazine - Science Daily (press release)
all 257 news articles »

VOLCANO WATCH:
Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano is rumbling and geologists expect it to erupt "within days." The last time an Alaskan volcano blew its top (Kasatochi in August 2008), about a million tons of ash and sulfur dioxide flooded the stratosphere, causing fantastic sunsets around the northern hemisphere and possibly reducing Earth's temperature by a fraction of a degree. More SO2 is in the offing. Stay tuned for updates.


Also in today's links: porn aficionados, boys who break the law -- and more.



Quake Jolts Seattle Area...



NBC Augusta
Small quake jolts Channel Islands area
Los Angeles Times, CA - 21 hours ago
The magnitude-4.2 quake was centered about 32 miles from San Clemente Island and about 45 miles from Avalon, on Catalina Island, according to the US ...
Magnitude-4.2 quake shakes isles off Calif. coast The Associated Press
Small quake shakes eastern SC WNCT
Minor quake rattles area east of Carney NewsOK.com
KTEN - Reiten Television KXMB Bismarck
all 378 news articles »
China's Pandas Face an Uncertain Future After Quake
National Geographic, DC - 17 hours ago
According to some experts, hasty post-quake rebuilding in southwestern China could ultimately accelerate the fragmentation of the fragile panda's largest ...
Magnitude-5.4 quake rocks Central, Eastern Visayas
GMA news.tv, Philippines - 15 hours ago
MANILA, Philippines - A magnitude-5.4 quake rocked parts of Central and Eastern Visayas early Friday morning, but no casualty or damage was reported. ...
5.3 quake shakes Leyte Inquirer.net
Quake jolts Leyte Philippine Star
Magnitude 5.1 earthquake jolts Visayas ABS CBN News
Inquirer.net - GMA news.tv
all 6 news articles »
Survival skills focus of quake awareness week
Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, MS - 2 hours ago
That would be the New Madrid Fault, Mid-America's biggest known geological instability and the source of some of this country's strongest quakes. ...
USGS: Soils in South Bay area present quake liquefaction danger
SmartBrief, DC - 20 hours ago
New US Geological Survey maps indicate that a 7.8 magnitude earthquake along Southern California's San Andreas fault and areas on San Jose's Guadalupe River ...
New USGS maps point out quake-related risk areas SmartBrief
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Small quake rattles Seattle area
Longview Daily News, WA - 12 minutes ago
Experts are locating the center and strength of the quake. Have something to say about this story? Submit it! The comments approved for posting aren't ...

Mayan Calendar Markets End of the World
ToTheCenter.com, NY - Jan 28, 2009
Even still, several dozen titles, including “Apocalypse 2012” by Joseph Lawrence, are already disseminated into the marketplace, and Hollywood has hopped ...



FEARnet.com
'2012' Apocalypse Has Been Pushed Back. Resume Normal Activities.
FEARnet.com, PA - Jan 21, 2009
Over at HollywoodReporter.com, they’ve discovered that Sony is delaying the release of Roland Emmerich’s (10000 BC) apocalyptic mayhem movie, 2012! ...
Movie and Television News Wizbang Pop!
all 2 news articles »



AFP
Thought things were bad? US survivalists await worse
AFP - 18 minutes ago
The more radical survivalists are getting ready for what they call EOTWAA, the End-Of-The-World-Armageddon-Apocalypse, or the niftier SHTF, as in Shit Hits ...
2012: Science or Superstition (2008)
PopMatters, IL - Jan 23, 2009
In the end, 2012: Science or Superstition does little except put the idea of a possible apocalypse out there like so many others have before. ...


MTV.com
Sony Delays ‘2012,’ Citing Summer Strength Of ‘Angels And Demons ...
MTV.com - Jan 21, 2009
According to Variety, Sony has delayed Roland Emmerich’s apocalyptic action flick “2012” from July 10 all the way back to November 13. ...
"2012" pushed back on release calendar Reuters
Sony Pushes 2012 Back Several Months Empire Online
Sony Pushes Emmerich's 2012 From July to November First Showing
io9 - Sony Insider
all 36 news articles »

Excalibur Online
Apocalypse 2012: the end is nigh
Excalibur Online, Canada - Jan 21, 2009
... 2012 presents seems to hold any water besides a few monumental happenings that could easily be coincidences and uphold dozens of other apocalypse ...
‘2012’ Doc on iTunes Home Media Magazine
all 2 news articles »

CanMag
2012 Pushed Closer to 2010
CanMag, CA - Jan 21, 2009
Originally set for a summer release on July 10th, the film will now bring apocalypse to theaters on November 13th. While the first assumption is that 2012 ...
December 21, 2012, marks the end of a 5126-year cycle on a Mayan ...
CNN International - Jan 27, 2009
Dozens of titles about 2012 have been published and more are scheduled to go on sale in the coming months. Current offerings include "Apocalypse 2012," in ...
2012 — The End of the World, or A New Beginning?
LongIslandPress.com, NY - Jan 7, 2009
In Dec., 2012, we will have seen 13 baktun pass. And because of that, many 2012 apocalypse theorists have surmised that the world will subsequently cease. ...

FILM: 2012: A pseudoscientific odyssey
McGill Tribune, Canada - Jan 19, 2009
The coming apocalypse (whether it's 2012 or Y2K) is a great scenario for action films, but it makes for terrible documentaries-especially when the new-age ...




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