GoodEnoughForMe
n.m.s.s.
I laugh in the face of whoever believes the world will end that day, or, start a new cycle." No way in hell they could predict the future.
December 21st, 2012
- Thread starter JohnRM
- Start date
I thought the world was supposed to end on November 8, 2006.
DYNAMICS
Chief Engineer
JollyRoger said:
No it's 26 September 2006! You know the "promised" Nuclear War.
GenMarshall
High Elven ISB Capt & Ghost Agent
Meh, I just believe its just mere coincidences. Like Nostradomas's predictions.
Swiss_Mercenari
Comedic Jihadist
Though a few of those, however obscure and undescriptive, came into a general proximity to the actual occurences of the supposedly predicted events. About the Mayans, the reason that they declined was due to the eruption of Mount Ixchitlan in the southern mountains, a series of diseases that stuck their densest metropolis regions, and then a massive torrent of Toltec invaders that lay to waste their great city states, causing the confederation to go back to squabbling tribes. And the world will not, in reality, be able to physically or scientifically end on 12-12-12, which in itself is and odd date. This is one of the reasons that there are not 40 days in a month (not really, but..): The superstitious priests and clergymen that established the Gregorian calender did not want a 12-34-56 to occur.
Bluemofia
F=ma
Yeah, but 1/23/45 can occur. (January 23rd, 45, 145, 245, 1045, etc.)
Narz
keeping it real
If the Mayans were so smart they wouldn't have stripped their land, become overpopulated and died out before the Euros even had a chance to do it for them.
Modern society is not the only civilization to live in an unsustainable way.
Anyway, I hold no credence to what the Mayans thought. Maybe the dude making the calender just got lazy at that point and thought, "Meh, I'll just let someone else figure out the rest", and no one ever did.
Modern society is not the only civilization to live in an unsustainable way.
Anyway, I hold no credence to what the Mayans thought. Maybe the dude making the calender just got lazy at that point and thought, "Meh, I'll just let someone else figure out the rest", and no one ever did.
North King
blech
- Joined
- Jan 2, 2004
- Messages
- 18,165
That particular date merely is the day on which the Mayan Long Count counts another "tick" to it's largest place; so they assumed something big would happen, but scarcely the end of the world.
Not quite. The destruction of the Mayans was a combination of factors, but the most devastating was their own little Hundred Years War, between their greatest cities, Mutal (Tikal), and Kaan (Kalakmul). These two were by far the most powerful, and locked in struggle--both maintained rings of client states, while Mutal itself was something of an ally/client of Teotihuacan in the Central Mexican valley.
Kaan was determined to throw out this semi-foreign threat, and devised an excellent strategy--they essentially created a ring of vassal states encircling the city. Taking this collection of allies, they struck at Mutal and managed to conquer it, installing their own puppet.
However, Mutal was determined to get revenge, and did, throwing off the yoke of Kaan, and meeting them in one final, tremendous battle. That they did, but it was more or less the beginning of the end--massive conscript armies had been mobilized by both sides, and with their two largest cities essentially in ruins, everything started to go to hell.
The Yucatan is curious in that it is a limestone peninsula which is awash in rainfall, creating what can be described as a giant swamp. A giant, salty, swamp, as it happens, and the saltiness of the water made it pretty much unusable. However, the ancestors of the Mayans discovered that by spreading crushed limestone over the beds of the water, they could isolate the water from the salt and use it for agriculture.
However, it was a precarious system, with people dependent on little islands of prepared, cultivated civilization. When it was thrown into this massive war, along with a possible drought, and depletion of natural resources. Thus, the islands of civilization began to wink out, one by one, and the Maya heartland was obliterated almost entirely by the arrival of the Spanish.
The north of the Yucatan lingered on a while longer, mostly through trade. The warriors of Quetzalcoatl's Toltecs conquered the greatest city, Chichen Itza, but the city states managed to survive a little longer, though they, too, folded before the Spanish yoke, obviously.
So it was mostly based on a total failure of the agricultural system.
Swiss_Mercenari said:
Not quite. The destruction of the Mayans was a combination of factors, but the most devastating was their own little Hundred Years War, between their greatest cities, Mutal (Tikal), and Kaan (Kalakmul). These two were by far the most powerful, and locked in struggle--both maintained rings of client states, while Mutal itself was something of an ally/client of Teotihuacan in the Central Mexican valley.
Kaan was determined to throw out this semi-foreign threat, and devised an excellent strategy--they essentially created a ring of vassal states encircling the city. Taking this collection of allies, they struck at Mutal and managed to conquer it, installing their own puppet.
However, Mutal was determined to get revenge, and did, throwing off the yoke of Kaan, and meeting them in one final, tremendous battle. That they did, but it was more or less the beginning of the end--massive conscript armies had been mobilized by both sides, and with their two largest cities essentially in ruins, everything started to go to hell.
The Yucatan is curious in that it is a limestone peninsula which is awash in rainfall, creating what can be described as a giant swamp. A giant, salty, swamp, as it happens, and the saltiness of the water made it pretty much unusable. However, the ancestors of the Mayans discovered that by spreading crushed limestone over the beds of the water, they could isolate the water from the salt and use it for agriculture.
However, it was a precarious system, with people dependent on little islands of prepared, cultivated civilization. When it was thrown into this massive war, along with a possible drought, and depletion of natural resources. Thus, the islands of civilization began to wink out, one by one, and the Maya heartland was obliterated almost entirely by the arrival of the Spanish.
The north of the Yucatan lingered on a while longer, mostly through trade. The warriors of Quetzalcoatl's Toltecs conquered the greatest city, Chichen Itza, but the city states managed to survive a little longer, though they, too, folded before the Spanish yoke, obviously.
So it was mostly based on a total failure of the agricultural system.
amadeus
Bishop of Bio-Dome
I don't think that's the date when the world ends, I think it's just the date where the last person in Mexico has left for Los Angeles. But what do I know?
GenMarshall
High Elven ISB Capt & Ghost Agent
Here is my prediction for 2012年12月21日, Its the first day of winter. There will be Christmas Shoppers at each other's throughts for the latest fad toy. We still have not found Osama Bin Laden. 
rmsharpe said:
You might just be on to something there.
I personally think that this so-called doomsday will come and go normally just like all the other doomsdays of the past.
On a side note: As for the question as to why the Mayans did not prevent their demise if they had predicted it; well maybe they did predict it and just saw it as something that was supposed to happen and didn't try to stop it.
Narz
keeping it real
It's possible I suppose. I'd hate to be able to predict the future but unable to do anything about it though.Commodore said:
Thoughts from a down-to-Earth, analytical mind:
I have:
1. Seen and keenly watched the afore mentioned History Channel presentation.
2. Read various discussions and sources, including this thread.
3. Also stopped by Wiki:
Conclusion: obvious contradictions/conflicts based on lack of sufficient knowledge, especially that of a deep (mystical?) understanding of the calendar, as it was created and/or used by the Mayans.
You could say many things, such as:
A) is it the end of THE world, or just the end of OUR world (mankind)? Or is it just some mundane 'turning of the page', to start a new chapter in history? What's with all these 13's?! Friday in October no less. All this talk about 'rebirth', and man being wiped out, to be replaced by another... pretty dismal stuff. But it just doesn't add up! How exactly are we interpreting it? Where did these ideas come from anyway? Based on what - do we presume to have 'understanding' on this matter? 2012, or 4772?! Oh, God I can't take it! What a bunch of hocus-pocus mysticism BS!! Where are the Spanish when you need them??
B) The Mayans had all the answers, and all that remains revealed to us, is merely the knowledge of our certain doom, and living with the nightmare of knowing precisely when it will occur. God have mercy on us all.
C) Resulting studies are too incomplete. Final analysis: inconclusive, yet fascinating.
I'm a little bit of all 3. I like to keep an open mind, when facing total uncertainty.
But, we're all gonna go sometime. I say, PLAN for the future, just it case it happens, but be ready to go at any moment. Including 2012. Though, personally, I have no deep-down belief in this, however like I said I always keep my mind open.
Hey, maybe when Jesus said, "the end of the generation"... he was referring to this calendar, which no one at the time in the Middle East / old world had any clue about!
Ah! But there's cocaine (only grows in the Andes) found in ancient Egyptian mummies! There has been trans-Atlantic trade/communication going on for many thousands of years. Someone out there knows... they know all the answers. There's a sect/cult that knows everything about what's going on. WHY couldn't I be one of them? eh? What? Am I not good enough?? WHY must I merely be a PUPPET?!
I have:
1. Seen and keenly watched the afore mentioned History Channel presentation.
2. Read various discussions and sources, including this thread.
3. Also stopped by Wiki:
Conclusion: obvious contradictions/conflicts based on lack of sufficient knowledge, especially that of a deep (mystical?) understanding of the calendar, as it was created and/or used by the Mayans.
You could say many things, such as:
A) is it the end of THE world, or just the end of OUR world (mankind)? Or is it just some mundane 'turning of the page', to start a new chapter in history? What's with all these 13's?! Friday in October no less. All this talk about 'rebirth', and man being wiped out, to be replaced by another... pretty dismal stuff. But it just doesn't add up! How exactly are we interpreting it? Where did these ideas come from anyway? Based on what - do we presume to have 'understanding' on this matter? 2012, or 4772?! Oh, God I can't take it! What a bunch of hocus-pocus mysticism BS!! Where are the Spanish when you need them??
B) The Mayans had all the answers, and all that remains revealed to us, is merely the knowledge of our certain doom, and living with the nightmare of knowing precisely when it will occur. God have mercy on us all.
C) Resulting studies are too incomplete. Final analysis: inconclusive, yet fascinating.
I'm a little bit of all 3. I like to keep an open mind, when facing total uncertainty.
But, we're all gonna go sometime. I say, PLAN for the future, just it case it happens, but be ready to go at any moment. Including 2012. Though, personally, I have no deep-down belief in this, however like I said I always keep my mind open.
Hey, maybe when Jesus said, "the end of the generation"... he was referring to this calendar, which no one at the time in the Middle East / old world had any clue about!
Ah! But there's cocaine (only grows in the Andes) found in ancient Egyptian mummies! There has been trans-Atlantic trade/communication going on for many thousands of years. Someone out there knows... they know all the answers. There's a sect/cult that knows everything about what's going on. WHY couldn't I be one of them? eh? What? Am I not good enough?? WHY must I merely be a PUPPET?!
Swiss_Mercenari
Comedic Jihadist
I knew the Mesoamerican and Egyptians were both Atlantean!
Pyramids, Mummification, Obelisks, Hieroglyphs, Lunar Calenders, and now the discovery of cocaine in Egypt. Despite the loss of their island, the Atlanteans could still communicate via naval vessels.
Edit: Not to mention that their complexions and languages were almost the same.
Pyramids, Mummification, Obelisks, Hieroglyphs, Lunar Calenders, and now the discovery of cocaine in Egypt. Despite the loss of their island, the Atlanteans could still communicate via naval vessels.
Edit: Not to mention that their complexions and languages were almost the same.
Commodore said:
So with our modern technology, of we detect a very large asteroid on collision course with Earth, date of impact: winter equinox, 2012...
...and we theorize a realistic way that we can save ourselves, should we try?
What if we succeed? The whole fabric of space-time collapses, and the entire universe comes crashing down?!
Maybe our way of thinking on the matter is different from the Mayans.
Swedishguy
Deity
You're right! We are not post-archaic pagans that hurls around predictions at will!Eran of Arcadia said:
