December 21st, 2012

[JohnRM]

This is the date that the Myan calender ends and some profess a belief that the world will end. According to that calender, it is predicted to be a time of extreme tribulation. There are also other predictions that claim that this will be a disturbing time.

So, what do you think? Any credibility? Do you have anything to add? Personally, I just think that the Myans went far enough into the future, figuring that a calender covering a few thousands years would cover them for a while. I mean, where do you really stop? You have to stop somewhere and whatever point they stop, I guess people would say "OMFG! The end of the world!" What do you think?!

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Personally, I just think that the Myans went far enough into the future, figuring that a calender covering a few thousands years would cover them for a while. I mean, where do you really stop? You have to stop somewhere and whatever point they stop, I guess people would say "OMFG! The end of the world!" What do you think?!

IIRC its more than that. They believed there were cycles where the world is created anew, and 2012 would be the end of the current world, or cycle.

 

[nc-1701]

Yes there will be a civil war folowing the republican victory in the previous November.




:rofl:

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

Hmm I like hoe those Myan preists put it so far in the future that they wouldn't have to worry about being proven wrong.

 

[skadistic]

Was someone watching History Channle last night?

Its not the end of the world just a cycle the calender continues on after that.

 

[Masquerouge]

So, what do you think? Any credibility?

Are you kidding? Of course not! Plus for the Mayas the world ended quite a few centuries sooner than they expected

 

[dutchfire]

How can a calendar end anyway?

 

[JonnyB]

6 years, 1 month, and 10 days from now. KABOOM!!

....or probably nothing.

 

[puglover]

If the Mayans could see that far in the future, why couldn't they save their empire?

 

[Oerdin]

The Maya thought that the world would end on that day and the only way to prevent it was to sacrafice people to the sun god so that his thirst for blood would be quinched and he wouldn't be hungry enough to devour the whole earth.

A bunch of nonsense, really.

 

[skadistic]

If the Mayans could see that far in the future, why couldn't they save their empire?

The math and calender were given to them by a pale skin bearded man with blue eyes. They for saw him coming back again. They got Cortez instead. In the name of god they slaughter the Myians and destroyed allmost all of thier writings. They in fact 3 diffrent calenders we know of. So much was lost we realy know very little about the culture.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Cortez conquered the Aztecs. The Mayan civilization was already kaput by the time he showed up.

 

[Turner]

Been there, done that.

And do a search for 'Titor' in Off Topic. I'm sure it's come up in those threads as well.

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

Yeah, the Mayans and the Aztecs were quite different . . . and although Mayan people, language, and culture still existed in the Yucatan peninsula, the great city states had been gone for centuries by the time the Spanish showed up.

 

[JohnRM]

If the Mayans could see that far in the future, why couldn't they save their empire?

According to some, they predicted their own demise.

 

[Tank_Guy#3]

If they could see their demise, they can see what caused it, hence prevention is possible. If it was in battle, then you can predict the movements of the enemy troops and counter act them. Also if it was a battle, you could see where the battle was to take place, and ambush your enemy.

You can foresee that a disease arises where you are currently living, move.
You foresee a drought, irrigate like all hell.
You foresee a famine, open up more land for farming, and proceed to pursue for fishing and hunting to bolster your food stockpiles.

 

[skadistic]

During the Post-Classic period, from 900 to the arrival of the Spanish in the 16th century, Mayan civilization centered in Yucatán. A Toltec migration or invasion from the valley of Mexico strongly influenced its art styles. Chichén Itzá and Mayapán were prominent cities. For a while the league of Mayapán maintained the peace, but after a period of civil war and revolution, the cities were abandoned. The Spanish easily overcame the major Mayan groups, although the Mexican government did not subdue the last independent communities until 1901. In the late 20th century the Maya made up the bulk of the peasant population in their former lands. M.H.R., MARTIN H. ROSENBERG, M.A.

http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=216070

That wasn't Cortez?

 

[Eran of Arcadia]

If they could see their demise, they can see what caused it, hence prevention is possible.

But if you think in terms of cycles like they did, then such a thing would be inetvitable, and not the result of a single lost battle or famine but the natural decline of the civilization.

 

[nihilistic]

This is the date that the Myan calender ends and some profess a belief that the world will end. According to that calender, it is predicted to be a time of extreme tribulation. There are also other predictions that claim that this will be a disturbing time.

So, what do you think? Any credibility? Do you have anything to add? Personally, I just think that the Myans went far enough into the future, figuring that a calender covering a few thousands years would cover them for a while. I mean, where do you really stop? You have to stop somewhere and whatever point they stop, I guess people would say "OMFG! The end of the world!" What do you think?!

Aren't you some staunch Christian fundie? Wouldn't believing in (or perhaps even reading) this obviously pagan ontology be considered heresy? How can you suspend believe in this bullfeathers and then come around and say you find all the evidence for evolution unconvincing because your bible said so?

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Skadistic, the Mayans didnt dissapear, theyre still there. I was talking about their great civilization.

November 15, 2004: Where the rain forests of Guatemala now stand, a great civilization once flourished. The people of Mayan society built vast cities, ornate temples, and towering pyramids. At its peak around 900 A.D., the population numbered 500 people per square mile in rural areas, and more than 2,000 people per square mile in the cities -- comparable to modern Los Angeles County.

see captionThis vibrant "Classic Period" of Mayan civilization thrived for six centuries. Then, for some reason, it collapsed.

Right: Mayan ruins in Guatemala. Photo copyright Tom Sever.

The fall of the Maya has long been one of the great mysteries of the ancient world. But it's more than a historical curiosity. Within sight of the Mayan ruins, in the Petén region of Guatemala near the border with Mexico, the population is growing again, and rain forest is being cut to make farmland.


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"By learning what the Maya did right and what they did wrong, maybe we can help local people find sustainable ways to farm the land while stopping short of the excesses that doomed the Maya," says Tom Sever at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC).

Sever, NASA's only archeologist, has been using satellites to examine Mayan ruins. Combining those data with conventional down-in-the-dirt archeological findings, Sever and others have managed to piece together much of what happened:

From pollen trapped in ancient layers of lake sediment, scientists have learned that around 1,200 years ago, just before the civilization's collapse, tree pollen disappeared almost completely and was replaced by the pollen of weeds. In other words, the region became almost completely deforested.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2004/15nov_maya.htm