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Why does the Mayan calendar end on....?
Stoic Joker:
IIRC the Mayan calendar in question is spot on for current events like seasons and (winter/sumer) solstices ... So their "math" does have established street cred...
-Stoic Joker (January 31, 2011, 12:54 PM)
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Yes, it still is useful for that, but that obviates the point; we're going to need a new one starting with December 22, 2012.
Left to our modern culture, it'll probably be a swimsuit edition... >_<-Edvard (January 31, 2011, 01:51 PM)
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Out Standing! - I'll take 5 - Where do I sign!
@CT - Regarding the Will the Government lie to us question. I submit this question is fundamentally flawed...As it assumes that at some point the government was telling the "truth" ... i-Mushroom :D
JennyB:
I believe the only reason this subject is even being discussed is that:
(1) It is a concrete date.
No other civilization lost to the sands of time has given so unambiguous a date for any event, no matter how mundane.
(2) The date in question is "at our doorstep", so to speak.
Whether we take any stock in it or not, it is something happening in our very lifetime, so it enters into our culture and our collective conversation whether we like it our not simply by virtue of the fact that it is NOW.
Personally, I like the Bible's proclamation that "no man will know the day or the hour", so basically setting a date is kinda pointless.
P.S. Here's an easy read on Mayan math and date reckoning:
http://www.buriedmirror.com/maya-calendar.htm
-Edvard (January 31, 2011, 11:22 AM)
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As far as I tell from that and Wikipedia, the calendar does not end in 2012. At best, that is (possibly) the end of one cycle. The Meso-Americans seem to have counted days rather than years (presumably because seasonality was not so marked as in more northerly latitudes). As with Julian Day Numbers, it's easy to count back without having to worry about leap years and the like. They counted in base 20, but the Long Count seems to be based on notional years of 360 days (the same as the Babylonians used). To help them keep track, they had twenty day names, which they numbered modulo 13, so that after 260 days the pattern of day numbers and names would recur. The start of the Long Count has been calculated as August 13, 3114 BCE, though I doubt if the actual counting began so long ago.
So what cycle will end in 2012? 13 x 20 x 20 360-day years. If you are counting of 20-year periods (the third digit space on a Long Count date), one cycle of 260. Is that significant? It's a bit like saying "a year of generations," or the various schemes based on "a thousand years as a single day."
If pre-Mayan peoples did think in terms of cycle of this length, then perhaps the Long Count began ca. 550 BCE., when whoever started it supposed themselves at the midpoint. I wonder what they would have thought if they could see the result? :P
CodeTRUCKER:
Please accept my rebuttal as friendly "sparring." That's the way I received your comments!
-CodeTRUCKER (January 31, 2011, 11:09 AM)
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Me too :)
-Eóin (January 31, 2011, 12:41 PM)
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That is good to know! :Thmbsup:
When it comes to predicting a collision between planets, comets, etc, I do believe the math is extremely complicated. Predicting planet movements under the assumption for circular orbits (be they around the sun or earth) is one thing, but trying to predict the future path of a comet with potential to collide with the earth requires an awful lot of background knowledge together with extremely accurate observations..
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Not if you are sitting on one of the planets.
So my suggestion for a disproof is that a) If records of the Mayans math and science levels are sufficiently comprehensive, and b) If they show that the Mayans did not have this necessary background knowledge - Then one could say with significant confidence that the Mayan calendar ending is not based an an accurate prediction of an impending collision.
Two big If's I know, but I just pointing out one way in which the Dark Planet theory could very genuinely be disproved
...
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If my "Dark Planet" scenario was based on the calculus(?) level equations your explanation uses as a basis and was related to *my* scenario, your negation of the "Dark Planet" might be valid. The only issue is my scenario of the "Dark Planet" is solely based on simple observations and data collection.
~CT
Stoic Joker:
Okay, how's this:
When the "Dark Planet arrives (which it will)... It will not actually strike us, as it is only at that time coming to its closest proximity (which is still a good distance).
The importance of this timely event, is that then, and only then at the the very height of its closest proximity can the Mayan space ships return (hay somebody had to go there...), land, and present us with the newly updated Mayan calendar (space babes - swimsuit edition).
Shades:
It appears that at that date earth will go through a universal barrier (our milky way moves in a wave-like pattern), which could possibly result in reversing the magnetic poles of the earth, the transference of the equator and for one half of the planet the sun will net set for three days while the other half will have night for the same period. Those events can be the catalyst to a new ice age.
The earth's internal core is moving at a continual decreasing speed until we hit that barrier and that will have it's effect. Electricity only flows because the earth rotates around its axis. And at that date the earth is at a practical standstill. With our society and our dependence on electricity I can see some problems arising.
Earth as we know it will cease to exist...you could say that our planet will be "rebooted" in a galactic way. The Mayan calendar predicts just that. It appears that every 5000 years this happens.
The above is all the predictions from a Vincent Stein (iirc his name correctly). He has actually a quite convincing story to tell.
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