Pardon my breif emphasis on self-education before panic...December 21, 2012 is actually a "mile-marker" in the way ancient Mayans counted their days. Essentially, it is the 14th " b'ak'tun ", which is similar to how we measure decades, centuries, etc...the only difference being theirs primarily measured in base-20 compared to our Western Civilization measurements of base-10 (decade = 10 yrs, century = 100 yrs, and so on).
With that in mind, this actually seemed like a genuine stopping point, no? If I was in charge of the calendar, which accurately predicted eclipses and other natural phenomona of that nature, I'd say by the time I got to ol' #14, I'd say to fuck with a 15th b'ak'tun. I don't have the energy. My soaps are about to come on anyways, I'd say.
And the counter-argument...
Global warming. Birds falling dead from the sky in thousands at once. Oil spills. Fish dying for no apparent reason. Justin Beiber.
Some serious arguments...(I promise I'll make this entertaining by the end, just you stay put and let me learn you something!)
1) Changes in the sun's magnetic field
- This is indeed "scheduled" for 2012-2013. And many scientists predict up to a 50% strength increase since its last peak. But this will still be FAR from the strongest peak ever recorded...we'll still be here.
2) An asteriod will smash into Earth
- The only asteriod at the moment worth watching that could cause damage by impact is not scheduled to get here until 2029, and is, at the moment, considered a 1 in 250,000 chance of colliding.
Other than that, most of the other arguments either make no scientific sense! Let's leave this "Y2K" clone alone for just a moment and stop falling for the money-making scare tatics!
And, what, is this guy supposed to save us (see bottom right)?How will the world end? Really, there's only one realistic answer in my eyes...and that's either tragic natural phenomona (asteriods, I'm looking at you here...somebody needs to cryogenically freeze Bruce Willis until its time...) or general lack of care for our planet and atmosphere. I'm not saying Al Gore is a prophet, but I am saying that not fucking up the world for profit should be a concern at this point. It seems to me that the way we treat the Earth is like a 85 year old smoking Marbolos. They know its not good for them, but fuck it, they're going to die anyways, right?
But, believe it or not, life goes on after us...
So while I do agree that there are signs of the apocolypse (See Mariah Carey, "Glitter") and things seem a bit unsual (see Cruise, Tom), this is just the sign of the times and nothing more. Fireworks scared those birds! (OK, I know...the idea of these birds being in a cult and drinking the same punch seems a bit more accurate than fireworks giving 2000 birds simultaneous heartattacks...)
But maybe, in 2012, people will actually start living...by every sense of the definition. But why start then? Do we know what's going to happen tonight? Tomorrow? The end of the world could be January 8th, 2011 or January 8th, 4011...is the thing we are supposed to learn from this to, in a cliche' way, "live like you are dying"? Do the things you dream about doing. Take your 10 year goals and condense them to 1 year. Take those 1 year goals and condense them to 1 month. Why not?
If life is anything like poker chips...and I think it is...shouldn't life be about not leaving anything on the table??
Be good.
-Dave
