The World is Still Going to End...Just Got the Date Wrong!

You would think that a few moments after midnight on the 22nd, the doom-sayers would have seen the error of their ways and recanted.  You know, one hopes for some sort of common sense.

Would you believe that in an article that was pointed out to me on the Komando site that many believe the exact opposite!  Honest!   First, it should be made clear that the Myan calendar no where fore tells of a world wide dooms day.   Through a misunderstanding on how the Myans recorded time and used the "calendar" which lead to the belief that the calendar had no further dates on it past Dec. 21 2012.    In a Science on NBC News article:  Researchers point out that "Matching the dates of the Mayan calendar to our modern calendar is not an exact science". 

Why is that?  because Myans based their calendar on a system like a "long march" type of system or long epochs, in many ways similar to the old Chinese system.  Trying to match this system to a 12 month 365 day calendar is very imprecise at best.  

Not to be deterred however, doomsdayers  are sure the end is nye, just the date is wrong, so their belief is stronger than ever.  

And then there are those that are traumatized.    The reasons for this are varied and complex.  Often  varying  from despondency to paranoia.

From my end, the one thing I don't see much of is acceptance of the fact that the apocalypse just isn't a happening thing.   But then that is asking for rationality.... 

NASA Debunks the 2012 Doomsday

Unless you have been in a coma for an extended period, you have heard about the interpretation of the end of the Mayan long count calendar, as a doomsday event prediction.

If this is your cup of tea...fine. I really don't want a heart to heart with a true believer on the coming apocalypse, but I thought it might be entertaining to look at some of the ways that have been put forth, that would bring about the end of times.

There is of course the rogue planet "Nibiru" or "Planet X". (from the msnbc article)

• Self-proclaimed Nibiru expert Nancy Lieder, who says she is in contact with the aliens from Zeta Reticuli, first said Nibiru would cause widespread disaster in May 2003, only to change it to Dec. 21, 2012.

Astronomer Don Yeomans, manager of NASA's Near-Earth Object program say that Planet X is the darling child of pseudo-scientists "who don't seem bothered by a complete lack of evidence,".

You really have to like this one... because it really highlights how much common sense someone has to ignore to support their belief system.  Case in point is that any body capable of destroying Earth would have to be in the magnitude of the Mars sized impactor that created Earth's moon is a pretty difficult thing to hide this late in the game.  Something that big and that close would already be visible to the naked eye.  But what about something smaller, say the size of the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago?   "There are no known near-Earth objects in 2012 that present a credible risk to Earth," Yeomans said. "None, zero, zip, nada."

Or how about this cosmic alignment that is to take place December 21st? The sun will align with the center of the galaxy and Earth and this alignment will bring about radical change on Earth.  My problem is that doesn't this already happen twice a year anyway?

How about the poles flip flopping causing compasses to go haywire and magnetic sensitive animals would get lost and possibly die out.   This one is interesting because there is evidence that the magnetic poles have flopped in the past.  Fortunate for us, our over-sized moon helps support the Earth's poles from wild perturbations so that leave magnetic poles.  Their period of reversals is about 500,000 years, not between reversals but once the process begins...yep, extremely slllooooooooooooooooooooooow.   "... no evidence of a flip on Dec. 21, 2012" states astronomer Yeomans.  

Still in the face of evidence to the contrary, some are continuing to become more and more frantic about the coming world destruction.  Read the complete MSNBC article here for more.

Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse more than just a viral vid?

Now here is a just plain weird way that the web is influencing "real" life. Pals Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, along with actor Jay Baruchel and director Jason Stone, put together a trailer for a fake movie called Jay and Seth vs. the Apocalypse and threw it online. It's funny stuff and as thing go, it gathered a following. Some studio execs saw the trailer and decided it would make a great big screen film! The premise of the short film is: two guys holed up in a seedy apartment, getting on each other's nerves while the rest of the world gets torn up by ravenous monsters. Kinda like the Odd Couple at the end of the world. The weirdness enters when execs from Mandate Pictures give the go ahead for a full-length feature version. The trailer is funny enough, funny enough for a big screen though? You decide. Oh NSFW because of language.