End of the World 2012...Postponed

101lifts2 · 10-20-2010, 03:07 AM

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...earthpostponed

End of the Earth Postponed

livescience.com – Tue Oct 19, 7:35 am ET

It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan "Long Count" calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will - or if it has already.

A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World" (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years. That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.)

The Mayan calendar was converted to today's Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter's author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies.

Later, the GMT constant was bolstered by American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used data in the Dresden Codex Venus Table, a Mayan calendar and almanac that charts dates relative to the movements of Venus.

"He took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant," Aldana said in a statement. "Others took his work even further, suggesting that he had proven the GMT constant to be correct."

But according to Aldana, Lounsbury's evidence is far from irrefutable.

"If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," he said. That historical data, he said, is less reliable than the Table itself, causing the argument for the GMT constant to fall "like a stack of cards."

Aldana doesn't have any answers as to what the correct calendar conversion might be, preferring to focus on why the current interpretation may be wrong. Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes.

derf · 10-20-2010, 04:14 AM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMm-7RFsm0

Particle Man · 10-20-2010, 10:15 AM

So the world may have already ended? Shit, I missed it.

Hydrant · 10-20-2010, 11:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Particle Man

So the world may have already ended? Shit, I missed it.

It kinda did on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 .

Particle Man · 10-20-2010, 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hydrant

It kinda did on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 .

Well we will see if the world restarts in 4 years from then...

Smittie61984 · 10-20-2010, 11:55 AM

My GF took an astronomy class while 2012 was out. Her professor even mentioned that the Mayan calendar didn't match up to ours. So it could have already happend or is gonna happen. Fuck it, let's drink beer, bang strippers, and see what happens.

10-20-2010, 03:07 AM	#1
101lifts2 WSB Champion Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Anaheim, CA Moto: 2009 Kawi ZX6R Posts: 5,570	End of the World 2012...Postponed http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/...earthpostponed End of the Earth Postponed livescience.com – Tue Oct 19, 7:35 am ET It's a good news/bad news situation for believers in the 2012 Mayan apocalypse. The good news is that the Mayan "Long Count" calendar may not end on Dec. 21, 2012 (and, by extension, the world may not end along with it). The bad news for prophecy believers? If the calendar doesn't end in December 2012, no one knows when it actually will - or if it has already. A new critique, published as a chapter in the new textbook "Calendars and Years II: Astronomy and Time in the Ancient and Medieval World" (Oxbow Books, 2010), argues that the accepted conversions of dates from Mayan to the modern calendar may be off by as much as 50 or 100 years. That would throw the supposed and overhyped 2012 apocalypse off by decades and cast into doubt the dates of historical Mayan events. (The doomsday worries are based on the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, much as our year ends on Dec. 31.) The Mayan calendar was converted to today's Gregorian calendar using a calculation called the GMT constant, named for the last initials of three early Mayanist researchers. Much of the work emphasized dates recovered from colonial documents that were written in the Mayan language in the Latin alphabet, according to the chapter's author, Gerardo Aldana, University of California, Santa Barbara professor of Chicana and Chicano Studies. Later, the GMT constant was bolstered by American linguist and anthropologist Floyd Lounsbury, who used data in the Dresden Codex Venus Table, a Mayan calendar and almanac that charts dates relative to the movements of Venus. "He took the position that his work removed the last obstacle to fully accepting the GMT constant," Aldana said in a statement. "Others took his work even further, suggesting that he had proven the GMT constant to be correct." But according to Aldana, Lounsbury's evidence is far from irrefutable. "If the Venus Table cannot be used to prove the FMT as Lounsbury suggests, its acceptance depends on the reliability of the corroborating data," he said. That historical data, he said, is less reliable than the Table itself, causing the argument for the GMT constant to fall "like a stack of cards." Aldana doesn't have any answers as to what the correct calendar conversion might be, preferring to focus on why the current interpretation may be wrong. Looks like end-of-the-world theorists may need to find another ancient calendar on which to pin their apocalyptic hopes. __________________ Train Hard Ron Paul - 2012 Mark of Excellence GM

10-20-2010, 04:14 AM	#2
derf token jewboy Join Date: Nov 2008 Moto: CBR 900, KLR ugly ass duckling, Gas Man Posts: 10,799	http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thMm-7RFsm0 __________________

10-20-2010, 11:55 AM	#6
Smittie61984 I give Squids a bad name Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Fly Over State Moto: 1996 CBR600 F3 (AKA the Flying Turd) Posts: 4,742	My GF took an astronomy class while 2012 was out. Her professor even mentioned that the Mayan calendar didn't match up to ours. So it could have already happend or is gonna happen. Fuck it, let's drink beer, bang strippers, and see what happens. __________________ lifts - R.I.P.

10-20-2010, 10:15 AM	#3
Particle Man Custom User Title Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Central NY Moto: 2003 SV650S Posts: 14,959	So the world may have already ended? Shit, I missed it.