tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13528909049016309652024-03-13T20:22:22.900-07:00The Doomsday BlogRecently, there have been a large number of doomsday prophecies surfacing. This blog will attempt to decipher them.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-54286618925184187702012-05-27T17:02:00.001-07:002012-05-27T17:02:31.786-07:00Timewave Zero<b>What is it?</b><br />
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This is one of the more esoteric predictions floating around out there. Basically, a chap called Terence McKenna came up with something called "Novelty Theory"; software was made to track "novelty" over time, and the resulting graph indicates that December 21st, 2012 marks the beginning of "infinite novelty"..<br />
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<b>How novel</b><br />
The theory equates novelty to complexity and sophistication of human thought and culture, and claims that they increase over time, eventually reaching a curve of infinite growth. So, when we reach this curve, the idea is that everything conceivable to the human imagination will happen simultaneously.<br />
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While i'm looking forward to having a threesome with Finnish twins on a giant chocolate cake surround by floating sharks, i'm not that excited about having my elbow gnawed off by a huge ant with the head of my mother.<br />
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<b>The software</b><br />
The graphing software can be purchased on CD (although i do not recommend it), and runs on DOS. McKenna developed a numerological formula based on numerical patterns in the I Ching. The I Ching is an ancient Chinese text that has been used for divination. McKenna never sought to have his formula peer reviewed by the mathematical community, because of his disdain for their western paradigm. Or maybe because he knew they'd dismiss it as nothing more than numerology.<br />
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The formula runs in 69.29 year cycles. Originally, McKenna chose a highly significant event in recent history - the bombing of Hiroshima - as an anchor point for these cycles, which gave an end point (infinite novelty) of November 2012. When he heard about the Maya calendar doomday theory, he <b>changed his end date to December 21, 2012. </b>That's not even moving the goalposts; that's picking up the ball from your missed kick, then carrying it back and placing it between the goalposts, and saying you scored.<br />
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On top of this, look at the graph below. I'm no mathematician, but i'm going to assume that infinite novelty is indicated by the lower end of the y axis. If you can figure out the labeling, you can see that 2000, 2006 and 2019 all dip lower than 2012. So what exactly does this graph tell us about 2012?<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24gbnmK4TSLSMetrSGeA3WdQJbU48ZRaMowUAJlLfON2zVGAsWCUBqphTaUG8nuc9QFEYyb5IdtXwf5F11VBf2qvsWK_6KYjuHun5qqc8pdNi-R7paixFfE1PZqA3ph0qnUV7iHGde4k/s1600/Picture+3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="216" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi24gbnmK4TSLSMetrSGeA3WdQJbU48ZRaMowUAJlLfON2zVGAsWCUBqphTaUG8nuc9QFEYyb5IdtXwf5F11VBf2qvsWK_6KYjuHun5qqc8pdNi-R7paixFfE1PZqA3ph0qnUV7iHGde4k/s400/Picture+3.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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<b>1 or 0?</b><br />
This prediction is a creative one, although it's not very clear at all. It seems arbitrary to take a numerical sequence from an ancient Chinese text, turn it into a fractal formula to graph such a concept as "novelty" over time. Towards the end of his life, it seems McKenna himself wasn't actually sure if the prediction would amount to anything. Still, the 2012 doomsday camp like to whip this one out, once in a while, to back up their main theories, despite the fact that McKenna derived his end date from their predictions. And let's not forget the fact that numerology is a pseudoscience that has been debunked many times over.<br />
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As the I Ching says:<br />
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<i>"Perseverance alone does not assure success. No amount of stalking will lead to game in a field that has none."</i><br />Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-65849313571073945372012-05-19T19:10:00.000-07:002012-05-19T19:10:19.235-07:00News: A new calendar<br />
What?<br />
So, recently the news has been going around that an older - the earliest known - Maya calendar has been discovered. The significance of this is that the calendar extends beyond the one which has set off this spate of doomsday predictions. It tracks time for several thousand years after 2012, thus causing the scattering of news articles to say something like "oh well, the world isn't ending after all"...<br />
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Wow, really?<br />
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This, of course, is all moot because <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/mayans-and-december-21-2012-pt1.html" target="_blank">the Maya didn't predict any world-ending business</a>. Show me a scholar who claims that the Maya did predict disastrous events, and i'll show you their Doomsday book for sale on Amazon.<br />Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-38250755825184205352012-05-12T19:27:00.002-07:002012-05-19T18:43:44.704-07:00Polar Reversal<br />
<b>What is it?</b><br />
The basic theory here is that earth's poles will suddenly move out of alignment, disrupting the earth's magnetic field, thus causing cataclysmic weather and tectonic activity that will devastate our planet.<br />
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<b>Oh no!</b><br />
Proponents of this particular doomsday theory will tell you that it's been over 700,000 years since the last one, and that we're due for one. They will tell you that the earth's magnetic field has been declining for the past 2000 years. They will also tell you that the earth's magnetic field will drop to zero for a few days, causing violent weather, earthquakes and volcanoes.<br />
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<b>It's all true?</b><br />
It's true, the earth's magnetic field isn't fixed. <a href="http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~glatz/geodynamo.html" target="_blank">It shifts over time.</a> But this is totally normal. Research has shown that the earth has undergone magnetic field reversals many times in its life, although the intervals seem to be random - <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_magnetic_field" target="_blank">from 100,000 to 50 million years</a>. So i'd wait for another 49.3 million years before saying we're due for another field shift. And, given the periods of time involved here, 2000 years of magnetic field declination is merely a blip on the chart.<br />
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The most important thing, though is that A) the magnetic field will NOT drop to zero, and B) the switching of magnetic fields can take hundreds of years. It does not happen overnight. There is no sudden moment where the earth ceases to have a magnetic field. What happens in this situation is a gradual shift in magnetic poles, they will split and slowly wander, before settling again. Again, this is something that happens over the course of thousands of years.<br />
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Incidentally, scientists studying the earth's geological record haven't found any reason to link volcanic or tectonic activity to the last polar shift.<br />
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<b>So?</b><br />
So, given that the magnetic polar shift is a gradual process that takes thousands of years to complete, and doesn't follow any kind of knowable rhythm, do you think it's reasonable to predict one for this year? Let alone one that will disrupt our planet's weather and tectonic system?Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-63650239259947666142012-05-08T09:25:00.001-07:002012-05-08T09:26:40.450-07:00Pop Stars of the Apocalypse<b>What?</b><br />
I recently stumbled upon <a href="http://www.december212012.com/articles/news/Rock_and_Pop_Stars_of_the_Apocalypse.htm" target="_blank">this hilarious page</a> which claims that various rock and pop stars (well, 3 of them) believed in some of the doomsday prophecies plaguing 2012. I don't know how serious the author is, but if this is a satire, i'm going to have to tip my hat. The main stars mentioned are Michael Jackson, Elvis Presley and, perhaps not so predictably, Jimi Hendrix.<br />
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<a name='more'></a>These claims come from a book by Michael Luckman; musicologist and director of the New York Center for Extraterrestrial Research. Yes, musicologist AND paranormal researcher.<br />
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<b>Michael Jackson</b><br />
Apparently MJ met Luckman and confided to him that he believed in the biblical end of times, as well as expressing his concern that the world was sick "like a fever". He also, according to the page, wanted to build a big alien welcome mat in the desert and moonwalk on the moon.<br />
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So how does this add any validity to doomsday claims? I don't know either.<br />
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<b>Elvis Presley</b><br />
Allegedly, Elvis also had a thing for biblical end of times prophecies, and had plans to do peace tours in the Middle East to stop World War 3. Here's the kicker, though - Elvis also "was said" to have believed that the Maya were spot on with "their so-called doomsday calendar". He even wore a jumpsuit featuring this doomsday calendar.<br />
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Wait, what? When did the Maya make a doomsday calendar? It looks like what they mean is the long count calendar, which <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/mayans-and-december-21-2012-pt1.html" target="_blank">makes no apocalyptic predictions whatsoever.</a><br />
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Next.<br />
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<b>Jimi Hendrix</b><br />
According to the page, Hendrix criticised "the Establishment" and said that it was going to crumble away. Surprising, right? He apparently "predicted" a disastrous pole shift and asteroid impact. In future posts i'm going to look at these 2 scenarios, but for now let's get back to reality for a second.<br />
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<b>Reality</b><br />
I'm going to have to stop right here and say that Jimi Hendrix was a fantastic musician. So were Elvis and MJ. Does that mean they have any better an idea about the future than you or I? There is some speculation that the talent and eccentricity of these stars point to them being from another world, and being privy to things that we humans aren't. But come on. Seriously...<br />
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So... what about The Beatles? Trent Reznor? The Rolling Stones? Jay Z? The Beastie Boys? Beyonce? Hell, Justin Bieber? No? No doomsday predictions there? I haven't actually read this book (which is called "Alien Rock: The Rock 'n' Roll Extraterrestrial Connection", and Prince William has read it FYI), but hey, maybe Henry Rollins has something to say about solar flares.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-14775551101141748522012-04-14T16:04:00.002-07:002012-04-19T16:04:38.203-07:00Galactic Alignment: Solar Flares<b>What is it?</b> <br />
Ok, i've read some really impressive predictions on this one. Basically, the idea is that on December 21st, 2012, the Earth will begin to pass "through" the the absolute centre of the "Dark Rift" of the Milky Way. The proponents of this prediction say that this passing will cause the sun to go crazy and throw off a bunch of solar flares, which will disrupt the Earth's communication and power infrastructures - basically all our modern day high tech gadgets - and cause damage, effectively "plunging us into darkness" for years, until the damage can be repaired.<br />
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<b>Why did the chicken cross the Galactic Equator?</b><br />
Firstly, i covered the whole idea of the Earth crossing through some mega-powerful centre of the universe in a previous post, which you can view <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/doomsday-theory-galactic-alignment.html" target="_blank">here.</a> Basically, the idea that the Earth will begin to pass through the absolute centre of this "Dark Rift" on December 21, 2012 is a vague statement that doesn't have any basis in science. For one thing; if it's in the centre of the universe, how do we pass "through" it? No, the only thing that may happen is that the sun will appear to cross through the Dark Rift (from our point of view on this lovely little rock) on December solstice this year. By the way, the sun takes about 36 years to do this, and the midpoint of the crossing happened in 1998. Now maybe i'm not giving humanity enough credit, but i always thought that the universe was a huge place which doesn't care about what appears to intersect with what from our bedroom window...<br />
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<b>Flaring up.</b><br />
Now, you may or may not have heard, but there has been a bunch of solar activity lately. According to the NASA website, this is because the sun is approaching its solar maximum. Don't panic, this happens every 9-14 years. A solar maximum is a period of increased solar activity, consisting of sunspots, CME's and solar flares. I might be underestimating humanity again here, but it seems that believers of the whole "Death By Solar Flare" scenario envisage these things as a tongue of fire reaching from the sun to earth, and burning us all to a crisp. Not so. All of the phenomena i mentioned are very closely related, and consist of releasing increased amounts of radiation into space. Of course, radiation is dangerous, but only if you happen to be going into space. Our planet is constantly bombarded by radiation from space, and our atmosphere does a very good job of protecting us from it. Below are some potential hazards of increased solar activity:<br />
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"Proton storms (caused by CME's) cause all kinds of problems. They interfere with ham radio communications. They zap satellites, causing short circuits and computer reboots. Worst of all, they can penetrate the skin of space suits and make astronauts feel sick." <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/stereo/news/stereo_astronauts.html" target="_blank">NASA</a><br />
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"<span style="color: black;">This process can cause particularly strong </span>aurorae<span style="color: black;"> in large regions around Earth's magnetic poles. These are also known as the </span><i style="color: black;">Northern Lights</i><span style="color: black;"> (aurora borealis) in the northern hemisphere, and the </span><i style="color: black;">Southern Lights</i><span style="color: black;"> (aurora australis) in the southern hemisphere. Coronal mass ejections, along with solar flares of other origin, can disrupt </span>radio<span style="color: black;"> transmissions and cause damage to </span>satellites<span style="color: black;"> and </span>electrical transmission line<span style="color: black;"> facilities, resulting in potentially massive and long-lasting </span>power outages." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronal_mass_ejection#cite_note-3" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a><br />
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<b>So what?</b><br />
Well, that first one doesn't look so bad, unless you're an astronaut. Or a ham radio enthusiast. But aren't massive and long lasting power outages bad? It has been theorised that a really bad solar storm could overload power grids in our interconnected society. Are electric utilities completely oblivious to this? No. They have complex systems for dealing with varying supply and demand. Whether or not it would be enough to weather this solar storm, that may or may not come, remains to be seen. Just bear in mind that these guys are a multi-billion dollar industry that survive on supplying power, and they don't want any interruptions. Humanity can be pretty ingenious when survival is at stake. And any facility that <i>would</i> suffer from a power outage has backup generators and circuit breakers.<br />
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<b>What this means for you, and your Christmas vacation:</b><br />
Solar flares happen. In fact, we've had a couple of big CME's so far this year. Did you notice? Me neither. This activity is linked to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_maximum" target="_blank">Solar Maximum</a><b>,</b> which<b> </b>happens every 9 to 14 years, and not to a pseudoscientific "alignment". Worst case scenario: a solar storm unlike any we've seen in the past century will damage our power grid, although this is just as likely to happen now as it was in 2000, or 1989, or will be in 2023. The fact that this has been pinned to the arbitrary 12/21/2012 date only seems to undermine its validity. I would also like to point out that, contrary to the claims made by some doomsayers, NASA has NOT issued a "SOLAR STORM WARNING".<br />
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And to all you astronauts and ham radio enthusiasts, take care out there.<br />
(Seriously though, astronauts endure serious risks of radiation exposure in space every day they're out there. Hats off to them, folks.)Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-28005919293138796082012-04-12T16:36:00.000-07:002012-04-12T16:36:58.046-07:00And i'm backHi folks,<br />
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I am back from my small writing hiatus. Work was getting the better of me, but i'm committed to producing more posts. In the near future, i plan to look into the USA's obsession with doomsday prophecies, as well as some of the other doomsday scenarios people go around stating as fact.<br />
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Posting soon.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-90572749883125569002011-09-10T22:32:00.001-07:002012-04-19T16:05:33.888-07:00Proponents of a feelgood 2012As i mentioned in my <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/07/alternative-interpretations-for.html">previous post</a>,<b> </b>various folk are pushing the 2012 so-called Maya prediction as a time of spiritual change. Here are some them:<br />
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<b>John Major Jenkins</b><br />
This chap has been pushing his version of 2012, very hard; even trying to <a href="http://youtu.be/tV-tOkWmF1Y">hijack interviews</a> at the 2012 movie premiere. At first glance, he seems like he knows what he's talking about; he's clearly very knowledgeable about the Maya. He has, however, been accused of misusing astronomical terms, and being vague about his contentions. <br />
<a name='more'></a>For one, his use of the term <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/doomsday-theory-galactic-alignment.html">"Galactic Alignment"</a><span id="goog_1839175443"> </span>is vague and inaccurate. He seems to be very pro-active in debating with his online detractors (usually promoting his various 2012 books in the process), until someone brings him a solid argument; then he goes quiet. Now, he's obviously a scholar who has dedicated a large part of his life to his studies. Sure, his writings seem to be deliberately vague, and he attacks his critics with semantics, rather than facts. What really gets me is his associations with opportunistic tourism like <a href="http://www.divinetravels.com/MayanCruise.html">THIS.</a> I know, the man has to feed himself, but this really detracts from his credibility. <br />
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This man is confusing. Publicly, he derides 2012 doomsayers, calling them opportunists. Yet, in his <i>Maya Cosmogenesis: 2012</i>, he appears to believe that, in fact, 2012 will bring an apocalypse. Misunderstood? Perhaps. Consistent? Not at all. Credible? That's up to you, but my answer is most definitely not.<br />
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<b>Jose Arguelles</b><br />
Jose Arguelles, also calling himself Valum Votan (which he claims means "Closer of the Cycle"), is an interesting chap. As a proponent for spiritual change, he spent his last days in New Zealand, working on his <a href="http://www.lawoftime.org/lawoftime/rinri.html">Rinri project</a><b>. </b>A meditation intended to unlock the rainbow polar bridge in preparation for the spiritual change coming about in 2012. Or something. His main goal was converting the world to his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamspell">Dreamspell</a> calendar. Jose claimed that "the human species is living in artificial time, which is disrupting its planetary environment and destroying its civilization". That's right, our 12 month Gregorian calendar is destroying us. The Dreamspell calendar seems very complicated, with its 260 different possible month names, but it might have been fun. I'd just love the chance to say "gee, we're having an unusually cold Red Self-Existing Serpent, aren't we?".<br />
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I believe this guy did have good intentions. He even set up a non-profit organization to promote his calendar, the Foundation for the Law of Time. I checked out their public financials, and they seem to be nice and innocent. The main expenses include the sending of thousands of Dreamspell calendars around the world. Incidentally, the December 21 date originated with Arguelles and was adopted by other 2012 authors.<br />
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<b>Shrooms</b><br />
So there you go, 2 of the proponents of mass spiritual change in 2012. It's also interesting to note that these guys loved their hallucinogenic substances. Now i have friends who've taken such substances, and i still have great respect for their intellect. By no means am i saying that if you take drugs, then none of your opinions or thoughts have any value. The thing is, the 2 chaps above advocated hallucinogens as means of spiritual revelation. Jenkins even encouraged everyone to have a little hallucinogenic substance every now and then; particularly heads of state.<br />
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So...What do you think?Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-4010434180620668502011-07-30T21:56:00.001-07:002012-04-19T16:05:58.174-07:00Alternative Interpretations for December 21st, 2012: Spiritual Change Part 1<b>On a lighter note...</b><br />
Amongst the prophecies of disaster and ruin, Deceember 21, 2102 has also drawn some more positive, new age predictions. If i had to use one word to describe them, it would be millenarianist.<br />
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<b>Millenarianism</b><br />
What is it? Reference.com says:<br />
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<i>"Millenarianism <span id="hotword"><span id="hotword" name="hotword">is</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">the</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">belief</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">by</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">religious,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">social,</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">or</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">political</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">group</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">or</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">movement</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">coming</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">major</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">transformation</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">of</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">society</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">after</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">which</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">all</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">things</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">will</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">be</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">changed</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">in</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">a</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">positive</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">(or</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">sometimes</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">negative</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">or</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword">ambiguous)</span> <span id="hotword" name="hotword" style="background-color: transparent; cursor: default;">direction</span></span>"</i><br />
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The name is based on the word "millennium", as some of these groups base their timeline for change on a millennium cycle. The main point is their belief that a major societal upheaval or change is coming. This term describes those who tell you that December 21, 2012 will herald a <i>"<span style="line-height: 150%;">major shift in our thinking and our values",</span></i><span style="line-height: 150%;"> <i>"</i></span><i>our waking up to the actual nature of time"</i>, or something equally vague.<br />
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<b>Well isn't that nice?</b><br />
Yes, it is a nice thought, but i wouldn't bet my paycheck on it. These predictions seem to play the "good cop" to the doomsday predictions' "bad cop", and by doing so capture a different segment of the doomsday-curious market. However, like their scarier counterparts, they also seem to contain an uncomfortable amount of unsupported assertions and intentional vagueness. <br />
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<b>Market?</b><br />
The 2009 Film Titled "2012" grossed around $166 million in the US alone, after running a viral marketing campaign with their "Institute for Human Continuity" website. This campaign drummed up a lot of awareness about this particular brand of doomsday prediction, and along came the sharks to cash in. With so many doom and gloom predictions floating around, there are those who have carved out a niche in happy, feelgood predictions. While many of these folks don't appear to be trying to turn a profit; the prominent proponents of a feelgood 2012 are selling harder than a used car salesman on his first day.<br />
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I'll talk about some of these proponents in my next post.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-40159572586342011282011-07-05T09:24:00.000-07:002011-07-17T00:12:46.247-07:00Doomsday Theory: Galactic Alignment<b>What is it?</b> <br />
This is one of the theories that have been tied to the December 21, 2012 date. The idea is this: at noon on 12/21/2012, the solstice sun will be seen to be in exact alignment with the Galactic Equator. Or the Dark Rift. Or the black hole in the center of the galaxy. Whoever said pseudoscience was accurate? As anyone who claims to be in-the-know will tell you, the Maya were avid astronomers, so this phenomenon must be related to their long count calendar cycle ending, right?<br />
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<b>Wait, what are those things?</b><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>The Great Rift (otherwise known as the Dark Rift) is an area of blackness seen near the center of the Milky Way. Scientists know it to be clouds of gas that block visible light coming from the bulge at the center of our galaxy. Behind these clouds is believed to be a black hole.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKXc1QBVf2NJ50CkzBT-zEAkziEqEM-KGxZNttp1_Vmc4IXf1iZB5edyxYj9MhkKRe5tx72I8HGKfjtoQKk3l9eQBumB6BV5a5DhHh6NyEIq9nKzRiURIHZiE_-qS8X3WLBYi_bwAGXI/s1600/Great_Rift_SMALL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="234" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxKXc1QBVf2NJ50CkzBT-zEAkziEqEM-KGxZNttp1_Vmc4IXf1iZB5edyxYj9MhkKRe5tx72I8HGKfjtoQKk3l9eQBumB6BV5a5DhHh6NyEIq9nKzRiURIHZiE_-qS8X3WLBYi_bwAGXI/s320/Great_Rift_SMALL.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The Galactic Equator is something that needs some explanation. It's a concept created by the IAU (International Astronomical Union), which is often confused with the H1 plane. As you see in the image below, the H1 plane is a line that dissects our galaxy (which, by the way, the sun won't cross for another 30 million years or so). The "Reference plane" below represents the "equatorial plane of the galactic reference system", which is probably what is mistakenly referred to in 2012 literature as the Galactic Equator. This is a line that, by definition, passes through the sun and and the rotational center of the galaxy (Sgr A). That's right folks, the sun is ALWAYS on this line. A deeper explanation can be found <a href="http://www.2012hoax.org/galactic-equator-vs-plane" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTLNHbImqFxsMTILNuVk6qLGtKzMmN6VZeGwKGEIz1LZFZDUre29D6XiozhsXjiWT8JYzdwdqKoXCzC8H8Wf-Kb04SWUnTKzlT6vUwkTeBRHfn09bO3XGEyNp_NO1c-wWn7HiuoMiTac/s1600/Picture+1.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="65" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCTLNHbImqFxsMTILNuVk6qLGtKzMmN6VZeGwKGEIz1LZFZDUre29D6XiozhsXjiWT8JYzdwdqKoXCzC8H8Wf-Kb04SWUnTKzlT6vUwkTeBRHfn09bO3XGEyNp_NO1c-wWn7HiuoMiTac/s400/Picture+1.png" width="400" /></a><b> </b><br />
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<b>The sun is still going to cross through something, right?</b> <br />
Well guess what: the sun (as viewed on December solstice) will appear to cross through something or other - Dark Rift, Galactic Equator, etc. The thing is, any of these crossings will take about 36 years to complete. In fact, the mid point of the sun crossed the GE in 1998, so that means the sun will continue its crossing until 2016. What makes 2012 so important in this crossing? One argument is that the Maya didn't have our sophisticated measuring equipment, and the galactic equator was only defined in 1960. All the Maya saw was the Milky Way in the night sky. So perhaps their prediction isn't 100% accurate. Well, remember that, to start with, the Maya hadn't actually used their <a href="http://doomsdayblog2012.blogspot.com/2011/06/mayans-and-december-21-2012-pt1.html" target="_blank">Long Count Calendar</a> to predict anything. All we have here is the end of a cycle, and a galactic phenomenon that's been underway for the last 30 years or so. In fact, our millennium cycle ended even closer to the midpoint of the Galactic Alignment, and did anything happen then? <br />
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<b>But alignment will happen?</b><br />
Yes. The sun is going to appear to intersect with the midpoint of the Milky Way/Dark Rift. Just like it has done for the past few decades. You won't even be able to see it because, obviously, you can't see the sun and the Milky Way at the same time without some serious astronomy gear. Nothing scary is going to happen. These crossings are caused mostly by the earth's poles gradually changing orientation, a perfectly normal phenomenon called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precession" target="_blank">Precession</a>. The tilt of the earth's rotation is what makes these alignments.<br />
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<b>The theories</b><br />
There are people out there who are making various claims about what this "Galactic Alignment" will do to us. I'll check them out in my following posts.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-91419737950440728262011-06-28T14:55:00.000-07:002011-07-16T21:21:05.681-07:00Why December 21st, 2012?It's a very specific date - where did it come from? December 21 will be the (northern hemisphere) winter solstice of 2012. Sounds significant, right? <br />
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But how did this come from the Maya, who had a completely different calendar system? The Maya calendar is translated to our current (Gregorian, to use its proper name) calendar using a system called "GMT calendar correlation". This is based on comparing recorded events from Mayan times between the 2 calendars. It sounds fairly straightforward, but a lot of people who know a LOT more about Maya history than you or i have been, or still are <a href="http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008AN....329..426K" target="_blank">debating its accuracy.</a><br />
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According to some, this GMT correlation is totally 100% unquestionably correct. According to others, it may be as far as 60 days, or even 104 years out. The problem i have here is that many of the folks defending the GMT correlation have a personal or professional interest in maintaining its credibility. If it were to be disproved and modified, Maya history would have to be entirely re-dated. Also, the whole December 21, 2012 thing would lose a little of its appeal if it were to be suddenly changed to:<b> DOOMSDAY: August 15th</b>, <b>1982</b>, or <b>DOOMSDAY: SOMETIME AROUND LATE 2012 OR EARLY 2013</b>.<br />
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So there you go, December 21st: not even totally reliable. Having a precise date does help sell the various theories though, particularly the Galactic Solstice Alignment theory, which i'll go into in the next post.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-87817968351216931022011-06-14T08:31:00.000-07:002011-07-01T14:07:28.322-07:00The Maya and December 21, 2012 Pt.1<b>What is it about?</b><br />
The general idea that bad stuff is going to happen on December 21, 2012, comes from a Maya calendar. The Maya "Long Count" calendar uses various units of time to make up different cycles. Apparently the Mayas were big on cycles, as the excerpt from wikipedia (below) indicates.<br />
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"20 days made a <i>uinal</i>, 18 uinals (360 days) made a <i>tun</i>, 20 tuns made a <i>k'atun</i>, and 20 k'atuns (144,000 days or roughly 394 years) made up a <i>b'ak'tun</i>."<br />
- Wikipedia<br />
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Now, according to a Maya text called the <i>Popol Vuh</i>, the gods created 3 worlds before ours, all of which failed because the basic inhabitants lacked speech, soul or intellect (the first 3 worlds being centred around animals, mud men and wooden men, respectively). Anyway, the source of the whole Maya 2012 thing lies here: the world before ours (world #3) lasted 13 b'ak'tuns, or around 5,125 years, before being remade into our world (world #4). According to interpretations of the Maya calendar, 2012 marks the 13th b'ak'tunniversary of our world. So basically, because legend tells that the gods decided, after 5,125 years, that they'd rather have a world of cornmeal-dough men (yep, the myths say we were made out of corn meal) than their current world of wooden men, various people are concluding that this means we're about to reach the end of our earthly lease.<br />
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Recently, a lot of people have been jumping onto this date, usually claiming to back it up with science or other prophecies. But as a starting point, does this sound like a reasonable interpretation to you?<br />
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More to come...Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-54957567278233309742011-06-07T08:09:00.000-07:002011-06-11T23:48:24.772-07:00Harold Camping and May 21st, 2011<b>The Story</b> <br />
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Now this may be old news, but this is a classic, and recent, example of a doomsday prophecy. To recap this saga, it began with a man called Harold Camping. In 1992, Camping published a book titled "1994?". I'll be honest, i haven't read it myself, but according to all available sources, it contains a proclamation that Christ's return "might" be on September 6, 1994. This prediction is based on a numerological analysis using various numbers from the bible. Now don't let the "logical" in "numerological" fool you; it is not a science. In fact, it seems to rank up there with astrology on the "ancient divination systems used to rip people off" scale. When September 6 passed with no holy wrath, Camping, citing a mathematical error, rescheduled his prediction for May 21, 2011.<br />
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Anyway, of course, May 21 passed and no one seems to have been "raptured". The earthquakes that Camping foretold would ripple across the globe at 6pm in each timezone didn't show up. The only plague i noticed around that time was the plague of Camping/Rapture-related jokes sweeping the internet. And i'm sure the only hell on earth was experienced by the people who drank too much at Rapture parties, but only until they got some morning-after hangover food into their systems. Camping has since (after going into hiding for a few days) modified his prediction again, stating that May 21st was a "spiritual" rapture (ie. final submission date for your soul), and "realized" that a merciful god would spare humanity 5 months of hell on earth and, you know, just destroy it all at once on October 21st instead. I guess procrastination is pretty universal.<br />
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<b>Money</b> <br />
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Now, maybe Camping made these prophecies out of faith, maybe he really felt he had found something that he had to share with his fellow Christians. The thing that makes this wrong is the damage it caused to those who blindly followed this prophecy. Many people quit work, donated their life savings or paid enterprising atheists take care of their pets after they were raptured. Interestingly, according to a member of staff at Family Radio, 80% of employees there didn't buy it, and business carried on as per usual.<br />
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This date worked out very well for Camping's radio station. A quick glance at the financials for Family Stations, inc. (the name under which Family Radio files) on watchdog website www.ministrywatch.com, reveals that revenues have been on the lean side lately. As the organization's revenues are mainly from donations, raising awareness can be very profitable, and this awareness was raised all over the english speaking world - mostly with their street campaigns and billboards, but also fueled by the media. A search for Camping's name or "Family Radio" in Google Trends reveals a huge spike in the run up to May 21st. It would be very interesting to see the income figures for Family Stations for this year. Interestingly, in Minnesota, they applied for an extension for the filing of their nonprofit paperwork, from July 15th to November 15th. A month after the end of the world?<br />
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Some other interesting points in their financials include their Total Assets declining from $152 million in 2007, to $117 million in 2008. As a company fueled by charitable donations, it's understandable that their assets would jump around a little: '05-'06, assets declined by $7m; '06-'07 assets declined by $11m; but a $35m decline from '07-'08 does seem quite large. Also, while Camping doesn't receive a salary for his position as CEO, he's listed on their '09 tax return as having an outstanding loan of $175, 000 from the company. <br />
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<b>Why?</b><br />
So, it seems that this May 21st "prophecy" was a theory based on flakey numerology, embraced by Camping's core group of followers, but nobody else. His staff, his fellow Christians, and well, just about everybody else, rejected the idea. It's definitely good business for his company, but i do believe that this was the work of numerology and self delusion. And if he's any kind of a man, he'll make things right with those followers who gave up everything to spread his flawed word.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1352890904901630965.post-55693414040922646082011-06-04T10:02:00.000-07:002011-06-05T01:26:47.444-07:00Will the world really end at XX/XX/20XX?There are a lot of people out there warning of disaster. This blog will attempt to decipher and analyze these claims.Hmmmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15085172522137484051noreply@blogger.com0