Official Mayan End of the World Thread. Midnight tonight. Post your observations.
 

Tonight, as the calendar rolls over to 12/21/2012, we should all post here describing the end of the world as it happens around us. Make sure to charge up your laptops or UPS batteries.

One question. Will destruction roll across the planet according to the time zones, or will it occur everywhere at midnight, Mayan time? What time zone were the Mayans in at the time they created those calendars made the prediction?

That's great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and
snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid.

(hey - someone had to say it)

Is New Zealand still there? It's 12/21 there now. They should be about 8 hours into the apocalypse by now.

Any Kiwi dopers left?

We know now that in the early years of the twenty-first century this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own. We know now that as human beings busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a scientist with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacence, people went to and fro over the earth about their little affairs, serene in the assurance of their dominion over this small spinning fragment of solar driftwood which, by chance or design, humanity has inherited out of the dark mystery of Time and Space.

Yet, across an immense ethereal gulf, minds that, to our minds as ours are to the beasts in the jungle--intellects vast, cool and unsympathetic--regarded this earth with envious eyes and slowly and surely drew their plans against us. In the twelfth year of the third millenium came the great disillusionment.

It was the third week of December. Business was better. The president had said the wars would soon be winding down. More people were back at work. Home sales were picking up. On this particular evening, December 20th, Nielsen's Total Internet Audience metric estimated that one hundred and thirty-two million people were on-line in the USA, Tweeting, updating the FaceBook statuses, uploading pix of their dinners to Instagram and IMing links to cat videos on YouTube to their friends.

The top trending topic on Twitter was,
#ElMundoNoSeAcabaHastaQueYo ("The World Doesn't End Until I")

Jimmy Buffett has some thoughts:

To the party at the end of the world (end of the world)
Where the locals do that tango twirl (tango twirl)
I don't care about "the Rapture"
When there's native girls to capture
There's a party at the end of the world

Who cares if there's no playa
We'll be rocking in Ushuaia
At the party at the end
You surely must attend
The party at the end of the world

-"Party At the End of the World"


They say this universe is bound to blow
But I say we crank up the calypso control
Apocalyp, apocalyp, apocalypso

Now I'm no dancer as dancers go
But this is one step that you need to know
Apocalyp, apocalyp, apocalypso
We'll be dancing when we go

-"Apocalypso"

So do we all die at the beginning of the 21st... or the end? I've really got to figure out how to plan my day. Right now I've got a haircut scheduled at 2pm tomorrow and should probably let them know if I won't be there due to the end of the world, but then again if it isn't until the end of the day I really need that haircut.

This is really inconvenient. I wish they were doing a better job of communicating about this.

So, no word from Kiwi Dopers? That cinches it. Goodbye all. :)

Leonard Bernstein, Leonard Bernstein

Solstice is at 11:12 UTC, or 6:12 AM EST.

Good thing I took tomorrow off for impending snowmageddon.


ETA: I wonder if Google will have cool graphic in honour of the end of the world tomorrow?

I've emailed my family but had no reply...

I think that's probably the answer. So we can get a good night's sleep, wake up at 6 and be at our keyboards by 6:12 AM, at least those of us on the east coast.

I hope I don't get stuck on the ceiling again like with that rapture thingy; but I don't think the Mayan end of the world works like that.

I know it sucks but, you know, its not the end of the world.

I found this report on tumblr a while ago:

Aussie Update: An hour and a quarter to the beginning of 21st December:

• The sky has gone pitch black. Like night or something
• People appear drained of energy, seem to be falling into a deep slumber as time goes on
• TV show quality seems to be deteriorating, not the same as it was an hour or so ago in prime time
• Streets are fairly empty, seems people have gone to their ‘houses’ for the ‘evening’

Very suspicious. More to come.

Link, please? Thanks!

Yeah ... we need to get this straight. Tonight at midnight, I'm pretty sure I'll be sleeping. Tomorrow at midnight I'm pretty sure I'm going to be lit up like a Christmas tree -- a much better state-of-mind for end-of-the-world type festivities.

Well, you know what they say. Friday we drink for the apocalypse. Saturday we drink for surviving. Sunday we drink for the hangover and Monday we drink for Christmas.

I will not feel fine tomorrow?

I plan to party like it's 1999!

If Leaffan is correct, it will be at the solstice at 6:12 AM EST tomorrow morning, so I'm not sure what's going on with those Aussies. Maybe that's just a normal Thursday night for them?

Why does it have to happen the moment the calendar rolls over? Couldn't The End happen at any time during that day, right up to 11:59 PM (in whatever time zone you want to pretend is relevant)?

Songs for before and after:

Waiting for the End of the World

Ever Since the World Ended

The Yucatan (Mayan homeland) is in US Central time, so the 12th Baktun should change over to the 13th around 9 hours from now. Party down, people, this Baktun began in late November of 1618.

This does not fit with my schedule and it is severely fucking up my alcohol and drug consumption regimen. I am nothing if not meticulous about the damage I do to myself.

8:22 am here on 21 December in Australia. No signs of anything unusual, no more zombies on the road than normal.

Just got a text from Rahu -- he's seriously considering calling the whole thing off.

I think he wants to see how this fiscal cliff thing works out, plus Die Hard 5 is coming out in January.

Yeah, but as stated above, it won't happen until midnight in the Mayan time zone, so there are still over 8 hours left, and about 5 additional hours if it happens on the solstice.

I recall there was similar speculation when Harold Camping's doomsday dates came around last year; it makes a lot more sense if whatever is going to happen occurred all at once (especially something like a planet smacking into Earth).

It is 10:30 pm here. The power went out an hour ago but the generator kicked in so my Castle Milk Stout is still cold. No sign of the apocalypse yet but I am a bit low on beer. :eek:

It's just after 6 AM in Thailand. Everything looks OK. Sky is lightening in the SouthEast, where I see a bright Star -- I hope it's just Venus and not some Mayan Goddess-Star of Destruction. Wife and daughter seem to be going about their usual morning activities, as though we were all still alive. Exception is son, who'd be up and playing computer games, but is instead sleeping in. That is calendar-related but not Mayan: Friday is not one of the days that he's allowed to play computer games.

In the time it took me to type above paragraph, SouthEastern sky has brightened a bit more. I'm turning optimistic! :cool:

the mayan exhibit at u of p is giving the date as dec. 23rd.

so there are still a few shopping days 'till the end of the world or festivus; which ever comes first.

meanwhile happy solstice and party like it is 13.0.0.0.0!

Well, they did get some good pics of 4179 Toutatis a couple weeks ago. That could eventually be a fun encounter.

Well, it's getting dark where I am, the wind is howling, the waves are roaring and the rain is falling. Looks like everything is spot on schedule.

12:37 am in Germany, and the closest thing to disaster right now is that I still have Christmas packages sitting around waiting for me to finish wrapping them up so I can bring them to the post office. Why didn't I do this a week ago? Why am I always taken by surprise by Christmas? I suck.

However, no signs of earthquake, tsunami, unexplained rumbles or great flashes of fire or Cthulhu rising from the depths to destroy our fragile mortal minds. Bit of a letdown, really. So far, at least.

England here, and as the apocalypse arrives, strange lights are visible in the sky, which has taken on a curious hue.

[edit] I have checked with emergency services and they tell me that it is a rare meterological condition known as a "clear sky", and the points of light are "stars".

Uh oh. Getting windy in Columbus. At this rate, the wind will be going 400mph by tomorrow. I'll keep you all posted.

(Non believers will point out that there's a winter storm that's headed this way, but I know better)

Rotation Of Earth Plunges Entire North American Continent Into Darkness! (The Onion)

11:25 am Australian EDST - the only disaster today is that I'm at work right now and have to cut the lawn when I get home.

I hope the human race uses this to fake its own death and assume a new identity.

My city (Annapolis, MD) just plunged into darkness with a major power outage. If I weren't listening to the scanner I might get worried...

Best post of the last 396 years!

Sadly, I suspect you should prepare to be disappointed. Consider the average human, then consider that half the human race is even stupider than that.

Well, it's Friday over here, and nothing so f

Crap -- looks like I have to go Christmas shopping after all. May skip the mall though and just give everyone smoked meat. Seem to have a bit of an excess now.

The world ended in a chorus of snores from the wife and one of the stranger threads I've seen in a while in the Pit.

Oh, and one of my best armies was beat to shit but managed to survive in central Japan, but I should be the uncontested new Emperor by morning...

I am getting annoyed with the large number of people posting things like this on Facebook:

"I don't really believe anything will happen, but if it does you've all been wonderful friends and have enriched my life, and I hope we meet on the other side."

What hokum! Either you believe and you're an idiot, or you don't and you should be mocking those who do. No middle ground.

Of course you're right, it could happen any time up till the last second of the day, but it's inevitable that most people won't grasp that. Every horror movie has to have that collective "Phew, we're safe" moment before disaster strikes.

Broadcasting from about seven miles east of Dulles airport... all calm and nothing to report.

It's been sunny and pleasant all day here in Australia.

I think it's a trap.

FUCK... Ok, what can I say... I made a mistake. Yes, I was wrong... there, I said it. So for anyone who I gave my money or worldly possessions to.... yeah, I messed up and was wrong... can you please give them back... please?

Wait... there is still this time zone thing. Hold on. I may still be right.

Weird. My wife and I decided we wanted to make spaghetti for our last meal before the apocalypse. It cooked up fine and I was draining the spaghetti over the sink when... all the pasta just up and disappeared! Poof!

I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then all of a sudden it hit me. We had purchased all our kitchenware in Mexico last year. Stupid me. I was using a Mayan colander.