Just another apocalypse gone by? The end of the Mayan Calendar.

[jayjay]

I keep telling you folks…it’s only the end of the Fifth World. It’s the beginning of the Sixth.

[Marley23]

End of the world? Spare me your petty problems: I’ll turn 30 in 2012. :eek:

[Sophistry_and_Illusion]

There must be a way to turn a profit on this. If I can just find a true believer in mid-2012 and buy all his stuff at fire-sale prices, then I’ll be set. Assuming, of course, that there actually is no apocalypse (or any rouge asteroids).

[wolf_meister]

KGS

a rouge asteroid may strike the Earth

I thought Nostradamus said it was going to be more of a mauve color.

I think jjimm summed it up very neatly:

End-of-world-predictions that failed: thousands (possibly more)
End-of-world-predictions that succeeded: none

Yeah, I guess “the End of the World” isn’t what it used to be.

[nd_n8]

Should we plan a massive Dopefest at Milliway’s for 12/21/12? Probably a good idea to get our reservations in now then to beat the crowd.

[nd_n8]

@jjimm

I can assure you that he’s madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of the Maddest Man in Christendom competition, seven years’ running.

Official Nominee for "Best Quote Ever"

[wolfman]

@WideEyedCosmos

I’m more interested in the astronomical phenomena of that date than the mythology associated with it. Although, I find it very interesting and suggest everyone check out the link above directing you to the History Channel special about that particular date. Here’s a quote of the text which reads below the screen…

…but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record…

I’m having a hard time figuring that one out. How many end-of-the-Earths has anyone successfully predicted? By my count we have only had approximately zero end-of-the-Earths so far. So the best case for anyone so far is 0 for 0 with one trial pending. That doesn’t qualify as disturbingly accurate in my book

[begbert2]

@wolfman

I’m having a hard time figuring that one out. How many end-of-the-Earths has anyone successfully predicted? By my count we have only had approximately zero end-of-the-Earths so far. So the best case for anyone so far is 0 for 0 with one trial pending. That doesn’t qualify as disturbingly accurate in my book

Hey, if I were dead wrong all the time, that’d disturb me.

[One_And_Only_Wanderers]

@jjimm

Furthermore, I once had the misfortune of reading a Terence McKenna book, and I can assure you that he’s madder than Mad Jack McMad, winner of the Maddest Man in Christendom competition, seven years’ running. His involvement in this nonsense doesn’t add any weight to your speculation.

nice use of Blackadder there jjimm.

[nd_n8]

@wolfman

I’m having a hard time figuring that one out. How many end-of-the-Earths has anyone successfully predicted? By my count we have only had approximately zero end-of-the-Earths so far. So the best case for anyone so far is 0 for 0 with one trial pending. That doesn’t qualify as disturbingly accurate in my book

No, but I look at it this way, They’re Due.

[Marley23]

@nd_n8

No, but I look at it this way, They’re Due.

So are the Chicago Cubs. When they win the Series I’ll start worrying about the end of the world.

[Mangetout]

@wolfman

I’m having a hard time figuring that one out. How many end-of-the-Earths has anyone successfully predicted? By my count we have only had approximately zero end-of-the-Earths so far. So the best case for anyone so far is 0 for 0 with one trial pending. That doesn’t qualify as disturbingly accurate in my book

No true oracle of doom has yet tried to predict a date for the end of the Earth, therefore they haven’t got any wrong. Aren’t you impressed?

[Cervaise]

@Duckster

Source: Mesoamerican Long Count calendar - Wikipedia

It goes farther than that. From 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus by Charles C. Mann, Appendix D, “Calendar Math”:

Although extant Long Count dates have only five positions for numbers, the Maya knew that eventually that time would pass and they would have to add more positions. Indeed, their priestly mathematicians had calculated nineteen further positions, culminating in what is now called the alautun, a period of 23,040,000,000 days, which is about 63 million years. Probably the longest named interval of time in any calendar, the alautun is a testament to the grandiosity of Mesoamerican calendries. Just as the tzolk’in is one of the most impeccably circular time cycles ever invented, the Long Count is among the most purely linear, an arrow pointing straight ahead for millions of years into the future.

Italics in the original.

Not that I expect this infusion of facts to dissipate the fantasies of the doomsday pornographers or anything.

[photopat]

@Marley23

So are the Chicago Cubs. When they win the Series I’ll start worrying about the end of the world.

Feh. Entropy’s more likely than the Cubs.

[RTFirefly]

@wolf_meister

Yeah, I guess “the End of the World” isn’t what it used to be.

No, no! It’s exactly what it used to be!

At least so far, that is.

If the world does in fact end, then the End of the World won’t be what it used to be.

[Kinthalis]

Wrong thread! Sorry.

[Scuba_Ben]

@nd_n8

Should we plan a massive Dopefest at Milliway’s for 12/21/12? Probably a good idea to get our reservations in now then to beat the crowd.

Or anywhere else we can get to (perhaps Chicago). And eat/drink lots of chocolate. And discuss rogue rouge.

[jayjay]

@nd_n8

No, but I look at it this way, They’re Due.

So the end of the world’s going to have great pizza?

[JohnT]

@nd_n8

No, but I look at it this way, They’re Due.

That’s right. It’ll all average out in the end.

[jayjay]

@Cervaise

doomsday pornographers

There’s a band name for you…