# The Straight Dope on the Mayan Calendar **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 19, 2008, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951 "2008-12-19T18:31:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/21 "2008-12-19T22:31:20Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Well, I better hop into my DeLorean and get Baktun the Future. I made a funny noise when I read that. Unlike the vaguely whimpering and dying-on-the-inside noise I made when I read the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2008, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/22 "2008-12-19T22:31:37Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > [The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2283/does-the-mayan-calendar-predict-the-end-of-the-world-in-2012) (per Dex) on the question. Inquiring minds and all.Is there a debate here? **Maybe what DSM diagnosis the op falls under?** šŸ˜ƒ Yeah, and it really must be scary, like \*\*clairobscur \*\*said. It reminds me of what someone on here said: that it must be really painful to be a Fundamentalist Christian (or Muslim) and to ā€œknowā€ that almost everyone around you is going to suffer forever in Hell. Valete, Vox Imperatoris ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/23 "2008-12-20T01:04:11Z")
Has anyone noticed the OPā€™s home page (blog)? - itā€™s: [http://baudrunner.blogspot.com/](http://baudrunner.blogspot.com/) -He doesnā€™t just believe _one_ crackpot idea, as presented here, heā€™s gone for the whole set. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/73ab20/32.png) [@The\_Tao\_s\_Revenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tao_s_Revenge)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/24 "2008-12-20T01:48:09Z")
> [@baudrunner](#): > > The fallen angels have great knowledge of the workings of the cosmic realm, is this how they build antimatter asteroids with soft under bellies? ---
**Author:** ![vison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/e47774/32.png) [@vison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vison)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/25 "2008-12-20T02:40:40Z")
I have a wreath made of false poinsettias on my mantel. So far, so good. ---
**Author:** ![Vox\_Imperatoris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Vox\_Imperatoris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Vox_Imperatoris)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/26 "2008-12-20T02:48:28Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Has anyone noticed the OPā€™s home page (blog)? - itā€™s: > > [http://baudrunner.blogspot.com/](http://baudrunner.blogspot.com/) > > -He doesnā€™t just believe _one_ crackpot idea, as presented here, heā€™s gone for the whole set. Good God. You just canā€™t make these people up. I really, really hope the OP is an elaborate troll. How do people go through the educational system believing this crap? Valete, Vox Imperatoris ETA: Maybe all these people will disappear in Dec. 2012? Is it too much to hope for? ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/27 "2008-12-20T03:51:53Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > Maybe all these people will disappear in Dec. 2012? Is it too much to hope for? [phony-baloney lunior (accidental misspelling I liked and kept) mod hat on] Now, now, now, we canā€™t wish ill on our fellow posters. Otherwise they donā€™t come back and provide more fun. [p-bl(amIlak)mh off] ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/28 "2008-12-20T04:04:38Z")
If heā€™s given enough time to prepare, Batman would be able to easily defeat the whole of Toutatis. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/29 "2008-12-20T07:21:11Z")
> [@Hamlet](#): > > If heā€™s given enough time to prepare, Batman would be able to easily defeat the whole of Toutatis. And indeed, the precise preparations he needs to make are laid out in the OP: he just needs to fire his Bat-nuke at it. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/30 "2008-12-20T14:18:46Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > And indeed, the precise preparations he needs to make are laid out in the OP: he just needs to fire his Bat-nuke at it. Great. Batmanā€™s got the bomb. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/31 "2008-12-20T14:56:50Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > If weā€™re still using the same calendar system eight thousand years from now, weā€™ll either have to add a fifth digit or start over again at 0000. Dibs on fixing the COBOL programs. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/32 "2008-12-20T15:03:13Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Great. Batmanā€™s got the bomb. Will he then set us up with it? Hereā€™s one surprising thing. Having never read Asterix, Iā€™d never heard of Toutatis, so I had to look it up. There really _is_ an asteroid named [Toutatis](http://echo.jpl.nasa.gov/asteroids/4179_Toutatis/toutatis.html), and it actually does have a 4-year eccentric orbit that brings it into close proximity to the Earth, and its next pass really is sometime in 2012. No information on whether thatā€™s to happen in December, though. Its pass in 2004 came in September. There are some decent pictures on the NASA site, but nothing showing a soft underbelly. I think **baudrunner** may have to rethink his strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/33 "2008-12-20T15:43:18Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Great. Batmanā€™s got the bomb. Some days you just canā€™t get rid of a bomb. At the risk of contaminating this debate with an appeal for facts: a bit of internet searching reveals that asteroid Toutatis weighs approximately 50 trillion kg. Per the OP, if half of the asteroidā€™s mass were comprised of antimatter (as they so often are), and this quantity of antimatter were dropped into the Sun, what exactly would happen? Would the annihilation of that much antimatter appreciably affect the Sunā€™s energy output? Would there be solar flares? Magnetic storms? I exclude the potential effects of Luciferā€™s minions on the asteroidā€™s surface from this enquiry. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/34 "2008-12-20T16:13:26Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > No information on whether thatā€™s to happen in December, though. Its pass in 2004 came in September. According to [Harvard](http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html), the next pass actually will occur on December 12, 2012, (at 6:43 a.m., presumably UT, if I read that correctly). Of course, that is nine days too early for the Mayan end-of-calendar date. Iā€™m not sure whether to find it neat that it will actually roughly coincide with the Mayan calendar rollover or whether to be dismayed that as more nutcases discover this fact we are going to be inundated with doomsayers. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/35 "2008-12-20T17:33:40Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > [FONT=ā€œComic Sans MSā€]Can I have your stapler?[/FONT] Go for the chair. Set your sights higher. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/36 "2008-12-20T17:37:10Z")
[Center for NEO Studies](http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/risk/) I can not find a decent 2012 threat here. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/37 "2008-12-20T22:26:47Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > According to [Harvard](http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/lists/CloseApp.html), the next pass actually will occur on December 12, 2012, (at 6:43 a.m., presumably UT, if I read that correctly). Of course, that is nine days too early for the Mayan end-of-calendar date. Right, but doesnā€™t the op say that they will off-load all of the aliens, thereby giving them 9 or 11 days to prep/whatever for the end of days? ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/38 "2008-12-20T22:40:19Z")
If shockwaves travel faster than light, could farts be the key to time travel ? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/39 "2008-12-20T23:17:24Z")
> [@Vox\_Imperatoris](#): > > ETA: Maybe all these people will disappear in Dec. 2012? Is it too much to hope for? I think itā€™s even too much to hope that they will acknowledge they were wrong and shut the fuck up. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2008, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951/40 "2008-12-20T23:56:32Z")
> [@Terrifel](#): > > At the risk of contaminating this debate with an appeal for facts: a bit of internet searching reveals that asteroid Toutatis weighs approximately 50 trillion kg. Per the OP, if half of the asteroidā€™s mass were comprised of antimatter (as they so often are), and this quantity of antimatter were dropped into the Sun, what exactly would happen? Would the annihilation of that much antimatter appreciably affect the Sunā€™s energy output? Would there be solar flares? Magnetic storms? I exclude the potential effects of Luciferā€™s minions on the asteroidā€™s surface from this enquiry. [The Sun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun) converts about 4 million tons of mass into energy each second. If half of 50 trillion kg (50 billion tons) is antimatter, it would convert 50 billion tons of mass to energy (25 billion tons of antimatter + 25 billion tons of matter). This would equal 12500 seconds (over 3 hours) worth of the Sunā€™s total output. Released over a relatively short time, that would be significant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-straight-dope-on-the-mayan-calendar/477951.md?page=3)