I don't really watch the History Channel much, but my TiVo recorded an episode of Decoding The Past,
Doomsday 2012: The End of Days. Here's the blurb:
"There are prophecies and oracles from around the world that all seem to point to December 21, 2012 as doomsday. The ancient Mayan Calendar, the medieval predictions of Merlin, the Book of Revelation and the Chinese oracle of the I Ching all point to this specific date as the end of civilization. A new technology called 'The Web-Bot Project' makes massive scans of the internet as a means of forecasting the future... and has turned up the same dreaded date: 2012. Skeptics point to a long history of 'Failed Doomsdays', but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record. As the year 2012 ticks ever closer we'll speculate if there are any reasons to believe these doomsayers."
Seriously? "Skeptics point to a long history of 'Failed Doomsdays', but many oracles of doom throughout history have a disturbingly accurate track record" Seriously?!?
The new end of the world is supposed to be Dec 21, 2012. There's even a web site, December 21, 2012: The Definitive Guide To The End Of An Age. It really bothers me when people don't know how to capitalize titles properly.
The rationale is because that's when the Mayan Long Count Calendar ends. Except is doesn't, it just resets. If the world didn't end when the Gregorian calendar rolled over to 2000, why would it end when the Mayan calendar rolls over to 13.0.0.0.0?
Do people who believe this believe anything else from the Maya civilization? Are these the people that paid to see Mel Gibson's Apocalypto?
It's seems the Maya would have treated this calendar rollover just as we did 2000, with lots of celebrations.
Sadly I was curious how emacs' insanely completely calendar package handles that date. Yup, just fine, it will roll over to 13.0.0.0.0. Of course.
5 comments:
It certainly seems that this story is crap. I've seen other "end of the world" shows mention the 2012 Mayan calendar bit, and it sounds like the same kind of crap as the Torah code and the twisting of everything Nostradamus ever wrote to make it look like it predicted event X.
That said, if you stopped watching every TV channel that broadcast something that was crap, you'd save a bundle because you could drop your cable and get rid of your TV, or at least just watch the occasional DVD.
But not every channel describes itself as "The History Channel". It's Jon Stewart's excuse to Tucker Carlson, he's on Comedy Central, not CNN. Then again, here's how the History Channel purports itself:
"History® is the leading destination for revealing, award-winning, original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connects history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms. Programming covers a diverse variety of historical genres ranging from military history to contemporary history, technology to natural history, as well as science, archaeology and pop culture."
I guess this fell under "pop culture".
One wonders why the Mayans felt compelled to have such a long and accurate calendar. They must have been crazily detail oriented. By the way, isn't Merlin a myth? Why are we depending on his "prophesies"?
I remember the good old days when the history channel was all Hitler all the time. Now it is UFO's and Bible mysteries. The National Geographic channel has had a similar slide. The HD version should be showing pretty pictures, but instead it's ghosts, spirits, aliens and other crap.
I think the expectation for these channels is that they should have higher quality programs because their title's imply a more science or intellectual base. The contrast is thus more jarring when they only have least common denominator programming that doesn't even distinguish between fiction and fact. Just looking at the titles of these programs on the way to something else to watch makes me groan.
Starch wrote:
All the science & history channels are going soft (read more slow motion explosions, 20-something hosts, and pseudo-science-based material) to increase viewship. You can't really blame them; Sagan & Hawking only appeal to a small viewership.
I thought the Mayan calendar only applied to Mayans, and 2012 is the year the last pure-blooded Mayan dies. Much like their last cycle ended Mayan domination, and the birth of mass European immigration to the New World.
From what wikipedia says, the Maya had a few calendars and they weren't that accurate. Getting that additional quarter day in a year isn't easy. Getting that it's not really a quarter but .2425 is much harder.
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