NationStates Jolt Archive

What do you regret about earth ending 2012.

I regret not getting old and hving grandchildren, I always wanted that for some reason. I also will regret not being able to do much because I'll be about 20 or so when it happens and that is literally everything blowing up in your face on the first step on your own. I'll also regret not having stories I built up with my friends (Tolkein style) made into a trilogy that had its own series, games and movies. :(

I also regret being too young and full of potential when it happens, I resent the fact that I know I won't likey be laid by then. :mad:

What do you regret about the world ending?

*posts this because it fits* "humanity's last stand US version"-BSG intro (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLT8yru7Mz8)

Not being the cause.

Things you regret about the end? (for those who beleive 2012 thing)

That when December 21st passes without anything unusual happening, those who bought into this absurd theory will never fess up.

That when December 21st passes without anything unusual happening, those who bought into this absurd theory will never fess up.

Only if what you say happens. ;)

I regret that the world won't end, and we will have to go through another rather depressing century, full of bigotry and ignorance.

I'll regret how the news will report for months on how all who believed it killed themselves the day after.

I regret not being the one to troll unknown thousands of people by convincing them that the world will end in 2012.

Only if what you say happens.

I personally know people who are quite seriously resigned to the "fact" that the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012.

They have cited numerous reasons for holding this belief.

I have done my own research into those reasons, and concluded that these people that I know are idiots.

I should start placing bets with these people...

If it happens (which I doubt to be quite frank) I suppose I'd regret most not being able to become Prime Minister of the European Federation (yeah, that's right, I'm a federalist).
If it doesn't I'll regret not knowing anyone who does believe the theory. The thought of spending a whole day with someone who was convinced- absolutely convinced- that the world was going to end yesterday is quite an amusing one. Sadly all my friends are to smart for that sort of thing- although I do know a couple who believe in ghosts and more who believe in witchcraft. Maybe I could try out this theory on them....
Could be entertaining.

I should start placing bets with these people...

This sounds great.....

you know, what's really wierd is that it did actually end, in EIGHTEEN forty four!

people get all bent out of shape about things they don't even begin to understand what they mean but their egos won't permit them to admit this to themselves.

=^^=
.../\...

all this world ending bussiness of course, is a way of people trying to skate out of responsibility for what they are doing to the kind of world we all have to live in.

we ARE destroying the web of life that makes our own existence on this planet possible, but this IS a CHOICE, NOT something "preordained". and we have the choice we are perfectly capable of choosing, to stop doing so.

it's all about lying to ourselves and pretending that we don't and it isn't.
so we can go on being careless and indifferent about things we imagine, and even that inaccurately, would be so terribly inconvenient to our economic and idiological prejudices and our emotional attatchment to them.

there is a CHOICE. it is between something resembling some sort of 'ecotopia', or the our collective geno-suicide as a speciess. it is ENTIRELY up to us, togather, as humans. NOT something imposed on us by something big and invisible and mysterious.

there are cycles to these things though, to cultural evolution and people's reactions and perceptions of the world around them, and it this cyclicness, that the ancient calender, this so called, really a misinterpretation actually, and quite likely an intentional one on certain parts, world ending bit, is really all about. not the ending of life nor of the planet as such.

although again, this bussiness of dessicrating the sacred environment to the point it becomes no longer able to sustain our own existence, is something we are not only capable of, but in the proccess of doing.

largely by putting little green pieces of paper, and for the sake of them, the use of combustion to generate energy and propell transporation, and a few other assorted things, but those two of the biggest big ones, ahead of it.

=^^=
.../\...

Oh, there's another end of the world now?
Let's see... so far, I survived the end of the world in 1976, 1984, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. And those are only those predictions I know of.

I'm pretty confident I'll survive the apocalypse of 2021 in exactly the same way I survived all the previous apocalypses (... what's the correct plural of "apocalypse???)

... what's the correct plural of "apocalypse?

Apocalyptopi

<snip>apocalypses (... what's the correct plural of "apocalypse???)
'Apocalypses' looks right to me although, when I think about it a little more, it seems to be a word that really shouldn't have a plural, since it really doesn't make much sense for there to be more than one of them :p

Apocalyptopi

The English plural, not the latin one.

The English plural, not the latin one.

Greek :p

Anyway, these days there seem to be more apocalypses around than you could shake a stick at, so all I regret is that so far, they've all been rather unsepctacular really.

The English plural, not the latin one.

Greek :p

I'm merely making a joke about Octopi - if that's either the Greek or the Latin version then my gast is completely flabbered

Greek :p
Ah poop.

Anyway, these days there seem to be more apocalypses around than you could shake a stick at, so all I regret is that so far, they've all been rather unsepctacular really.

I wonder if any of them will actually destroy the earth or something?

Anyway, why are we all meant to die in 2012, or whatever?

Ah poop.



I wonder if any of them will actually destroy the earth or something?

Anyway, why are we all meant to die in 2012, or whatever?

I presume some deity or other revealed a brilliant numerological riddle to give us fair warning. Or to just keep our brains occupied and keep us from thinking about sinful things, like sex and chocolate.

Anyway, why are we all meant to die in 2012, or whatever?

The Mayans told us, they predicted it - slight oversight on predicting their own demise alas but I'm sure they're right on this one.

I'm merely making a joke about Octopi - if that's either the Greek or the Latin version then my gast is completely flabbered

I think it might be apocalyptoi, but then again, what do I know? :D

The Mayans told us, they predicted it - slight oversight on predicting their own demise alas but I'm sure they're right on this one.

Ah.
Which brings me to the next question : Why do people believe an extinct civilisation that had very limited knowledge about the very shape of this world would be qualified to predict its end?

I presume some deity or other revealed a brilliant numerological riddle to give us fair warning. Or to just keep our brains occupied and keep us from thinking about sinful things, like sex and chocolate.
Like one of those things where you re-arrange the words in the bible so they say other things? They're fun, you can make predictions for almost anything.
The Mayans told us, they predicted it - slight oversight on predicting their own demise alas but I'm sure they're right on this one.
Mayans? If they're so smart, why are they all dead?
I think it might be apocalyptoi, but then again, what do I know? :D

Word on the street is you're something of an expert in the art of blowjobs ;)

Ah.
Which brings me to the next question : Why do people believe an extinct civilisation that had very limited knowledge about the very shape of this world would be qualified to predict its end?

Well maybe they weren't so stupid:

On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time,"

Link (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm)

I should start placing bets with these people...

Yes, do! Preferably for huge amounts of money, with a written, signed and witnessed contract. Tell them that if they really do believe they'll be dead (along with all their family and friends), they shouldn't mind signing a piece of paper that gives you heaps of money after the world ends.

Word on the street is you're something of an expert in the art of blowjobs ;)

*lol
Well... not the Greek version, in any case ;)

what's the correct plural of "apocalypse???

Presumably there can only be one apacalypse so it doesn't need a plural.

Of course, different religions have different timetables and I'm afraid, for those few remaining Mayans out there, that the Bible beats it out by a year.... possibly....

About thirteen years ago, I wrote the book entitled 1994?. In it, I set forth a great amount of information derived solely from the Bible that suggested very strongly that there was a high likelihood that the world would come to an end sometime in the year A.D. 1994. Of course, the world did not end, and now, eleven years later, the world is still here.

Hmm...clearly the Bible isn't wrong so...

...we will discover that now, as we understand the Bible, it was the year 1994 in which Christ came a second time to begin the completion of the evangelization of His true people.

Great! *carries around bottled water in hope of meeting JC*

We also have found considerable evidence that there is a high likelihood that the year 2011 will be the year in which the end will come. Nothing has changed in God's program. The Bible has simply made correction on our course toward truth!

Nope, nothing has changed, you're still barking mad.

I'm placing the link here (http://www.timehasanend.org/) with the forewarning that reading this site may cause the asplosion of head.

Well maybe they weren't so stupid:



Link (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm)

26,000 years? So the world really already ended 26,000 years before, and we're all in heaven without knowing it? ;)

Well maybe they weren't so stupid:



Link (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm)
As if that'll be the end of civilisation. What energy do we get from the center of the galaxy anyway? What difference will it make is we don't have it for a few minutes/hours? And why didn't it kill us the last time around?
*lol
Well... not the Greek version, in any case ;)
;)
Presumably there can only be one apacalypse so it doesn't need a plural.

Well there have been a whole lot of predicted dates for the apocalypse.

26,000 years? So the world really already ended 26,000 years before, and we're all in heaven without knowing it? ;)

Please refrain from bringing logic into this, it screws with all the predictions.

Please refrain from bringing logic into this, it screws with all the predictions.

Stop Cabra from screwing? Exercise in futility, right there. :p

As if that'll be the end of civilisation. What energy do we get from the center of the galaxy anyway? What difference will it make is we don't have it for a few minutes/hours? And why didn't it kill us the last time around?



Well, considering the distance between the center of the galaxy and us here, we probably won't feel the effects for another few thousand years anyway (if there are any effects, that is).

Stop Cabra from screwing? Exercise in futility, right there. :p

In fairness, I don't think I ever screwed a predicition before. Kinky.

In fairness, I don't think I ever screwed a predicition before. Kinky.

In Mayan 2012, prediction screws you.

Well, considering the distance between the center of the galaxy and us here, we probably won't feel the effects for another few thousand years anyway (if there are any effects, that is).
Eh no, the sun will block the enrgy that left thousands of years ago.
In fairness, I don't think I ever screwed a predicition before. Kinky.
*ponders prediction screwing pornz*
In Mayan 2012, prediction screws you.

In Soviet Russia, joke copyrights you!

that it prolly won't actually end.

The English plural, not the latin one.

In that case who the fuck knows, with English being the simple, and simply formed language that it is?

Eh no, the sun will block the enrgy that left thousands of years ago.
Only when the Sun is between us and the center of the galaxy.:p

Only when the Sun is between us and the center of the galaxy.:p

Yes that's what I mean. Give yourself a few hours to come down before posting on NSG :p

Not being the cause.
I actually did laugh out loud at this.

Well done.

Well maybe they weren't so stupid:



Link (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm)

That seems fairly ambiguous. I mean, what "energy" streams to us from the center of the milky way? We're roughly 26,000 (+ or - 1400, and I've read several conflicting estimates in just the few minutes I've just spent reading up on it) light years from the center of the milky way, to be sure. The SMBH candidate at the center of our galaxy is estimated at 3.7 million solar masses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A%2A).

Calculating the gravitational force, we arrive at a value of approximately 16*10^15 Newtons, between the sun and the galactic center.

A slight angular deviation (which is what this mystical traversal through the central disk would be) shouldn't affect that value very much.

That seems fairly ambiguous. I mean, what "energy" streams to us from the center of the milky way? We're roughly 26,000 (+ or - 1400, and I've read several conflicting estimates in just the few minutes I've just spent reading up on it) light years from the center of the milky way, to be sure. The SMBH candidate at the center of our galaxy is estimated at 3.7 million solar masses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A%2A).

Calculating the gravitational force, we arrive at a value of approximately 16*10^15 Newtons, between the sun and the galactic center.

A slight angular deviation (which is what this mystical traversal through the central disk would be) shouldn't affect that value very much.

Don't ask me, I don't even understand what you've just written.

Ask the Mayans, they made the damn prediction :)

Don't ask me, I don't even understand what you've just written.

Ask the Mayans, they made the damn prediction :)

Eh, is only making their calender go to 2012 really the same as predicting that that's when the world will end?

My only regret is that my friends aren't stupid enough to buy into this shit, so that I can gloat afterwards.

Eh, is only making their calender go to 2012 really the same as predicting that that's when the world will end?

Well at least they thought further ahead than the computer programmers responsible for the year 2000 problem.

And in all honesty, any radiation from the center of the galaxy would either be dwarfed by the Sun's output, or be in the form of stuff that's bad for us, like gamma rays.

And in all honesty, any radiation from the center of the galaxy would either be dwarfed by the Sun's output, or be in the form of stuff that's bad for us, like gamma rays.

If it emits light radiation, would it count as an eclipse?

Eh, is only making their calender go to 2012 really the same as predicting that that's when the world will end?

Not a bad question actually.

This article explains a lot...probably,to be honest I started skimming once past the first paragraph but it's reckoned to be the most comprehensive explanation as far as I can see.

Link (http://www.levity.com/eschaton/Why2012.html)

I think this answers Deus Malum's question more than yours.

edit: What he said ^

The idea that something huge is going to happen came well afterwords and is a bunch of either New Age mysticism crap or pseudo-scientific crap.

Something interesting in all this is how the night sky was so important to so many cultures - I remember the explanation for the Pyramids is that they reflect Orion's Belt if you take the Nile as the Milky Way even though we associate Egyptian mythology with Ra, the Sun God.

There was a shift at some point in time where night-worship was suppressed for Sun worship - I wish my memory was better but it's sparked by this passage from the article linked in my previous post.

Case in point is the mysterious existence of myths obviously describing precession in the ancient verses of the Kalevala, the Finnish National Epic. These myths were relayed from the earliest times by way of singers. Many of these stories are thoroughly magical and are filled with sky lore. The Finnish language is not of Indo- European origin and up until the late 19th century peasants in Finland and northwestern Russia had little contact with Europe. Indeed, their heritage suggests more contact with Central Asia than Europe. Some of the Kalevala stories describe a sacred Mill called the Sampo (derived from sanskrit Skambha = pillar or pole) with a "many ciphered cover". This spinning Mill is a metaphor for a Golden Age of plenty and the starry sky spinning around the Pole Star (known as the Nail of the North), which in the Far North is almost straight over head. The Mill at some point is disturbed, its pillar being pulled out of its peg, and a new one - a new "age" - must be constructed. This becomes the chore of Ilmarinen, the primeval smith. In this legend, ancient knowledge of precession among unsophisticated "peasants" who were nonetheless astute skywatchers, was preserved via oral tradition almost down to modern times.

"On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time"

maybe i'm not grasping what is actually being expressed here, but don't two points determine a line? meaning, isn't the sun always aligned with the center of the milky way?

"On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time"

maybe i'm not grasping what is actually being expressed here, but don't two points determine a line? meaning, isn't the sun always aligned with the center of the milky way?

I believe that he meant that the Sun, the Earth and the center of the Milky Way will all be aligned.

"On the winter solstice in 2012, the sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years. This means that "whatever energy typically streams to Earth from the center of the Milky Way will indeed be disrupted on 12/21/12 at 11:11 p.m. Universal Time"

maybe i'm not grasping what is actually being expressed here, but don't two points determine a line? meaning, isn't the sun always aligned with the center of the milky way?

Add the earth for 3 points required for alignment.

As Ilfreann's question neatly puts it, all this is saying is that ancient cultures were far more proficient at predicting the movement of stars than we commonly believe - but it was extremely important for them in terms of being the only means of following time.

It certainly doesn't mean that an astronomical cycle means anything other than a certain passage of time.

Looked in to it more. Pluto was downgraded to a dwarf planet after it was figured out that it doesn't have the mass to be the perturber to Neptune and Uranus. So there is a larger planet or something out there yet discovered that is the pertuber. Some call this unknown planet Planet X, others call it Nibiru (http://www.crystalinks.com/nibiru.html). Interesting stuff all the way around.

Surviving 2012 and Planet X (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjjrStDxTrc&feature=related) (Part 2) I only like part 2 of this series. The rest is a big meh.

Review (http://www.earthportals.com/Portal_Messenger/alignment2012.html) of "Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions"

The New York Times Sunday, January 30, 1983

" Something out there beyond the farthest reaches of the known solar system seems to be tugging at Uranus and Neptune. Some gravitational force keeps perturbing the two giant planets, causing irregularities in their orbits. The force suggests a presence far away and unseen, a large object that may be the long-sought Planet X.

... The last time a serious search of the skies was made, it led to the discovery in 1930 of Pluto, the ninth planet. But the story begins more than a century before that, after the discovery of Uranus in 1781 by the English astronomer and musician William Herschel. Until then, the planetary system seemed to end with Saturn.

As astronomers observed Uranus, noting irregularities in its orbital path, many speculated that they were witnessing the gravitational pull of an unknown planet. So began the first planetary search based on astronomers’ predictions, which ended in the 1840’s with the discovery of Neptune almost simultaneously by English, French and German astronomers.

But Neptune was not massive enough to account entirely for the orbital behavior of Uranus. Indeed, Neptune itself seemed to be affected by a still more remote planet. In the late 19th century, two American astronomers, William H. Pickering and Percival Lowell, predicted the size and approximate location of the trans-Neptunian body, which Lowell called Planet X.

Years later, Pluto was detected by Clyde W. Tombaugh working at Lowell Observatory in Arizona. Several astronomers, however, suspected it might not be the Planet X of prediction. Subsequent observations proved them right. Pluto was too small to change the orbits of Uranus and Neptune; the combined mass of Pluto and its recently discovered satellite, Charon, is only one-fifth that of Earth’s moon.

Recent calculations by the United States Naval Observatory have confirmed the orbital perturbation exhibited by Uranus and Neptune, which Dr. Thomas C. Van Flandern, an astronomer at the observatory, says could be explained by “a single undiscovered planet.” He and a colleague, Dr. Robert Harrington, calculate that the 10th planet should be two to five times more massive than Earth and have a highly elliptical orbit that takes it some 5 billion miles beyond that of Pluto – hardly next-door but still within the gravitational influence of the Sun."

U.S. News and World Report, September 10, 1984
Planet X — Is It Really Out There?

" Last year, the infrared astronomical satellite (IRAS), circling in a polar orbit 560 miles from the Earth, detected heat from an object about 50 billion miles away that is now the subject of intense speculation.

..Some astronomers say the heat-emitting object is an unseen collapsed star or possibly a "brown dwarf" — a protostar that never got hot enough to become a star. However, a growing number of astronomers insist that the object is a dark, gaseous mass that is slowly evolving into a planet.

For decades, astromers have noted that the orbits of two huge, distant planets — Neptune and Uranus —deviate slightly from what they should be according to the laws of physics. Gravitational pull from Planet X would explain that deviation."


NASA Press Release 1992

"Unexplained deviations in the orbits of Uranus and Neptune point to a large outer solar system body of 4 to 8 Earth masses, on a highly tilted orbit, beyond 7 billion miles from the sun."

That seems fairly ambiguous. I mean, what "energy" streams to us from the center of the milky way? We're roughly 26,000 (+ or - 1400, and I've read several conflicting estimates in just the few minutes I've just spent reading up on it) light years from the center of the milky way, to be sure. The SMBH candidate at the center of our galaxy is estimated at 3.7 million solar masses. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A%2A).

Calculating the gravitational force, we arrive at a value of approximately 16*10^15 Newtons, between the sun and the galactic center.

A slight angular deviation (which is what this mystical traversal through the central disk would be) shouldn't affect that value very much.

You sure? Without doing the calculations offhand myself, 16 trillion newtons of gravitational force seems somewhat...large, considering the force of gravity decreases exponentially as distance increase.

Add the earth for 3 points required for alignment.

fair enough. next question then is doesn't this happen every year?

*snip*

I, for one, welcome our reptilian Anunnaki overlords then.

I hadn't heard of the deviation of Uranus though I understand Republicans are looking into it.

No seriously...

In answering the OP, I regret not being able to go roughly 5 - 10, 000 years back and being able to both understand and travel to different cultures of the time.

fair enough. next question then is doesn't this happen every year?

Not necessarily, it really depends on the path of both the sun and the earth in around the center of the Milky Way I think.

I'd need some confirmation on that from someone more expert than I but I'm happy to believe USA Today if they say so.

fair enough. next question then is doesn't this happen every year?

Eh, you're thinking of it in 2-D. The plane that Earth's orbit is on, as far as I know (and I'm very possibly wrong on this, I'm no expert), doesn't have to be the one as the Sun's orbit is on.

Or something. I really don't know. But I thought my explanation sounded cool.;)

Eh, you're thinking of it in 2-D. The plane that Earth's orbit is on, as far as I know (and I'm very possibly wrong on this, I'm no expert), doesn't have to be the one as the Sun's orbit is on.

Or something. I really don't know. But I thought my explanation sounded cool.;)

It does, and makes perfect sense. Does anyone know how the earth's orbit is aligned in relation to the alignment of the galaxy?

Not a bad question actually.

This article explains a lot...probably,to be honest I started skimming once past the first paragraph but it's reckoned to be the most comprehensive explanation as far as I can see.

Link (http://www.levity.com/eschaton/Why2012.html)

I think this answers Deus Malum's question more than yours.

It shows that there may be a basis for concluding that ancient Mayan astronomers had an amazing predictive ability in terms of astronomical motion, but it still doesn't say much about the "effects" of this conjunction.

It does, and makes perfect sense. Does anyone know how the earth's orbit is aligned in relation to the alignment of the galaxy?

The sun has an obliquity relative to the galactic plane of roughly 67.23 degrees. The earth rotates at roughly 7.25 degrees relative to the sun's equator.

The sun has an obliquity relative to the galactic plane of roughly 67.23 degrees. The earth rotates at roughly 7.25 degrees relative to the sun's equator.

There you go then. The Earth would be on the 'inner' side of the sun at some point every year, but actually lining up perfectly with the sun and the center of the galaxy is believably less common.

The sun has an obliquity relative to the galactic plane of roughly 67.23 degrees. The earth rotates at roughly 7.25 degrees relative to the sun's equator.

While we're at it, I've always wondered why the planets all seem to have an orbit that's more or less on the same level, and more or less around the solar equator. You wouldn't know that, by any chance?

I realize now that it may be either a tad confusing or a tad sketchy where I'm getting my numbers from. In the interest of full disclosure I will point out that all of my numbers are taken from wikipedia articles on the related subjects.

The Earth article, and the Sun article were used in order to determine obliquity of orbit, the Newton's law of gravitation article, the Solar Mass article, the Light Year article, and the Sagitarrius A* article were used in order to make the Gravitation Force calculation that can be found on page 3 (if I'm not mistaken) of this thread.

Am i the only one who realizes the Center of the Milky Way wasnt even discovered by MODERN science till well into the 20th century? http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/lectures/milkyway.htm

Am i the only one who realizes the Center of the Milky Way wasnt even discovered by MODERN science till well into the 20th century? http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/lectures/milkyway.htm

I think you may be the one who doesn't realise that we realise that the eath/sun/galactic center alignment happening on the last day of the Mayan Long Count calander is just a coincidence.

ahh gotcha nevermind

Eh, you're thinking of it in 2-D. The plane that Earth's orbit is on, as far as I know (and I'm very possibly wrong on this, I'm no expert), doesn't have to be the one as the Sun's orbit is on.

Or something. I really don't know. But I thought my explanation sounded cool.;)

but the orbits must cross. now maybe they don't cross at the right time to cause a 'milky way' eclipse every year - we could be crossing the sun-galactic center plane while not behind the sun. but certainly for a whole number of years surrounding 2012 we would be. to be otherwise there would have to be some ridiculous leap in orbits.

While we're at it, I've always wondered why the planets all seem to have an orbit that's more or less on the same level, and more or less around the solar equator. You wouldn't know that, by any chance?

Not actually being an astrophysicist, I can't really give you a straight, succinct answer to that. I would guess that it has something to do with the way the solar system formed, namely the rotation of nebular dust along a plane of rotation towards the center of the solar system. The center of protoplanetary disk condensed into the sun once it hit a certain mass, and the leftovers (making up roughly 0.1 to 0.01 of the mass of the sun) steadily condensed into the planets, asteroids, etc.

This:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f1/Ra4-protoplanetary-disk.jpg/300px-Ra4-protoplanetary-disk.jpg
is probably a passable artist's conception of what it would have looked like to an outside observer.

Since the condensing gas would be along a plane during this formation, it makes sense that the planets, as they condensed, would not deviate significantly from the plane unless they were struck by large objects.

Am i the only one who realizes the Center of the Milky Way wasnt even discovered by MODERN science till well into the 20th century? http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/NatSci102/lectures/milkyway.htm

I think you may be the one who doesn't realise that we realise that the eath/sun/galactic center alignment happening on the last day of the Mayan Long Count calander is just a coincidence.

Except that we're not exactly crossing the center of the galaxy, so much as the sun will be in conjunction with the central plane of the galaxy (that dark band of the Milky Way you see if you look at it on a clear night). They wouldn't have needed to know anything about the center of the galaxy to be able to pinpoint the giant dark band in the sky.

i.e. this: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Milkyway_pan1.jpg

I'm not going to regret anything, because right now if Dec. 12 2012 isn't the end of the world, then I stand to gain a lot of money.

However if it does happen to be the end of the world I will still stand to gain a lot of money.

:D

I love Terrence McKenna. And Eschatology.

1844, 2000, 2012, 2029

For fuck's sake...alright, Word Of Power time. The world ending on Dec. 12th 2012 is bullshit. Always has been, always will be.

Note: Long Count does not actually end in 2012. It ends well after the year 4000.

If this actually happens, which i highly doubt, i will regret only being just out of college. I will regret not having kids, and a wife. I will regret not being able to grow old with my soul mate, and watching as my kids grow up and leave me to start families of their own. I will regret not being able to ponder life mysteries. I will regret not writing a novel. I will regret not having a scientific theory named after me. But most of all i will regret the destruction on NS...... XD

Oh, there's another end of the world now?
Let's see... so far, I survived the end of the world in 1976, 1984, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. And those are only those predictions I know of.

I'm pretty confident I'll survive the apocalypse of 2021 in exactly the same way I survived all the previous apocalypses (... what's the correct plural of "apocalypse???)

Apparently you forgot the year 1000 A.D. That was a big one.

A couple weeks ago I was beridden with the flu and durring that time the Discovery channel was on 24/7. They had a documentary on about Nostradamus and the 2012 thing, and after having listened to both the believers and the disbelievers, I decided it was all a load of crud.

I don't believe that precognition is at all possible. I believe that people read into things way too much, and force meaning and connections where there aren't any.

26,000 years? So the world really already ended 26,000 years before, and we're all in heaven without knowing it? ;)

Maybe we live in a circular timeline.

[bsg] This all happened before....it will happen again[bsg/] :p

Other than the end of the World and my life on this planet...

Wait, for people who believe in the 2012 thing?
Ah...I just think it will be a good wine year for southern Italy.

In my life, I've only regretted things I haven't done, not things I have done. Having done everything I desired to since realizing this, my only regret is, like the Y2K bug, the End of the World is probably only a shift in the cultural paradigm, though it is supposed to be a massive earthquake.

I regret nothing

Not building that bunker during Y2K will probably be my main regret.

Not building that bunker during Y2K will probably be my main regret.

You have plenty of time.
And all those cans of soda and boxes of fries you purchased won't expire for another 30 years or so.

Apparently you forgot the year 1000 A.D. That was a big one.

Actually, no. That's an urban legend. The idea that there was a panic around the time is completely unfounded and unsupported by any evidence whatsoever.

Well maybe they weren't so stupid:



Link (http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-03-27-maya-2012_n.htm)
Oh look (http://www.gaiamind.org/solstice.htm) a similar claim for the winter solstice in 1999. :rolleyes:

I don't understand why people want the world to end so badly that they jump onto all of these apocalypse bandwagons. Really, if you don't like life, just end it for yourself and let the rest of us get on with our lives.

Note: Long Count does not actually end in 2012. It ends well after the year 4000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_Long_Count_calendar

...I like these little tidbits.

The previous creation ended on a long count of 12.19.19.17.19. Another 12.19.19.17.19 will occur on December 20, 2012, followed by the start of the thirteenth b'ak'tun, 13.0.0.0.0, on December 21, 2012.

...

For example, on Tablet of Inscriptions from Palenque were found the following Long Count date: 9.8.9.13.0 8 Ahau 13 Pop (24 March 603 Gregorian) with a distance date of 10.11.10.5.8. The resulting date is given as 1.0.0.0.0.8 5 Lamat 1 Mol,[10] or 21 October 4772 – almost 3,000 years into the future.

...

As mentioned in the Syntax section, there are also four rarely-used higher-order periods above the b'ak'tun: piktun, kalabtun, k'inchiltun, and alautun.

...so based on their own source of information, the Mayan calendar, the people who buy into the 2012 date being the "end" of anything other than another b'ak'tun are completely full of shit.

I'm merely making a joke about Octopi - if that's either the Greek or the Latin version then my gast is completely flabbered

The correct plural of octopus is actually "octopodes", but it's used by almost no one, including people who study the animals themselves. So I guess if you were being pendantic, the plural of apocalypse would be apocalope or something equally bizarre.

Apparently you forgot the year 1000 A.D. That was a big one.

I only listed thos apocalyptoi that were predicted for my own lifetime so far. And I'm not quite THAT old yet :p

The correct plural of octopus is actually "octopodes", but it's used by almost no one, including people who study the animals themselves. So I guess if you were being pendantic, the plural of apocalypse would be apocalope or something equally bizarre.

Someone on Wikipedia suggests Apocalypsa but I cannot find this corroborated anywhere. What I did find is this excellent cocktail recipe (though I hate Baileys) from a physics blog

Hiroshima Bomber
Dr. Strangelove's drink of choice.
3/4 Triple sec
1/4 oz Bailey's Irish Cream
2-3 drops Grenadine
Fill shot glass 3/4 with Triple Sec. Layer Bailey's on top. Drop Grenadine in center of shot; it should billow up like a mushroom cloud. Remember to "duck and cover."