Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Mayan Calendar Accuracy: Leap Year

Yesterday's post 'Leap Year and the Mayan Calendar' may not have been all that correct.
You decide.
 It seems that because of how the Gregorian Calendar was calculated and how the Mayans calculated their calender, the Mayans were more precise. So, because of how accurate they were they did not account for leap year; there was no need. This gives the believers a handle.
 How do you feel about it all?
Believers
Everywhere you look on the Internet and on television; there are references to the end of the world happening in 2012. Some of the stuff you see is obviously nonsense and some of it sounds scholarly enough. Here is some of what believers of the doomsday prophecy are saying.
December 21 is the winter solstice. Furthermore, the Sun will be lining up with the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy on that very same day. Therefore, the end of the Mayan Calendar, the lining up of the sun and the plane of the galaxy and the winter solstice are all occurring at the same time. This is indicative of the fact that something catastrophic is going to occur on that day.
The Yupik Shamans of Siberia are reportedly claiming that the very mysterious changing of the blue whale song is actually a “Song of Death.” The blue whales are singing sadly because they know the end of the world is coming. At one of their meetings, these shamans predicted that the “Great Ending” would be coming in ten years. This meeting was supposedly held in 2002.
There is some speculation that the powerful governments of the Earth know that the end is nigh. The “Doomsday Seed Vault” and the fact that U.S. President Barack Obama had the  troops come home before 2012 is seen as evidence that they are preparing for the end of the world.
Note: There are countless other claims regarding the Mayan Calendar from ancient prophesies matching up with that of the calendar to a planet bursting into our galaxy and smashing into Earth out there on the Internet.

Skeptics
Also everywhere you look on the Internet and on television, there are experts telling people to calm down. The information debunking the 2012 predictions ranges from serious attempts to explain the calendar in laymen’s terms to exasperated rants telling people to get real. Here are some more serious arguments from the skeptic side.
Yes, December 21, 2012 falls on the winter solstice. There is no evidence to suggest that the winter solstice lining up with any other astrological alignment would cause any kind of disturbance on Earth. Yes, it is possible that the Sun and the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy will be lined up on that day. However, predicting an exact alignment between the Sun and the plane of the galaxy is not exactly easy, or precise. Furthermore, it is possible that the Sun is in rough alignment with the plane of the galaxy for hundreds of years. That is not in the Mayan Long Count Calendar.
Yes, the song of the blue whales is changing and it is a great mystery. However, there is no way to interpret the blue whale’s song at this time. At least, there is no evidence of such a thing. This theory also sounds suspiciously like the dolphins who knew the end of the world was coming in “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams. As for the shaman’s predictions, it has to be a matter of speculation, because there is no way to disprove predictions until they do not come true.
The Mayan Long Count Calendar, like all of the Mayan calendars and our calendars, operates on a cycle. When the cycle ends, a new one begins. It is kind of like when you get to the end of your yearly calendar; you throw it away and open a new one. Do you get nervous that the world is going to end at the end of every year? The problem is, the Mayans stopped using that calendar system a long time ago, so no one will be making one for the new cycle. In this way, it is the end, the end of the Mayan Calendar.
If at this point I am wrong saying that the threat of the world ending 12/21/12 is mute, then I retract this point of view for now. Here are some very strong arguments stating that the Mayan Calendar is accurate and that the date presented as the end of this last cycle coinsides with December 21st 2012.
So, go back to prepping, worrying, and closing your savings and Christmas accounts if you wish. 

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