Guest Farnsbarns Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Two quotes from Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson on the matter: "Hard to take science cues from the Maya, who never discovered the wheel, and who sacrificed animals to satisfy gods." "Hard to take seriously predictions about the end of the world from the Maya, a culture that could not predict its own demise." Sums the situation up rather nicely i'd say. And one from prof Brian cox... "Anyone who believes the Mayans predicted the the end of the world in 2012 is a nobber" via Twitter 31.12.11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 It's the stuff of urban legend. It's only the end of the era, like our century ending - except it's more scientific. This is the 13th or 14th time (I forget which) the calendar starts over. & BTW, the Mayans did have wheels. Archeologists have unearthed toys with wheels on them. I've seen them in museums in Mexico. And the huge stone calendar now housed in the museum in Mexico City is very impressive. So if you believe the "sky is falling" predictions, please send me your guitars. Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinner 13 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 Straight form the horses mouth, so to speak. What the Mayan Elders are Saying About 2012 If you are to lazy to click the link: Carlos Barrios: “Anthropologists visit the temple sites and read the inscriptions and make up stories about the Maya, but they do not read the signs correctly. It’s just their imagination. Other people write about prophecy in the name of the Maya. They say that the world will end in December 2012. The Mayan elders are angry with this. The world will not end. It will be transformed.” “We are no longer in the World of the Fourth Sun, but we are not yet in the World of the Fifth Sun. This is the time in-between, the time of transition. As we pass through transition there is a colossal, global convergence of environmental destruction, social chaos, war, and ongoing Earth Changes.” He continues: “Humanity will continue, but in a different way. Material structures will change. From this we will have the opportunity to be more human. We are living in the most important era of the Mayan calendars and prophecies. All the prophecies of the world, all the traditions are converging now. There is no time for games. The spiritual ideal of this era is action.” If you want to know more read the article in it's entirety. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 ...quote from Astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson on the matter: "Hard to take science cues from the Maya, who never discovered the wheel, and who sacrificed animals to satisfy gods." Sums the situation up rather nicely i'd say. Not so fast Shred. I believe they discovered the wheel, but the concept was discarded because it didn't work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FenderGuy1 Posted December 11, 2012 Share Posted December 11, 2012 If the end of the world does come, I'll probably die using my C64! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirstMeasure Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Personally I think the invention of the Wheel pales in comparison to the invention of the Axle. But neither compares to Thomas Ahearn's invention of the Car Heater. The Mayans certainly didn't invent one of those Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Searcy Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Wheel and axle are nothing compared to mans greatest invention... Yoga Pants! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaleb Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Rabs, that pic was great. I actually believe that's how the Mayans were. Just like us. They were likely high from coca (cocaine) plants too. Sometimes people make too big a deal out of freak things. But, I think the end of the world will be us destroying ourselves without any explosions or natural disaster. We're already doing it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notes_Norton Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 The Maya had wheels and axles as displayed by one of their toys: They also had very straight and level roads. So I make two uneducated wild guesses about all this: (1) they had a better way of hauling freight that we haven't discovered yet so they didn't need big wheels or (2) their wagon wheels were made of biodegradable material that just decomposed. I've visited many of the Maya ruins in Mexico, as well as the ruins from other Mesoamerican cultures. I've seen restored and un-restored Maya pyramids (ziggurats). The un-restored often look like this: If the wheels weren't made of stone, but of wood, they surely would have decomposed in that heap. What interests me is what is it about human nature to keep proclaiming "the sky is falling"? The year 2000 was supposed to be it, as many other significant dates in history. And the so-called prophets have been predicting one every few years. One false prophet has predicted the date of "the rapture" a few times, got national press, and we are all still here. Why do we do this? And why the mass hysteria about it? This is the interesting question for me. But as nice as the wheel and axle are as inventions, they pale in comparison to the guitar ;) Notes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabs Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Rabs, that pic was great. I actually believe that's how the Mayans were. Just like us. They were likely high from coca (cocaine) plants too. Sometimes people make too big a deal out of freak things. But, I think the end of the world will be us destroying ourselves without any explosions or natural disaster. We're already doing it. Yup... nothing lasts forever and everything changes... thats just life :) One day the sun will explode and everything in our solar system will die.. But we wont ever have to worry about that (I dont think ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martinh Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 If it does end, I'll be really pisssed that I didn't buy a very expensive intrument six months ago on a "no payments for six months" offer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MissouriPicker Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Yep, here in Independence, Mo., we're gathered at The Square waiting for the end. Tens-of-thousands of us. High Noon is the expected time for it all to end, so we've got around 35 minutes left. Still, we're happy to be part of such a huge event. Regarding the Mayans---for all the praise they receive in regard to their civilization, they were still pretty primitive when compared to Ancient Rome and China. In fact, the Mayans never reached the levels of technology and learning that the Chinese and Romans practiced nearly 2000 years before. One of their major shortcomings is that they never mastered metallurgy and metalworking for weapons, machinery, farming, building. But, none of that matters now because they sure nailed-down this "end of the world" date....Got to go now. Some pickers have started a songcircle and they're singing that old Skeeter Davis song: "don't you know, it's the end of the world......" See you all on the other side. And FenderGuy, the C64 is ancient, so it might be spared, along with The Great Wall of China and The Roman Colisieum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
charlie brown Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 12-12-12 NOON CST....The only thing "doomed/extinct" around here, is my now dead 40 year old Fridge! I guess it died, somewhere between 9-midnight, last night. I spent until 2AM this morning, clearing out, and/or throwing away, it's contents. Been cleaning it, this morning, so that when the new one does Finally arrive (not sure, yet, WHEN that will be, as I live in "The Boondocks," 60-100 miles, from ANY applience dealer)...they can cart off the old one. I don't think they even make parts, for my old one, anymore...so "fixing" it, isn't really an option. I managed to find a new one, that would "fit" the old space/cabinet arrangement. So, now all I can do, is wait, for it's arrival. Ever notice, when you spend "X" amount of dollars, on a guitar, or something else you "Want," something of equal, or even more value/cost, will ALWAYS seems to die, and/or need replaced, within a very short time. It's getting so, that IF/When I buy ANYTHING, for "me," I just have to wait, until I can pay out, twice the money, that it costs, to cover whatever will break, die, or otherwise have to be replaced, as well. But..."C'est la Vie!" CB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Caught a show on this last night. Lemme see if I can spit back what I recall. It was cool. We see time as linear, the Mayans saw time as cyclic. The past repeats itself. So ages that have passed will come again. They had not one, but three calendars: a short term that forcast more immediate events, an intermediate that covered their 226 day equivalent to our solar year, and the Long calendar... which predicts events much farther out. They all intertwined with a rudimentary clockwork as concentric cirlces to account for time. It's the long calendar that predicts 12 21 2012 as the end, and it names the date specifically. But the calendar is not the same kind of calendar we have today, and by that I am referring to a simple numbering of days. Their claendar seemed to be much more like an Almanac. They were kind of specific about what they were referencing, like a more direct Nostradamus. Apparently they've been able to align events on the calendar with events all throughout history. Things like the rise of the Vikings, the American Revolution and Civil Wars. Having watched it, I am convinced that December 21 2012 will be the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. I also think most of us will sleep through it, and go on with business as usual on 12/22. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RaysEpiphone Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Rabs, that pic was great. I actually believe that's how the Mayans were. Just like us. They were likely high from coca (cocaine) plants too. Sometimes people make too big a deal out of freak things. But, I think the end of the world will be us destroying ourselves without any explosions or natural disaster. We're already doing it. Your close kleb but it will likely be the android robots we build to make our lives easier that will do us in. Soon as they get smarter than us bumping us down to #2 in the intelligence pool they will see us as a threat and eradicate the planet of us (Judgment Day). The only thing that can save us from this demise is to evolve our self, except life and peace and become immortal beings with no need for hate, greed or anything more than existing with our planet in tranquil harmony. To do this we must develop and build micro machines that will forever repair our fragile bodies and then adapt to it naturally so we no longer need them or the android robots. The other possibility is that we become one with machine's and never have to shut them down once we evolve to perfection. These are the path's we can follow if we don't kill each other before hand and/or nature doesn't do the same. The last course of action would be to stagnate and stay at some point of technical/natural evolution, I don't see us making it very far with that as we are so human and will always want to know more and will always question something. We also are always changing from generation to generation in our natural DNA so that just wont happen. As for the Mayan end of the world thing... I don't know man, they where a dead people/civilization long before modern science or even the current political or religious powers come into play. Back in the Mayans time the world revolved around food and the harvest of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sinner 13 Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Caught a show on this last night. Lemme see if I can spit back what I recall. It was cool. We see time as linear, the Mayans saw time as cyclic. The past repeats itself. So ages that have passed will come again. They had not one, but three calendars: a short term that forcast more immediate events, an intermediate that covered their 226 day equivalent to our solar year, and the Long calendar... which predicts events much farther out. They all intertwined with a rudimentary clockwork as concentric cirlces to account for time. It's the long calendar that predicts 12 21 2012 as the end, and it names the date specifically. But the calendar is not the same kind of calendar we have today, and by that I am referring to a simple numbering of days. Their claendar seemed to be much more like an Almanac. They were kind of specific about what they were referencing, like a more direct Nostradamus. Apparently they've been able to align events on the calendar with events all throughout history. Things like the rise of the Vikings, the American Revolution and Civil Wars. Having watched it, I am convinced that December 21 2012 will be the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. I also think most of us will sleep through it, and go on with business as usual on 12/22. so if the math is close , a 226 day calendar VS. a 365 day Calendar, this should have already happened some time in May of 2011..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Hey look! It's Thursday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 So I make two uneducated wild guesses about all this: (1) they had a better way of hauling freight that we haven't discovered yet so they didn't need big wheels or (2) their wagon wheels were made of biodegradable material that just decomposed. "They say there's a place down in Mexico Where a man can fly over mountains and hills And he don't need an airplane or some kind of engine And he never will..." - "Hynotized" Fleetwood Mac Hey Forrest... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Hey look! It's Thursday! OK, Mr. Debbie Downer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShredAstaire Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 OK, Mr. Debbie Downer. :) I thought I was celebrating! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EVOL! Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 :) I thought I was celebrating! A lot of tin foil hat wearing people are very disappointed. Guess it's on to the next World-Is-Ending date. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zigzag Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Actually, the fact is that it is ending 12/21/12. Please get with the program. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buxom Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Came across this guy this morning... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buxom Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 Other side has "WARRIOR OF GOD, 12/21/12" spraypainted on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChanMan Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 so if the math is close , a 226 day calendar VS. a 365 day Calendar, this should have already happened some time in May of 2011..... Your still thinking linear. It's cyclic... and repeats within a larger cycle and contains a lesser cycle within. Takes all three to account for time. Also, according to the show, it was an absolute reference, not relative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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