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daibhidcSaw a programme about The 2012 Thing on the National Geographic channel when I was at my sister's last night. So far as I can tell, the key points are as follows.
1) The Mayan calender ends on December 21st 2012. Some people think this means the world is due to end. The new movie 2012 suggests this will be due to the Earth's magnetic field flipping, but scientists who've studied previous shifts say this is not a catalysimic event.
2)It's possible the Mayans may have predicted that the sun will be alligned with the middle of the Milky Way at dawn on that day. A Mayan descendent claims her ancestors predicted that this will unleash a beam of energy that will scour the earth.
2) The Dresden Codex does seem to predict the end of the world. It involves a deluge initiated by a giant crocodile, not pole shift or Death Rays From Galactic Centre. Also, there's nothing in the Codex about it happening in 2012.
3) A climatologist suggested that the Mayans might have experienced climate change in the distant past, which corresponded to the end of a previous cycle of the Mayan calender, and adds that it's "ironic" the world is being affected by climate change today. He stresses this is probably a coincidence, though. The fact that the world didn't end then is glossed over by the narrator.
4)It doesn't matter how sensible the scientists on a NatGeo documentary seem to be, the narrator will more than make up for it. This one seemed positively disappointed every time research suggested the world wasn't going to end.
5) On balance, I prefer this theory.
1) The Mayan calender ends on December 21st 2012. Some people think this means the world is due to end. The new movie 2012 suggests this will be due to the Earth's magnetic field flipping, but scientists who've studied previous shifts say this is not a catalysimic event.
2)It's possible the Mayans may have predicted that the sun will be alligned with the middle of the Milky Way at dawn on that day. A Mayan descendent claims her ancestors predicted that this will unleash a beam of energy that will scour the earth.
2) The Dresden Codex does seem to predict the end of the world. It involves a deluge initiated by a giant crocodile, not pole shift or Death Rays From Galactic Centre. Also, there's nothing in the Codex about it happening in 2012.
3) A climatologist suggested that the Mayans might have experienced climate change in the distant past, which corresponded to the end of a previous cycle of the Mayan calender, and adds that it's "ironic" the world is being affected by climate change today. He stresses this is probably a coincidence, though. The fact that the world didn't end then is glossed over by the narrator.
4)It doesn't matter how sensible the scientists on a NatGeo documentary seem to be, the narrator will more than make up for it. This one seemed positively disappointed every time research suggested the world wasn't going to end.
5) On balance, I prefer this theory.
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Date: 2009-11-18 01:29 pm (UTC)