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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine?

    It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine?


    Monday, December 17, 2012
    By DANA LARSEN / Pilot Editor


    Tick...tick...tick... If you are a believer in the dire translation of ancient Mayan timekeeping, you're down to your last days, with the world scheduled to come to a sudden screeching halt sometime Friday.
    And worse, no Twinkies for the going away bash.

    Peter Steinfeld, longtime philosophy and religion educator for Buena Vista University, isn't exactly quaking in his boots.

    "Yeah, I'm ready for it," he laughs. "In fact, I think we should be partying hardy."
    While he fully expects to wake up December 22 with the world still intact, Steinfeld is fascinated by people's response to end-of-the-world scares.

    "There really is a very odd appeal about a sort of apocalyptic dreaming - this strange attraction for the ending of the world and wondering about what it would mean for human beings to no longer exist," Steinfeld says.

    In fact, years ago, he was co-authoring academic papers on the subject, with titles such as "Longing for Apocalypse in a Desolate World."

    "At that time it was the threat of nuclear holocaust, but whether it has been religious predictions, Nostradomous, Y2K, the Mayan calendar - there is always some amount of terror in the reaction, but also this very obvious appeal to the concept of it all ending. Americans in particular seem to love playing with this idea."

    The professor theorizes people may be captivated by end-of-days predictions because it means relief from earthy worries and daily burdens.

    Or that it appeals to their sense of justice - the end would finally destroy the evil people see in the world around them and perhaps reward the good simultaneously. Or - it represents simply a wiping of the slate clean, a neat ending to a complicated world.

    "It is something that has come up routinely over history. There have always been predictions of an ending of time. In Biblical times it was known as parousia - another term for the second coming of Christ. They would set a date, and when it didn't come like people expected, they would just set another one."

    Steinfeld has traveled in what was the Mayan world in Mexcio, and explored ancient ruins, and visited the Aztec territory in Peru. He found the culture "fascinating," but admits that as an untrained observer, "I didn't fully understand what I was seeing." The Mayan calendar is so complicated that he, like most people, couldn't begin to unlock it if they tried.

    With the latest 'end of the world" falling during the Christmas season, Steinfeld is rather surprised it isn't getting even more attention.

    "With people celebrating 12-12-12 as an auspicious occasion, it's rather ironic that the world is supposed to end 12 days later," he adds. "I thought people would be all over this.

    "I'm not too worried about the world actually ending, but then again, if I'm wrong, nobody's going to be around to tell me about it," he says.

    "To me, the very fascination people have with it is something worthy of consideration. When people seem so interested in an absolute end - it makes you want to sit down and think about what that says about the human condition."
    One immigrant to Storm Lake from the Mexico City area said she is not so sure that the end of the Mayan calendar is a laughing matter.

    "I don't really think it was intended to mean the world was going to stop on a particular day, but I also think ancient civilizations sometimes had wisdom that we do not understand even today. In the things they left behind, I think they may have been trying to tell us something, and we should be trying to learn from what they knew."

    NASA was so confident that the apocalypse will not happen on December 21st that they accidentially released a video entitled "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday" - 10 days before it was supposed to debut on Dec. 22.

    In the message, astronomical and planetary experts debunk notions that the sun will irradiate the atmosphere or that a rogue planet will smash into our Earth, regardless of interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar

    The space agency's video claims that all the apocalyptic theories are built on a massive misconception.

    Dr. John Carlson, who is the Director of the Center for archeo-astronomy says the Mayan calender in fact does not end on December 21st 2012.

    'There were no Mayan prophecies that foretold the end of the world,' said Dr. Carlson who has been studying the 2012 phenomenon for years. 'The concept of time used by Mayan's dwarfed those of modern astronomers. According to our sciene the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago but there are dates in Mayan ruins that stretch back a billion billion times farther than that."

    To the Mayans, the 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count would come to a close on December 21 2012. The system started counting on what we would know as August 11, 3114 BC. We are completing its 13th and last baktun - or 5,125-year cycle, next Friday. Carlson believes the complicated calendar was designed like a car odometer in reverse - to run down to zero and then simply start over.

    There is no evidence of any destructive prophesies to match that point left behind by the Mayan culture.

    Some suggest that a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, tsunami, wildfires, hurricanes - along with predictions for such things as global warming, economic collapse or pandemic illness, have creates a global climate of fear. That climate is a rich breeding ground for any prediction of impending destruction.

    We asked Pilot-Tribune readers to weigh in on the doom predictions via our Facebook page. None were expecting the worst.

    "It's just like the calendar in out phones - so the calendar ends, no big deal. The Mayans didn't have leap year, so 2012 has already passed in their calendar," says Matthew Foley.

    "If the Mayans were so good at predicting the future, there would still be Mayans," adds Stacey Diischer.

    "The Mayan calendar stopped where it did because they died out, it's as simple as that... someone just blew that topic up too much," says Meele De La Paz.

    "If you believe in God, then you wouldn't believe in this nonsense," says Lacey Vazquez.

    A number of our readers also reflected on what they would do if it really was their final day.

    "Supposing it was right, I would just want to have a family night with those I care most about," says Calli Johannsen.

    "Spending my last hours with the people I love," agreed Mikki Withers.

    "Well, I know what i would do if my days were done but i can't put them on here because the Christian way is not the popular vote anymore," reflected Jeff Kies.

    "If it was true, which it's not.. I'd be on the couch eating junk food, holding my baby," Keri Hamrick said.

    "Would'nt need to do the laundry, dishes, floors, cook, pay bills, scoop the poop, get groceries, take out the trash or make the bed," adds Ruth Freese. "Sounds like heaven to me already."

    Storm Lake Pilot Tribune: Community News: It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine? (12/17/12)
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Chinese police suspect man who stabbed 23 kids 'influenced' by doomsday rumor

    Just hours before the Newtown, Conn., massacre, a man stabbed 23 children in a rural Chinese elementary school.

    @ http://www.alipac.us/f9/man-knife-injures-22-kids-school-china-268759/
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    30 MINs ago The Tell

    How to trade ‘Doomsday’


    So-called Doomsday on Dec. 21 happens to be triple witching day on Wall Street

    Assuming the world doesn’t end on Friday, as some believe was prophesied by Mayan astronomers, there will be interesting trading opportunities.

    In an odd coincidence, the so-called doomsday looming this Friday also happens to be a triple witching day on Wall Street.

    A trading session that takes place four times each year, triple witching marks the simultaneous expiration of S&P Index futures, stock options and index options. Triple-witching remains a closely-watched indicator by some as a signal for volatility in the equity market.

    Jeffrey Hirsch, editor-in-chief of the Stock Trader’s Almanac, said the last triple witching day of the year tends to be favorable for stocks.

    “Since December triple witching day is the best of the triple witching coven, perhaps it is a good omen that Dec. 21st is merely the end of the Mayan calendar and not the end of the world,” Hirsch said in an email to MarketWatch. “A historically bullish day for the market and the last trading before the Santa Claus rally, I’d consider going long, at least for the short term, through early January.”

    On average, however, stocks tend to be bearish after triple witching takes place.
    Since the first quarter of September, 2000, stocks rose in only 17 out of 48 instances in the week following triple witching, according to the almanac.

    And the market sometimes makes huge moves around triple witching. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 666 points during the triple-witching week in the first quarter of 2000. One year later, the index dropped 821 points in the same week of first-quarter triple witching, according to the almanac.

    Meanwhile, talk of possible doomsday at the end of the ancient Mayan calendar on Dec. 21 continues to buzz around the Internet.

    NASA even went so far as to publish a web page entitled “Why the World Won’t End” to explain the source of the rumors and point out that no celestial body is about to hit the Earth. Dec. 21st is the day of the Winter Solstice, which is the longest night of the year (in the northern hemisphere) and the start of winter.

    “Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after Dec. 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on Dec. 21,” NASA said. “This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then — just as your calendar begins again on Jan. 1 — another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.”

    Jitters continue around the globe, nevertheless.

    The Wall Street Journal reported candle and matches hoarding in China, where a local businessman spent about $160,000 of his own money to build a house boat in case his home flooded out.

    Well, it wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark, as they say.

    But like other doomsday predictions, this Friday’s date will likely come and go with little to show for it. Then it’ll be back to fretting over the fiscal cliff.
    http://stream.marketwatch.com/story/markets/SS-4-4/SS-4-17759/
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Oh, NO.

    My calender ends on December 31.

    That must be the end of the world.
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    The end is near; at least there's beer

    Dancing on the edge of the Mayan apocalypse


    Written by Karla Peterson

    4:01 p.m., Dec. 19, 2012

    Also see »








    The first thing you should know about the Mayan prophecy that the world will end on Dec. 21 is that it is not really Mayan. Another thing you should know is that it is probably not happening.
    Local Mayan glyph expert Mark Van Stone has seen the future, and it is still there.
    “This is a misinterpretation by scholars, but the world didn’t get the memo,” said Van Stone, a professor of art history at Southwestern College and the author of “2012: Science & Prophecy of the Ancient Maya.” “It is basically craziness based on speculation that is outdated. All of this is completely a modern fantasy. It’s not Mayan at all.”
    It may not be Mayan, but the belief that the world could end when the Mayan people’s “Long Count” calendar supposedly runs out on the 21st is certainly global. It is also a little crazy.
    From ark-building in China to “End of the World” dance parties in San Diego’s Gaslamp, the (Not Really Mayan) Mayan Prophecy is being greeted they way such prophecies usually are. With kerosene-hoarding paranoia, seize-the-day shenanigans, jaded eye-rolling and the always-popular opportunistic marketing.
    If someone has insider information about our collective expiration date, the citizens of planet Earth will embrace it, fear it, exploit it or laugh at it. No matter how weird, scary or totally improbable it might be.
    And the so-called Mayan Prophecy is all of the above. Sparked by the 2009 film titled “2012” and fanned by the Internet-fueled whims of our zombie-loving, “Doomsday Prepper”-watching, apolcalypse-obsessing culture, these latest End of Days theories have our global demise coming at the hands of a black hole. Or a flood. Or a collision with a rogue planet called Nibiru. No one is really sure, but plenty of people are sucking up the details anyway. We just can’t help it.
    “There are a number of religions that promise an ecstatic afterlife, and there are other religions that promise a better rebirth, so there is this promise of something better coming after the world ends,” said Evelyn Kirkley, associate professor of theology and religions studies at the University of San Diego. “It really gives people a sense that there could be an escape from whatever horribleness or stress they face in their everyday lives.”
    Doomsday and rapture scenarios can be tempting, but dependable? Not so far. Whether it is old Nostradamus and his 16th-century prophecies, or Family Radio founder Harold Egbert Campings and his two failed end-of-the-world predictions from 2011, none of our apocalypse advance men have managed to close a sale. Which could be why one of the most powerful things about impending doom is our determination to party our way through it.
    In parts of southern Mexico and Central America, tourists and natives will be celebrating 12/21/12 with fireworks and concerts. The ancient Mayan city of Chichén Itza will be the site of spiritual observances of the new era. There are DJ-fueled doomsday blowouts in Hollywood, New York and many sweaty stops in between. And in San Diego, some locals are facing the end of the world with the help of beer, comfort food and maybe a little denial.

    “I haven’t really met a single person who is taking it too seriously,” said Tyson Blake, general manager of O’Brien’s Pub in Kearny Mesa, which will be marking the big day by tapping a keg of La Fin du Monde (The End of the World) beer. “It’s people saying, ‘Sweet, another reason to have a party,’ which is definitely welcome.”
    At the Saltbox restaurant in the Gaslamp, the menu for the Dec. 21 End of Days dinner is a secret. But chances are, there will be pork belly and nostalgia.
    “Our theme is, if you were to have your last meal, what would be the thing you would miss the most?” said executive chef Simon Dolinky, who polled his staff for ideas. “That doesn’t necessarily mean truffles and crab for everyone. It might be a dish you remember your Mom made when you were a kid. I’m doing a chicken, but I won’t give you any more details than that. It isn’t the most exotic of ingredients, but it is undeniably what I would have for my last meal.”
    At Slater’s 50/50 restaurants, your last meal could be the chain’s “Armageddon Burger,” a 1/3-pound beef-and-bacon burger wrapped in thick-cut bacon and stacked with prosciutto. San Diegans can also sign off with Helm’s Brewing Company new Decimation Triple IPA or a round of Stone Brewery’s “Enjoy by 12.21.12” IPA.
    There is a Dec. 21 End of the World dance party at the Stingaree in the Gaslamp and an acoustic bash at the 98 Bottles club in Middletown. It could mean San Diegans aren’t taking the spirit of the apocalypse seriously. Or maybe we are taking it as seriously as the gods intended.
    “I can sympathize with people wanting an excuse to party,” said Van Stone, who will be celebrating in fine Mayan style in Chichén Itza. “In ancient Greece, they had the Bacchanalia, where women were expected to have sex with anyone they wanted and their husbands weren’t allowed to call them on it. That is the kind of safety valves that societies have. I call it the Mardi Gras Effect. It is having permission to go crazy before the end of the world.”

    http://www.utsandiego.com/news/2012/dec/19/doomsday-prepping-with-sd-beer-and-global-panic/
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    Senior Member patbrunz's Avatar
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    What the heck? It's 12/21/12 and we're all still here?
    All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. -Edmund Burke

  8. #8
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by patbrunz View Post
    What the heck? It's 12/21/12 and we're all still here?
    To the serious among us it was a joke.

    To the jokes among us it was serious.

    The end is near; at least there's beer
    And worse, no Twinkies for the going away bash.
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