OK, so I waited more then a day for the second post... my apologies, but I had a good reason: out of the blue I received a phone call to have breakfast with a four time NASA astronaut. Needless to say, that changed my schedule 'a bit'. But OK, now part two... Nibiru
Have you ever heard that name? Nibiru is the mythical planet, that is supposedly on a collision course with Earth. Need a planet? Let's invent one!
In 1995, Zecharia Sitchin claimed to have re-translated Sumerian texts proving the existence of this planet, that for some strange reason everyone else just happened to have missed. And this planet (which of course has never been actually seen by anyone) is on a collision course with Earth. Another name for this planet is planet-X.
To show the amount of nonsense is involved here, is that we were all supposed to die due to this collision back in May of 2003, when they initially predicted the collision. But, oops, nothing happened, so they "moved it up a bit" to 2010, and now magically the date has been changed again, so now it will be in 2012. On December 21 of course.
So, we have to believe that this one guy and his followers are so enlightened that they understand something that no one else does, but then so stupid to miss the date-of-doom by 9 years, but then only to come around and now we have to accept the incredible precision of a December 21 prediction. And mind you, no one has actually seen this planet, and planets are big things. If we were to believe we are going to collide with a planet (or in some claims a red dwarf) in only 3 years, this means that the object should be pretty much in our solar system by now. But somehow we all, including the believers, are looking in the wrong direction??
Yeah sure.
Next post: Good Ol' Nostradamus
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
No, No and No
I have already been asked by several people for more information about the end-of-the-world in 2012, and the vehemency and accusatory tone of the questions are quite frankly rather shocking. How dare I not agree with their point of view?
On top of that, there is an enormous amount of misinformation that is actively being spread over the internet and other media, and folks that have less of a science and astronomy background might honestly be fearful. Either way, it is our task as a place of public education, to sort out the myths from the facts. The whole story is too long for one blog post, so let's start with the claims and over the coming days I will add posts that debunks each.
So... what is all the hullabaloo about? Well... it all starts with a calendar. As you know we have a calendar lasting 365 days, and this is based on how long it takes the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. However, other cultures have (or had) different calendars. In this case it comes to the calendar of the Mayan Culture.
This calendar is a true piece of mathematical art. It is based on a whole set of calendars, which are intertwined, creating a horrifically complex system lasting many thousands of years. You can read more at the wikipedia page about the calendar, and I think you will agree that this calendar is not something simple to understand.
As a matter of fact, the calendar is so complex that even today it is still in dispute of exactly when it started, and when it will "end". Anyway, the word "end" is exactly the hinge where all the problems come from. Does our calendar "end"? Well... in one way you can state that yes, it ends at December 31, and then rolls over to January 1st. But for some reason, in this case, probably because we're talking about Mayans, "end" has taken on a life by itself.
But let's keep to the facts... as far as we can tell the Mayan calendar does indeed roll over on December 21, 2012. Some scientists however, dispute the exact date and place it 200 years later, for this post, let's assume December 21 is the date.
So.. are there indications from the Mayans that they linked their calendar to a date-of-doom? No they didn't. Did the Mayans interpret the end date as "The End"? Nope, they saw it as the beginning of a new era, probably coinciding with a lot of Mayans starting new diets (OK I made that last bit up).
So, although there is nothing that leads us to believe December 21, 2012 is the date of doom, this has not stopped certain individuals to start piling things on top, resulting in a hodge-podge of claims and simply nonsense.
Tomorrow more...
On top of that, there is an enormous amount of misinformation that is actively being spread over the internet and other media, and folks that have less of a science and astronomy background might honestly be fearful. Either way, it is our task as a place of public education, to sort out the myths from the facts. The whole story is too long for one blog post, so let's start with the claims and over the coming days I will add posts that debunks each.
So... what is all the hullabaloo about? Well... it all starts with a calendar. As you know we have a calendar lasting 365 days, and this is based on how long it takes the Earth to complete one orbit around the Sun. However, other cultures have (or had) different calendars. In this case it comes to the calendar of the Mayan Culture.
This calendar is a true piece of mathematical art. It is based on a whole set of calendars, which are intertwined, creating a horrifically complex system lasting many thousands of years. You can read more at the wikipedia page about the calendar, and I think you will agree that this calendar is not something simple to understand.
As a matter of fact, the calendar is so complex that even today it is still in dispute of exactly when it started, and when it will "end". Anyway, the word "end" is exactly the hinge where all the problems come from. Does our calendar "end"? Well... in one way you can state that yes, it ends at December 31, and then rolls over to January 1st. But for some reason, in this case, probably because we're talking about Mayans, "end" has taken on a life by itself.
But let's keep to the facts... as far as we can tell the Mayan calendar does indeed roll over on December 21, 2012. Some scientists however, dispute the exact date and place it 200 years later, for this post, let's assume December 21 is the date.
So.. are there indications from the Mayans that they linked their calendar to a date-of-doom? No they didn't. Did the Mayans interpret the end date as "The End"? Nope, they saw it as the beginning of a new era, probably coinciding with a lot of Mayans starting new diets (OK I made that last bit up).
So, although there is nothing that leads us to believe December 21, 2012 is the date of doom, this has not stopped certain individuals to start piling things on top, resulting in a hodge-podge of claims and simply nonsense.
Tomorrow more...
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