All this worry over the fiscal cliff and chances are — some people think they’re pretty good, evidently — we won’t be here when we take the dive.
Mark your calendars for December 21. It’s either going to be the worst day you’ve ever had or…not.
The precise manner of Armageddon remains vague, ranging from a catastrophic celestial collision between Earth and the mythical planet Nibiru, also known as Planet X, a disastrous crash with a comet, or the annihilation of civilisation by a giant solar storm.
In America Ron Hubbard, a manufacturer of hi-tech underground survival shelters, has seen his business explode.
“We’ve gone from one a month to one a day,” he said. “I don’t have an opinion on the Mayan calendar but, when astrophysicists come to me, buy my shelters and tell me to be prepared for solar flares, radiation, EMPs (electromagnetic pulses) … I’m going underground on the 19th and coming out on the 23rd. It’s just in case anybody’s right.”
In the French Pyrenees the mayor of Bugarach, population 179, has attempted to prevent pandemonium by banning UFO watchers and light aircraft from the flat topped mount Pic de Bugarach.
According to New Age lore it as an “alien garage” where extraterrestrials are waiting to abandon Earth, taking a lucky few humans with them.
Russia saw people in Omutninsk, in Kirov region, rushing to buy kerosene and supplies after a newspaper article, supposedly written by a Tibetan monk, confirmed the end of the world.
The city of Novokuznetsk faced a run on salt. In Barnaul, close to the Altai Mountains, panic-buyers snapped up all the torches and Thermos flasks.
Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, even addressed the situation.
“I don’t believe in the end of the world,” before adding somewhat disconcertingly: “At least, not this year.”
My favorite theory on how the world will end is what I call the “WTF is that?” scenario which is the last thing you’ll say before a large chunk of the sun slams into earth destroying all life.
The hysteria is only going to get worse.
NASA has felt it necessary to take to the internet to scotch rumors of the end of the world:
On November 28th, NASA scientists took to the Internet to battle the rumors and calm the hype associated with the widespread misinterpretations of the Maya calendar which comes to an end on the winter solstice thus ending a calendar cycle called the 13th b’ak’tun. Many people around the world have come to see this date as a prophesy of the apocalypse, while others simply find it humorous, but NASA isn’t laughing.
The event held on Google+ and throughout social media, with an invitation for Twitter followers to tweet any questions they may have to the #askNASA hashtag, was in response to emails and letters which have been pouring in to NASA from people dealing with severe anxiety related to end day fears, many of them from young people and some of them claiming to be suicidal.
“While this is a joke to some people and a mystery to others, there is a core of people who are truly concerned,” said David Morrison, an astrobiologist at NASA Ames Research Center via a Google+ Hangout video chat.
The NASA website page and the video put out by NASA, debunk nightmare scenarios ranging from planet Niburu getting too close to the Earth, solar storms, catastrophic tidal effects caused by planetary alignments, meteors, and a massive shifting of the Earth’s magnetic poles, to name a few.
One should note that the Mayans don’t have much of a track record when it came to divining the future. After all, they didn’t see the Spanish coming, did they?
But as Glenn Reynolds might say, disaster preparedness is a good thing even if its based on a ridiculous premise. All those supplies can be stored away once December 22 rolls around in case they may be needed for a real disaster like a flood or earthquake.
In the meantime, businesses are cleaning up and there is little doubt that the one positive coming out of this nonsense is an increase in economic activity.
Then again, if you should find yourself floating in space on December 21 when the gravitational field of the earth is reversed, don’t blame it on capitalism.
– on the 22nd, we can say what the hell where is The Hell? and return to being Obama slaves.
The 21st is not the end of the world in the Mayan calendar. It is the return of their gods. It is also found in other pagan religions like Egypt, the old Egypt, and a host of false religions in India.
The return of the nine.
Yes we are seeing the return of a false pagan god. The god of the State. And it will leave an unimaginable path of destruction. Like an aggressive cancer, there is no stopping it. The only questions are how soon and who gets blamed.
” The only questions are how soon and who gets blamed.”
How soon? Dec 21. Haven’t you checked your Mayan calendar? And who gets blamed? George Bush might luck out and the Mayans will take the rap for this one.
It’s the turning of a calender page. Nothing about their Gods returning, no big event beyond maybe a spiritual celebration. At any rate, I will be wearing a red shirt that day…
http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/socialpolitica/esp_sociopol_council9_11.htm
Anyone who believes that the world is more likely to end on December 21, 2012 than any other day is a fool who has been deluded by lunatic conspiracy theories.
I can’t wait to see what the next decades super-duper end of the world scenario is. Granted it’s 13 years from Y2K, but it has a similar ring of unjustifiable panic about it. If I’m wrong, well none of you will be able to say neener neener.
The question on the the 20th is whether to f*@k or go shopping.
Well, having been married nearly 30 years, I know where my wife is going to be, so I might as well kick back a few beers and wait for the end or until the credit card bill comes in at the end of the month.
I wonder if Stephen Green will be drunk-blogging the EOTW. I hope so, if we are going out we might as well go out laughing and in a drunken stupor.
Remember Y2K?
There is NO similarity to Y2K.
Hundreds of millions were spent by corporations and governments to avert that problem, and the effort was successful.
I’m waiting for someone here to mention that the Earth will actually be destroyed by the Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass.
I have been catching a lot of mice lately…
You don’t suppose obama is actually a Vogon and he’s getting ready to read poetry to us?
According to Robert Frost, late poet laureat:
“Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire,
I hold with those who favor fire.
But, if it had to perish twice,
I think I’ve known enough of hate,
To know that for destruction ice,
Is also great, and would suffice.”
My personal opinion is that that the world will not come to an end before Global Warming meets Global Cooling. When that happens, all bets are off. Not likely that it will be the 21st of December of this year. Maybe next year?
The only problem is the people selling books, video’s, and the rest of the nonsense regarding Mayan Prophecies forget to mention 14th b’ak’tun in Mayan calendars, or that Time to Mayans is a never ending circle of repeating timelines, not a strait line. It never ends, nor is there any mention anywhere in Mayan beliefs that the end of the world would occur at any point.
It is actually the Olmecs and Toltecs responsible for creating Calendars the Mayans used.
The end of the world is a great cottage industry, if fraud can be considered a Business.
“In the meantime, businesses are cleaning up and there is little doubt that the one positive coming out of this nonsense is an increase in economic activity.”
The majority of those supplies will probably be consumed for Christmas dinner. The rest like the couple hundred phone books I heard of that were stored on a remote Alaskan homestead to be used as toilet paper during Y2K may be available for future emergencies.
As far as economic activity goes, this is like cash for clunkers.
Having lived with a low-carb diet for the past 10 years, I plan to assume that the world will indeed end and eat accordingly–an entire lasagne made with Krispy Kreme donuts. Then, after a couple of beers and a good cigar, I can await my end with a contented heart.