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 snooggums wrote:
I like how the first three poll options are three of the four horsemen, poor Pestilence got left out.

Nah, 2 of the horsemen are similar.

Its Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

Dec. 21st was never meant to be an apocalypse- quite the opposite.

 DoctorZombie wrote:
Dec. 21st was never meant to be an apocalypse- quite the opposite.

Indeed, its simply the end of the old calander and the start of a new one. And IIRC the Maya abandoned this particular calander a long time ago, and not because they were conquored.

It troubles me how we, as a people, seem to spend so much time contemplating our eventual demise. It's just such a strange hobby to devote one's time to, and you see it constantly between all of the apocalypse threads, zombie threads, disaster threads, and on and on.

What happened to hope and quiet optimism?

 daedalus wrote:
It troubles me how we, as a people, seem to spend so much time contemplating our eventual demise. It's just such a strange hobby to devote one's time to, and you see it constantly between all of the apocalypse threads, zombie threads, disaster threads, and on and on.

What happened to hope and quiet optimism?

Better to have low standards, it avoids disappointment. And when nice stuff does happen its all the more sweeter.

I get that, it just feels kind of like rolling over and dying. Defeatist, like, even.

Well a good 3/4 of the posts in this thread are clearely not serious if it makes you feel better.

A good 3/4 of the posts on Dakka aren't serious, or at least, things I can't imagine are supposed to be taken seriously. The fact that the topic comes up so often still indicates that it's something people think a lot about, seriously or otherwise.

 daedalus wrote:
A good 3/4 of the posts on Dakka aren't serious, or at least, things I can't imagine are supposed to be taken seriously. The fact that the topic comes up so often still indicates that it's something people think a lot about, seriously or otherwise.

Death is something none of us can change, so it's seems like a good idea to talk about it.

and it's something we all have in common, so could be a great icebreaker at a party. XD

 daedalus wrote:
A good 3/4 of the posts on Dakka aren't serious, or at least, things I can't imagine are supposed to be taken seriously. The fact that the topic comes up so often still indicates that it's something people think a lot about, seriously or otherwise.

I'll be honest, I don't seriously think about the zombie apocalypse. Winning the Lotto on the other hand...

Um... no... I don't take it serious either. Of course there is http://blogs.cdc.gov/publichealthmatters/2011/05/preparedness-101-zombie-apocalypse/. Just in case

North Koreas Unicorn Lair proves true, We soon find ourselves besieged by pastel colored ponies and their brony slaves.

The angry souls of the dead will rise and drag our spirits back into the earth, and our physical bodies will be mutilated and destroyed by the gods to fertilize the seeds of the new world.

The only acceptable way to die is to spill your blood among the sacred trees of Aokigahara.

 Frazzled wrote:

Demolished for a new interstellar highway. The plans have already been posted at your local administrative office at Alpha Centauri.

You might laugh, but I keep my towel handy at all times. Just in case.

I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that I just became very rich, the bad news is I sold the planet to an intergalactic company. Which is going to be using Earth as a giant space puppy mill. They will be raising and milling space puppies into a delicious paste that is rolled into balls and deep fried for movie goers accross the galaxy. They call them Mushpuppies

Quite delicious.

 Grey Templar wrote:
I've got good news and bad news.

The good news is that I just became very rich, the bad news is I sold the planet to an intergalactic company. Which is going to be using Earth as a giant space puppy mill. They will be raising and milling space puppies into a delicious paste that is rolled into balls and deep fried for movie goers accross the galaxy. They call them Mushpuppies

Quite delicious.

That's quite humorous. I just sold the very rich of earth to be ground into toppings for mushpuppies in exchange for a starship and very large number of exterminatus weapons.

The Mayan calendar theory is the biggest load of gak ever. At least the "cataclysm" of worried-about Y2K could exist outside of a Dresden Files novel plot.

First of all, our Gregorian calendar ends every single year. And then it starts over, without death and fire and gnashing of teeth. The Mayan calendar just records a longer time frame.

I prefer calling the Mayan Calendar the "World Odometer". When your car's odometer rolls over, does it automatically blow up? Nope, you just remember to mentally put the 100K in front of the number showing.

Unfortunately, thanks to the Spanish, the descendants of the guy that are supposed to reset the Mayan calendar never got born, so some person can't put a mark next to the calendar and then look over their shoulder and yell to everyone else, "Hey guys, remember it's a new epoch, ok? I put down a little mark to help me remember, so nobody better friggin' erase it, you hear?!"

The only thing that will happen on December 21 is a very cool galactic alignment that we are fortunate enough to be around for. Kinda like Haley's Comet doesn't burn us all to cinders when it passes.

Actually, the Spanish had nothing to do with the abandoning of what we are calling the Mayan calander. The Mayans actually had multiple calanders, the one in question is the Long Count cycle.

The Long Count was abandoned shortly before the Spanish arrived, probably because some Maya had a revelation. Who the needs a calander that counts for 5,000ish years before resetting?

Actually, the Mayans did leave notes for the 'odometer'. The new cycle is generically the 'sixth world'. They computed dates out for the next 25k years.

(I watched that thing from Nasa as well, and the astrophysicists made a few mistakes about the anthropology and archeology of the Mayans.)

The only thing that confuses me is why they picked some date around 3000 BC for the beginning date of the cycle. Seems like a wierd thing. If I were designing a calander I would start us off on day one year one. Not jump to right in the middle.

 Grey Templar wrote:
The only thing that confuses me is why they picked some date around 3000 BC for the beginning date of the cycle. Seems like a wierd thing. If I were designing a calander I would start us off on day one year one. Not jump to right in the middle.

Oh, the long count is based on astronomical observation of things like planetary and galactic alignments. The Mayans spent about 500 years working it out, and it remains one of the most accurate calenders ever devised.

Yup, it's based off of the alignment of our sun with the Galactic center, so when they Mayans developed it, the last alignment was about 3,000BC. They measure each space between the alignments as a sort of "Epoch" or 'Age'. Geeks, think Lord of the Rings and how the books are set in the "Third Age".


That's why this Dec 21 is so friggin cool, because we are alive at just the right time for something that happens every few thousand years. It's an obnoxiously long-spanning "Haley's Comet" situation.

Actually, the Spanish had nothing to do with the abandoning of what we are calling the Mayan calander. The Mayans actually had multiple calanders, the one in question is the Long Count cycle.

Actually, I was more joking about the Spanish being why most of the Mayans died, lol.

Drought killed off most of the Mayans before the Spanish even got there.

Which may have been caused by the insane deforestation they caused. Almost the entire Peten was deforested.