2012 Debunked

[Tails Turrosaki]

I'll try not to fail at posting my first thread of debunk. ._. Please be easy on me...

I found this on another site; link wasn't given. I did try finding it, though, and I think this might've been the site:

(can't post it right now; haven't posted 10 posts yet :S)

''News is spreading quickly here that scientists writing in a (Dutch) popular science periodical (google translation linked) have debunked the 2012 date featuring so prominently in doomsday predictions/speculation across the web. On 2012-12-21, the sun will appear where you would normally be able to see the 'galactic equator' of the Milky Way; an occurrence deemed special because it happens 'only' once every 25.800 years, on the winter solstice. However, even if you ignore the fact that there is no actual galactic equator, just an observed one, and that the visual effect is pretty much the same for an entire decade surrounding that date, there are major problems with the way the Maya Calendar is being read by doomsday prophets.

Because written records were almost all destroyed by 16th-century Spaniards, quite a lot of guesswork surrounds the translation of their calendar to ours, and it appears something went very wrong with the calculations. The Mayas used 4 different calendars, all of different lengths, with the longest of which counting out ages of roughly 5200 years. Figuring out how these relate to 'our' calendars is a big problem, which scientists had thought they had figured out about a century ago. (That's where the 2012 date, which now turns out to be almost 2 centuries out of date, comes from.) However, A German geologist showed in 2005 (in his dissertation) that the proposed correlation to GMT didn't fit with a lot of Mayan-observed events that we know about, and calculated that a roughly 208 year correction was needed, meaning the soonest the Mayan Calendar can end is in 2220.

The final blow was arguably the thesis that nature scientist Andreas Fuls three years ago doctorate at the Technical University Berlin. Fuls pointed out that the GMT-correlation not consistent with a preserved Mayan table on which the positions of Venus are listed. And so there is more, such as inscriptions and objects in time of Goodman, Martinez and Thompson were not detected or outdated. By adding to it all, comes from a very different Fuls dating: one that 208 years has shifted. The end of the long count by the correlation is only about two centuries, at 21, 22 or December 23, 2220. "It is the only option," says Fuls if you ask him about it. (Google translation)

Until then, it would appear we are quite safe, except from Hollywood''

Full article.

Sooo... I'm pretty sure that most of us never believed in 2012 anyways... But hopefully this explains now that 2012 is irrational (sorry if that's offensive to any 2012ers out there).
I hope this is the right board I'm posting in, too. >_<

[littlegrimlin1]

haha, yeah, I also have never believed in this either. It'll be just like everything that happened in Y2K, nothing. Everyone will stock up on provisions and prepare for the end of the world or something special to happen, and it'll be just like the day before, nothing.

I find these people very amusing, I just sit back and watch "nothing" happen. hahah.. Also

Wecome to the AF! Enjoy your stay, as I do as well.

[Meatball]

Comparing it to Y2K is good. The way I see it, the end of the long count is nothing more than a lack of foresight on the part of the Mayans, just like the lack of foresight in early computer scientists lead to most of the Y2K scare.

[Darwinian]

You mean there's a chance that these people are wrong and the world won't end. Shucks, you can't trust anyone these days!!

[Tails Turrosaki]

Lol. xDD I don't believe that the world will end in 2220, either... But hopefully the 2012ers will stfu (to put it in the nicest way possible).

[fr0d0]

But hopefully the 2012ers will stfu (to put it in the nicest way possible).

Either way I think you're onto a winner there

[Violet]

You mean that people are going to start preparing for 2220 once 2012 has come and gone?

[Tiberius]

You mean that people are going to start preparing for 2220 once 2012 has come and gone?

No, people are going to start preparing for 2013. I don't think there has ever been a year where someone (or even a group of people) haven't proclaimed it the apocalypse.

[Violet]

lol, true that WTF is with all these doomsday cults anyway? (And other moronic doomsday conspiracies)

[binny]

2013!...2013!?! NOOOOOOOO! That's the year I turn 50!