2012: Apocalypse When?

I finally saw the movie 2012 and it was just, okay. All you would expect from a blockbuster, complete with smashes, crashes and explosions-- all revolving around an apocalyptic storyline.

The movie is based on the date of December 21, 2012, the date that the Mayan Calendar supposedly predicts the end of time as we know it and this is suppose to occur at 11:11 a.m. on the fateful day. Gee, I’m thinking the Mayans could have told us whether this was going occur at Eastern or Central Standard Time. I mean that lil bit of extra info would have been helpful, right?

The Mayans were a highly advanced ancient civilization known for their advancements in written language, architecture, mathematics and astronomy. They practiced a form divination based on astronomy and calendar calculations. And apparently their calendar predictions, which were, basically astronomical observations, proved to be accurate enough to have tracked without fail, every solar eclipse / lunar eclipse, changes in the rotation of the earth and the speed of the earth’s rotation to accommodate for this.

Why the date 2012? Well this particular calendar with the purported “doomsday date” is known as the Mayan long calendar and it chronicles what is called the "Great Cycle," a block of time lasting 5,125.36 years. The calendar date began August 13, 3114 B.C. and ends on December 21, 2012. So the date marks the end of cycle and, for some reason some seem to think the end of this cycle means the end of it all.

Now from what I’ve read about 2012 it’s not recorded anywhere that the Mayans thought the world would end when this cycle did, but based on their calendar there will be a significant solar event occurring on that day. The sun will be aligned with the center of the Milky Way for the first time in about 26,000 years and it’s believed that The Mayans thought that this represented something monumental. Personally, I hope it rains Milky Way candy bars.

I certainly don’t think it will be the end of the world, but it sure makes for good cinema and something to talk about for those people who are fascinated with apocalyptic doom and gloom.

I honestly think that folks are just hoping for an opportunity to actually get to use the fall out shelter that they built for Y2K. Remember Y2K? folks thought that was the end for sure and everyone rushed out to buy their doomsday “survival kits” which oddly enough consisted of Spam lunch meat, duct tape and bottled water. Now I like to think that I’m a very resourceful person but how those three items would help one survive an apocalypse is beyond me. But fast forward almost ten years later and were all still here and the world is still turning and my computer is still working.

And then there is the speculation about the year 2100. This is the year that scientist and futurist predict the devastation of the planet, but this time the cause it due to the environmental conditions of the earth caused by global warming. Well I like this one much better, at least with this “prediction” the earth is still intact, but we may well just have to begin snacking on one another because it’s predicted the earth will be overpopulated and under resourced. And there is hope; this apparently can be prevented if we change the color of our ways to green.

I’m a believer in God and because I’m shored up by his word, I’m not worried about an apocalypse or anything terrible happening in 2012 other than the possibility that Sarah Palin may run for President and Charles Manson will be eligible for parole again…trying to think which one is more frightening.