I didn't consider an asteroid or whether or not the sun will burn out. I was thinking much smaller in terms of the Mayan calendar bullshit. Certainly the sun will burn out and the Earth will get hit by something and eventually the entire universe will begin to contract!

You just wait and see - she'll be elected. Why do you think the Mayans predicted the Apocalypse in 2012?

*controversy.

From the Time article linked above (the other side of the story is that the president's enemies did it to make him look bad... a bit of a stretch, but you wonder - a conspiracy to stop a leftist? Hmm....).

"Colom has said the Rosenberg video is part of a right-wing conspiracy designed to destabilize the government and ultimately bring him down. In a broadcast interview, he suggested that Rosenberg was coerced into making the video. Colom pointed to a radio journalist, Mario David Garcia, as the key link to the conspiracy. Garcia, a presidential candidate for an ultra-right-wing party in the 1980s, told TIME he helped Rosenberg record the video in his office the week before the murder. "It's outrageous. There was never any coercion," Garcia says. "I even left the office while he was recording the video." Garcia says Rosenberg came to him for help and to appear on Garcia's radio show but changed his mind and decided to record the video. (Read a story about the turmoil in Guatemala in the 1980s.)

Nevertheless, Colom supporters have seized the conspiracy theory to defend the President. "We're here in support of our President and against these lies trying to bring him down," said Anita Lopez, 32, as she rallied in front of the presidential palace on Wednesday. Students of the left-leaning public university and indigenous Mayans joined her. Many said the government bused them to the city from the suburbs.

Steps away, thousands of protesters, including students from right-leaning private universities, marched in front of the presidential palace, carrying signs calling Colom an "assassin" and demanding his resignation. The competing protests are the most visible sign of a politically charged environment that has the potential to cause Colom to resign, Isaacs says. "This country has for so long been paralyzed by the pervasive violence and the potent mix of gangs and narcotraffickers," she says. "Now that paralysis has turned into rage. And if these demonstrations pick up momentum, they could have a snowball effect.""

i upvoted because i think it deserves a place on the sift, even though i don't think i will personally benefit from this video (i don't understand a lot of what they say, and i'm pretty sure i don't agree with what i do understand) i still think it's interesting to see different views on reality

cult -> check the site, the template is focused on for example rituals/ceremonies), it beliefs the mayan theory of return of 'the stargate' in 2012, etc. it has local chapters like http://www.thetemplateglastonbury.com/, and there are a lot more reasons (it's a neutral sociological term though..)


In reply to this comment by EndAll:
How is it a cult? And why did you upvote?

Your video, Decoding the Past - The Mayan Calender and Doomsday, has made it into your personal Highest Rated Videos listing. Congratulations on a job well done. For you contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

Not that it makes a difference to me, but Tyson doesn't address the Mayan calandar or doubling of information as a function of 12/21/12

>> ^Diogenes:
erm, the term 'latin languages' is synonymous with 'romance languages' (i.e. spanish, portuguese, italian, french and romanian)
following the various conquests and subsequent colonization efforts, the people of european, primarily iberian, extraction referred to themselves by nationality generally, and regionality specifically (e.g. espanol and andaluz, respectively) -- purely indigenous peoples were called 'indios' and those of mixed race were called 'mestizos'
logically, as the numbers of the latter increased over time, they took to referring to themselves as latino-americanos or hispano-americanos, now shortened to latino and hispanic
being one of these, i don't find the terms particularly offensive -- what would you rather we do? would 'mexican-american' suffice? or do we need to be even more pc and culturally specific (i.e. moche, quechua, aymara, nazca, jivaro, mayan, olmec, toltec, mexica, aztec, oaxacan, nahuatlese, etc)?



It's not offensive, I'm just annoyed by the misnomer of applying the "latin" label to only a subset of romance-language speakers across the pond from where latin was spoken. We already have some more accurate labels for region of citizenship (mexican, honduran, central american, etc) and genetic origin (hispanic, native american, mixed)

erm, the term 'latin languages' is synonymous with 'romance languages' (i.e. spanish, portuguese, italian, french and romanian)

following the various conquests and subsequent colonization efforts, the people of european, primarily iberian, extraction referred to themselves by nationality generally, and regionality specifically (e.g. espanol and andaluz, respectively) -- purely indigenous peoples were called 'indios' and those of mixed race were called 'mestizos'

logically, as the numbers of the latter increased over time, they took to referring to themselves as latino-americanos or hispano-americanos, now shortened to latino and hispanic

being one of these, i don't find the terms particularly offensive -- what would you rather we do? would 'mexican-american' suffice? or do we need to be even more pc and culturally specific (i.e. moche, quechua, aymara, nazca, jivaro, mayan, olmec, toltec, mexica, aztec, oaxacan, nahuatlese, etc)?

^unclejimbo,

directly comparing murder rates country-to-country is not a valid comparison because of a convolution of variables and you should know that. the figures i quoted were not simple murders, if one included those, the numbers would be even higher. genocide is only possible under a differential of force. that occurs when one group disarms another group. i think you should read up on gun myths further before you jump to the conclusions held by "popular knowledge". if this is a subject you are interested in, (at least interested enough to read about while you are at work) i can point you to a lot of enlightening information.

"In 1911, Turkey established gun control. Subsequently, from 1915 to 1917, 1.5-million
Armenians, deprived of the means to defend themselves, were rounded up and killed.
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. Then, from 1929 to 1953, approximately 20-
millon dissidents were rounded up and killed.
In 1935, China established gun control. Subsequently, between 1948 and 1952, over 20-million
dissidents were rounded up and killed.
In 1956, Cambodia enshrined gun control. In just two years (1975-1977) over one million
"educated" people were rounded up and killed.
In 1964, Guatemala locked in gun control. From 1964 to 1981, over 100,000 Mayan Indians
were rounded up and killed as a result of their inability to defend themselves.
In 1970, Uganda got gun control. Over the next nine years over 300,000 Christians were rounded
up and killed."

It is not enough to say that gun control resulted in these deaths, this requires additional analysis which is found in that book. Gun confiscation rarely results in the direct, immediate death of its owner, rather it establishes a force differential which makes oppression, genocide, and murder possible.

You may not realize it, but one of the few things stopping someone from rounding you up and killing you is the fact that there are 150 million guns in this country. It does not mean that in the absence of guns genocide always occurs, but there has never been an instance of genocide where the victims had a means to defend themselves. If you take away the guns, and somewhere down the road something intense happens which causes a philosophical shift, you are ripe for genocide. Just look at WW2, the Japanese were rounded up into internment camps. How many Japanese lives do you think were spared because the US government did not have the physical power to kill them as a result of an armed populace? How about for arabs after 9-11?

It is extremely dangerous to trust your life with complete strangers, and that is what you do when give up your right to defend yourself.

First of all, this is fucking hilarious. Second of all, the majority of footage shown here is punkass kids and thugs 'fighting', as opposed to, hobos being exploited. Thirdly, employing words such as "would", "maybe", "possibly", and "perhaps" gain nothing in arguments, lest with fools. Fourth, trying to equivocate this video to Nazi, Rawanda, Ottoman, Mongolian, Roman, American, British, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Mayan, Japanese, etc. atrocities, is absurd. Do not employ this tactic in future arguments; unless it's with retards.
My videos speak for themselves and folk here will think what they will. Check my pq. I reckon my peeps be surprised I ain't post this shit more quick-faster mofo. Now, don't get me wrong, I completely understand and appreciate your allergy to this sort of stuff; it merely urges me to post more.

Congratulations! At this rate, I'll join you sometime between the Mayan Apocalypse and the end of Obama's second term.

Having known about the Mayan Calendar and the impending "End" in 2012 since 1996, I take it all with a grain of salt.

Although this cartoon depicts an Aztec calendar (and not the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar used by the Mayans), I still think it's funny.

>> ^Crawlius:
>>
I am not fortified against the idea that there -might- be systems in the cosmos which exert that kind of influence... But as of yet, such effects are undetected. Astrology is, like many things in the theatre of spirituality, a belief in the unseen. It is in its very nature to betray logic, and it is for this reason that you receive criticism.
But the Mayan Calendar...? Fuck it. 2012 will speak for itself.



aw man... yea... to be perfectly honest, and I know many of you will laugh at this, but from my humble observation, I see between 60-90 % of people falling into similar patterns of astrological (yearly/seasonal/solar/lunar/planetary/galactic) significance.
it could be because of the patterns in variation as we grow up during specific growth stages... these in repetitive cycles of maybe of sun, humidity, oxygen, bloody gamma rays, pollen, weather... gravity, black holes, 97 % of the missing matter out there, I don't know! some kind of evolution pattern or something... In Entropy it is postulated that if time is change, and change is light, then wouldn't a presence of such bodies influence the infinite possibilities of our patterns? One would be closed minded to ignore the unknown and unproven false, unlike the idea of "god".

The maya have been interpreted and revived in a few ways, but it seems their astrology is much more basic (and complex). They go for numbers of days where each day is a unit, a minimal integer. They fit in 27.32 day moon cycles within the yearly 365.242199 days. They take out days of time to correct the calendar in incredibly precise ways with 13 moons fitting perfectly in a year (as opposed to 12). The pattern of days taken away is eerily harmonic and speaks of greater cycles going on... then, also there is a parallel (slightly more iffy, more spiritually? based -dna supposedly-?!) calendar (tzolkin [dreamspell interpretation]) talks about a 260 day year with 13*20 (tones and tribes) matrix of different combinations ... and it all makes sense in a measure of time kinda, but indeed minimally (or so much so we don't notice it)in practical life, but almost seems more of a game than a prophecy, but lets anyone imagine their most intense vision... and if we can do all these wonderful things, can a prophecy be a vision? or vice-versa?

I wish more research were done on the subject, might be a good retirement project. If 2012 is an excuse to be happier for those who chose that, or fear for those who chose to fear, yea fookit, let it happen, let the SHTF! pffft! fear is a disease and a disorder and creates more disease and disorder. Once you start realizing how delicate things are, you start paying more attention to detail.

>> ^mani:
I love astrology, and how it mixes with geometry, spirituality and its sensitivity to the more subtle differences between us... why flog the "believers" as such senseless £^$& ??? yea ok so there is extremists in everything, but c'mon, I am not a senseless &@# just for appreciating 5,000 years of observation. Mr. Cox is entitled to his opinion but I aint no fucktard for admiring the amazing time cycles of the Maya, or for believing there might be some kind of end of cycle coming up... and our retarded governors would never even get close to such sophisticated perception indeed...


No-one would claim that you're a senseless fuck for appreciating 5,000 years of hard observation... However, no such observations exist. Astrology is rooted in assumption, imagination and superstition rather than precious reality... The concept that the celestial bodies and their formations hold sway over human lives is a romantic one but, as far as our intelligence has permitted discovery, it is also false.

I am not fortified against the idea that there -might- be systems in the cosmos which exert that kind of influence... But as of yet, such effects are undetected. Astrology is, like many things in the theatre of spirituality, a belief in the unseen. It is in its very nature to betray logic, and it is for this reason that you receive criticism.

But the Mayan Calendar...? Fuck it. 2012 will speak for itself.

Looks like the Mayan armageddon arrived early for them...