Is 2012 the new Y2K?

[dwhee87]

I've been to many Mayan ruins throughout Central America....they were a very intelligent people. That said, if you look at the 2012 prophecies in light of current financial, economic and political events going on in the world, it is easy to draw the 2012 Mayan conclusion...

Iran developing nuclear capabilities and continuously threatening to annihilate Israel. 

North Korea underground testing multi-kiloton nucs, testing ICBM-capable missles, and their whacko leader stating that the Korean Peninsula is near nuclear war

The alarming speed at which the current US Government is stripping rights from its People

The current economic crisis, which many economists believe we've not even seen the worst of

Add all these up, and the 4-year outlook is pretty dim. The Mayan prophecies of "end of the world" may just be their figurative interpretation of where we are headed.

[HiPoint45]

Strictly speaking the Mayans aren't "predicting" anything, their calendar merely ends on that date. Is it significant? maybe or possibly it means they got tired of doing it or that was far enough or something else came up, etc. Get prepared there's nothing wrong with that but I also ascribe to my old Granny's wisdom, "son when your time is up, it's up" Be prepared well armored well equipped and likely as not you'll be fine or it will be your time and you'll find like Achilles you missed a spot. But as far as a civilization seeing into the future and predicting my fate.....nah. Course I could be wrong.

[dwhee87]

I've often envisioned the calendar guys sitting around chiseling and saying..."2012...that's far enough for now. I'll pick it back up in a few years."

[Pistol Pete]

"sitting around chiseling "

Now that made me laugh. THANKS I needed that this morning.

[condition1]

I've often envisioned the calendar guys sitting around chiseling and saying..."2012...that's far enough for now. I'll pick it back up in a few years."

and then the Spaniards arrived!

[Ravingbantha]

I've often envisioned the calendar guys sitting around chiseling and saying..."2012...that's far enough for now. I'll pick it back up in a few years."

 Which they new were comming and knew would hereld the downfall of Mayan Civilization. Think of the Long count calander sort of like a modern day Calander, Just because your calander only goes to December, does not mean that there is nothing past that. The Mayan Long count calander is designed to start over every 26,000 years and that time froma is comming up soon. The Mayan did not go past 12/21/12 because there was no need, the current calander cycle ends and then the next day it starts over. Thier Long count calander is designed to coincide with our soloar system passing through the galactic Plain. This is the reason for the specific date of 12/21/12. How they knew that this would happen on that date is mind boggling, but somehow the Mayan knew something that Modern day Astronomers didn't know until mabey a decade or two ago.
and then the Spaniards arrived!

[handy1]

It looks like the Mayans missed the date by a few hundred years. Their world ended in the 1600s. Wonder how they missed that?

[CoyoteUGLY]

...Just like there are a bunch of idiots running around after the election with newly purchased AR-15s having absolutely no clue how to use them safely, there'll be a bunch of idiots running around doing similarly stupid things in an attempt to rectify a lifetime of not prepping.  And driving up prices in the process...

so when those folks realize the sky didn't fall maybe my patience will pay-off? They'll flood the market with AKs, ARs, and ammo galore from all those closets they clean-out... I better start setting aside a few $$ for the buy-up opportunity! woo hoo!

and +1 regarding "people" compared to a "person".

[Bomber1]

...Just like there are a bunch of idiots running around after the election with newly purchased AR-15s having absolutely no clue how to use them safely, there'll be a bunch of idiots running around doing similarly stupid things in an attempt to rectify a lifetime of not prepping.  And driving up prices in the process...

so when those folks realize the sky didn't fall maybe my patience will pay-off? They'll flood the market with AKs, ARs, and ammo galore from all those closets they clean-out... I better start setting aside a few $$ for the buy-up opportunity! woo hoo!

and +1 regarding "people" compared to a "person".

i like that idea.  maybe i could find AK's for $200 again

[CoyoteUGLY]

  ...maybe i could find AK's for $200 again

let's hope so! If that marks "the end of the world" then bring it on!

i type that tongue in cheek, but i seriously DO believe that between the economy and the hoarding-fears there will be a lot of stuff in the market later... some folks do a lot of whimsical things when they have a lot of extra $$, but they seem to let-go of those things just as whimsically when financial worry comes along.

Myself (and maybe other Hi-Point owners?) i'm not into dollar amounts & top name brands, i have a goal I am seeking and a budget to do it (defend my family & prepare for wtshtf). If i can meet that same goal with a Kimber instead of my JHP i'd carry that with no shame. Likewise an AK or AR instead of my SKS... thankfully everyone on my gun-rack knows I'm about purpose & utility, they won't get jealous if i call someone else out to play for a while, hahaha.

and IF the shyte ne'er does hit the proverbial wind-machine then great, cuz all those others who prepared on a high $ budget will eventually clear thier closets (2013?) and we'll all enjoy that! Hopefully we'll have plenty of cash in hand by then?

[devilsjackpot]

A lot of folks don't think it is the end of the world per se. Just the end of an era. Astrologically we are passing through what the mayans called "The Fifth Night" and it was supposed to be the darkest period in human existance, which seems to be proving fairly accurate. What is happening is we are moving out of the age of pisces (thats why christians, including myself use the fish symbol) and moving into the age of aquarius. Supposedly this is going to transition us into some new age of enlightenment. I've heard claims that we will "Transecend" and become energy beings (pretty sci-fi eh?). I've also heard that the anti-christ is comin. (The guitar player in the psychobilly band I'm in is a former Jehovah's witness and we chat this and book of revelations stuff when were sittin around, good times.) Who knows.

If I had to make the call on a disaster though? I'd say were do for a shift in the earths magnetic field.

Just my $.02

[99/100]

In the nearly 50 years I've been around I an as apprehensive as I have ever been. Not only the "world" events but the internal actions over the last few years which seem to be becoming even more egregious. My ten year old is now capable of "learning" and as I take her camping and teach her to fish and garden, (yes we've started with the BB gun and go to .22's this Winter) I have taken to wondering just what happens in a major disruption. I have a pretty good library  both technical and practical on everything from how to make soap to winding an armature. I have also started collecting books on blacksmithing.....   

[Swampfox]

I'm thinking nothin will happen, but I'm still getting ready.

[Ravingbantha]

I started a little side project not long ago, hears a little exerpt about 2012... chock full of fun facts, all verifiable just do a little web searching, most has been verified by NASA and all happen in 2012.

Many people these days have heard about the year 2012 and the prophecies surrounding it, and a vast majority of people scoff at the idea and site the Y2K hype as the reason not to worry about 2012. I will touch somewhat on 2012, but that is not the focus of this.

The Mayan Calendar is broken up into several parts, much like our own. The longest of these parts is called the Long Count Calendar, and is comprised of a number of smaller parts. 20 days made a uinal, 18 uinals, or 360 days, made a tun, 20 tuns made a katun, and 20 katuns, or 144,000 days, made up a baktun. And 13 baktun’s make up the long count Calendar. You will note that a Single Baktun is roughly 394.5 of our calendar years, which makes each Long Count Calendar roughly 5129 years. Now some say that the long count Calendar ends and that means that it is the end of all life, however as we all know life and all reality did not start 3118 BC, the year the current Long Count Calendar started.

However, the Mayan did leave several prophecies about the year 2012. Some of which sound like something out of a Hollywood movie, however there are some Mayan predictions that we know to be true. Take for example one of the most commonly known predictions… the Galactic Alignment. This actually is several events all happening at the same time. First off we have the yearly alignment, which happens on the Winter Solstice, this is when our Planet is in alignment with our Sun and the Center of our Galaxy. Again, not an uncommon event, but other events are also occurring on the Winter Solstice of 2012. On that day we will be passing across the Galactic plane, think of the Galactic Plane as sort of like our Equator.
If you were to look at our Galaxy from its side view, the view at which we can see our own Galaxy, and draw a line length wise through the Galaxy, that would be the Galactic Plane. Our Solar System, and by proxy our planet, orbits the center of the Galaxy on sort of a wobble. We bob up and down, above and below, the Galactic plane occasionally crossing it. We cross this plane roughly ever 33 million years (but others give a range of 27-36 million years), and some scientists theorize that this event is the cause of several mass extinctions throughout history, this is know as the Shiva Hypothesis , authored by Michael Rampino, Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at NYU. It is believed that this is because the Galactic Plane is far more densely packed then the areas above and below it, which may account for increased meteor strikes during this time. Part of the reason for this is gravity, much like our solar system the galactic gravity field is strongest in the middle. If you will note, the planets in our solar system rotate around the Sun at roughly the suns equator. So as you can see passing a galactic equator will mean we will be passing through a stronger field of gravity then what our Solar System, much less our planet is used to.

So what does this mean? Well most are not sure, but what is known is that this occurs roughly once every 26,000 years, which means that the last time this happened was before any recorded human civilization existed hear on Earth. So what exactly happen when this occurs is unknown, what is known is that around the last time this happened Neanderthals went extinct, we had the last Glacial Maximum, and we had numerous and severe weather changes. Before that (around 48,000 BC) was another period of severe weather change. Also it is worth noting that it would seem that some scientists say we cross the plane every 3 million years. The point is that in 2012 on or around the Winter Solstice we will cross that Galactic Plane as the Maya predicted.

Another event occurring on or around the Winter Solstice of 2012 is the Planetary Wobble completes. Our planet’s spin on its Axis is not a Straight up and down spin, but rather it spins at a slight angle, and that axis also wobbles. This is what gives us our seasons, as well as the slow change in the starts position in the sky with each passing year. It takes the earth 25,700 years to complete one ‘wobble’. This is sort of like spinning a toy top, as it spins it wobbles slightly; the Earth does the same thing. It is important to note that, once again, on or Around the Winter Solstice of 2012 the Wobble will pass into an Equinox position. What this means is that the axis will be perpendicular to the plane between the Earth and our Sun.

Yet one more note of concern is the Solar Maximum of 2012. Our Sun runs in cycles of roughly 11 years (11.120412 years to be a bit more precise), the last was in 2001. That means the next Solar Maximum in 2012, to be more precise, the height if the Maximum will occur on the Winter Solstice of 2012. The Same day we will be passing through the Galactic Plane. This date also happens to be the date in which our planet is in direct alignment with our Sun and the Center of our Galaxy, an event which is also known to produce stranger then normal gravitational forces on our Solar System.

[HiPoint45]

So what does this mean? Well most are not sure

Yes that sums all that up perfectly