Page 30 - 201311 - The 'X' Chronicles Newspaper - November 2012

Debunking the End of the World Myth Debunking the End of the World Myth WHSV.com You have heard the stories, you have seen movie trailers and maybe you even know someone who believes. Did the ancient Maya civilization actually predict the end of the world in December 2012? Shanil Verani, director of the John C Wells Planetarium at James Madison University, said the Maya were very smart. "It's absolutely true that they had a fantastic calendar,” said Verani. “They were fantastic astronomers. They knew about the position of the planets in the nighttime sky. They could know, they were able to tell when the planets would rise and set, but many cultures did this," Verani said. Verani explained, this is where the facts and the theories start to deviate from the truth. He said people have taken a kernel of truth and exaggerate it. "The kernel in the Maya myth is that that used to kill our forefathers," said Freda. • There are more than 12,000 they had a calendar and that it's turning over. These "preppers," as they are often earthquakes recorded each year, varying in That's true. Both of those things are true. But, called, say the Maya calendar may have first destructiveness from minor to catastrophic. then they extrapolate from it into nonsense," incited their curiosity and fear. Further research • The most devastating earthquake in said Verani. has led many of them to believe the date may recorded history occurred in central China in the The Maya long count calendar started just mark a new era of human history. It is a new 16th century. It killed over 800,000 people, and over 5000 years ago and on Dec 21, the calendar era that they believe deems preparation. some think it may have even tipped 8.0 on the does not end. It just marks the end of the 13th Freda said preppers simply take a sense Richter scale. cycle. This long cycle is called a Baktun and of self responsibility to be able to survive as • On December 26, 2004, Sumatra each one lasts 144,000 days or 394.26 years. best they can on their own. experienced an earthquake so powerful (9.1 on Verani said the calendar is really just resetting "I can not express enough my concern the Richter scale) that it actually shortened the and not predicting a catastrophe. about women's hygiene. Get those tampons length of the day by 6.8 microseconds and "This is absolute nonsense, complete stacked up and pads," said Freda. changed the rotation of the earth’s axis by 7 rubbish. The calendar comes to an end, our Freda has her own YouTube channel and centimeters. calendar comes to an end every year. It's called runs her own business to try and help others. • The north magnetic pole was first December 31. We flip the calendar, or we get a If we have a devastating storm, located in 1831 by James Ross; the trip took new one I should say, and we throw the old one earthquake, economic collapse, viral outbreak four full years. In 1904, Roald Amundsen made in the trash can. That's exactly what they would or any other disaster, Freda explained she wants his own trip to the pole only to realize that it had have done. They would have just started a new to be able to help herself and won't need to rely moved 50 kilometers since Ross’s discovery. cycle," said Verani. on anyone else or the government. • The Oil Depletion Analysis Center has He said that "massive solar storms," "an For those who still may fear the estimated that since commercial drilling began alignment of planets," or even an "alignment December 2012 apocalypse, Verani said to view in the mid-19th century, humans have used as with the center of our galaxy" do not pose a the Maya calendar like an odometer in your car. much as a trillion barrels of crude oil. threat. "It's just like your odometer that's at • The first seismoscope, an instrument "These are all scare tactics. These are all 99,999 miles and the next mile you drive, it used to measure movements of the earth's crust, meant to either find some way to funnel money turns over to 100,000 miles right? That's exactly was invented in A.D. 132 by Chang Hêng. The from you to these people to come up with some what this calendar is going to do," said Verani. device, which resembled a large wine vessel, kind of gizmo that they can sell you, or to scare Archaeologists also believe as recently had eight dragons each facing one of the you," said Verani. as 2010, they found a new Maya calendar that primary directions of the compass, each with a So who are the believers? carries on an additional 4,000 years beyond the ball in its mouth. Below each dragon was a It was tough to find anyone in the area 21st century. [] matching toad with an open mouth. When the who did believe the world would "end" this device sensed an earthquake, the dragon December, but we did find people preparing for Doomsday Facts: pointing in the direction the quake originated a change. Earthquakes and Oil would drop its ball. Freda is from the Valley and she has • The theory of true polar wander been preparing for the worst. Shortages postulates that over time, the redistribution of She is preparing, but not for what many National Geographic Society weight on the surface of the earth (i.e., the people are calling the end of the world. Rather continents moving, volcanoes erupting, ice she wanted to prepare for big, world-wide • The United States uses an average of fields melting and reforming elsewhere) changes. 19,148,000 barrels of oil a day. eventually causes the earth’s rotational axis to She is stock piling years worth of food, • While the U.S. Strategic Petroleum change. While some are afraid this will affect saying that she has “just about run out of mason Reserve houses the largest stockpile of modern life, the process happens gradually and jars.” government-owned crude oil in the world—a would take millions of years to complete. Freda's stock pile also includes weapons staggering 727 million barrels—if the U.S. were • Saudi Arabia produces the most oil of and antibiotics. cut off from foreign oil, this reserve would last any country in the world at an astonishing nine "It could be a situation where less than 38 days. million barrels a day. somebody's got a wound, and they're getting • The Earth’s magnetic field has • There are over 500,000 detectable infections or bronchitis, or pneumonia, or things weakened 10 percent since the 19th century. earthquakes each year. Of that, 100,000 can be felt, and only 100 cause actual damage. []