If you look at the Mayan long-count calendar, 12/21/2012 is simply the end of a long cycle, or b’ak’tun. Then a new b’ak’tun begins.
The long cycle beginning on 12/21/12 will itself end on 03/26/2407; the calendar goes forward til 10/13/4772, using the Gregorian calendar, in A.D.
I have a friend who absolutely swears the world’s going to end on 12/21/12, so that’s why she doesn’t feel she has to worry about paying her credit card bills. I’ve told her (repeatedly) she’s going to be awfully disappointed when the world DOESN’T end as she’s looking forward to. She subscribes to the Planet X/Nibiru theory. That being said, I will confess to enjoying immensely the film “2012”; chowing down on popcorn and guzzling Pepsi while billions perish in an unprecedented cataclysm is a highly satisfying experience. I love disaster movies, and “2012” was pretty much the be-all end-all of disaster films. Somewhere, Irwin Allen was smiling.
Happy New Year to one and all, by the way. Wishing everyone a good 2012.
The Mayans didn't even invent the Long Count. Variations were in use by the Olmecs and Zapotecs long before the Mayan civilization emerged around 300 A.D. The Mayans were excellent astronomers and mathematicians and they simply refined the system to their own religious beliefs and conventions.
Your Irwin Allen comment made me smile too! It's too bad he's no longer around to produce disaster flicks. Between the 2012 and the Gorebull Warming nonsense he'd be able to rake in millions.
****That being said, I will confess to enjoying immensely the film “2012”****
“2012” is rubbernecking on a grand scale, it hones in on that aspect of the human psyche very well. This movie has very engaging CGI that looks plausible enough to hold a persons attention, even though the events are incredibly extreme.