Apocalypse Now

Over the New Year weekend, we watched Dara O’Briain’s ‘This Is The Show’ where he speaks about the film 2012 and the scientific downfalls in the plot.  Being a lover of my own Sky Movies package, I was thrilled to find 2012 showing on one of the channels the next day. Unfortunately we’d missed the very beginning which features in Dara O’Briain’s routine but, as is my way with apocalyptic films, I became hooked and so watched it anyway.

I also went on Facebook and saw that one of my friends had posted that the world is due to end on 23^rd December 2012 and I just caught an advert for a programme regarding the Mayan Prophecy on the end of the world in 2012.

My spidey sense is tingling and the paranoia is starting to kick in.  I’ve already made plans for 2013 and 2014, the world cannot end in 2012.  So I decided to do some research and here are a few of the many details that I found;

1.     The Mayan Calendar ends on 21^st December 2012.

The ancient Mayans believed in a cycle where the Earth passes through each of the 12 zodiac signs.  2012 will be the year that this cycle ends.  The Mayans were intelligent star gazers, mathematicians, architects and scientists and they weren’t the only ones to believe in these cycles. The Egyptians, Cherokee, Apache, Aborigines are a few among the many others who also believe in this prediction.

However, this Mayan prediction has been taken from an artefact that is damaged, some of the scripture is difficult to make out and so could have easily been misinterpreted.  One expert has claimed that rather than the end of the world, it actually signifies the coming of a Mayan God.

What these predictions also fail the mention is that the cycle shown on the calendar has already ended- 12 times in fact – without the world being destroyed in the process.

What I also find interesting, in my own cynical way, is that the Mayan Government is expecting a high tourist turnout for the end of the world.  What an excellent way to boost tourism and a good excuse for a massive party!  Let’s just hope the Mayan Government has a chance to spend it’s riches.

2.     The Book of Revelations

In the Book of Revelations, it is written;

(8:10) And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star, burning as a torch, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of the waters; And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

This could easily be a description of an asteroid hitting our planet – 433 Eros is expected to pass Earth on 31^st January 2012.

However it will pass the earth at a distance of 16.6 million miles. The moon is closer to Earth and impact is highly unlikely.

What I personally found interesting was that it is consistently a third that is blighted throughout the entire passage.  Which is also the number of stars (angels) that fell from Heaven when Lucifer fell. 

3.     Natural Disaster

The number and intensity of earthquakes have increased resulting in devastating tsunamis such as the earthquake and tsunami that swept across Japan in 2011.

According to some research the staggering increase in earthquake and volcanic activity is down the reversal of the magnetic poles taking place causing the tectonic plates to move and the electromagnetic forces and earth’s gravity to be severely affected.  This might account for the all of the bad weather – maybe it isn’t global warming after all!

Although, the magnetic poles are capable of flipping, this would not be an instantaneous event.  It would happen slowly over thousands of years and even then, according to the scientists, the biggest inconvenience for us would be to have to change our compasses. 

All of these predictions (and this is only a handful) can be interpreted in many different ways. All is not lost!  Perhaps 2012 will see a new age of enlightenment – unlikely considering Britain’s Government.  Perhaps the politicians’ warnings that 2012 will be worse than 2011 will come true and the financial market will crash sending us back into the dark ages.  Or perhaps life in this world will actually be destroyed. 

Or maybe nothing will happen. 

Any facts, fiction or otherwise were taken from here;

http://2012apocalypse.net/

http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/front+seat+apocalypse+2012/5935874/story.html

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45834574/ns/today-today_tech/t/apocalypse-not-now-doomsday-predictions-debunked-nasa/#.TwHIt3ozCSo

http://www.articlesbase.com/nature-articles/asteroid-2012-will-433-eros-hit-1313672.html

http://survivalguide2012.org/nostradamus-2012/