Countdown 'til the end of the world

[vsrinivasa]

Everyone will fall into a coma for a short time..  then a great mystical figure will create a new world over a 7 day period.

That's more optimistic than I would like to believe, as the cynical person I am. However, it does make me feel better about my future.

[ahinton]

Actually only takes two.

To tango, yes (not that I have the slightest personal experience of tangoing); to (re-)create an entire world? I'm not so sure.

But I charge for seven, and the peace and quiet is very nice on those 5 days.

How do you manage to charge anyone until you've actually created them in your own image?

That said, as an Italian friend once said to me, "on the seventh day, He created Italy; he needed those first six days to practise".

Best,

Alistair

[outin]

Actually the way I heard it the world ends.  I'll go with that.  It doesn't say everyone dies though.  Just that the world ends.  So.... I guess we could be floating around in space in a couple weeks.

I have always wanted to go to space. Who cares if this world ends, there are many more out there 

But this doesn't leave me much time to build a shuttle, must hitch-hike I guess.

[ahinton]

I have always wanted to go to space. Who cares if this world ends, there are many more out there 

But this doesn't leave me much time to build a shuttle, must hitch-hike I guess.

Not if you're patient; I hesitate to quote anything published by Sky News, but https://news.sky.com/story/1021906/moon-trips-ex-nasa-team-sells-1-5bn-tickets clarifies that you still have a few years left in which to save enough funds to buy yourself a ticket unless stocks run out more quickly than currently anticipated...

Best,

Alistair

[outin]

Not if you're patient; I hesitate to quote anything published by Sky News, but https://news.sky.com/story/1021906/moon-trips-ex-nasa-team-sells-1-5bn-tickets clarifies that you still have a few years left in which to save enough funds to buy yourself a ticket unless stocks run out more quickly than currently anticipated...

I was just thinking about my situation if this world really ends in about two weeks...

But moon is a bit boring, I'd like to go further, so I think I'd rather use that money (assuming I had it) to buy a few hundred old and new pianos and all the sheet music ever published...and a house big enough to accomodate all that. Then lock the doors and just practice for a few years...The only ones allowed in would be a tuner and a teacher every now and then.

[Bob]

13


Maybe the Rapture will happen.  They could roll all the end of the world scenarios into one... Rapture... Comet.... What else?

[austinarg]

Whatever happens on the 21st, I trust our friend rach4 will show us Scriabin's Mysterium on its entirety, as predicted by Scriabin himself "seven days before the end of the world, and we will all be replaced by nobler beings".

[Bob]

Yes, good point.  Everyone should be careful shaving for the next two weeks.  Maybe not shave at all even just to be safe.

And be careful when conducting as well.

[j_menz]

Whatever happens on the 21st, I trust our friend rach4 will show us Scriabin's Mysterium on its entirety, as predicted by Scriabin himself "seven days before the end of the world, and we will all be replaced by nobler beings".

That would be cool, but he'd better get his act together! Fast.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

Whatever happens on the 21st, I trust our friend rach4 will show us Scriabin's Mysterium on its entirety, as predicted by Scriabin himself "seven days before the end of the world, and we will all be replaced by nobler beings".

It's okay. The world isn't gonna end by then.

So I pretty much have the score ready, I just need to find a freaking orchestra and a way of getting them to perform on the top of Mount Everest.

[Bob]

Green screen.  No one will know the difference.

[j_menz]

on the top of Mount Everest.

Check your geography - I don't think that's where Scriabin had in mind, it having not been conquered before he died.

[zezhyrule]

But if it had been he would've picked it. Above and beyond!

[Bob]

12...

[unholeee]

12...

drummers drumming

[unholeee]

But this doesn't leave me much time to build a shuttle, must hitch-hike I guess.

bring your towel

[j_menz]

bring your towel

Yikes. I'd have forgotten. Thanks for the reminder. 

That could have been really awkward.

[Bob]

So... The world ends.  But what does that mean?  Ends for just us?  Blows apart?  Because if it blows apart there would still be big chunks floating around.  Although it's all a gooey creamy magma center....  Maybe an asteroid then.  That's still going to leave the planet though.  It's not the end for the world itself.  Maybe the Sun will magically expand and eat the Earth.  That would do it.  Or something will happen with the whole time-space continuum and things just won't exist.  That would suck.

[Bob]

11....

Maids a milking?

It's going to be a little disappointing on the 22nd.  We've been waiting for this for a long time.  What's the next end-of-world event/prophecy?

[Bob]

Well there's NASA, stepping in with their common sense and sciencey stuff...
https://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html

It's easy to say nothing will happen.  Nothing happens a lot.  Who's got the fortitude to step up and predict the end of the world thousands of years into the future?  The Mayans.  That's who.   


Look here.  Who are you going to believe?  Nasa... or this font?


https://weeklyworldnews.com/headlines/49667/end-of-world-confirmed/

It's always that type of font for those stories. 

[49410enrique]

[Bob]

I hope there aren't riots.  That would be stupid, whether the world ends or not.  World ends and you've got an extra little pile of stuff.... Way to go.

10....

[oxy60]

With all the brain power on this board I'm surprised that no one has noticed that 21 Dec is the shortest day of daylight of the year and a very good day to end a calendar. If the Mayans had survived they surely would have made another one starting on that day. Remember they were working with stone and there are size considerations...

[j_menz]

With all the brain power on this board I'm surprised that no one has noticed that 21 Dec is the shortest day of daylight of the year

That's because for some of the brain power it's actually the longest.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

With all the brain power on this board I'm surprised that no one has noticed that 21 Dec is the shortest day of daylight of the year and a very good day to end a calendar. If the Mayans had survived they surely would have made another one starting on that day. Remember they were working with stone and there are size considerations...

The winter solstice happens every year on that day.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

That's because for some of the brain power it's actually the longest.

Maybe in the Southern Hemisphere it is, but for us NORMAL people, it's the shortest day, and June 21st is the longest.

[j_menz]

but for us NORMAL people,

If you are normal, then I am quite happy not to so be. 

[vsrinivasa]

If you are normal, then I am quite happy not to so be. 

I used to live in Indonesia, where pretty much every day was the same length. So I guess I was semi-abnormal at that point. (I lived just outside Jakarta)

[rachmaninoff_forever]

If you are normal, then I am quite happy not to so be. 

I'm so normal, that if my personality switched, you wouldn't notice a difference!

[davidjosepha]

The Mayans never predicted the end of the world.  Their calendar just restarts.  

And they didn't include daylight savings and leap year, so even if they did predict the end of the world, it wouldn't be in 2012.

late response, but that's not exactly accurate. Their calendar is based on years, not days--they're counting solstices, not "365 days", so even if adding up the days means it should have "happened" a while ago, that doesn't mean that's what they actually meant.

Not that it really matters either way, since it's just a load of bullshit that people like to believe in a desperate desire to have something interesting finally happen to them

[Bob]

9....

*Bob shifts some of his betting chips over to the "Yeah, the world didn't end, but that's the Mayans were off a little/their calendar was misinterpreted.  The real end is next year."  and the "The Mayans were right.  Yeah, the world didn't end, but that's because our Gregorian calendar is off.  The real end is next year."

[oxy60]

I know that it is really difficult for us to get our head around how the ancients thought.

Calendar, schmalendar, 365, 364. Northern hemisphere, Southern hemisphere. It doesn't matter. One day of the year will have the least daylight and one day will have the most daylight.

Based on that some sort of calendar can be set up.

[Bob]

8

[j_menz]

I know that it is really difficult for us to get our head around how the ancients thought.

Calendar, schmalendar, 365, 364. Northern hemisphere, Southern hemisphere. It doesn't matter. One day of the year will have the least daylight and one day will have the most daylight.

Based on that some sort of calendar can be set up.

Of course, at the equator you mean 2 longest and 2 shortest days of the "year".

And anywhere between the equator and the tropic of whatever, there's one shortest, but two (equal) longest.

[rachmaninoff_forever]

If the world really did end, I would want to be in the center of that!  I wanna see volcanoes, Earthquakes, astroids, that would be awesome! 

[ajspiano]

If the world really did end, I would want to be in the center of that!  I wanna see volcanoes, Earthquakes, astroids, that would be awesome! 

so you want to be that conspiracy guy that gets hit by a giant volcanic rock?

[j_menz]

If the world really did end, I would want to be in the center of that!  I wanna see volcanoes, Earthquakes, astroids, that would be awesome! 

And if TS Eliot is right? Do you want to be at the centre then?

This is the way the world ends,
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

[ajspiano]

Not with a bang but a whimper.

*Wonders if any apocalypse theorists have considered how much energy it would actually take to cause the entire world to go "bang".. 

[j_menz]

*Wonders if any apocalypse theorists have considered how much energy it would actually take to cause the entire world to go "bang".. 

In galactic terms? One fourth of one hundredth of bugger all.

[ajspiano]

In galactic terms? One fourth of one hundredth of bugger all.

ok, well.. do you suppose that its reasonable for that to originate purely within our planet? or would the have to be an outside force..?

Whats the likelyhood of that force targeting earth so directly.. and the likelyhood of that force resulting in a "bang" rather than a general vaporization?

[j_menz]

Whats the likelyhood of that force targeting earth so directly.. and the likelyhood of that force resulting in a "bang" rather than a general vaporization?

Ask the planet that used to sit between Mars and Jupiter, now known as the asteroid belt.

[ajspiano]

Ask the planet that used to sit between Mars and Jupiter, now known as the asteroid belt.

Don't be stupid, broken planets can not talk.

[j_menz]

Don't be stupid, broken planets can not talk.

Yet they can speak eloquently.

[Bob]

Oh... The 21st is a Friday.  I thought it was a Thursday.  

Darn Mayans.... Taking my weekend...

[ajspiano]

planet that used to sit between Mars and Jupiter, now known as the asteroid belt.

...do you have a reference for that.. since all I can find suggests that that was a hypothesis formed in 1802 which has since largely been discredited.

[j_menz]

...do you have a reference for that.. since all I can find suggests that that was a hypothesis formed in 1802 which has since largely been discredited.

Note to self: Must update Astronomy library. Who's this Galileo guy, sounds interesting....

[ajspiano]

Note to self: Must update Astronomy library. Who's this Galileo guy, sounds interesting....

if its that dated you may like to consider resorting.. perhaps confirming you're not confusing the subject with astrology..  I suggest separating (and burning) anything of that persuasion.

[j_menz]

if its that dated you may like to consider resorting.. perhaps confirming you're not confusing the subject with astrology..  I suggest separating (and burning) anything of that persuasion.

I don't think Ptolemy is an astrologer.

I'd also have more faith in the newer guys if they weren't busy losing more of the universe than they were finding.

[ajspiano]

I don't think Ptolemy is an astrologer.

wikipedia seems to think that he was involved in both fields..

[j_menz]

wikipedia seems to think that he was involved in both fields..

wikipedia seems to think that rap is a form of music