New 2012 threat? - Page 3

Rift · #61 (**permalink**) 27-May-2006, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriangleMan

Were the Mayan calendars even harmonized from city-state to city-state? Was Tikal using the same calendar as Palenque?

It depends on what you mean by 'harmonized'.

All Mayan cities used the same Calendar. In fact the Mayan Calendar seems to have been adapted from the Olmec Calendar, and in turned adapted by the Aztecs and the Toltecs. (with different names for the months, cycles, etc.)

But you raise a good point. I know that the Aztec Calendar and the Mayan don't 'sync', even though it is basically the same calendar. They were in different years at the same time. I'm not sure if the different Mayan cities were all on the same track for year counts or not, even though they used the same calendar.

Sky King · #62 (**permalink**) 27-May-2006, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chem_parapsych_student

Interestingly, I've known for quite a long time that Weekly World News was inaccurate,...

I had once heard that Weekly World News was originally intended as a parody of National Enquirer. Then WWN realized one could not underestimate the intelligence of that particular market.

Eta C · #63 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sky King

I had once heard that Weekly World News was originally intended as a parody of National Enquirer. Then WWN realized one could not underestimate the intelligence of that particular market.

As P.T. Barnum, the Godfather of Bunkum put it, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." Of course, those of us with refined senses of humor relish the WWN for its parodistic side. It had a prominent place as a source of derision in my graduate lab.

This way to the egress.

Rift · #64 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 05:01 AM

The trick is they sneak in unusual real stories in with the balogna. I remember telling my grandparents that I couldn't believe they read that garbage. They showed me a strange incident in one article that had happened in the area that we knew was true. They said something to the effect "See! They do print real stuff". ::sighs::

My grandparents were very intelligent people (Grandfather ran two buisnesses for 50+ years), but sometimes they could be, well, blockheads.

Count Zero · #65 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 06:39 AM

Douglas Adams often proclaimed that WWN was his favorite periodical.

Gillianren · #66 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 10:56 AM

I read an article some 10-15 years ago in the Los Angeles Times in which they freely admitted making up more than a few of their stories. They said they considered themselves entertainers, not journalists.

Count Zero · #67 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 11:31 AM

The Weekly World News won me over a few years ago when they chronicaled the torrid romance between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. It culminated in their richly illustrated wedding issue: Saddam wore a white dress. Osama in a tuxedo looked like a nervous teenager going to his first prom. The wedding was attended by such dignitaries as Yassar Arafat, Muamar Gaddafi, Kim Jong Il and Jacques Chirac. That issue was a keeper.

TriangleMan · #68 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 05:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rift

It depends on what you mean by 'harmonized'.
But you raise a good point. I know that the Aztec Calendar and the Mayan don't 'sync', even though it is basically the same calendar. They were in different years at the same time. I'm not sure if the different Mayan cities were all on the same track for year counts or not, even though they used the same calendar.

Yes that's what I meant, that the day/year in one Mayan city would be the same as in another Mayan city. While they may have used the same calendar it may have been 12.3.2.7.7 in one city and 12.3.4.5.1 in another.

Rift · #69 (**permalink**) 28-May-2006, 08:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TriangleMan

Yes that's what I meant, that the day/year in one Mayan city would be the same as in another Mayan city. While they may have used the same calendar it may have been 12.3.2.7.7 in one city and 12.3.4.5.1 in another.

I thought so and that's actually a very good question that I can't answer. And not sure where you would find the answer at.

Rift · #70 (**permalink**) 29-May-2006, 01:56 AM

While surfing around I found this site-

http://members.shaw.ca/mjfinley/mainmaya.html

Lots of cool links. There's a link to a bad mayan science page, lol.

Swift · #71 (**permalink**) 29-May-2006, 03:39 AM

I know I've posted a link about this in one of the many threads about the Mayans, but I'm too lazy to find it. Anyway, the Mayan calandar was very internally self-consistent (we can figure out the time between any two Mayan dates, for example), but the correlation with our calander is less certain. I recall three different references as to the correlation, two of which gave the 2012 as the end of a cycle, but another that came up with a different correlation and put the date off by several years.

Added: I un-did a little of my laziness... Here is the wikipedia article about the Mayan calendar and it seems pretty good. Here is what it says about the end of the world in 2012...

Quote:

The end of the 13th baktun is conjectured to have been of great significance to the Maya, but does not mark the end of the world. According to the Popol Vuh, a sacred book of the Maya, we are living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh describes the first three creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. The Maya believed that the fourth world would end in catastrophe and the fifth and final world would be created that would signal the end of mankind.

The last creation ended on a long count of 13.0.0.0.0. Another 13.0.0.0.0 will occur on December 21, 2012, and it has been discussed in many New Age articles and books that this will be the end of this creation or something else entirely. However, the Maya abbreviated their long counts to just the last five vigesimal places. There were an infinitely larger number of units that were usually not shown. When the larger units were shown (notably on a monument from Coba), the end of the last creation is expressed as 13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13.13 .13.13.13.0.0.0.0, where the units are obviously supposed to be 13s in all larger places. In this age we are only approaching 0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.13.0.0.0.0 , and the larger places are nowhere near the 13s that would match the end of the last creation. (Schele and Friedel 1990: 430)

This is confirmed by a date from Palenque, which projects forward in time to 1.0.0.0.0.0, which will occur on 13 October, 4772. The Classic Period Maya obviously did not believe that the end of this age would occur in 2012. According to the Maya, there will be a baktun ending in 2012, a significant event being the end of a 13th 400 year period, but not the end of the world.

Rift · #72 (**permalink**) 29-May-2006, 03:55 AM

Ah, i was mistaken in an earlier post. I thought the mayans believed we were in the fifth age.

SpitfireIX · #73 (**permalink**) 29-May-2006, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gillianren

I read an article some 10-15 years ago in the Los Angeles Times in which they freely admitted making up more than a few of their stories. They said they considered themselves entertainers, not journalists.

That's where I first encountered the moon hoax--as a supermarket tabloid headline. I never imagined that anyone could actually take it seriously.

Tog_ · #74 (**permalink**) 29-May-2006, 12:04 PM

There is a woman that is featuered every so often in the WWN. She supposedly has the longest fingernails in the world. She also used to shop in the store where I worked. We asked her about that article, and she said they run it every couple of years and it had been about 10 years ago that they first did it, and that most of it was true.

mattweather · #75 (**permalink**) 08-June-2006, 03:05 AM

I think they meant a different secret that wont tell us, like aliens, asteriods, ice age, big bang or solar flare.

vonmazur · #76 (**permalink**) 15-June-2006, 11:31 PM

I think they have mistaken the "Axis Mundi" for a "Coati Mundi".....or the reverse...
""As P.T. Barnum, the Godfather of Bunkum put it, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." Of course, those of us with refined senses of humor relish the WWN for its parodistic side. It had a prominent place as a source of derision in my graduate lab.""
H L Menken was the one who said; "No one ever went broke underestimating Public taste..." not P T Barnum, Barnum said "There's one born every minute"( meaning a Sucker...)

I am amazed that a calender that did not predict the end of their own civilization, somehow covers ours....

Dale in Ala

PhantomWolf · #77 (**permalink**) 15-June-2006, 11:47 PM

Barnum said "There's one born every minute"( meaning a Sucker...)

Only he didn't.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ralphkeyes.com

This is the "sounds like" syndrome. Sayings of uncertain origin are routinely put in the mouth of the best known person they most sound like. Comments having to do with shady showmanship, for example, are routinely attributed to P.T. Barnum. "There's a sucker born every minute," is so commonly credited to him that it's entered the category of "everybody knows Barnum said it." He didn't. Barnum Museum curator Richard Pelton calls this "one of the few things he didn't say." No modern biographer of Barnum takes this common attribution seriously. Among other things, the word "sucker" was not that common during the flamboyant showman's heyday. "Humbug" was. Barnum used this word frequently, once saying "the people like to be humbugged." Another early American term for a gullible hick was "jay." A popular nineteenth century song included the line, "There's a new jay born every day." This could have inspired the modern version so commonly attributed to P.T. Barnum.

In his own search for the origins of "there's a sucker born every minute," Barnum biographer Arthur H. Saxon came up with two other possibilities. One was in an unpublished manuscript by Joseph McCaddon, the brother-in-law of James Bailey (of "Barnum & Bailey"), and no friend of Barnum's. Dismissing any thought that Barnum ever said a sucker was born every minute, this manuscript attributed that sentiment to a notorious con man of the early 1880s named Joseph Bessimer. According to McCaddon, a New York police inspector said Bessimer told him, "There is a sucker born every minute, but none of them die." This was the first time that the inspector had heard the expression. Alternatively, Barnum's rival Adam Forepaugh reportedly observed that a sucker was born every minute during a newspaper interview. Asked if he might be quoted, Forepaugh replied, "Just say it's one of Barnum's slogans which I am borrowing for the occasion. It sounds more like him than it does me, anyway."

All of these leads probably include elements of the truth. "There's a sucker born every minute," most likely grew out of the earlier "jay born every day" saying. The new version undoubtedly was popular among late nineteenth-century con men. After it showed up in newspapers, the saying made its way to P.T. Barnum's lips, helped along by those who wished to imply he was a con. Not that help was needed. These words just sounded so much like Barnum that we naturally assumed he'd said them. We still do.

Eta C · #78 (**permalink**) 16-June-2006, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vonmazur

I think they have mistaken the "Axis Mundi" for a "Coati Mundi".....or the reverse...
""As P.T. Barnum, the Godfather of Bunkum put it, "No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public." Of course, those of us with refined senses of humor relish the WWN for its parodistic side. It had a prominent place as a source of derision in my graduate lab.""
H L Menken was the one who said; "No one ever went broke underestimating Public taste..." not P T Barnum, Barnum said "There's one born every minute"( meaning a Sucker...)

I am amazed that a calender that did not predict the end of their own civilization, somehow covers ours....

Dale in Ala

Thanks for the correction. I'll get the proper attribution next time.

vonmazur · #79 (**permalink**) 16-June-2006, 04:21 PM

No big deal guys; I just remember Menken from the times that Barry Farber quoted him on his show in NY long ago...He was on WOR Radio before Long John Nebel came on, and he was somewhat skeptical of the claims of the whackoes he interviewed....Long John used to barely hide his disbelief of George Adamski for one, I miss the interviewers who ask the tough questions..

I had a feeling that Barnum was not the origin, but as is pointed out in the post, everyone thinks he said it, and even the Barnum Museum used to have it posted there some 30 years ago....

Dale

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