ok.i read the link. pretty neat. i'm still a little lost, though.

ok...so the world is not going to end on dec 2012...awesome. so...does the mayan calender still says that there will be a change then, like most true 2012 believers agree? or does this mean that the mayans just got lazy and stopped making the calender after dec 2012 and somehow...researchers took that as meaning the mayans predicted the end?

i mean...i can understand a misinterpretation but why is there no known dates after 2012? if some dude just misread something...surely the calender should continue, no?

not trying to down this article or thread...just curious??? i never thought 2012 was "the end" of the world. i just always thought that 2012 would mark some change...or leap???

nice find! S&F for you!

great thread and an often ignored topic.....

And while the man himself may admit to his misunderstandings, do not expect the believers to take heed...Belief is an irremovable stain.....

The ol Educated Man Vs. Uneducated Masses.....

An educated man can't comprehend the effect an idea will have on the uneducated masses....In some cases, even the educated masses will fall in line....Take Darwin for example, who admitted to holes in his theory, just to be ignored by the same people that idolized him. Take Einstein, who admitted to our limited understanding of physics yet was martyred as the end all be all to modern day physics and the understanding of a universe that we've never even seen.....

Take Stitchen...Oh wait, Stitchen presented his findings as cold hard FACT....oh well, two out of three isn't bad...

Why people choose to ignore the similarities of the particulars involved with calendar construction is just sad....

If calendars were the end all, the world would end on December 31st, EVERY YEAR....Yet the calendar begins again, and the world breathes anew....like magic....

starred...

That's the trouble with ancient morphophonemic scripts used in a discursive narrative. It becomes labyrinthine trying to translate them accurately. I'm an academic in this field myself, but not in Meso-American areas of study (I'm in Ancient Near Eastern studies). Still, I know exactly how difficult it can be.

And once again a thread where actual researchers disprove the claims made about 2012 falls by the wayside, while the thread with Weekly World News as its source keeps getting replies and flags.

Originally posted by Xcalibur254
And once again a thread where actual researchers disprove the claims made about 2012 falls by the wayside, while the thread with Weekly World News as its source keeps getting replies and flags.

I feel your pain. If it's not hystericalendoftheworldomgwe'reallgoingtodie, nobody wants it.

I appreciate your work and time here.

The fact that the long count is an unending continuous calendar is lost on many people. There seems to be a misunderstanding between counting using repeating methods and a cyclical calendar.

For example, we use the digits 0 to 9 and see that the units position cycles through the digits 0, 1, 2, 3, ... 9, and then again 0, 1, 2, ... 9, and again and again. This does not mean we use a cyclical counting system.

In the same manner the long count is not cyclical. Each day is assigned a unique number. No two days have the same number. That means that the long count does not cycle.

Thanks for posting this thread of sanity.

Well, I think there are two reasons for the lack of interest here.

1. Outside of academic circles, Stuart's article (despite it's often jocular and unpretentious tone) would read as quite dry, dull, and not easy to understand for those who have no academic background. This makes it a one-sided debate you have started here. And, that's not much fun for anyone, is it?

2. Doom - some people enjoy, and even need, the idea of an apocalyptic or ecstatic event. The motivations behind these needs could be less to do with the idea of the uneducated masses reveling in ignorance, and more to do with the sociological factors at work. These reasons run the gamut from feeling desperate, unfulfilled, lonely, sad, disenfranchised and misanthropic, all the way to extreme boredom and a growing intolerance for the mundane.

Fear, wonder, imagination, excitement - these emotions are an antidote to the either despotic, warring or monotonous societies we find ourselves in. So, they look to the skies for deus ex machina. Should we ridicule, lambast and snark at them for it? I don't think so.