Hello folks and welcome to the post-apocalypse. For those of you who didn’t sell your possessions yesterday and head for the hills, might I offer my congratulations. As for the rest, I’m sure they’ll trickle back when they realize the sun is still rising in the east and setting in the west. I have to say though, now that we’ve reached the point in our cosmic cycle where the Mayan Calendar is now done – a dating system invented by people whose concept of time went far beyond our own – I do feel a bit sad.
Seems like whenever one epoch ends, things seem a little open and uncertain, the future somehow more free. And I do worry what the Apocalyptics will be tapping into next to feed their End of Days frenzy. If I had to guess I’d say it will be personal branding and implants, since there’s already plenty of folks out there who insists this is the “Mark of the Beast”.
But hey, count your blessings, right? We’re all still here, still breathing, and the world is still spinning. And I for one am pretty happy about that, even if it does mean we’re all still prone to the heartache and the thousand natural shocks the flesh is heir to, some of us more than others! The only thing it really means is that we’ll have to deal with said problems, and work hard to ensure that the world doesn’t end by the slow, natural causes we’ve spent many millennia unleashing.
And on another happy note, I just bought a new computer! My old one was already slouching towards its inevitable demise when a little accident involving some beer and too many glasses caused some of the keys to stop working. So as an early Christmas gift, the wife took me shopping and I scored a new one. Expect plenty of productive weeks and months ahead as I exploit the speed and capacity of this new machine to its full potential. I might be a little slow at first, as it is the holidays, but come January 2013, expect to hear plenty from me!
Oh, and of course, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2013! Hope you all have a lovely holiday filled with plenty of friends, family, fun, holiday eats, and some precious swag! See you all in the New Year and hope to have plenty for you 😉
Stories by Williams 
Don’t be sad, Matt. Talk to a practicing Mayan and you’ll find out they perceive it not as an end, but as a new beginning that has already begun. 😉
I know, technically the odometer is only turning over. But they didn’t map beyond Dec. 21st 2012 right? Which means we’ve reached the end of what they plotted out?
It was the end of what their ancestors plotted out. But I’m keeping an open mind and thinking to myself maybe we just haven’t found the next stone yet, or the carvers got a mass-hypnotic cramp all of a sudden… LOL
From what I understand of the interpretation of the language, those who still understand/practice it to some degree read the carvings as an end for ‘a new beginning’, not an end all together. But it is the end of that particular chronicle.
If I might posit my own pet theory… I’m of the mind to think that when you look back through history, there is a predictable, and somewhat quantifiable expectation of development for each civilization regardless of their developmental period. If this were to be true, and the Mayan’s had the ability to think logically (which we have no reason to believe they didn’t; some would look at our society and see an equal yet different savagery in our practices), then every society has a somewhat predictable start, rise, and fall. With that said, an arc of X number of years in not too far off the mark. For all we know, their ability to read astrological formations was far more advanced than we suspect – not because they magically stumbled upon something, but simply because they possessed a certain skill set – and this was simply a logical conclusion (or one of many, and we simply happen to be living during the one they chose). If the Egyptians effectively applied pi algorithm to forming the pyramids by using a simple circle, and being fully unaware that they were utilizing something we would perceive as such a complicated concept (which clearly to them it was not), then why couldn’t a Mayan civilization have a simple interpretation for something astrological that we find so mind blowing.
Sometimes it’s the simple things that elude us as a species. I’ve been studying quantum physics since I was about 13, and I truly believe that if you look long enough, and step back far enough, you will find pattern in all chaos and that a certain level of predictability is nearly insured. I am actually a believer in chaos theory, but the bigger the picture, the more the pachinko board proves itself predictable.
Holy crap did I babble a lot!! Congrats on the new machine. My hubs is a computer engineer – I am well familiar with the glee of new tech.
Happy Holidays Matt!! 🙂
Okay, first off, nobody rambled on this page by ME! I’m the philosophical rambler, only I get to go on about the nature of the universe! ME! 😉
Okay, tantrum thrown, to the civilized stuff… I actually am familiar with your hypothesis about civilizations and the natural path they take, which includes death. In fact, it was Edward Gibbon who first theorized it in “The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, which is what inspired Azimov’s Foundation series. He basically argued that all civilizations have an expiry date, being living organisms in themselves.
As for the Mayan Calendar system, was it not simply the case that they had plotted out 13 cycles since the time that they believed was the beginning of the world in their theology (ca. 3000 some odd years ago)? So in their reckoning, 2012 was just the rollover point where the odometer “turned over” as it were, and the 13 cycles would begin again. So yeah, I know they never intended to plot that date as an end in itself. More like a “all of this has happened before and will happen again…” kind of thing.
I love ancient civilizations. I firmly believe we should re-embrace a so-called pagan ethos. So much genius has been forgotten since the decline and conquest of these ancients by various nations and their Judea-Christian theology! But that of course is another subject, one which we ought to chat about further 😉
Laughing my butt off about your rant! As to the rest, agreed on so many levels, right down to the topic of the next rant! (I just didn’t want to look like a know-it-all) – Ha! Now I’m really laughing my butt off! 😉
Have a wonderful Holiday, Matt – whichever one you choose to celebrate! Me – I’ve already danced naked under the solstice moon, my skin shimmering in it’s brilliant blue cast. And if I’ve been a good girl, Black Pete will bring me yummies a plenty! If I find coal in my shoes though, someone’s going down for it – never, never mess with a girl and her shoes… That’s just smart advice for the chimney stalkers and skin walkers alike. (I live in an area that was settles by Hessian Mercenaries and Native American Indians – the mix of lore is fantastic!) ;}
“I’ve already danced naked under the solstice moon, my skin shimmering in it’s brilliant blue cast.”
Uh, giggidy? Wish I’d done something to celebrate the solstice. As for rest, I’m kind of partial to Festivus! Already had my chance with the “Airing of Grievances”, now I’m just limbering up to pin my father during the “Feats of Strength!” Wish me luck!
LOL – it was a wickedly clear blue night, with the light bouncing off the ground; and I live across from a cemetery so it’s hard not to get caught up in those moments.
How’d those feets o’ strength go? Hope they weren’t defeats 😉
Though I don’t celebrate it, my family does and Krampus nipped my butt a few good nibbles. Then we defiled a bird and other assorted yums, all was right! I didn’t have to wrestle anyone (my father in particular), and as among any group of 15 or more, there were grievances aired, but much more laughter.
I hope you had a wonderful day, Matt! 🙂
Happy Post-Apacolyptic Day. Oh, funny story; a friend of mine was asking what Reborn City was about, so I said “street gangs in a post-apocalyptic future”. Her brother and I had to literally break down what I just said and spell apocalyptic for her, even though she’s usually smarter than me. I was like, you’re kidding me, right?
Wow. That’s quite the noodle-scratching moment there! How to explain that without being tempted to say “how do you not know this?!”
exactly. and she thought there were 2 t’s in the word apocalyptic. i was like, “are you kidding me?”
btw, i got a facebook, check it out and show me how to connect my blog to it.
It’s really quite simple. You got to your settings, select sharing, and then you… put in your facebook address. Damn, its been awhile since I had to be literate!
thanks.
wait, what’s a facebook address?
Uh, you just use whatever email address you log in to facebook with when it asks for it. Or your username, whichever you use.
oh. now it makes sense. thank you.
Happy Holidays to you too!