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- The ancient Maya calendar predicts the end of the world on December 21, 2012. Next Friday is Grant Detrick’s birthday, it is the shortest day of winter, and to top it all off, it is Doomsday. I thought I had warn you. What are you going to do when you have less than one week to live?
- The ancient Maya were capable astronomers and their predictions must not be taken lightly. They had precise understanding of the Sun’s path throughout the year. They knew that December 21 was the shortest day of the year, winter season begins. They knew the phases of the Moon. They knew the movements of the 4 visible planets. Detailed records have been recovered from the 11th and 12th centuries.
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- The Maya calendar kept tack of time with two calendars counting 260 days. Their 3rd calendar, the astronomical calendar had 365 days, 18 months with 20 days each and 5 extra days. The 2 calendars combined to last for 18,980 days which was about equal to the average human life span. The 3rd calendar started on August 11, 3114 BC and contained 144,000 days , or 394 years. December 21, 2012 is the final day of the 3rd calendar after a previous 13 calendars had passed, or 5,125 years ago.
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- If we are still around after December 21, there are still other doomsday scenarios to worry about, particularly if you are an astronomer, or a geologists, or a nuclear scientist, or a politician, or if you are so inclined just to worry. There are comets, epidemics, super volcanoes, Gamma Ray bursts, asteroids, planet collisions, robot rebellions, nuclear war, or just the Sun expanding into a Planetary Nebula.
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- Comets could be approaching at 124,000 miles per hour. If we see it at best we only have a few weeks before impact. If it hit the ocean it would cause a tsunami 300 feet tall. Its debris splashed into the atmosphere would block the sunlight and send temperatures plummeting.
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- A deadly disease scenario like SARS, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, could spread around the world killing millions of people because there is no cure.
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- Buried underneath Yellowstone National Park is a 640,000 year old crater, 45 miles in diameter. If this became a super volcano again the ash would block the sunlight and temperatures around the globe would plummet.
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- Gamma Ray bursts would burn away the Earth’s ozone layer. We would be bathed in ultraviolet radiation destroying every organism and the entire food chain.
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- 65 million years ago a large asteroid hit the Earth killing all the dinosaurs. Asteroids are slower, 37,000 miles per hour, so astronomers can track them. Maybe even have time to change their trajectory. An asteroid just a few miles in diameter would put trillions of tons of soil into atmosphere blocking the sunlight and plummeting the temperatures.
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- Our Moon was created when a Mars-sized planet collided with Earth and splashed the Earth’s crust into orbit. Another collision could happened in the inner planet orbits get destabilized. We could collide with Mercury , Mars,, or Venus. Our only chance? Get off the planet and find another home.
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- The world is housing over 19,000 nuclear weapons. In the wrong hands, or controlled by the wrong minds , they could destroy our planet with nuclear explosions and radiation.
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- Robots are getting smarter. Nano-robots can clean up oil spills. What happens if they get reprogrammed to eat “ all” forms of carbon? What happens when artificial intelligence becomes smatter than the human kind? What happens when robots learn to replicate themselves? If all else fails , what happens when the Sun runs out of hydrogen fuel?
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- Today the Sun is 5 billion years old expecting a 10 billion life expectancy. The Sun is getting bigger and warmer. In 600 million years the hot rocks will absorb all the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and all the plants will all die. In a billion years from now the Sun will b 10% brighter and the increased temperatures will evaporate all the oceans. In 1.6 billion years the last bacteria disappears and all life on Earth is cooked. In 5.4 billion years the hydrogen fuel is used up and the Sun Transforms into a Red Giant Star. In 7.6 billion years it will swallow Mercury, Venus, and the Earth. In 7.8 billon years it will be a Planetary Nebula ejecting its outer layers and leaving a core that becomes a White Dwarf Star.
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- What to do? Be prepared to find another planet to call home. Eventually, which ever scenario you choose, the Earth is DOOMED! An announcement will be made shortly, stay tuned.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and Happy Birthday Grant.
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RSVP, please reply with a number to rate this review: #1- learned something new. #2 - Didn’t read it. #3- very interesting. #4- Send another review #___ from the index. #5- Keep em coming. #6- I forwarded copies to some friends. #7- Don‘t send me these anymore! #8- I am forwarding you some questions? Index is available with email and with requested reviews at http://jdetrick.blogspot.com/ Please send feedback, corrections, or recommended improvements to: jamesdetrick@comcast.net. ---- “Jim Detrick” -- www.facebook.com, -- www.twitter.com, -- 707-536-3272 Sunday, December 16, 2012
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