Friday, October 19, 2018

Mayan Calendar



-  2136  - - Mayan Calendar.  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.  The ancient Maya calendar predicts the end of the world on December 21.
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----------------------------------  2136   - Mayan Calendar
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-  The ancient Maya calendar predicted the end of the world on December 21, 2012.  It  is Grant Detrick’s birthday, it is the shortest day of winter, and to top it all off, it is Doomsday.  I thought I should warn you.  What are you going to do when you have less than two months to live?
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-  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 track 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.
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-   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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-  It was only very recently that science was able to learn enough of the Mayan writing to understand its meaning.  Inscriptions were  put on all of their building and stone structures.  At first they were seen as mere carvings, but, later they were understood to be a form of hieroglyphic language.
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-  What is most interesting is that every inscription was dated using their Mayan calendar.  Just like painters who signed their works of art, these Mayan stone masons dated their work.  The upper left block of hieroglyphics was the exact day the structure was built. 
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-  The first five carvings after the symbol for the calendar contained bars and dots that represented a number to the base 20.  Just like we have a numbering system to the base 10 the Mayans used a numbering system to the base 20.  Obviously, the Mayans did not wear shoes.
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-  Once science had cataloged the meanings of each of these symbols they could interpret the numbers that signified the date.  On this structure the numbers were:
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--------------------   9  -  12  -  2  - 0  -  16
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-  Using the base 20 we would interpret these numbers to mean:
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---------------  (9 * 160,000 )  + (12 * 8,000)  +  (2 * 400)  + ( 0 * 12 ) + (16 * 1)
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--------------  However, the Mayans through us a curve.  In the third place of their number they did not us a 20, they used an 18.  It turns out they wanted an 18 in order to have a multiple that came closer to the number of days in a year.  18 * 20 = 360 which is closer than 20 * 20 = 400.  Of course they had 5 days to add in so they developed 5-day leap years.  A little complicated but the system worked for them.
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--------------------   9  -  12  -  2  - 0  -  16
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Using the base 20,  with the 18 in the third place,  we would interpret these numbers to mean:
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---------------  (9 * 144,000 )  + (12 * 7,200)  +  (2 * 360)  + ( 0 * 12 ) + (16 * 1)  =
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--------------  =  1,383,136 days
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--------------  =   3,789 years.
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-  We know the structure was dated at 3,789 years, but from when?  We do not know when the Mayans started counting in their calendar.  We are at 2008 years A.D. after the Death of Christ.  And, we use B.C for the birth of Christ for Before Christ.  So, the Mayans must have had some significant event in their history at which they started their calendar.  What was the event on the Mayan calendar that happened on 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1 ?
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-  Fortunately the Mayans were still using their calendar when the Spanish arrived.  This allowed the Spanish to identify a corresponding date with their own calendar.  With the dates aligned and working backwards, 0 - 0 - 0 - 0 - 1  corresponded to 3114 B.C.
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-  With this information we can date the Mayan structure.  3789 - 3114  =  676.  The structure was built on July 7, 646 B.C.
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-  The rest of the inscriptions document the phases of the Moon, the reigns of kings, wars, and natural disasters.  The Mayan history is in these hieroglyphics.  With the understanding of the Mayan calendar scientists have documented the life and times of many Mayan rulers.  A Mayan culture that dates back to 3,000 years before Christ.
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-  The Great Pyramids in Egypt were built between to 4,400 and 4,600 B.C.  Before these times it is pretty much pre-history.  New techniques are needed to date the events earlier than 5,000 years ago. 
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-  If humans really did come from Africa and Asia into North and South America, when did the first humans arrive?  It had to be more than 5,000 years ago because the Mayans already had established their civilization.  We will have to use Carbon 14 dating to learn the answers.  See Review # 870 “ The First Americans” and Review # 871 Carbon Dating to learn more.
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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.
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-    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. 
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-  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.
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-  The Mayan calendar predicted doomsday to be December 21 st.   We still have time it's only:
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-  October 19, 2018.      
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 ---------------------   Friday, October 19, 2018         -------------------------
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