I had an experience while speaking in British Columbia in April, of a person who believes that the 2012 Mayan prophecy means that the end of the world will come on December 21, 2012. This person is one of the 10% worldwide, surveyed by Ipsos, who believe that the Mayan calender ends on December 21, 2012, which means that the world will end on December 21, 2012.
I referred to the Ipsos (Reuters News) poll yesterday on this blog. According to that poll:
“One in ten (10%) respondents in 21 countries agree ‘the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world’ – 2% strongly agree, 8% somewhat agree.”
One in Seven (14%) Global Citizens Believe End of the World is Coming in Their Lifetime, One in Ten Believe Mayan Prophecy is True (10%), Fear World Will End in 2012 (8%)
OK, so here’s my experience.
In British Columbia, we stayed at a hotel that serves a delightful complimentary breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, oatmeal porridge, and many bakery items. We also appreciate the helpful and friendly service in supplying this wonderful breakfast by the young woman who serves us.
Because of the fine selection on their “continental menu” and the wonderful service, we have stayed at this hotel many times. As a result, we have deepened our acquaintance with the young woman who serves us. Therefore, since I knew someone who had a condominium for sale in the area, I mentioned this to the young woman just in case she was looking or she knew someone who was looking for a condo to buy.
To my surprise, she replied that she couldn’t take on a huge commitment such as buying a home, because the world was going to end on Decmeber 21, 2012. I could have left the topic at that, but because we have come to know this woman over the years, I care for her and do not want her to live in fear. She also has two children and I don’t want young people to be frightened. This was no longer about the condo. It was now about her and her feelings of fear.
Therefore, I told her that I had travelled to Yucatan five times, that I had interviewed Mayan shamans and experts on the Maya, that I give presentations showing that the Mayan calendar does not end on December 21, 2012, and that, based on my research, the Mayan prophecy did not say that the world was going to end on December 21, 2012.
She let me say what I had to say, but I could see she still believed the world was going to end on December 21, 2012.
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According to a global research company Ipsos on behalf of Reuters News, 22% of the people in the United States agree with the statement that the world will end in their lifetime. Only 6% in France agree with the statement.
Furthermore, China is in the lead with 20% of their population agreeing with the statement that “the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world,” and Germany is tied with Indonesia at the bottom of the list with only 4% agreeing with the statement that the world will end in 2012, The United States at 12% and Canada at 9% are in the middle.
The poll also notes that fears over the end of the world due to the end of the Mayan calendar have led to heightened anxiety throughout the world.
Continue readingThese beliefs appear to translate into worry, as a similar proportion (8%) of global citizens agrees – 2% strongly, 6% somewhat – that they ‘have been experiencing anxiety or fear because the world is going to end in 2012.’ Most (92%) disagree with the statement (80% strongly, 12% somewhat). Those in Russia (14%) appear to have the highest level of anxiety, followed by Poland (13%), China (12%), Turkey (11%) and Japan (11%). Those in Great Britain (4%) are least likely to agree, followed by 5% in Germany, Australia and Canada.
One in Seven (14%) Global Citizens Believe End of the World is Coming in Their Lifetime
I had a lovely time presenting speaking events in Toronto on Atlantis and 2012. I also spoke to groups in friends’ living rooms in St. Catharines and Meaford. As usual, I loved meeting so many wonderful, knowledgeable, kind, and interesting people!
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As we wait to line up with the Milky Way’s Galactic Center on December 21, 2012, the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center waits for a dense gas cloud, three times the diameter of the earth, to fall into its center.
Or anyway, the light from this dense gas cloud on the verge of falling into the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center started beaming toward us 27,000 years ago.
Who knows what’s happening at the Galactic Center right now! It will take 27,000 years to find out.
Nonetheless, it’s fun learning about what WAS happening at the Galactic Center 27,000 years ago in this brief, information-packed article at Nature. By the way, the Galactic Center is in the constellation of Sagittarius and hence is called, Sgr A.
Continue readingHere we report the presence of a dense gas cloud approximately three times the mass of Earth that is falling into the accretion zone of Sgr A*.
A Gas Cloud on the Way to the Supermassive Black Hole in the Galactic Center
I am continuing to work on the 2012 End of the World Movie. I’m just at the part where I talk about previous end of the world scenarios and I mention the Piri Reis map, which, according to Charles Hapgood, illustrates some of the Antarctica Continent, with details of the landmass under the ice such as flowing rivers. The following excerpt is from Wikipedia.
Continue readingHapgood suggests that the Antarctic section of the map was copied at an incorrect scale to the rest of the map and resulted in the distortion and enlargement of the continent on several ancient maps. This would explain why there is no waterway between South America and Antarctica. He suggests several points of continuity between the Piri Reis Map and modern maps of the continent below the ice sheets. Since the Antarctic continent was not officially sighted until 1820 and its full coastline was not known until much later; this claim, if true, would require major revisions to the history of exploration, settlement, evolution, and technological advancements of the time.
These were the last two days of the Winter Star Party. Knowing how pragmatic my amateur astronomer friends are, I decided to wait until the last two days to interview people about 2012. That way, they would have had time to get to know me during the first part of the week and be comfortable with me. I surmised that if I started the week with questions about 2012, the end of the world, spiritual awakening, and a projected alignment of the earth and sun with the galactic center,they would have considered me to be pretty weird.
I was right. Even with my careful planning, I received numerous good natured reassessments of my character. They now know who I am. Nonetheless, a number of friends agreed to be interviewed on camera and have allowed me to include them in my 2012 movie.
After a number of hours of star gazing – it was a beautiful clear sky full of glowing nebulae, galaxies, and globular clusters – I went to bed content and satisfied that I had accomplished all that I had meant to do at the Winter Star Party.
As I drifted off to sleep, I instructed that part of my brain that wakes me up to take photographs that I already had two adequate images of Sagittarius and Scorpius with the Galactic Center sandwiched between them. And, I preferred that I NOT, I repeat NOT, want to be awakened at 5 AM (when these two constellations are enough above the horizon for picture taking) UNLESS, and I repeat UNLESS, the sky was absolutely perfect, and I mean PERFECT, which meant absolutely NO haze at the horizon where these two constellations sit this time of year.
Since a bank of clouds had begun to obscure the stars at around 11 PM because of a cold front descending into the Florida keys from the north, I felt pretty secure that I would be able to get a full night’s sleep for the first time since the beginning of the Winter Star Party. Days of clear skies have led to a serious lack of sleep.
However, you can imagine my consternation when my eyes popped open at 5 AM on the button! I argued with that part of me that wakes me up to take photographs that this was likely a mistake and the sky couldn’t possibly be that good. I listened for muted voices around the telescopes. If I can hear people talking outside my cabin, I know the sky is good enough that they are awake viewing. I heard nothing!
Content, I drifted off to sleep until I woke up abruptly at 5:27 AM. Still no voices! But, I could not drift back to sleep. So, just to prove to myself that there was no reason to wake up and take photographs, I felt around for my red flashlight, turned it on, located my socks and shoes, put them on, and stumbled out into the darkness.
Immediately, I saw a moving dark form – one of my friends. By the way the man moved, I surmised it to be Dan, the fellow who taught me where to find the Galactic Center.
“Is that you, Carol?” he asked in a hushed tone so as not to wake up our friends sleeping in cabins and tents around us.
“Hi Dan,” I said.
“Thank God you’re up,” he said, “Sagittarius and Scorpius are fantastic – the best they’ve been this week! No haze at the horizon either! They’re already over the treetops!”
I grabbed my gear, attached my camera to its tripod using the red light from my flashlight, and took 60 second exposures of one of the most magnificent areas of the sky – the warm glow that marks the magnificent Giant Black Hole at the center of the Milky Way.
I kept holding the shutter down until the rising sun lit the sky so bright that I could no longer see the stars.
How does that part of me that wakes me up to take photographs know these things!!!!
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