star drop
Snowed In
Reged: 02/02/08
Loc: Snow Plop, WNY
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: Qwickdraw]
#5563689 - 12/10/12 08:04 AM
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The truth about the Mayan Calendar is that they needed better monthly pictures. Paid subscriptions dropped off and the publisher went bankrupt.
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magic612
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/30/08
Loc: S. of Chicago's light dome
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: Qwickdraw]
#5563817 - 12/10/12 09:35 AM
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Every January 1st we start a new year, so why is it that when the Myan calendar ends the world ends rather than the calendar just starts over? Feel free to answer this on Sat. Dec. 22nd. I will be waiting for an answer.
This has always been my thought as well. It goes something like this. A Mayan astrologer is chipping away on a stone tablet. His wife shows up and tells him dinner is ready, hence Dec 21st
No, they actually had a good astronomical reason for when it started and ended. No doubt they did what the Western world did, and backdated their calendar to a convenient "start date" - but they also managed to have a 1,872,000 days long calendar finish up 13 baktuns (a significant number for the Maya) on an astronomically important day, a winter solstice.
They were quite good as astronomy; it wasn't a matter of "Honey, dinner's ready."
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killdabuddha
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/11
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: magic612]
#5564114 - 12/10/12 12:54 PM
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Indeed, isn't it their accuracy--to within .0002 second that of our atomic clocks?--which makes any of the rest so potentially relevant or interesting?
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Slow Astronomer
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: killdabuddha]
#5564430 - 12/10/12 04:13 PM
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As our scentific & investigative techniques advance and we reinvestigate ancient man it continues to amaze me at how much they are really like us. They don't have our technology but they certainly have the brains. Indeed, they helped create the technology. They could figure sophisticated concepts out. My eyeballs are getting sore from rolling up in my head every time someone proffers the ancient alien helping ancient man explanation. They WERE smart people. And yes, I think other life in the universe is probable but we may never find it. 
Dave
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wky46
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/12/05
Loc: west Ky.
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: Slow Astronomer]
#5564487 - 12/10/12 04:50 PM
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Wasn't it Caesar that burned that great library in Alexandria? Just think of the information lost. People have been smart for a very long time
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killdabuddha
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/11
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: wky46]
#5564569 - 12/10/12 05:29 PM
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Wasn't it Caesar that burned that great library in Alexandria? Just think of the information lost. People have been smart for a very long time
Not any longer..."Therefore, the Royal Alexandrian Library may have been burned after Strabo's visit to the city (25 BC) but before the beginning of the 2nd century AD when Plutarch wrote. Otherwise Plutarch and later historians would not have mentioned the incident and mistakenly attributed it to Julius Caesar. It is also most probable that the library was destroyed by someone other than Caesar, although the later generations linked the fire that took place in Alexandria during Caesar's time to the burning of the Bibliotheca. Some believe that the most likely scenario was the destruction that accompanied the wars between Zenobia of Palmyra and the Roman Emperor Aurelian, in the second half of the 3rd century"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria
And in the case of the Mayans..."Our knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and Pilgrim's Progress)."
—Michael D. Coe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices
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edwincjones
Close Enough
Reged: 04/10/04
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: killdabuddha]
#5564962 - 12/10/12 09:44 PM
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very good presentation
edj
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magic612
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/30/08
Loc: S. of Chicago's light dome
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: killdabuddha]
#5565056 - 12/10/12 10:54 PM
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And in the case of the Mayans..."Our knowledge of ancient Maya thought must represent only a tiny fraction of the whole picture, for of the thousands of books in which the full extent of their learning and ritual was recorded, only four have survived to modern times (as though all that posterity knew of ourselves were to be based upon three prayer books and Pilgrim's Progress)."
—Michael D. Coe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_codices
Indeed, the Spaniards burned or destroyed what they did find. We are fortunate to have the four codices left, as well as the temples and other stelae to study. Just recently, the astronomy workshop I mentioned in the video was discovered, and researchers have only scratched the surface of what it contains. When I first read about it this summer, they indicated they had, at best, deciphered and looked at a mere 1% of it. The ancient Maya may yet reveal a few secrets of what they knew about astronomy - I look forward to finding out more in the years ahead.
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Meadeball
sage
Reged: 10/22/12
Loc: Midlothian, Virginia
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: magic612]
#5565135 - 12/10/12 11:36 PM
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Oh, c'mon. We all know the Earth is going to be demolished by the Vogons to make way for a hyperspace bypass. Just have three pints and a packet of peanuts at the ready, and make sure you know where your towel is.
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kfiscus
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 07/09/12
Loc: Albert Lea, MN, USA
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: Meadeball]
#5565258 - 12/11/12 12:52 AM
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Very funny "Arlo and Janis" comic strip in papers today (12-10-12) regarding the Mayan calendar.
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Slow Astronomer
member
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Loc: Milky Way Galaxy
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: kfiscus]
#5565708 - 12/11/12 10:47 AM
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But above all - DON'T PANIC!!!
Now what the heck was the question? Hey Unky Rod, got any o' thet Yell left? 
Everyone should be required to read a history of astronomy. It's amazing what was discovered BEFORE 1900! We've made absolutely amazing strides since but the timeline up to 1900 is outasight! Amazing considering the state of technology at the time of each event. Just a few highlights:
2000BC - Hippaarchos completes first star catalog
150AD - Ptolemy publishes earth centered universe
970 - al-Sufi prepares catalog of over 1000 stars
1420 - Ulugh-Beg builds observatory & prepares star & planet tables
1543 - Copernicus publishes heliocentic solar system
1609 - Galileo discovers moon craters, jovian moons
1666 - Isaac Newtown 'splains gravity
1671 - Newton demonstrates reflecting telescope
1705 - Halley predicts return of comet
1758 - Palitzch discovers Halley's comet return
1781 - Herschel discovers Uranus
1842 - Dolppler dicovers the Doppler Effect
1846 - Galle discovers Neptune
 Clear skies, Dave
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: magic612]
#5566407 - 12/11/12 06:22 PM
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David,
Thanks for sharing your excellent presentation.
Dave Mitsky
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bardo
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 09/13/09
Loc: US
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: blb]
#5566952 - 12/12/12 03:40 AM
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Every January 1st we start a new year, so why is it that when the Myan calendar ends the world ends rather than the calendar just starts over? Feel free to answer this on Sat. Dec. 22nd. I will be waiting for an answer.
because that doesn't sell books.
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magic612
Post Laureate
Reged: 09/30/08
Loc: S. of Chicago's light dome
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: bardo]
#5567224 - 12/12/12 09:40 AM
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Every January 1st we start a new year, so why is it that when the Myan calendar ends the world ends rather than the calendar just starts over? Feel free to answer this on Sat. Dec. 22nd. I will be waiting for an answer.
because that doesn't sell books.
 
Yup, that about sums it up.
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killdabuddha
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 08/26/11
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: magic612]
#5567453 - 12/12/12 12:13 PM
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Here's another resource, Mysteries and Discoveries of Archaeoastronomy: From Giza to Easter Island
http://books.google.com/books?id=jzFk65Z8UIUC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&...
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Dave Mitsky
Postmaster
Reged: 04/08/02
Loc: PA, USA, Planet Earth
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Re: The truth about the Mayan Calendar
[Re: killdabuddha]
#5567728 - 12/12/12 02:32 PM
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Begin the Baktun!
http://www.chabotspace.org/calendar.htm?date=12-22-2012&p=1827782
Dave Mitsky
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