So, busy-busy-busy time of year! My sons birthday was this week, Hanukkah, Christmas, and Kwanzaa are coming up, New Years Eve, and the end of the world as we know it is upon us in a couple of weeks - boy, is December just packed full of exciting stuff!
So, not to scare you or anything, but did you hear about what happened in India earlier this year? Almost 700 Million people lost power for 2 Days in July. Can you imagine your life without cell phone, computer, TV, lights, refrigeration, air conditioning, etc for 2 days? Most of us get impatient if something doesn't work after 3 seconds... we wouldn't stand a chance. What about the very real threat of cyber warfare? Everything is on the grid these days, it's not unreasonable to imagine hackers breaking in and bringing down the power grid of any given country. Bringing the world to a grinding halt.
Then what? Are the Mayans right? Does the world implode or explode, literally or figuratively?
Are you prepared to fight your neighbor to the death over a box of (now discontinued) Twinkies and can of chunk light tuna in water? Because that is what's going to happen. It might sound extreme but it's really quite possible. The governments might be able to maintain control for a few weeks, but its eventually gonna fall apart... although, it probably won't actually be because some guy with a gold & leather skirt and feathers in his hair several thousand years ago said it would, it will more likely be our own greed that brings about our destruction... but hey, this is a mixed post :-).
The vast majority of us are completely ill equipped to cope if even the slightest thing goes wrong. Billions of people will die. Though I personally will not lament the loss of the Kardashians or Snookie and Jwoww or Justin Bieber... millions of folks who are more concerned with what's happening on the next season of Pawn Stars will die because they just never learned any skills that might help them survive, and part of me thinks that is sad... a very small part. The rest says "good riddance.", less people means a healthier planet.
That being said, I have zero confidence, er... uh... fear that anything of any significance will happen on the 21st of December this year. The end of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar isn't significant in any way other than maybe they ran out of rock to chisel on (I'm kidding, of course... everyone knows they made everything out of gold...). The Long Count calendar lasts about 5,125.36 years which is referred to as the Great Cycle. There have been 13 Great Cycles. The next one will be March 26, 2407. Hopefully by then mankind (if we are still around) will have learned that its not a big deal and it will be a proper party.
"However, Mayan scholars and natives dismiss the apocalyptic theories, noting that end of the calendar would be regarded as a time of celebration, much like modern-day New Year festivities [source: Stevenson]. There are also no Mayan inscriptions or writings that predict the end of the world when the Great Cycle concludes [source: MacDonald]." - from how stuff works.
Now maybe you are asking about "Planet X" now. Its a secret planet that is supposed to crash into us and knock us off our axis and into oblivion... Epic winner Neil deGrasse Tyson has this to say on it:
Hope the injuries you sustained fighting that 67 year old grandma for a cashmere scarf during Black Friday have healed... Happy Holidays y'all.
