2012 The Movie: Movie Fact or Movie Fiction

What can I say about this movie? Not much. As for action packed with over and over and over again cliff hangers, it definitely keeps you on the edge of your seat. As for repeated situations our concerned key players get themselves into, it’s not diculous, but ridiculous. As you root for your favorite characters while they consistently maneuver around Mother Nature’s disastrous obstacles; You tend to forget about the little things in life, like the hundreds of thousands of people in the background going through unmentionable agonizing deaths. Oh the humanity of it all, someone’s grandparents, parents or children getting ripped apart through explosions, or falling great distances to their deaths, or being swallowed up by exaggerated fiery explosions or ultimately suffocating to death while drowning. But you don’t seem to mind, hey, you’re cheering for a dysfunctional family not only trying to save their own lives but trying to save their dysfunctional relationships too! Give me a break. How shallow the movie industry has become writing crap like this, and unfortunately yes, how shallow I’ve become spending money to watch it. And can you believe what they’re charging for large soft drinks now? geeesh. Sure you can sneak in candy and avoid a $4.00 a box charge, but try sneaking in a large soft drink. They can spot that super-sized bulge in your pants a mile away. But let’s forget that ugly picture for a moment and focus on the movie’s premise, “The world comes to an end in 2012.” First let’s look at the movie’s semi-realistic plot then we’ll jump into some information about the Mayan culture and why some think this could actually happen.

The Plot:

In 2009 the sun emits a massive solar flare which causes the Earth’s liquid core temperature to start increasing rapidly. This rapid increase of temperature is due to “Neutrinos” caused by a coronal mass ejection traveling from the Sun through the solar wind. Neutrinos are elementary particles that travel at the speed of light and are electrically neutral. These neutral particles can pass through ordinary matter undisturbed and are difficult to detect. Thus the ordinary citizens of the planet Earth wouldn’t know the event ever happened. Now the Earth has an outer silicate solid crust, a mantle, a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. The Neutrinos react with the liquid outer core which causes the Earths tectonic plates to shift. This shifting was first realized by Alfred Lothar Wegener’s theory proposed in 1915. He hypothesized that the continents were slowly drifting around the Earth over time, but was unable to show a model to demonstrate his theory. Later in the 1950s numerous discoveries inked his theory thus creating evidence of continental drift. So now after the solar flare takes place, a period of three years is needed for the liquid core to be altered and cause a massive continental drift. This three year time period peaks “you guessed it” on Dec 21^st 2012. This is also the date the Mayan’s next Long Count Calendar begins.

Disclaimer: I don’t claim to be a specialist on Mayan theology let alone an expert on the 2012 scenario, so if I’m way off base with this please help out in the comments section. If I’m slightly off base also comment, and if I’m close enough, then roll with the flow.

According to information off of various Internet sites and books, we are currently living in the fourth Mayan world. The previous world ended on a Mayan long count calendar date of 12.19.19.17.19. Another 12.19.19.17.19 will occur on December 20, 2012, followed by the start of the next date, 13.0.0.0.0, on December 21, 2012.

From what I’ve read, the Mayan calendar is actually a multitude of other calendars used together. Two common calendars which were used were the Tzolk’in consisting of 260 days and the Haab which has 365 days. The use of both these calendars created a 52 year cycle and is referred as “The Calendar Round.” Another calendar used to follow longer periods of time is called, “The Long Count”. This particular calendar was used to track dates relative to each other on somewhat of a linear scale. This calendar also uses a type of numeric decimal system to record future dates. One example for the Mayan date for December 21^st 2012 is [13.0.0.0.0.] The long count calendar cycle was also referred to as the “Great Cycle” and lasts for 5,125.36 years. Researchers in the field of Mayan time analysis say based on our current Gregorian calendar system, the starting date for the current long count cycle was August 11^th, 3,114 B.C. Thus the difference between the Great Cycle date and the starting date for the next long count puts us within the December 21^st 2012 date.

Did the Mayans also predict the Galactic Equinox where the sun aligns with the center of our galaxy? And does this date also fall on that dreaded 2012 date?

Well some say the Mayans were able to calculate the exact duration of a year to a thousandth of a decimal point, and much better than the Greeks did. Researchers also say the Mayans were able to predict every solar and lunar eclipse up until modern times. Depending on which Mayan researcher you read about, they say the Mayans were able to predict the exact date in which there will be a very close conjunction of the Winter Solstice Sun with the crossing point of the Galactic Equator (Equator of the Milky Way) and the ecliptic. (Path of our Sun). This event the Mayans referred to as the Sacred Tree and will occur on December 21st, 2012 A.D. or 13.0.0.0.0 the beginning of their next Long Count calendar.

There is also concern an alignment of inner planets within our solar system will also fall within that time frame. Well, referring to a Sky and Telescope Sky Chart, these are the planet alignments I found for December 20^th and 21^st 2012.

Dec 20^th 2012 7:00am: Saturn, Venus, and Mercury in our South East horizon.

Dec 20^th 2012 5:00pm: Mars, Moon, and Jupiter in our North East horizon.

Dec 21^st 2012 7:00am: Mercury, Venus, and Saturn in our South East horizon.

Dec. 21^st 2012 5:00pm: Mars, Moon, and Jupiter in our North East horizon.

All these alignments were referenced as seen from Colorado on those respective dates.

There is also concern about what our Sun will do if there is a Galactic Equinox along with inner planet alignments. Remember it was a solar flare which caused the demise of our planet in the movie.

Well some researchers say the end of the Great Cycle is also the culmination of a series of long-term sunspot cycles which will flip our planet’s magnetic field causing earthquakes and flooding. One large coronal mass ejection could flip an already weak magnetic field we are currently experiencing causing our magnetic poles to shift. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – US Department of Commerce, predicts our current 11 year cycle of solar storms will peak in late 2011 or mid 2012.

Segment from the NOAA website:

During an active solar period, violent eruptions occur more often on the Sun. Solar flares and vast explosions, known as coronal mass ejections, shoot energetic photons and highly charged matter toward Earth, jolting the planet’s ionosphere and geomagnetic field, potentially affecting power grids, critical military and airline communications, satellites, Global Positioning System signals, and even threatening astronauts with harmful radiation. These same storms illuminate night skies with brilliant sheets of red and green known as auroras, or the northern or southern lights.

Solar cycle intensity is measured in maximum number of sunspots – dark blotches on the Sun that mark areas of heightened magnetic activity. The more sunspots there are, the more likely it is that major solar storms will occur.

So based on what we know about Mayan predictions, about the Galactic Equinox, about inner planet alignment and solar activity, was the movie 2012 Movie Fact, or Movie Fiction? Well all I can say is, “Run for Africa! Do it now!” Just kidding… ( but ) Magnetic Pole shifting was theorized by Charles Hapgood in his book, “The Earth’s Shifting Crust (1958)”. Albert Einstein actually wrote the forward for that book. Hapgood speculated the forces that caused shifts in the crust must be located below the surface possible within the liquid core. Hapgood also argued that each shift took roughly 5000 years, followed by 20,000 to 30,000 year periods with no polar movement. Also the area of movement never covered more than 40 degrees. Some speculate that the next shift falls on December 21^st 2012.

So once again, was the movie 2012 Movie Fact, or Movie Fiction? I guess it all depends on who you talk with. I would like to think I’ll be celebrating Christmas at home on 2012 worrying more about my Christmas lights working (which are way-cool) than worrying about the end of our planet. We should actually be more concerned about small asteroids traveling between our planet and our moon which happen quite frequently. At least two this year as far as I know. But the 2012 scenario will still be debated from now till December 2012, and if you’re like me, you’ll just sit back listen to all the arguments, read all the data, then still plan on celebrating a 2012 holiday season. How about some Egg Nog with Rum?

Tags: Chuck Zukowski, close encounters of the fourth kind, Paranormal Investigation, Unexplained Phenomenon

Category: Conspiracies, In the News, Miscellaneous, Movies, Pop Culture, The Z-Files