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why the world didn't end yesterday

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presented by science at nasa

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december 22nd 2012

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if you're watching this video it means

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one thing

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the world didn't end yesterday

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according to media reports of an ancient

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maya prophecy the world was supposed to

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be destroyed on december 21 2012

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but look around you

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the whole thing was a misconception from

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the very beginning says dr john carlson

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director of the center for

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archaeoastronomy

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the maya calendar did not end on

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december 21 2012

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and there were no maya prophecies for

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telling the end of the world on that

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date

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the truth he says is more interesting

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than fiction

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carlson is a hard-nosed scientist a

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radio astronomer who earned his degree

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studying distant galaxies

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he became interested in the 2012

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phenomenon 35 years ago when he attended

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a meeting of the american association

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for the advancement of science and

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learned about the maya

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where the rainforests of mesoamerica now

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stand a great civilization once

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flourished

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the people of maya society built vast

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cities with a population density

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comparable to modern los angeles county

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they mastered astronomy and developed an

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elaborate written language

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most impressive to carlson was their

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expansive sense of time

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the times mayas used dwarfed those

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currently used by modern astronomers he

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explains

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according to our science the big bang

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occurred 13.7 billion years ago

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there are dates in mayan ruins that

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stretch back a billion billion times

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farther than that

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the maya long count calendar was

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designed to keep track of such long

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intervals

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it is the most complex calendar system

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ever developed

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written using modern typography the long

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count calendar resembles the odometer in

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a car

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because the digits rotate the calendar

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can roll over and repeat itself

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this repetition is key to the 2012

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phenomenon

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according to maya theology the world was

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created

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5125 years ago on a date we would write

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august 11th 3114 bc

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at the time the maya calendar looked

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on december 21 2012 it is exactly the

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same

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in the language of maya scholars 13 bach

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tunes elapsed between the two dates

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this was a significant interval in maya

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theology but stresses carlson not a

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destructive one

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none of the thousands of ruins tablets

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and standing stones that archaeologists

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have examined for tell and end of the

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world

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modern science agrees

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nasa experts recently gathered in a

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google hangout to share their findings

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don yemens head of nasa's near earth

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object program stated that no known

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asteroids or comets were on a collision

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course with earth

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neither is a rogue planet coming to

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destroy us

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if there were anything out there like a

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planet headed for earth said nasa

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astrobiologist david morrison

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it would already be one of the brightest

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objects in the sky

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everybody on earth could see it you

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don't need to ask the government just go

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out and look

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it's not there

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lika gujarathakorta head of nasa's

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living with a star program said the sun

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is not a threat either the sun has been

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flaring for billions of years long

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before the maya even existed and it has

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never once destroyed the world

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right now the sun is approaching the

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maximum of its 11-year activity cycle

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she added but this is the wimpiest solar

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cycle of the past 50 years

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reports to the contrary are exaggerated

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to carlson december 21 2012 is not a day

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of dread

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on the contrary he says

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i have been waiting to experience this

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day for more than 30 years

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for him experiencing december 21 2012

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means visiting the maya homeland in the

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yucatan and thinking back to the height

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of maya civilization when ancient humans

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contemplated expanses of time orders of

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magnitude beyond modern horizons

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and of course appreciating the fact that

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the world didn't end yesterday

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got more questions about december 21

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2012

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check

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www.nasa.gov 2012 for answers