.

By Chris Shore

Much has been made about the year 2012 and its relationship to the end of the world. Most of this stems from the Mayan calendar which suddenly ends on December 21, 2012. There are however, other signs that point to 2012 being a significant year. Is 2012 the last year for human existence? Or is 2012 just the latest attempt by people to cash in by creating another end times craze?

The roots of all the 2012 speculation is in the Mayan calendar. This calendar—or rather group of calendars—has been remarkably accurate since it was created prior to European discovery of the area. The calendar counts days from the beginning of the calendar, which has been established as August 11, 3114. That date is 0.0.0.0.0 in the Mayan calendar. The first number in the group is known as the B’ak’tun. The Mayans believed that the current world is the fourth world created. The previous three ended after 13 B’ak’tun cycles completed. The 13 th cycle of this world, 12.19.19.17.19 in the Mayan Calendar, concludes on December 20, 2012—making December 21, Mayan calendar date 13.0.0.0.0, the start of a 14 th B’ak’tun or the start of a new world. It is this premise that have led many in the New Age movement to conclude that a major catastrophe will occur on or about December 21, 2012 that will end the world.

While the Mayan calendar is the root of the 2012 speculation, it is not the tree. There are many other signs that the year 2012, specifically December, will be significant. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority predicts that the pool of IP addresses, the numbers that point to computers on the Internet, will be exhausted in December of 2012 at the latest. Many celestial events are predicted to occur as well, including the solar system crossing the elliptic plane of the Milky Way, possibly creating a large gravitational shift from the presumed black hole at the center of the Milky Way and the precession of the equinoxes . At the same time the Sun completes a solar cycle in 2012. At the completion of a solar cycle, the Sun’s magnetic poles switch, causing massive solar flares that could wreak havoc on our electronics. The gravity pull of the presumed black hole at the center of the Milky Way could create the worst-case scenario, major damage to our atmosphere. This could lead to climate changes and disasters all over the world. There is much speculation that some or all of the planets will be in alignment on this day as well. There is no scientific evidence to support this claim.