This terrible date - December 21
Zombies, hellish demons or Chubais?
It's no secret that December 21, as if according to the Mayan calendar, will come to the end of the world. Someone prefers to call him the name of the city - Armageddon, someone thinks that the name of a small composition by comrade John (“Apocalypse”, that is, “Revelation”) is synonymous with the end of the world, still others simply express themselves in Russian: the full paragraph.
Most of those who believe in an irrevocable and final “paragraph” (all who believe in the end - about 10% of earthlings) adhere to the popular hypothesis of a zombie invasion. It will be like this: there will be a large release of some poisonous substance - the Americans have already prepared a version about the chemical weapons Bashar al-Assad, - and then the dead will leave their graves in droves, leave the morgues, get down from the tables of unsuccessful surgeons - and will engage in refreshing the living and eating their warm brains. According to the scripts of George Romero, bitten, scratched, and eaten, too, will turn into “walkers” - and the rest of humanity will be saved except in bunkers.
No bunkers will save people, even millionaires, if a cosmic body crashes into planet Earth - say, the wandering planet Nibiru. A small part of those awaiting the “apocalypse” believe in this. Escape will be extremely difficult. All cities, villages, palaces - all soft-boiled. Is that someone like Bill Gates will be able not only to stock up with sprat in a tomato, but also dig in to the very center of the Earth. There, they say, is not only safe, but also warm. The main thing is to not seem hot.
Other people believe that December 21 will be a worldwide flood. Few share this belief - for example, those who believe it in Canada, Mongolia, or Russia do not exist at all. But cases have already been registered in China. construction arks 50 size to 70 feet. There are two Chinese who believe in the global (at least, all-Chinese) flood. One of the two vbuhal in the "ark", working on three diesel engines, all their savings. True, the boat built by him will not survive even a weak storm, let alone the end of the world.
Another part of those who believe that doomsday is close, thinks - in a certain correspondence with the "Revelation" of John - about leaving fierce demons from hell. These terrible immigrants, preceded by gray and pale horses, will arrange a total sweep of the world's population, and then select those who, in their opinion, are suitable for entry into a new, wondrous world. However, this option is not quite the end of the world. You could even say that he is his beginning. Every reader of the Apocalypse believes that it is he who will be saved. As for the rest, about the prophecies of John not knowing, then Julia Gillard - the Australian Prime Minister, a lady who knows a lot about black humor - wished them good luck.
To save your wish for storiesShe was not too lazy to record it on video and publish it. She is said:
To scare her countrymen for real, she said:
And then Julia Gillard wished everyone good luck.
One commentator on the Internet expressed his attitude to the video premier as:
Well, Australia is far away, while Russia is considering its own versions of Armageddon. From the above, more characteristic of the developed countries of the West, they differ, so to speak, with everyday earthiness.
According to the main scenario, the end of the world in the Russian Federation is controlled by Mr. Chubais. No, not with the help of nanotechnology - they say that he never mastered them. He can’t do anything in his balance sheet but huge losses. But then he will be able to arrange the end of the world professionally - due to the preserved mystical connection with the Russian electric power industry, as well as the natural connection with the Bilderberg club, where he was invited to a secret meeting this year.
It was not by chance that announcements began to appear on bulletin boards at the entrances of city houses demanding to pay off debts before 21.12.12. December 21 will be a reason to chop off electricity throughout the country. After all, no one will pay. If we have an announcement about the repayment of debts - people are running for champagne, vodka and caviar. Especially since rumors about the end of the world. Because of such rumors, the Russians have already dismantled all loans in banks.
Another Russian doomsday scenario is corruption. Recently, Moscow economists have managed to explain why capital does not cease to flow out of the country and why it has flowed by only half a trillion dollars in a “dubious” balance of payments article in just ten years. It turns out that all this was stolen. And now, passed through the opaque economy of the Cayman Islands, settled in first-class Western banks like the Swiss. In this regard, it is said that in Russia nowadays not only there is nothing to steal, but in general money ran out (see above about disassembled loans). So Comrade Putin can boldly speak about the victory over corruption. The end of the world means the December 21 move of all officials to the West, to pre-prepared villas, palaces and apartments. Instead of those who have left, there will be a lot of new ryurik, Sineusa and truvors of Chinese origin in the Far East. Just analyst Khramchikhin predicted their invasion on New Year's Eve, when all Russians are drunk and helpless. And here they are not only drunk and helpless, but also believe in the end of the world. Yes, and the authorities have departed.
The happiness of the Russians is that there will be no end of the world.
90% of people do not believe in scary fairy tales
Robert M. Thorson, a professor of geology from the American University in Connecticut, took care it is popular to explain to the frightened 10 percent of the inhabitants of the earth that no such “apocalypse” of 21 December will occur. The scientist advised, not without humor, not to wishful thinking and said that the world will certainly not end on December 21 of the year 2012, regardless of the Mayan calendar. According to the geologist, the Earth will rotate for at least one billion years, a star named the Sun will shine, and all this time, humans can live in peace. Unless, of course, be able to.
Investigating the question of the end of the world geologist was prompted by concern for 10% of Americans, who undoubtedly believe in the end of the world. Excited and upset the scientist and the fact that the entire Internet is littered with fake reports about the approaching catastrophe. Among all sorts of commercial lovers of the "apocalypses" there are quite a few religious people. Robert M. Thorson believes that the confession of some religions is completely incompatible with belief in the near end of the world, as if a certain Maya.
A religious tradition, the scholar writes, establishes the beginning and end of the world: creation and catastrophe. The apocalyptic tradition is built into the three great Abrahamic religions: Judaism with its messianic “end of days”; Christianity with its second coming of Christ, as mentioned in “Revelation”, and Islam with its “Yaum ad-Din”, or Judgment Day. Such completeness is a logical consequence of linear cosmology: there is a beginning, there will be an end.
But, unlike the three religions, the Mayan calendar was (and is) built on the basis of cyclical time. The cycle and principle of linearity are different things. Each long Mayan cycle, called a “bakthun,” lasts approximately 394 years. In the calendar that was started in 3114 BC. e., it was 13 baktunov. 21 December 2012 g. It ends. At this moment, the calendar “starts” again - well, just like a car odometer starts counting from the beginning, reaching the 100000 miles. We are not dealing with the end, but with the beginning of a new long-term cycle. And no tragedy!
For the Abrahamic religions, all this is unacceptable if only because the replacement of the eschatology of linear history with the Mayan cyclic calendar violates the culture of faith. After all, it is equivalent to a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim ceasing to believe in the manifestation of one who must return in order to save souls. Those who believe in the end of the world December 21, at the same time and distort the meaning of the ancient Mayan symbols.
Journalist richard roper from Chicago Sun-Times He considers the projections of the end of the world to be exactly the same speculations that have happened in the history of mankind many, many times. The Armageddon was promised in 1600, several times between 1700 and 1734, then in 1844 and 1982. And even last year, some people in America predicted the death of the planet. But the Earth is still intact, and we are all alive, the journalist writes. And we will be alive after December 21, even if the Mayans really predicted the end of the world.
But, contrary to popular belief, the Mayan calendar does not end next Friday. David Stewart, a professor of Mesoamerican art and writing from the University of Texas, recently explained popularly that the Mayan calendar actually continues 70 octillion years in advance.
Yes, but what are we scaring then, asks Richard Ryoper. Where did this stream of horror stories and dark rumors come from?
Apparently, he notes, a significant part of the population of the planet really believes that in a week the “apocalypse” can break out.
The other day, Reuters published the results of a custom survey, in which more than 16 thousands of people, residents of more than 20 countries, participated. It turned out that in fact almost 10 percent of people around the world believe that, according to the Mayan calendar, the end of the world will hit 21 December 2012 of the year.
Ten percent! - exclaims the journalist. - Why, only in the United States is more than 30 million people.
The end of the world, he calls the "doomsday boobies."
French Mayan writer Jean-Michel Oppan explained to the world over the Internet that “21 December”, as represented by ancient Indians, means the end of the next cycle. On this day, the Bologneoct deity should return to Earth, who will start the countdown anew. This is not about destruction, but about reconstruction, notices scientist.
Especially for Russians who believe in the end of the world, the Ambassador of Guatemala to the Russian Federation Herbert Estuardo Menes Coronado spoke in Moscow. In his lecture he is popular explainedthat the Mayan civilization did not predict the end of the world in 2012 at all.
December 21 will end only the cycle of the Long Count of the Era of the Fifth Sun, which began in August 3114 year BC. e.
At the same time, the Ambassador of Guatemala explained that in the Mayan culture the onset of a new era means changes in the outlook and activities of individuals, families, teams, and so on, including social, economic, political and cultural transformations.
What does this mean? For example, the fact that corruption in Russia will be defeated after 21 December 2012.
I myself am not one of those who believe in the victory over corruption - that in Russia, that, say, in China or the Cayman Islands, where they recently detained the prime minister - but I think it is better to believe in victory over it than in scary tales about doomsday.
Business on gullible
Bookmakers since the beginning of the year 2012 take bets on the end of the world. The start of the gambling campaign was, of course, given in the West.
Large European bookmaker "Bet-At-Home" suggested put on the fact that the end of the world will come in 2012 year. With the 250001,00 coefficient, you can bet that a meteorite hits the Earth. Bets on the end of the world are also offered due to chronic fiscal imbalance and the influence of the “greenhouse effect”.
Closer to the terrible date Muscovites became more active. Unlike their Western counterparts, our bookmakers in the capital do not believe in a catastrophe, because they offer 1: 1000000 bets. The following factors are also established: 666 and 2012. But the bet that the end of the world will not, can not be done.
To a win-win business the other day connected and enterprising Armenians. One of the largest bookmakers in Armenia, Vivaro, has started accepting bets on Armegeddon - 1 to 555. The end of the world will be considered the death of life on planet Earth under the following circumstances: a cosmic catastrophe, collisions with celestial bodies, global climate change (ice age, a sharp increase in temperature), the loss of a magnetic field by the planet, the emergence of incurable and lightning-spreading diseases and infections, natural and man-made disasters on most of the planet, the destruction of the ozone layer of the Earth and the occurrence of radiation; extraterrestrial life and other circumstances in which the destruction of all life and the death of civilization.
In the United States continues the boom of underground shelters. Trade has reached such proportions that even the sellers of such real estate, who had previously secretly laughed at the buyers, are now going to move into bunkers.
In Serbia, there is a pyramidal mountain Rtanj. Today, hundreds of people who are convinced that 21 December will end the end of the world, flock to this supposedly mystical grief. Hotels are full of guests. A local sect called the Day of Judgment states that December 21 will save only those who are at the foot of the mountain.
Local followers of the "doctrine" of the end of the world believethat the mountain height of 5100 feet (1554 m) hides inside the pyramid a building abandoned by aliens thousands of years ago. They believe that this building emits a special energy that can be directed at protecting against a catastrophe that is about to break out.
There are days when people try to book rooms in local hotels on 500. People are ready to move here with their families.
Nebojsa Gaich, director of the tourist complex "Rtan", says, that many people really perceive these places as a refuge:
“Tourist” speculation still covers the village of Bugarach in France, which is protected by police from the onslaught of the Domsdeevites. From 19 to 23 December, a hundred heavily armed guards will be on duty 24 hours a day in this place.
Those who want to be saved believethat in Bugarash, near which the mountain of the same name stands, directly from this very mountain, aliens will appear on a flying saucer to pick up all those lucky people who are destined to escape on the terrible day of December 21. And Bugarach is the place for salvation, the only thing on the entire planet. No escape anywhere else. And those who are rescued from the trouble of aliens, there will be very little ...
Local Mayor Jean-Pierre Delors says that he’s not worried about the end of the world, but about order:
Words are words, and the influx of visitors in the village is great to extreme. The movement "New Century", which runs the business here, does not get tired to tell all those who arrived about the hidden spacecraft in the mountain.
In a local Italian restaurant served pizza "Apocalypse". You can drink it with wine "End of the World." On 22 December, bottles of another wine were made - “Survival”.
One of the enterprising villagers rents out his four-room house for 1600 euros per day. The price of a place in the open air on his private field is Euro 400. Without a roof over your head. What do you want - for such tiny money even the tent is not provided.
In Bugarash, there is now briskly selling relevant souvenirs. Stones from the Bugarash mountain can be purchased by weight: one and a half euros per gram. Half a liter of water from a local source costs as much as 15 euros. Sellers claim that this water treats for many diseases.
In Mexico, which is much closer to Maya than France, there are special sets for meeting the end of the world, known as "Just in case". In kit includes: knife, which is prescribed to defend against attacking zombies, chocolate cookies and a bottle of anise liqueur, which is made on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is believed that this drink was consumed by the ancient Maya. The kit also includes a notebook for recording memories, matches for making a fire and a liter bottle of water. Recruitment manufacturers say:
In Chile, workers require the owners of enterprises to pay wages in advance - until December 21. According to surveys, about a quarter of residents intend to on this day to take time off from work.
The management of one Chinese company, Chengdu Higgses Internet Technology Company, came up with a two-day vacation for its employees (December 20 and 21) and released on the occasion of the coming end of the world, a special “memo” in which company employees are called “comrades in arms”.
Managers advised employees to ensure that there were no thefts and fires, to turn off mobile phones, to spend time with their relatives, and at the same time wished all those who believe in the end of the world ... the fulfillment of desires.
Residents of two districts (Shuangliu and Longchang), located in southwestern China, in Sichuan Province, cleared stores from candles and matches. The invasion is not a zombie, but buyers have been promoted by speculation on the Internet - and the source of the rumors was the Xinhua state agency.
A Chinese Lu Zhenhai, a resident of Urumqi (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), fearing that his house at the end of the world would go under water, told how he had spent all his savings (160500 $) on building an ark. (The same one that was mentioned above, 50 square by 70 feet).
One businessman from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu built not just one skinny ark, but also established the production of "rescue capsules". Yang Zongfu sells stainless steel arks at reasonable prices - from 1 to 5 million yuan. He claims that one Chinese customer has already bought fifteen of them. He also says that orders come from New Zealand.
Curiously, residents of the Shuangliu and Longchang districts are planning to return the purchased candles to the stores after December 21.
In the US, there is a brisk trade in everything marked on the price tags: “Against zombies”. Journalist Gale Collins told that her native America is preparing to meet the “zombie apocalypse.”
Gale believesthat the end of the world must necessarily be with a zombie. How else? Zombies, she writes, are required simply because right now they are at the peak of popularity. Then you and a whole bunch of new bestsellers, and the high rating of the zombie series "The Walking Dead" ("The Walking Dead"), and Brad Pitt in the film "World War Z", which will be released in June 2013. Stop. Yeah, so Pitt does not believe in the end of the world December 21. Well, okay.
So what about zombies? As we Americans like them so much, the journalist asks. As villains, they are not particularly effective. Plots with him are usually limited in development options: neither close relationships, nor love with zombies. Among them there are no handsome men, no talk about feelings. That's the whole point.
Here an American journalist made a discovery.
Apparently, this secret has long been known to American merchants, because on hot days, before the end of the world, "male" goods were put up for sale.
Weapons, ammunition, special accessories, knives - all this is masculine.
These days, the journalist writes, if you want to sell something, you add information about the zombies to the product. Do you have bad tents? Write on the price tag: "A refuge from the zombies," and for the tents will line up to the door.
In Mesa, Arizona, 31-year-old Denis McKlang and his 25-year-old wife Daniela purchased by the end of the world gas masks and protective special suits. Husband and father of two children, McKlang, confusedly says:
A madman is not mad, but what will he do with his gas mask when he has nothing to eat?
In Ukraine появились survival kits for sale. The set for adults has a penknife, crackers, instant noodles, soap, shampoo, condoms, comb, dry fuel, rope, flashlight and matches. Also included are vodka (male version) or champagne (female version).
In the kits to the end of the world diapers, chocolates, water, biscuits, greens, juice, toys, a plaster and a raincoat are offered for children.
The cost of the sets: 287, 254 and 164 hryvnia.
And in the bars of Kiev served cocktails "Remember All" and "End of the World."
And what about Russia?
In Tomsk, found an original approach to the apocalyptic business. One time here were selling retail kits for those who survive the catastrophe. The set included canned goods, buckwheat, a large piece of laundry soap and a rope. I must say, the business with this kit did not go, so it was removed from sale.
One art company of Chelyabinsk started selling... invitation cards for the Apocalypse. Price - 1000 rubles. If the end of the world does not happen, the organizers promise to buy New Year's gifts for the children in orphanages with the money.
In the Middle Urals, the population is in bank lines: everyone takes loans. Customers this year declare: they need money to meet the "apocalypse" in a big way. Clearly: the Urals people came up with their answer to usury business. After all, they hope that they will not have to repay debts.
Bankers themselves in the end of the world do not believe. Credit boom them only on hand. Banks arrange pre-New Year promotions, send credit cards to clients, conduct advertising campaigns.
In Kostroma, where people are poorer than Washingtonians and New Yorkers, some families are digging dugouts. In Tula on December 22 in one of the entertainment complexes of the city is planned party called "Endless". Posters report that the event is planned for those "who survived the promised end of the world!" But only a few plan to "survive": so far ordered ... two tables.
But the real apocalyptic business unfolded, of course, in Moscow.
The sale of tickets for the end of the world to a special bunker has begun (metro station Taganskaya, Kotelnichesky lane, 15 house; the refuge area 7 thousand square meters, put into operation in 1956). LLC Parital, advertising new services, assures customers that the bunker was designed personally by order of Joseph Vissarionovich, and therefore will withstand any blow, including nuclear.
VIP-ticket costs 1,5 million rubles, a normal adult is cheaper, just half a million. What stands behind the millionth difference in service is known only to “VIPs”.
There are limitations: children under the age of 3 and adults older than 65 will not be allowed into the bunker. It was promised that the stocks of food, fuel, the system of regeneration and purification of air, as well as drinking water will be enough for several months.
Merchants promise that if the end of the world does not take place, half of the money will be returned to customers.
By the way, the initial purpose of this "Bunker-42", built at the height of the Cold War, is to serve as the command post of the Far Headquarters aviation. Private company has acquired bunker back in 1990-ies. - for 65 million rubles. This strategic object has direct exits to the subway tunnels.
In general, there is no panic over the “terrible” date of December 21 in Russia. In spite of the fact that salt, matches, candles, flour and vodka are dismantled in some places, the statistics on the country is rather calm. Instead of buckwheat and pshenka Russians are buying New Year's gifts - especially small household appliances.
It seems that the best way to meet the “end of the world” is, as the Chinese suggest, to gather with family and friends. And at the same time, laugh at those dummies who reserve their places in “Bunker-42” or rent square meters in the field for 400 euros per day from one villager from Bugarash.
It's no secret that December 21, as if according to the Mayan calendar, will come to the end of the world. Someone prefers to call him the name of the city - Armageddon, someone thinks that the name of a small composition by comrade John (“Apocalypse”, that is, “Revelation”) is synonymous with the end of the world, still others simply express themselves in Russian: the full paragraph.
Most of those who believe in an irrevocable and final “paragraph” (all who believe in the end - about 10% of earthlings) adhere to the popular hypothesis of a zombie invasion. It will be like this: there will be a large release of some poisonous substance - the Americans have already prepared a version about the chemical weapons Bashar al-Assad, - and then the dead will leave their graves in droves, leave the morgues, get down from the tables of unsuccessful surgeons - and will engage in refreshing the living and eating their warm brains. According to the scripts of George Romero, bitten, scratched, and eaten, too, will turn into “walkers” - and the rest of humanity will be saved except in bunkers.
Victor M. Vasnetsov, Warriors of the Apocalypse, 1887
No bunkers will save people, even millionaires, if a cosmic body crashes into planet Earth - say, the wandering planet Nibiru. A small part of those awaiting the “apocalypse” believe in this. Escape will be extremely difficult. All cities, villages, palaces - all soft-boiled. Is that someone like Bill Gates will be able not only to stock up with sprat in a tomato, but also dig in to the very center of the Earth. There, they say, is not only safe, but also warm. The main thing is to not seem hot.
Other people believe that December 21 will be a worldwide flood. Few share this belief - for example, those who believe it in Canada, Mongolia, or Russia do not exist at all. But cases have already been registered in China. construction arks 50 size to 70 feet. There are two Chinese who believe in the global (at least, all-Chinese) flood. One of the two vbuhal in the "ark", working on three diesel engines, all their savings. True, the boat built by him will not survive even a weak storm, let alone the end of the world.
Another part of those who believe that doomsday is close, thinks - in a certain correspondence with the "Revelation" of John - about leaving fierce demons from hell. These terrible immigrants, preceded by gray and pale horses, will arrange a total sweep of the world's population, and then select those who, in their opinion, are suitable for entry into a new, wondrous world. However, this option is not quite the end of the world. You could even say that he is his beginning. Every reader of the Apocalypse believes that it is he who will be saved. As for the rest, about the prophecies of John not knowing, then Julia Gillard - the Australian Prime Minister, a lady who knows a lot about black humor - wished them good luck.
To save your wish for storiesShe was not too lazy to record it on video and publish it. She is said:
“My dear compatriots! The end of the world is really coming. <…> It looks like the Mayan calendar was accurate. "
To scare her countrymen for real, she said:
“It doesn't matter what the final blow will be. Whether it is devouring zombie brains, the invasion of demons from hell or the final triumph of Korean pop music, one thing you can always be sure: I will always be with you. Until the end".
And then Julia Gillard wished everyone good luck.
One commentator on the Internet expressed his attitude to the video premier as:
“Julia is great! You grew up in my eyes! And by the way, I personally hope for zombies ... "
Well, Australia is far away, while Russia is considering its own versions of Armageddon. From the above, more characteristic of the developed countries of the West, they differ, so to speak, with everyday earthiness.
According to the main scenario, the end of the world in the Russian Federation is controlled by Mr. Chubais. No, not with the help of nanotechnology - they say that he never mastered them. He can’t do anything in his balance sheet but huge losses. But then he will be able to arrange the end of the world professionally - due to the preserved mystical connection with the Russian electric power industry, as well as the natural connection with the Bilderberg club, where he was invited to a secret meeting this year.
It was not by chance that announcements began to appear on bulletin boards at the entrances of city houses demanding to pay off debts before 21.12.12. December 21 will be a reason to chop off electricity throughout the country. After all, no one will pay. If we have an announcement about the repayment of debts - people are running for champagne, vodka and caviar. Especially since rumors about the end of the world. Because of such rumors, the Russians have already dismantled all loans in banks.
Another Russian doomsday scenario is corruption. Recently, Moscow economists have managed to explain why capital does not cease to flow out of the country and why it has flowed by only half a trillion dollars in a “dubious” balance of payments article in just ten years. It turns out that all this was stolen. And now, passed through the opaque economy of the Cayman Islands, settled in first-class Western banks like the Swiss. In this regard, it is said that in Russia nowadays not only there is nothing to steal, but in general money ran out (see above about disassembled loans). So Comrade Putin can boldly speak about the victory over corruption. The end of the world means the December 21 move of all officials to the West, to pre-prepared villas, palaces and apartments. Instead of those who have left, there will be a lot of new ryurik, Sineusa and truvors of Chinese origin in the Far East. Just analyst Khramchikhin predicted their invasion on New Year's Eve, when all Russians are drunk and helpless. And here they are not only drunk and helpless, but also believe in the end of the world. Yes, and the authorities have departed.
The happiness of the Russians is that there will be no end of the world.
90% of people do not believe in scary fairy tales
Robert M. Thorson, a professor of geology from the American University in Connecticut, took care it is popular to explain to the frightened 10 percent of the inhabitants of the earth that no such “apocalypse” of 21 December will occur. The scientist advised, not without humor, not to wishful thinking and said that the world will certainly not end on December 21 of the year 2012, regardless of the Mayan calendar. According to the geologist, the Earth will rotate for at least one billion years, a star named the Sun will shine, and all this time, humans can live in peace. Unless, of course, be able to.
Investigating the question of the end of the world geologist was prompted by concern for 10% of Americans, who undoubtedly believe in the end of the world. Excited and upset the scientist and the fact that the entire Internet is littered with fake reports about the approaching catastrophe. Among all sorts of commercial lovers of the "apocalypses" there are quite a few religious people. Robert M. Thorson believes that the confession of some religions is completely incompatible with belief in the near end of the world, as if a certain Maya.
A religious tradition, the scholar writes, establishes the beginning and end of the world: creation and catastrophe. The apocalyptic tradition is built into the three great Abrahamic religions: Judaism with its messianic “end of days”; Christianity with its second coming of Christ, as mentioned in “Revelation”, and Islam with its “Yaum ad-Din”, or Judgment Day. Such completeness is a logical consequence of linear cosmology: there is a beginning, there will be an end.
But, unlike the three religions, the Mayan calendar was (and is) built on the basis of cyclical time. The cycle and principle of linearity are different things. Each long Mayan cycle, called a “bakthun,” lasts approximately 394 years. In the calendar that was started in 3114 BC. e., it was 13 baktunov. 21 December 2012 g. It ends. At this moment, the calendar “starts” again - well, just like a car odometer starts counting from the beginning, reaching the 100000 miles. We are not dealing with the end, but with the beginning of a new long-term cycle. And no tragedy!
For the Abrahamic religions, all this is unacceptable if only because the replacement of the eschatology of linear history with the Mayan cyclic calendar violates the culture of faith. After all, it is equivalent to a Jew, a Christian or a Muslim ceasing to believe in the manifestation of one who must return in order to save souls. Those who believe in the end of the world December 21, at the same time and distort the meaning of the ancient Mayan symbols.
Journalist richard roper from Chicago Sun-Times He considers the projections of the end of the world to be exactly the same speculations that have happened in the history of mankind many, many times. The Armageddon was promised in 1600, several times between 1700 and 1734, then in 1844 and 1982. And even last year, some people in America predicted the death of the planet. But the Earth is still intact, and we are all alive, the journalist writes. And we will be alive after December 21, even if the Mayans really predicted the end of the world.
But, contrary to popular belief, the Mayan calendar does not end next Friday. David Stewart, a professor of Mesoamerican art and writing from the University of Texas, recently explained popularly that the Mayan calendar actually continues 70 octillion years in advance.
Yes, but what are we scaring then, asks Richard Ryoper. Where did this stream of horror stories and dark rumors come from?
Apparently, he notes, a significant part of the population of the planet really believes that in a week the “apocalypse” can break out.
The other day, Reuters published the results of a custom survey, in which more than 16 thousands of people, residents of more than 20 countries, participated. It turned out that in fact almost 10 percent of people around the world believe that, according to the Mayan calendar, the end of the world will hit 21 December 2012 of the year.
Ten percent! - exclaims the journalist. - Why, only in the United States is more than 30 million people.
The end of the world, he calls the "doomsday boobies."
French Mayan writer Jean-Michel Oppan explained to the world over the Internet that “21 December”, as represented by ancient Indians, means the end of the next cycle. On this day, the Bologneoct deity should return to Earth, who will start the countdown anew. This is not about destruction, but about reconstruction, notices scientist.
Especially for Russians who believe in the end of the world, the Ambassador of Guatemala to the Russian Federation Herbert Estuardo Menes Coronado spoke in Moscow. In his lecture he is popular explainedthat the Mayan civilization did not predict the end of the world in 2012 at all.
December 21 will end only the cycle of the Long Count of the Era of the Fifth Sun, which began in August 3114 year BC. e.
“The Mayan calendar is not ending. According to the Mayan calendar, several epochs have already passed, and the one that will start on December 22 2012 will last until May 3 on the Gregorian calendar 7138, ”the diplomat said.
At the same time, the Ambassador of Guatemala explained that in the Mayan culture the onset of a new era means changes in the outlook and activities of individuals, families, teams, and so on, including social, economic, political and cultural transformations.
What does this mean? For example, the fact that corruption in Russia will be defeated after 21 December 2012.
I myself am not one of those who believe in the victory over corruption - that in Russia, that, say, in China or the Cayman Islands, where they recently detained the prime minister - but I think it is better to believe in victory over it than in scary tales about doomsday.
Business on gullible
Bookmakers since the beginning of the year 2012 take bets on the end of the world. The start of the gambling campaign was, of course, given in the West.
Large European bookmaker "Bet-At-Home" suggested put on the fact that the end of the world will come in 2012 year. With the 250001,00 coefficient, you can bet that a meteorite hits the Earth. Bets on the end of the world are also offered due to chronic fiscal imbalance and the influence of the “greenhouse effect”.
Closer to the terrible date Muscovites became more active. Unlike their Western counterparts, our bookmakers in the capital do not believe in a catastrophe, because they offer 1: 1000000 bets. The following factors are also established: 666 and 2012. But the bet that the end of the world will not, can not be done.
To a win-win business the other day connected and enterprising Armenians. One of the largest bookmakers in Armenia, Vivaro, has started accepting bets on Armegeddon - 1 to 555. The end of the world will be considered the death of life on planet Earth under the following circumstances: a cosmic catastrophe, collisions with celestial bodies, global climate change (ice age, a sharp increase in temperature), the loss of a magnetic field by the planet, the emergence of incurable and lightning-spreading diseases and infections, natural and man-made disasters on most of the planet, the destruction of the ozone layer of the Earth and the occurrence of radiation; extraterrestrial life and other circumstances in which the destruction of all life and the death of civilization.
In the United States continues the boom of underground shelters. Trade has reached such proportions that even the sellers of such real estate, who had previously secretly laughed at the buyers, are now going to move into bunkers.
“We are now selling our shelters in one day as much as we previously sold in a month, - says shelter trader Ron Hubbard. - I absolutely do not understand either astronomy or the Mayan calendars, but when astrophysicists come to me, they buy my shelters and warn about some flashes in the sun, radiation, electromagnetic pulses and other misfortunes ... In general, I decided just in case hide 19-th under the ground, and go to the surface of the 23-th. "
In Serbia, there is a pyramidal mountain Rtanj. Today, hundreds of people who are convinced that 21 December will end the end of the world, flock to this supposedly mystical grief. Hotels are full of guests. A local sect called the Day of Judgment states that December 21 will save only those who are at the foot of the mountain.
Local followers of the "doctrine" of the end of the world believethat the mountain height of 5100 feet (1554 m) hides inside the pyramid a building abandoned by aliens thousands of years ago. They believe that this building emits a special energy that can be directed at protecting against a catastrophe that is about to break out.
There are days when people try to book rooms in local hotels on 500. People are ready to move here with their families.
Nebojsa Gaich, director of the tourist complex "Rtan", says, that many people really perceive these places as a refuge:
"This is some kind of paranoia, I personally don’t believe in the end of the world, but many believe ... During the bad weather, I constantly burn everything - even computers, no protection helps against these thunder and lightning, they are like cannon fire, as if from guns shoot. Maybe it's aliens, but I did not see them, I don’t know, adds Gaich. - Now there are stormy discussions about whether nature has created this mountain, or it is the work of human hands. It is said that once, many millions of years ago, Rtan 'was hidden under the waters of the Pannonian Sea. ”
“Tourist” speculation still covers the village of Bugarach in France, which is protected by police from the onslaught of the Domsdeevites. From 19 to 23 December, a hundred heavily armed guards will be on duty 24 hours a day in this place.
Those who want to be saved believethat in Bugarash, near which the mountain of the same name stands, directly from this very mountain, aliens will appear on a flying saucer to pick up all those lucky people who are destined to escape on the terrible day of December 21. And Bugarach is the place for salvation, the only thing on the entire planet. No escape anywhere else. And those who are rescued from the trouble of aliens, there will be very little ...
Local Mayor Jean-Pierre Delors says that he’s not worried about the end of the world, but about order:
“This is already 183-e prophecy about the end of the world since ancient times,” he notes with sadness. “But I can’t take the risk and let all those many people come here and try to climb the mountain: they can get injured.”
Words are words, and the influx of visitors in the village is great to extreme. The movement "New Century", which runs the business here, does not get tired to tell all those who arrived about the hidden spacecraft in the mountain.
In a local Italian restaurant served pizza "Apocalypse". You can drink it with wine "End of the World." On 22 December, bottles of another wine were made - “Survival”.
One of the enterprising villagers rents out his four-room house for 1600 euros per day. The price of a place in the open air on his private field is Euro 400. Without a roof over your head. What do you want - for such tiny money even the tent is not provided.
In Bugarash, there is now briskly selling relevant souvenirs. Stones from the Bugarash mountain can be purchased by weight: one and a half euros per gram. Half a liter of water from a local source costs as much as 15 euros. Sellers claim that this water treats for many diseases.
In Mexico, which is much closer to Maya than France, there are special sets for meeting the end of the world, known as "Just in case". In kit includes: knife, which is prescribed to defend against attacking zombies, chocolate cookies and a bottle of anise liqueur, which is made on the Yucatan Peninsula. It is believed that this drink was consumed by the ancient Maya. The kit also includes a notebook for recording memories, matches for making a fire and a liter bottle of water. Recruitment manufacturers say:
“The end of the world must be met fully armed. You should not be afraid of him. Think, suddenly the apocalypse will give you a chance to finally change your life for the better. Just imagine: no more work and utility bills. Who knows, maybe the post-apocalyptic world will seem to you better than before. ”
In Chile, workers require the owners of enterprises to pay wages in advance - until December 21. According to surveys, about a quarter of residents intend to on this day to take time off from work.
The management of one Chinese company, Chengdu Higgses Internet Technology Company, came up with a two-day vacation for its employees (December 20 and 21) and released on the occasion of the coming end of the world, a special “memo” in which company employees are called “comrades in arms”.
Managers advised employees to ensure that there were no thefts and fires, to turn off mobile phones, to spend time with their relatives, and at the same time wished all those who believe in the end of the world ... the fulfillment of desires.
Residents of two districts (Shuangliu and Longchang), located in southwestern China, in Sichuan Province, cleared stores from candles and matches. The invasion is not a zombie, but buyers have been promoted by speculation on the Internet - and the source of the rumors was the Xinhua state agency.
A Chinese Lu Zhenhai, a resident of Urumqi (Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region), fearing that his house at the end of the world would go under water, told how he had spent all his savings (160500 $) on building an ark. (The same one that was mentioned above, 50 square by 70 feet).
One businessman from the eastern Chinese province of Jiangsu built not just one skinny ark, but also established the production of "rescue capsules". Yang Zongfu sells stainless steel arks at reasonable prices - from 1 to 5 million yuan. He claims that one Chinese customer has already bought fifteen of them. He also says that orders come from New Zealand.
Curiously, residents of the Shuangliu and Longchang districts are planning to return the purchased candles to the stores after December 21.
In the US, there is a brisk trade in everything marked on the price tags: “Against zombies”. Journalist Gale Collins told that her native America is preparing to meet the “zombie apocalypse.”
Gale believesthat the end of the world must necessarily be with a zombie. How else? Zombies, she writes, are required simply because right now they are at the peak of popularity. Then you and a whole bunch of new bestsellers, and the high rating of the zombie series "The Walking Dead" ("The Walking Dead"), and Brad Pitt in the film "World War Z", which will be released in June 2013. Stop. Yeah, so Pitt does not believe in the end of the world December 21. Well, okay.
So what about zombies? As we Americans like them so much, the journalist asks. As villains, they are not particularly effective. Plots with him are usually limited in development options: neither close relationships, nor love with zombies. Among them there are no handsome men, no talk about feelings. That's the whole point.
Here an American journalist made a discovery.
“This may actually be a clue. Zombies do not want to talk about feelings. I bet nine-tenths of the zombie fans in the world are guys. ”
Apparently, this secret has long been known to American merchants, because on hot days, before the end of the world, "male" goods were put up for sale.
Weapons, ammunition, special accessories, knives - all this is masculine.
These days, the journalist writes, if you want to sell something, you add information about the zombies to the product. Do you have bad tents? Write on the price tag: "A refuge from the zombies," and for the tents will line up to the door.
In Mesa, Arizona, 31-year-old Denis McKlang and his 25-year-old wife Daniela purchased by the end of the world gas masks and protective special suits. Husband and father of two children, McKlang, confusedly says:
“I’m sure many people think I'm crazy, but they don’t say that to my face.”
A madman is not mad, but what will he do with his gas mask when he has nothing to eat?
In Ukraine появились survival kits for sale. The set for adults has a penknife, crackers, instant noodles, soap, shampoo, condoms, comb, dry fuel, rope, flashlight and matches. Also included are vodka (male version) or champagne (female version).
In the kits to the end of the world diapers, chocolates, water, biscuits, greens, juice, toys, a plaster and a raincoat are offered for children.
The cost of the sets: 287, 254 and 164 hryvnia.
And in the bars of Kiev served cocktails "Remember All" and "End of the World."
And what about Russia?
In Tomsk, found an original approach to the apocalyptic business. One time here were selling retail kits for those who survive the catastrophe. The set included canned goods, buckwheat, a large piece of laundry soap and a rope. I must say, the business with this kit did not go, so it was removed from sale.
One art company of Chelyabinsk started selling... invitation cards for the Apocalypse. Price - 1000 rubles. If the end of the world does not happen, the organizers promise to buy New Year's gifts for the children in orphanages with the money.
In the Middle Urals, the population is in bank lines: everyone takes loans. Customers this year declare: they need money to meet the "apocalypse" in a big way. Clearly: the Urals people came up with their answer to usury business. After all, they hope that they will not have to repay debts.
Bankers themselves in the end of the world do not believe. Credit boom them only on hand. Banks arrange pre-New Year promotions, send credit cards to clients, conduct advertising campaigns.
In Kostroma, where people are poorer than Washingtonians and New Yorkers, some families are digging dugouts. In Tula on December 22 in one of the entertainment complexes of the city is planned party called "Endless". Posters report that the event is planned for those "who survived the promised end of the world!" But only a few plan to "survive": so far ordered ... two tables.
But the real apocalyptic business unfolded, of course, in Moscow.
The sale of tickets for the end of the world to a special bunker has begun (metro station Taganskaya, Kotelnichesky lane, 15 house; the refuge area 7 thousand square meters, put into operation in 1956). LLC Parital, advertising new services, assures customers that the bunker was designed personally by order of Joseph Vissarionovich, and therefore will withstand any blow, including nuclear.
VIP-ticket costs 1,5 million rubles, a normal adult is cheaper, just half a million. What stands behind the millionth difference in service is known only to “VIPs”.
There are limitations: children under the age of 3 and adults older than 65 will not be allowed into the bunker. It was promised that the stocks of food, fuel, the system of regeneration and purification of air, as well as drinking water will be enough for several months.
Merchants promise that if the end of the world does not take place, half of the money will be returned to customers.
By the way, the initial purpose of this "Bunker-42", built at the height of the Cold War, is to serve as the command post of the Far Headquarters aviation. Private company has acquired bunker back in 1990-ies. - for 65 million rubles. This strategic object has direct exits to the subway tunnels.
In general, there is no panic over the “terrible” date of December 21 in Russia. In spite of the fact that salt, matches, candles, flour and vodka are dismantled in some places, the statistics on the country is rather calm. Instead of buckwheat and pshenka Russians are buying New Year's gifts - especially small household appliances.
It seems that the best way to meet the “end of the world” is, as the Chinese suggest, to gather with family and friends. And at the same time, laugh at those dummies who reserve their places in “Bunker-42” or rent square meters in the field for 400 euros per day from one villager from Bugarash.
Observed and translated by Oleg Chuvakin
- especially for topwar.ru
- especially for topwar.ru
Information