There Are Four Lights

There’s a movie coming out about the end of the world called 2012. It’s based on modern-day myths that the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012 and that there are scientific facts which support their claims. This is wrong.

The film has some new ads out that look like real commercials for an organization setup to shelter people from the devastation. Unfortunately, there are many woo-artists who have been spreading the 2012 myth for quite some time now. This major motion picture is drawing more attention to this so-called Mayan prophecy.

Griffith Observatory has a nice page on their site which debunks the 2012 myth, here. This is appropriate, since most of the myth’s claims are astronomical (no pun intended).

THERE IS NO PLANETARY ALIGNMENT on December 21st, 2012. Even if there was, planetary alignments WON’T DESTROY THE EARTH.

THERE IS NO GALACTIC ALIGNMENT of our solar system either. Our galaxy is too huge to have a midpoint that you could pinpoint to a specific year.

THERE IS NO MYSTERIOUS PLANET headed our way to destroy us. Government agencies aren’t hiding evidence of a Planet X or Planet Niburu.

Now, here comes the really silly part; guess what? THE MAYAN CALENDAR DOESN’T END IN 2012. Yes…the claim that’s the basis of the 2012 myth isn’t true either. The Mayans never made any 2012 apocalyptic predictions. Part of their calendar ends–which had many cycles–but a new one begins.

So, you probably shouldn’t be concerned about the world ending in 2012. At least, not any more than you do any other year. Our own calendar ends too—-on December 31st. I predict some people may even have a party!

The story of two Gorgia men who claimed to have captured Bigfoot is a little old now, but I couldn’t keep the geekdom inside me any longer. Besides, such master pieces should not be kept from the world~! My original idea was not in comic form–I would love to see a wookie costume frozen in a block of ice in a fake press conference video posted on YouTube to spoof the Bigfoot hoax. But, I’m a mangaka so all I’m (barely) useful for is drawing silly pictures.

One of my favourite podcasts, SETI’s “Are We Alone”, had an episode about the hoax, Skeptical Sunday: Bigfoot Press Conference. What I like most is how the hosts, Seth Shostak and Molly Bentley, explain a lot about what good evidence is and why what was presented at the press conference is considered poor evidence. They also did an excellent job of pointing out how the man speaking to the press was setting up the story so that what would be presented might seem more credible.

Personally, I don’t think it’s absolutely absurd to think there might be a creature lurking in the forests of North America that we don’t know about. However, I think it’s most likely that there’s plenty of alternate explanations for these sort of sightings which are far more probable. I do have a beef with cryptozoology, though. This term for the study of hidden animals triggers my woo-alarm. I can’t see how one can investigate a claim, like a Sasquatch sighting, and be unbiased if they are calling themselves a cryptozoologist. You are naming yourself after your desired result: hidden animals. Don’t regular, plain-old, everyday zoologists find new species? I betcha they do…probably by coming across evidence that suggests there might be a new creature. But, since they aren’t exclusively in the search for undiscovered creatures, they should be less likely to overlook an alternate explanation for what they’ve found.

As for myself, I’m just a mangaka and part-time cryptoboyfriendologist.