Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? From house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Chuck Bryant. Your lude, Chuck, what delude? Oh but you said I'm alluded with a little bit of both, Chuck, great? Yes, so this is stuff you should know. I did? I did say your full name? Didn't I? No, it doesn't matter. Just Chuck, just Chuck CB. Yeah. Hell o, l So Chuck. Um, did you know that just a couple of days ago, the Earth actually had a near miss with an asteroid? I did hear about that? Someone actually, a fan wrote in and told me that I wasn't aware. Yeah, this this asteroid about the size of a ten story building. We know the height. I don't know the width or death or anything. But UM passed within fifty thou miles of Earth, which NASA considers a close call. Right, I believe that is what they call it, or near miss same thing, UM, But uh, the there've been closer asteroids very recently, think two thousand four, two thousand six one UM came within five thousand miles, but the thing was pretty small and would have done much damage. This one came within fifty thousand miles, which is a fifth of the distance between us and the moon, so it was really close. And it was about the same size as the one that um leveled eight hundred square miles of Siberia n eight Wow, So it could have been a real problem, right right, we need we should have gotten Bruce Willison the Gang of Drillers to go up and uh explode it with I think they were at the ready. Yeah, Ben Affleck too. Yeah, that was a terrible movie. It really was. Are we allowed to say that? Oh, it was a terrible movie. It was. Thank you Michael Bay for that stinker. That's funny that you bring up Michael Bay's name because he's doing something right now that um we'll be out soon. I believe he may have already finished. He's directing a movie called two thousand twelve. No he's not. Yeah, yes, Rowland Emerick directed that film. Well, then we need to update this article because this says Michael Bay. I believe he's producing it. Same thing. Okay, okay, Michael Bay is uh I worked with him. Let's hear it. Chuck, I can't tell this full story honestly, because I would I would most definitely get a phone call from his people. Oh yeah, but yeah, I worked with him on a truck commercial like the Grand Canyon. Pretty cool, very cool. What truck the Canyon? Earra Oh I don't even remember. Okay, So, um, well I bring up twelve because that's kind of what we're talking about today. And Josh, this is another listener suggestion we're kind of diving into these from Jason of Santa Barbara wanted to hear about the doomsday theories of the year twelve. So yeah, yeah, thanks Jason. Let's let's do this, right, Chuck. Yes, okay, So basically it's not just the year. Um, there's actually a specific date December one, two thousand twelve, the Winner Solstice. And actually I was on a site called all About twelve and it's sites eleven eleven A m. Greenwich meantime as the moment when the world's going to end. Really yeah, I think I will hold off on buying my Christmas presents that year till the twenty two. You do anyway, don't you? So you know the end of the world is not gonna if I plumped down like several hundred dollars on gifts from my wife and then the world ended. Well, you're not gonna need money anyway after the apocalypse comes. That's alright, so well, Chuck. December twenty one, two thousand and twelve. This is not an arbitrary date right now. This is actually based on the Mind calendar or one of them, right, Yeah, they had several The first we should probably say this is this is actually becoming something of a trend. This this kind of doomsday prophecy that uh, December twenty first, two thousand twelve, is UM is going to see the end of the world or at least significant changes. UM. There's all sorts of groups around the world. I read an article about one in Belgium, led by a guy named what's his name Patrick? Yeah you heard of him too, Yeah, I read that He's he's developing quite a following, and apparently they he and his people have UM found a plot of land in Africa in the highlands, I imagine somewhere in Ethiopia, UM, where they're going to basically hold up and wait and then come back out and try starting civilization up again. It's what he said he's stockpiling stuff. He quit his job a couple of years ago after he saved up some money, and yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean we're talking probably the thousands of people who are you know, actively thinking that this is going to happen and maybe making preparations about it. But it seems to UH to be gathering steam the closer we get into two thousand twelve. Right, you remember why two K Do you remember what a paranoid time that was? Well for me, No, man, I remember, And I'm not just saying this now, but I remember at the time saying, not that's gonna happen. Nothing's gonna go wrong. Elevators aren't gonna fall down the side of the building, and all our computers aren't going to explode. And I just remember thinking it's just all much ado about nothing. I feel like you were in the minority then, like think about remember X files had a tremendous run, and I think a lot of it was because of the changing over from you know, what one millennia do another. For some reason, we friends attached great significance to a change in calendar, even though it's a human construct, right, But I mean it also these kind of doomsday prophecies. These um fears that the world is gonna end are usually they usually reflect like our cultural concerns at the time, like hy two k uh that fears about that began to grow alongside technology. Technology was taking off, and like the Internet was this huge thing that we hadn't really figured out what to do with except to put like really really dirty porn that involved goats onto you know. So it seemed like, you know, y two k it was tech knowledgey based concern is fear and this two thousand twelve thing, it's taking place, it's transpiring. UM while we're very we've become a very eco conscious and um society. We're aware of our environmental impact, and it seems like part of two thousands, the two thousand twelve movement is kind of this back to Earth thing. I think I get the sense that a lot of people who are like, I'm gonna be prepared, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna be one of the lucky people who gets to repopulate earth. And part of that is knowing how to plant crops and you know, like raise livestock and that kind of thing. So it seems to reflect the kind of the green consciousness that we have right now. Although the common thread, of course is that the world's going in right exactly, and I think global warming has got a lot of people scared and a lot of the people the verse that's so good. You like that. A lot of bring up things like global warming is like, this is a sign the oceans will boil and uh, you know, volcanoes will erupt and mass chaos. And a critic would say, yeah, volcanoes erupt, you know fairly commonly. There are earthquakes and there are floods. These things happen. You know, we don't have enough of a handle on climatology to really say either way, which is I think why debates like these rags? Right, Okay, So like we said, the December twenty first, two thousand twelve, the date it's based on a Mayan calendar. That's where it all started. And actually among uh to borrow your terms. Um, there's there's a predominant theory that the Mayans, the Mayan civilization, were either aliens or in contact with aliens. And when you kind of starting to look at the Mayan's you could you get an idea of how somebody could say that they they earliest Mayan settlement they found um is from and they just kind of live primitively for a couple of millennia and then out of nowhere, there's this sudden birth of ingenuity and insight from the third century to the tenth century CE, and all of a sudden that the minds like developed this really tremendous understanding of mathematics, including zero, which you can't function. You can't create a mathematical system without zero. You have to have zero, and it's it's very elusive and rare, and to develop it out of nowhere is really something. Um. They understood crop domestication, really elaborate architecture UM. And you know, they became arguably the most advanced pre Columbian civilization and mess Mesoamerica almost overnight historically speaking, right, Yeah, I think they were easily the most advanced. They had an advanced system of writing, they were the first people to do that. They had a recorded history, they were the first civilization to record their own history. Yeah, astronomy, Matt, like you said, mathematics, Yeah. And one of the other things that they were really really good at was marking time, especially through calendars and building things. They were they were good at building things and um blood lighting big into blood lighting really and human sacrifice. Yeah sure, yeah, but blood ritual blood lighting as well. Okay you can't. You can't leave that out for the person whose blood is being it's pretty significant experience, I imagine, uh, and probably for the person who's doing the cutting two. But we'll find out later. UM. So they had twenty different calendars at least that we know of, UM, and actually five of them are still kept in secret. Five bands today really kind of makes you wonder what this five calendars are counting, right, UM. But there there's this, there's I guess I call him the Big three calendars, the Zulkin, which is actually a two hundred and sixty day calendar that actually um parallels human gestation all about twelve. Again. That that site, UM, which I found pretty cool. They basically have a calendar for a pregnancy. Right. There's the hob h a B. Yeah, that's three hundred and sixty days with a five day period called the Way Up, which basically it's a solar calendars, but it's essentially the same thing as the one that we UM use, the Gregorian calendar that we exactly. And then there's the calendar Round, which is a fifty two year calendar, and then there's there's actually the big one. This is the one that all of this doomsday stuff is centered around, and it's called what the Long Count calendar, right, yes, and that's all about the Great Cycle, is what they call it, yeah, which is a period of five thousand, one twenty five point three six years very specific yeah, um, approximately, right, um. And we know that this date of December twenty one, two thousand twelve is the end of this Great Cycle thanks to the conquistadors. So they show up and just completely subjugate and commit genocide against the Mayans. Some of them were left alive. Um. And actually there was one Mayan scholar who adopted the Gregorian calendar in conjunction with the Long Count calendar and started recording the same dates on both and so eventually, um, some scholars went back and started comparing dates and found the path and finally determined that the last beginning of the beginning of the last Great Cycle was August thirteen, fourteen b C. And you know, five thousand, twenty five years after that is point three six point three six would be December one, So that's how we know that the the Mayan calendar is going to reset itself on that date, right, But I think it's now is where we should note that the Mayans did not say this was the end of the world. It was a restarting of the Great cycle, and they, I believe, had gone through three other great cycles. Is that correct so far? Yeah? Yeah, So they didn't think it was gonna be the end of the world. This is uh, something that other people have kind of put on it, And apparently we're as far as the minds are concerned, we're extraordinarily lucky to live through the end of a great cycle in the beginning of another. One's a time of really good luck. It's a time to celebrate, exactly. It's not really a time to stock up on bottle water, you know, evaporated milk. Yeah, exactly. Um. But yeah, so that's kind of one of the fatal flaws I think in this the whole doomsday prophecies, that the very people whose calendar it's based on didn't necessarily believe this, right, well, right, but the reason and you know, I did a little more research too, and a lot of Mayan scholars are really upset about this that it cast them in in a negative light, and they're saying, this is not all accurate, This is not at all accurate. Sorry, and Mines didn't believe this, and this is something we put on it because of the uh. It ends with a winter solstice. That's the key right right there. There are a couple of things that doing research I found slightly unsettling. Let's hear them, and okay, I can I tell you a quick white two K story. Yeah. I wasn't big into it either, but I'm kind of one of those. I was a cub scout for a little while, never made it to boy scouts because I thought, respecting your elders just because they're old, that's a stupid concept, and I quit um. But I was a boy scout long enough to learn to prepare just in case. So on December thirty one, I was at Philips Arena at a widespread panic show, and had you followed me back to my van, you would have found a four ten shotgun, some shells, my dogs, some water, and a couple of other supplies. And I was ready to go to the Georgia Mountains. Just I'm very serious, kidding, Yeah, you know, a younger um much more out of it. Josh made that decision, but hey, if it had happened, I would have I would have, you know, been fine. I was at the Gravity Pub in East Atlanta at night. Were you a great place bringing in the new year? That's great? Chuck a plug for the Gravity Pub seriously, and Philips arena. Um So, come to Atlanta. We've got at least two things for you to do. Um So, my point is is that I'm not necessarily a really nervous person about stuff like this. Um I I am prepared. I'm probably not gonna do anything for December twenty first, two thousand twelves and maybe throw a party. But there are a couple of things, like I said, doing research that I found that work on a weird about December twenty one, two thousand twelve. One of them is that on that date, the winter solstice, the sun is actually going to be on that one day at the center of the Milky Way. The last time that happened was about twenty six thousand years ago, and apparently only happens every twenty six thou years yea or so, And we're talking like a day. This is this will it will be in that position for a day, and probably not even the whole day at eleven eleven, maybe even who knows. I found that a little significant. UM. And then another is that we are actually beginning a new sun spot cycle. This is something that actually if you read some of the literature, um, they keep talking about sun spots and sun spots and how it's going to create you know, severe climate change and imbalance in Earth processes. And on July thirty one, two thousand six, uh NASA astronomers found a backwards sun spot, meaning that it was polar I it's in the wrong direction from south to north rather than a lying north to south. It appeared on the Sun and it's basically a planet sized magnet and they've been waiting for it because it's it signals the start of a new solar cycle. Okay um, and when that happens, we have like proton storms and it actually messes with the Earth's magnetic field. These happened, UM. Oh, I don't know, every every every few years. I think a new there's a few year period between solar cycles. UM. So it's not that significant, but it could have a big effect. The thing is is the Earth. So magnetic field right now is in the process of reversing. It is. Did you did you read about this? I did, and I know that think that polar reversal might be one of the significant events, as in sunrises in the west, sets in the east, that kind of thing. And actually it is like I read on a Science Daily of that we're about in about probably years or saying it's going to reverse, and it happens randomly, and they know that it's reverse through some very clever techniques. They find ancient lava flow, and lava, because of its composition, aligns itself with magnetic north. It flows right, so whatever direction it's flowing in it basically leaves like a line of this is where magnetic north was on this day. And if you can date that lava flow, then you know, right then hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago, that's where magnetic north was right. So they're finding now, um that that the the magnetic field on Earth is reversing, and this only happens about every seven hundred and eighty thousand years. So all these things are kind of significant. And I can understand how somebody who is very concerned about war famine, pestilence, and it is, you know, conceivably into the end of the world. Sure, sure, UM could kind of take all this information in and say, yea, the summer twenty two thousand twelve and I'm gonna be in a bunker in Ethiopia. I see your point, Josh, But most serious scholars say there's nothing to it. And I didn't find any mainstream scientists to endorse anything like that. Everyone I ran across is like, no, no, no, no, this is not going to happen, and in fact they call it. A lot of them just call it out as down irresponsible to spread something like this, but not not only that, but a way to make a quick money to with another criticism, I son, so will the world really end in two thousand twelve? I'm going to go ahead and say probably not, because humanity is far too blemish to get off that lucky. Yeah. Wow, that's an interesting point of view. I don't think it's gonna end a twelve either, don't. Okay, we're in agreement, Chuck. We typically don't give our opinions, but darn it, that's mine. Yeah, And um, anybody out there stocking up for two thousand twelve when listening to this podcast, more power to you. Sure you will have the last laugh at the world really does it, as we usually say to each his own and or her own. And if that's what you believe, then yea stock up. Yeah, Chuck, that's one of those podcasts that now that we've done it, it stays done. I don't understand that. You don't have to. Okay, you'll find out on December twenty twelve. You rat so, Chuck. We're big time now and I want to I think I think we should express this. We have a spoken word album for love God, Chuck. We have a spoken word album available for sale on iTunes. Right now, Let's let's discuss, uh, correct, Josh, is the stuff you should know? Super stuffed Guide to the Economy beautiful? And what we tried to do is breakdown economics and the economy in a way that the layman can understand, because we'd layman as well. Exactly. We learned a lot. We think you'll learn a lot. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of it. I'm too. I think it's worth four bucks. I do too. And Jerry, our producer, did an outstanding job with the sound design. It's much different and very special. We would be nowhere without her. So you guys can find that on iTunes. All I have to do is type super stuffed into their handy search bar, and from my experience, as the first thing that comes up and have at it, I wouldn't click on anything else that said super stuff. Let's put it away, agreed, Chuck agreed. And while we're at it, while we're just plugging away, let's talk about our blog too, which frankly I've come to be pretty proud of. I wasn't sure about the blogging thing at first, and I'm like, I get this. Yeah, Yeah, we have a blog now called Stuff you Should Know, and you can access it through the homepage on the right hand side there at how stuff works dot com. And uh we post twice a day. One of us posts. I post in the morning, Chuck posts at night. Both of them are well worth reading. And Chuck likes to do a little recap on Fridays of the podcast the Weekend Podcasting, and we will answer you. We chat with the folks. Yes, we follow up, and it's a good way to reach us. Yeah. What, Chuck likes to interact with you guys more than I do. Because he likes to show off his cool guy hat in in his photo that pops up every time he posts something. So so ask us to come out and play and we will. Okay, So relief. Yes, we we got the spoken We're It album knocked out, we got the blog knocked out. You know what that means. It's time for yes, l M. But listener mail, listener mail, right, Josh. This is significant because today is the day where we retire Haiku Theater. Thank you? Did everyone here that we are retiring Hiku Theater. We love your high Kus and you can still send him if you want, but we're not going to read him anymore. I agreed. Thank you, Chuck, Thank you, thank you Chuck. Okay, so check, let's do it. This is the final. Um, how can we get Jerry? Maybe a drum roll in here? Right? And I should say that one of the reasons we were retiring is because we received the best Hiku ever and it cannot be topped, and so I'm still looking forward to this one. All right, So here we go. Um. Nathan of Akron, Ohio says, I'm a c P, a anesthesiologist. Man, they make some loot. Belinda, who doesn't say where she's from, says Hiku and search bar no article for learning. I had to google, so I think she was expecting an article on hikus h. David, who is an l V in which I believe is a nurse, says frozen missed on ground. The railing has lots of holes. It's a long way down. He's referring, of course, to Niagara Falls. Uh Jesse, I'm gonna read this one pretty quickly. Odin has an eye. Valhalla is in asgard. I do not know why Thor has a hammer. Heimdal nine moms and white God, please enlighten me. Balder dreamt his death, his mom frigg dreamt it as well. Mistletoe, who knew then him on Loki for Seti and his justice. How does this all fit there? I have no idea how Norse mythology in haiku that was gorgeous. We have one that just came in today from Ryan, and I was gonna not use it, but I told him I would make a joke about him being a hack poet. Okay, so here we go, And you did? You fulfilled your obligation urban exploring squatting best place to get shot? Yes, I am smarter, keep up the great work. I'll continue to listen. Knowledge is power is that? Was that in hiku form? Yeah? Okay, uh two more. Cassie in Minneapolis is getting married this June, and we wish her all the best. She does a dance, she says, stuff podcast alight. When I get a new podcast, I dance at my desk. Good luck, test and your groom. And now the last one ever, folks, that you will ever hear from my mouth. This comes to us from Austin from Fort Worth, Texas. He has this to say, uninvited guests at night, they in my food, Los cocaraches, tell me their secrets. One podcast to rule them all, Los Coca And that was the best hiku I've ever heard in my life. Wow from Austin. So thank you Austin. Congratulations Austin, you just ended hi Ku theater forever. So thanks Austin. That was awesome, awesome, awesome. Agreed, law school arches, and thanks to everybody who sent us in hikus. Please stop now. We love your creativity, but too much of a good thing, and we'll move on. We'll think of something else creative you guys can do for agreed. So In the meantime, if you wanted to say hi, tell us that um, we said something wrong, or send us anything UM. I believe one of them was Shakespearean sonnets. We're an idea in iambic pentameter. That was Jonathan Strickland or colleague. Get text Stuff's idea. Anything you want to do, Just just let us know that you're out there. UM. Send an email to us at Stuff podcast at how stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, Are you

Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready. Are you welcome to Stuff you Should Know? From house Stuff Works dot com? Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. There's Chuck Bryant. Your lude, Chuck, what delude? Oh but you said I'm alluded with a little bit of both, Chuck, great? Yes, so this is stuff you should know. I did? I did say your full name? Didn't I? No, it doesn't matter. Just Chuck, just Chuck CB. Yeah. Hell o, l So Chuck. Um, did you know that just a couple of days ago, the Earth actually had a near miss with an asteroid? I did hear about that? Someone actually, a fan wrote in and told me that I wasn't aware. Yeah, this this asteroid about the size of a ten story building. We know the height. I don't know the width or death or anything. But UM passed within fifty thou miles of Earth, which NASA considers a close call. Right, I believe that is what they call it, or near miss same thing, UM, But uh, the there've been closer asteroids very recently, think two thousand four, two thousand six one UM came within five thousand miles, but the thing was pretty small and would have done much damage. This one came within fifty thousand miles, which is a fifth of the distance between us and the moon, so it was really close. And it was about the same size as the one that um leveled eight hundred square miles of Siberia n eight Wow, So it could have been a real problem, right right, we need we should have gotten Bruce Willison the Gang of Drillers to go up and uh explode it with I think they were at the ready. Yeah, Ben Affleck too. Yeah, that was a terrible movie. It really was. Are we allowed to say that? Oh, it was a terrible movie. It was. Thank you Michael Bay for that stinker. That's funny that you bring up Michael Bay's name because he's doing something right now that um we'll be out soon. I believe he may have already finished. He's directing a movie called two thousand twelve. No he's not. Yeah, yes, Rowland Emerick directed that film. Well, then we need to update this article because this says Michael Bay. I believe he's producing it. Same thing. Okay, okay, Michael Bay is uh I worked with him. Let's hear it. Chuck, I can't tell this full story honestly, because I would I would most definitely get a phone call from his people. Oh yeah, but yeah, I worked with him on a truck commercial like the Grand Canyon. Pretty cool, very cool. What truck the Canyon? Earra Oh I don't even remember. Okay, So, um, well I bring up twelve because that's kind of what we're talking about today. And Josh, this is another listener suggestion we're kind of diving into these from Jason of Santa Barbara wanted to hear about the doomsday theories of the year twelve. So yeah, yeah, thanks Jason. Let's let's do this, right, Chuck. Yes, okay, So basically it's not just the year. Um, there's actually a specific date December one, two thousand twelve, the Winner Solstice. And actually I was on a site called all About twelve and it's sites eleven eleven A m. Greenwich meantime as the moment when the world's going to end. Really yeah, I think I will hold off on buying my Christmas presents that year till the twenty two. You do anyway, don't you? So you know the end of the world is not gonna if I plumped down like several hundred dollars on gifts from my wife and then the world ended. Well, you're not gonna need money anyway after the apocalypse comes. That's alright, so well, Chuck. December twenty one, two thousand and twelve. This is not an arbitrary date right now. This is actually based on the Mind calendar or one of them, right, Yeah, they had several The first we should probably say this is this is actually becoming something of a trend. This this kind of doomsday prophecy that uh, December twenty first, two thousand twelve, is UM is going to see the end of the world or at least significant changes. UM. There's all sorts of groups around the world. I read an article about one in Belgium, led by a guy named what's his name Patrick? Yeah you heard of him too, Yeah, I read that He's he's developing quite a following, and apparently they he and his people have UM found a plot of land in Africa in the highlands, I imagine somewhere in Ethiopia, UM, where they're going to basically hold up and wait and then come back out and try starting civilization up again. It's what he said he's stockpiling stuff. He quit his job a couple of years ago after he saved up some money, and yeah, yeah, yeah. And I mean we're talking probably the thousands of people who are you know, actively thinking that this is going to happen and maybe making preparations about it. But it seems to UH to be gathering steam the closer we get into two thousand twelve. Right, you remember why two K Do you remember what a paranoid time that was? Well for me, No, man, I remember, And I'm not just saying this now, but I remember at the time saying, not that's gonna happen. Nothing's gonna go wrong. Elevators aren't gonna fall down the side of the building, and all our computers aren't going to explode. And I just remember thinking it's just all much ado about nothing. I feel like you were in the minority then, like think about remember X files had a tremendous run, and I think a lot of it was because of the changing over from you know, what one millennia do another. For some reason, we friends attached great significance to a change in calendar, even though it's a human construct, right, But I mean it also these kind of doomsday prophecies. These um fears that the world is gonna end are usually they usually reflect like our cultural concerns at the time, like hy two k uh that fears about that began to grow alongside technology. Technology was taking off, and like the Internet was this huge thing that we hadn't really figured out what to do with except to put like really really dirty porn that involved goats onto you know. So it seemed like, you know, y two k it was tech knowledgey based concern is fear and this two thousand twelve thing, it's taking place, it's transpiring. UM while we're very we've become a very eco conscious and um society. We're aware of our environmental impact, and it seems like part of two thousands, the two thousand twelve movement is kind of this back to Earth thing. I think I get the sense that a lot of people who are like, I'm gonna be prepared, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna be one of the lucky people who gets to repopulate earth. And part of that is knowing how to plant crops and you know, like raise livestock and that kind of thing. So it seems to reflect the kind of the green consciousness that we have right now. Although the common thread, of course is that the world's going in right exactly, and I think global warming has got a lot of people scared and a lot of the people the verse that's so good. You like that. A lot of bring up things like global warming is like, this is a sign the oceans will boil and uh, you know, volcanoes will erupt and mass chaos. And a critic would say, yeah, volcanoes erupt, you know fairly commonly. There are earthquakes and there are floods. These things happen. You know, we don't have enough of a handle on climatology to really say either way, which is I think why debates like these rags? Right, Okay, So like we said, the December twenty first, two thousand twelve, the date it's based on a Mayan calendar. That's where it all started. And actually among uh to borrow your terms. Um, there's there's a predominant theory that the Mayans, the Mayan civilization, were either aliens or in contact with aliens. And when you kind of starting to look at the Mayan's you could you get an idea of how somebody could say that they they earliest Mayan settlement they found um is from and they just kind of live primitively for a couple of millennia and then out of nowhere, there's this sudden birth of ingenuity and insight from the third century to the tenth century CE, and all of a sudden that the minds like developed this really tremendous understanding of mathematics, including zero, which you can't function. You can't create a mathematical system without zero. You have to have zero, and it's it's very elusive and rare, and to develop it out of nowhere is really something. Um. They understood crop domestication, really elaborate architecture UM. And you know, they became arguably the most advanced pre Columbian civilization and mess Mesoamerica almost overnight historically speaking, right, Yeah, I think they were easily the most advanced. They had an advanced system of writing, they were the first people to do that. They had a recorded history, they were the first civilization to record their own history. Yeah, astronomy, Matt, like you said, mathematics, Yeah. And one of the other things that they were really really good at was marking time, especially through calendars and building things. They were they were good at building things and um blood lighting big into blood lighting really and human sacrifice. Yeah sure, yeah, but blood ritual blood lighting as well. Okay you can't. You can't leave that out for the person whose blood is being it's pretty significant experience, I imagine, uh, and probably for the person who's doing the cutting two. But we'll find out later. UM. So they had twenty different calendars at least that we know of, UM, and actually five of them are still kept in secret. Five bands today really kind of makes you wonder what this five calendars are counting, right, UM. But there there's this, there's I guess I call him the Big three calendars, the Zulkin, which is actually a two hundred and sixty day calendar that actually um parallels human gestation all about twelve. Again. That that site, UM, which I found pretty cool. They basically have a calendar for a pregnancy. Right. There's the hob h a B. Yeah, that's three hundred and sixty days with a five day period called the Way Up, which basically it's a solar calendars, but it's essentially the same thing as the one that we UM use, the Gregorian calendar that we exactly. And then there's the calendar Round, which is a fifty two year calendar, and then there's there's actually the big one. This is the one that all of this doomsday stuff is centered around, and it's called what the Long Count calendar, right, yes, and that's all about the Great Cycle, is what they call it, yeah, which is a period of five thousand, one twenty five point three six years very specific yeah, um, approximately, right, um. And we know that this date of December twenty one, two thousand twelve is the end of this Great Cycle thanks to the conquistadors. So they show up and just completely subjugate and commit genocide against the Mayans. Some of them were left alive. Um. And actually there was one Mayan scholar who adopted the Gregorian calendar in conjunction with the Long Count calendar and started recording the same dates on both and so eventually, um, some scholars went back and started comparing dates and found the path and finally determined that the last beginning of the beginning of the last Great Cycle was August thirteen, fourteen b C. And you know, five thousand, twenty five years after that is point three six point three six would be December one, So that's how we know that the the Mayan calendar is going to reset itself on that date, right, But I think it's now is where we should note that the Mayans did not say this was the end of the world. It was a restarting of the Great cycle, and they, I believe, had gone through three other great cycles. Is that correct so far? Yeah? Yeah, So they didn't think it was gonna be the end of the world. This is uh, something that other people have kind of put on it, And apparently we're as far as the minds are concerned, we're extraordinarily lucky to live through the end of a great cycle in the beginning of another. One's a time of really good luck. It's a time to celebrate, exactly. It's not really a time to stock up on bottle water, you know, evaporated milk. Yeah, exactly. Um. But yeah, so that's kind of one of the fatal flaws I think in this the whole doomsday prophecies, that the very people whose calendar it's based on didn't necessarily believe this, right, well, right, but the reason and you know, I did a little more research too, and a lot of Mayan scholars are really upset about this that it cast them in in a negative light, and they're saying, this is not all accurate, This is not at all accurate. Sorry, and Mines didn't believe this, and this is something we put on it because of the uh. It ends with a winter solstice. That's the key right right there. There are a couple of things that doing research I found slightly unsettling. Let's hear them, and okay, I can I tell you a quick white two K story. Yeah. I wasn't big into it either, but I'm kind of one of those. I was a cub scout for a little while, never made it to boy scouts because I thought, respecting your elders just because they're old, that's a stupid concept, and I quit um. But I was a boy scout long enough to learn to prepare just in case. So on December thirty one, I was at Philips Arena at a widespread panic show, and had you followed me back to my van, you would have found a four ten shotgun, some shells, my dogs, some water, and a couple of other supplies. And I was ready to go to the Georgia Mountains. Just I'm very serious, kidding, Yeah, you know, a younger um much more out of it. Josh made that decision, but hey, if it had happened, I would have I would have, you know, been fine. I was at the Gravity Pub in East Atlanta at night. Were you a great place bringing in the new year? That's great? Chuck a plug for the Gravity Pub seriously, and Philips arena. Um So, come to Atlanta. We've got at least two things for you to do. Um So, my point is is that I'm not necessarily a really nervous person about stuff like this. Um I I am prepared. I'm probably not gonna do anything for December twenty first, two thousand twelves and maybe throw a party. But there are a couple of things, like I said, doing research that I found that work on a weird about December twenty one, two thousand twelve. One of them is that on that date, the winter solstice, the sun is actually going to be on that one day at the center of the Milky Way. The last time that happened was about twenty six thousand years ago, and apparently only happens every twenty six thou years yea or so, And we're talking like a day. This is this will it will be in that position for a day, and probably not even the whole day at eleven eleven, maybe even who knows. I found that a little significant. UM. And then another is that we are actually beginning a new sun spot cycle. This is something that actually if you read some of the literature, um, they keep talking about sun spots and sun spots and how it's going to create you know, severe climate change and imbalance in Earth processes. And on July thirty one, two thousand six, uh NASA astronomers found a backwards sun spot, meaning that it was polar I it's in the wrong direction from south to north rather than a lying north to south. It appeared on the Sun and it's basically a planet sized magnet and they've been waiting for it because it's it signals the start of a new solar cycle. Okay um, and when that happens, we have like proton storms and it actually messes with the Earth's magnetic field. These happened, UM. Oh, I don't know, every every every few years. I think a new there's a few year period between solar cycles. UM. So it's not that significant, but it could have a big effect. The thing is is the Earth. So magnetic field right now is in the process of reversing. It is. Did you did you read about this? I did, and I know that think that polar reversal might be one of the significant events, as in sunrises in the west, sets in the east, that kind of thing. And actually it is like I read on a Science Daily of that we're about in about probably years or saying it's going to reverse, and it happens randomly, and they know that it's reverse through some very clever techniques. They find ancient lava flow, and lava, because of its composition, aligns itself with magnetic north. It flows right, so whatever direction it's flowing in it basically leaves like a line of this is where magnetic north was on this day. And if you can date that lava flow, then you know, right then hundreds of thousands or millions of years ago, that's where magnetic north was right. So they're finding now, um that that the the magnetic field on Earth is reversing, and this only happens about every seven hundred and eighty thousand years. So all these things are kind of significant. And I can understand how somebody who is very concerned about war famine, pestilence, and it is, you know, conceivably into the end of the world. Sure, sure, UM could kind of take all this information in and say, yea, the summer twenty two thousand twelve and I'm gonna be in a bunker in Ethiopia. I see your point, Josh, But most serious scholars say there's nothing to it. And I didn't find any mainstream scientists to endorse anything like that. Everyone I ran across is like, no, no, no, no, this is not going to happen, and in fact they call it. A lot of them just call it out as down irresponsible to spread something like this, but not not only that, but a way to make a quick money to with another criticism, I son, so will the world really end in two thousand twelve? I'm going to go ahead and say probably not, because humanity is far too blemish to get off that lucky. Yeah. Wow, that's an interesting point of view. I don't think it's gonna end a twelve either, don't. Okay, we're in agreement, Chuck. We typically don't give our opinions, but darn it, that's mine. Yeah, And um, anybody out there stocking up for two thousand twelve when listening to this podcast, more power to you. Sure you will have the last laugh at the world really does it, as we usually say to each his own and or her own. And if that's what you believe, then yea stock up. Yeah, Chuck, that's one of those podcasts that now that we've done it, it stays done. I don't understand that. You don't have to. Okay, you'll find out on December twenty twelve. You rat so, Chuck. We're big time now and I want to I think I think we should express this. We have a spoken word album for love God, Chuck. We have a spoken word album available for sale on iTunes. Right now, Let's let's discuss, uh, correct, Josh, is the stuff you should know? Super stuffed Guide to the Economy beautiful? And what we tried to do is breakdown economics and the economy in a way that the layman can understand, because we'd layman as well. Exactly. We learned a lot. We think you'll learn a lot. Yeah, I'm pretty proud of it. I'm too. I think it's worth four bucks. I do too. And Jerry, our producer, did an outstanding job with the sound design. It's much different and very special. We would be nowhere without her. So you guys can find that on iTunes. All I have to do is type super stuffed into their handy search bar, and from my experience, as the first thing that comes up and have at it, I wouldn't click on anything else that said super stuff. Let's put it away, agreed, Chuck agreed. And while we're at it, while we're just plugging away, let's talk about our blog too, which frankly I've come to be pretty proud of. I wasn't sure about the blogging thing at first, and I'm like, I get this. Yeah, Yeah, we have a blog now called Stuff you Should Know, and you can access it through the homepage on the right hand side there at how stuff works dot com. And uh we post twice a day. One of us posts. I post in the morning, Chuck posts at night. Both of them are well worth reading. And Chuck likes to do a little recap on Fridays of the podcast the Weekend Podcasting, and we will answer you. We chat with the folks. Yes, we follow up, and it's a good way to reach us. Yeah. What, Chuck likes to interact with you guys more than I do. Because he likes to show off his cool guy hat in in his photo that pops up every time he posts something. So so ask us to come out and play and we will. Okay, So relief. Yes, we we got the spoken We're It album knocked out, we got the blog knocked out. You know what that means. It's time for yes, l M. But listener mail, listener mail, right, Josh. This is significant because today is the day where we retire Haiku Theater. Thank you? Did everyone here that we are retiring Hiku Theater. We love your high Kus and you can still send him if you want, but we're not going to read him anymore. I agreed. Thank you, Chuck, Thank you, thank you Chuck. Okay, so check, let's do it. This is the final. Um, how can we get Jerry? Maybe a drum roll in here? Right? And I should say that one of the reasons we were retiring is because we received the best Hiku ever and it cannot be topped, and so I'm still looking forward to this one. All right, So here we go. Um. Nathan of Akron, Ohio says, I'm a c P, a anesthesiologist. Man, they make some loot. Belinda, who doesn't say where she's from, says Hiku and search bar no article for learning. I had to google, so I think she was expecting an article on hikus h. David, who is an l V in which I believe is a nurse, says frozen missed on ground. The railing has lots of holes. It's a long way down. He's referring, of course, to Niagara Falls. Uh Jesse, I'm gonna read this one pretty quickly. Odin has an eye. Valhalla is in asgard. I do not know why Thor has a hammer. Heimdal nine moms and white God, please enlighten me. Balder dreamt his death, his mom frigg dreamt it as well. Mistletoe, who knew then him on Loki for Seti and his justice. How does this all fit there? I have no idea how Norse mythology in haiku that was gorgeous. We have one that just came in today from Ryan, and I was gonna not use it, but I told him I would make a joke about him being a hack poet. Okay, so here we go, And you did? You fulfilled your obligation urban exploring squatting best place to get shot? Yes, I am smarter, keep up the great work. I'll continue to listen. Knowledge is power is that? Was that in hiku form? Yeah? Okay, uh two more. Cassie in Minneapolis is getting married this June, and we wish her all the best. She does a dance, she says, stuff podcast alight. When I get a new podcast, I dance at my desk. Good luck, test and your groom. And now the last one ever, folks, that you will ever hear from my mouth. This comes to us from Austin from Fort Worth, Texas. He has this to say, uninvited guests at night, they in my food, Los cocaraches, tell me their secrets. One podcast to rule them all, Los Coca And that was the best hiku I've ever heard in my life. Wow from Austin. So thank you Austin. Congratulations Austin, you just ended hi Ku theater forever. So thanks Austin. That was awesome, awesome, awesome. Agreed, law school arches, and thanks to everybody who sent us in hikus. Please stop now. We love your creativity, but too much of a good thing, and we'll move on. We'll think of something else creative you guys can do for agreed. So In the meantime, if you wanted to say hi, tell us that um, we said something wrong, or send us anything UM. I believe one of them was Shakespearean sonnets. We're an idea in iambic pentameter. That was Jonathan Strickland or colleague. Get text Stuff's idea. Anything you want to do, Just just let us know that you're out there. UM. Send an email to us at Stuff podcast at how stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. It's ready, Are you