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Nat Geo’s Survivors Guide to the Mayan Apocalypse

National Geographic gets you ready for the end of the world as we know it...

National Geographic Channel has scheduled some cheeky programming that prepares you for December 21, apparently the day that the world ends, according to the Mayan Calendar.

That settles it. I’m not starting my Xmas shopping until Dec. 22!

Many people believe that a Mayan Calendar whose cycle ends on December 21, 2012 amounts to a prediction that our world will cease to exist. But there’s more to this calendar than meets the eye.

In a week long stunt featuring seven hours of new documentaries that take us from a 1000 year old Mayan discovery to a futuristic spaceship ride to the stars, National Geographic Channel presents a potent mix of ancient prophecies, real science and some fascinating predictions for humanity’s future and asks just what can the human race do to save itself from planetary disaster?

The line-up of documentaries includes the Australian Premiere of Maya Underworld: The Real Doomsday, Wednesday December 19 at 7:30pm AEST. Hosted by National Geographic’s Diego Buñuel on an underwater expedition to a vast graveyard of Mayan human sacrifices and through dangerous underground tunnels to new revelations about the Mayan calendar. Ground breaking National Geographic technology, a brilliant SUNSPHERE that turns darkness into day, makes his quest unique. The search leads him to understand more about the mysterious collapse of the Maya civilization over 1000 years ago. Should we bother buying Christmas presents? Buñuel has the answers.

If it’s the last thing you do, don’t miss – The Survivors Guide To The Mayan Apocalypse

10 Ways To End The World
Premieres Sunday December 16 at 7.30pm AEDT/NZDT
Everyone’s talking about the end of the world, but exactly how could it end? We’re counting down the most likely possibilities from 10 to 1.

Omens Of The Apocalypse
Premieres Monday December 17 at 7.30pm AEDT/NZDT
A wave of unsettling mass animal deaths seems to be sweeping the globe. Is it a sign that doomsday is upon us or is it merely coincidences of nature?

The Mayan Apocalypse
Premieres Tuesday December 18 at 7.30pm AEDT/NZDT
Paul Murton travels to the birthplace of Mayan civilisation to explain the full meaning of the Mayan calendar and what we can really expect to happen on 21 December 2012.

Maya Underworld: The Real Doomsday
Premieres Wednesday December 19 at 7.30pm AEDT/NZDT
Diego Buñuel ventures deep underwater to vast graveyards of Maya human sacrifices, determined to reveal the truth behind the Mayan’s doomsday prediction.

Evacuate Earth
Premieres Thursday December 20 at 7.30pm AEDT/NZDT
What would we do if we could see a world-destroying catastrophe approaching us? Explore the technologies that could carry us to safety and help the human race begin a brave new existence.

11 Responses

  1. Remember Y2K, Mad Cow Disease, Bird Flu, H1N1 and more recently Harold Camping? 21/12/2012 will be yet another failed end of the world prediction and the next predicted date will be 31/12/2099 when Microsoft Windows calendars end according to my PC.

  2. I suspect that the Mayans just created a calendar and put an end date far into the future, thinking that no-one would be around by then. Or if they were, then they wouldn’t be using their interpretation of the calendar so they didn’t need to add any more dates.

    Besides, wasn’t the Rapture supposed to have finished us all off in 2011 too?

    Interestingly, MS Windows calendars end on 31st Dec 2099, I’m sure that some probably think that this signifies the end of the world too!

  3. @jonasboi – it’s even less interesting than that. First of all, the long count calendar wasn’t even in regular use by the Mayans by the time that the conquistadors arrived – 500 years ago. Information about it has been gleaned from ancient inscriptions that were no longer considered useful by the Mayans.

    Secondly, it’s simply the number of B’ak’tun (a period of 144,000 days) clicking over from 13 to 14. So it’s not even the calendar coming to an end or starting a new cycle. It’s about the same as the number in our thousand years column clicking over from 1 to 2, as it did nearly 13 years ago.

    Mind you, that brought about a lot of loony claims, so we shouldn’t be surprised.

  4. The Mayan Calendar does not predict the end of the world. There Calender is rather complex. But basically they have a long term Calender that ends on December 21st 2012.

    It is believed though that the Mayan calender ends because the Mayan people believe something big will happen between the planets that will alter time.

    It is really confusing but give this a read.
    wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar

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