Mexican officials this week took time out of the holiday celebrations to proclaim the coming of the Apocalypse. Officials have started a countdown to the End of Times for December 21, 2012 — based on the Mayan calendar. At our blog, we try to keep people informed of such important dates for personal planning. Since it falls on a Friday, it may make for an awkward evening at TGIF and, if you have some vacation time, you might want to use it before December 22, 2012. I am not sure what the Mayan apocalypse looks like but I am pretty sure that, as a legal matter, earned vacation and other benefits will be treated as void as a matter of force majeure.
The doomsday dates comes from a stone tablet discovered in the 1960s at the archaeological site of Tortuguero in Tabasco provision — describing the return of a Mayan god at the end of a 13th period.
We have previously seen the great draw to those who proclaim our imminent destruction. However, it is worth noting that the Mexican tourist agency appears behind this particularly apocalyptic prediction and expected to
pull in 52 million visitors by next year based on the dire date. They might wish to be careful on the pitch: those disappointed by the continuation of the world have often found lawyers rather than faith in the aftermath.
In reality, the much talked about date is actually the Winter Solstice and archeologists the 2012 reference on the 1,300-year-old stone tablet only is meant to show the end of a cycle in the Mayan calendar. That interpretation, however, would not sell tee-shirts or Mayan dolls with “I Survived 2012” on them.
One tourist representative from Quintana Roo, Yeanet Zaldo, however, is not insisting on the end of times and instead cites the date as “a message of hope.” That will not move the tchatchkes or knick knacks. Indeed, the Obama campaign has found the whole “hope” thing is not tracking well this year.
Chiapas did the apocalypse marketing right with an 8-foot digital clock counting down in the main park so that you can make appointments and plans with precision before the End of Times. [The fact is that I have been seeing signs of the apocalypse even since Captain & Tennille released “Muskrat Love” . . . well actually ever since Captain & Tennille]
I will simply note that, with the end of the world approaching, there is no better time to vote in the ABA competition for our blog for the top opinion blog. I ask you: do you want this weighing on your soul when the Mayan Gods come knocking?
Source: ABC
FLOG THE BLOG: Have you voted yet for the top legal opinion blog? WE NEED YOUR VOTE! You can vote at HERE by clicking on the “opinion” category. Voting ends December 31, 2011.
This event is going to be my excuse at Christmas 2012 when I show up with not one present.
Gene, make that a bottle of good tequila and I’m in. I’ll bring a guacamole.
🙂
Perhaps those offering post-rapture pet care (see, e.g., http://www.aftertherapturepetcare.com/ or http://postrapturepetcare.com/) should consider extending their services to critters surviving the apocalypse … for a reasonable fee, of course.
Tom– Merry Christmas to you, too.
Gene: Mezcal! BTW, the worm is really a larva.
OS – not all of us were bright enough to go to law school so it wouldn’t work for me 🙁
“I am not sure what the Mayan apocalypse looks like ”
I am not sure what the Mayan apocalypse looks like either but I am pretty sure that it involves a bottle of cheap tequila.
Well if it do fall on a Friday….We could all be confused….as the 21st falls a day earlier and we would all have one of those S.H.I.T. Days….Sorry Honey Its Thursday…..
On the bright side, look at all the potential personal injury clients following the Apocalypse. There will be work for all of us.
My version involves the almost total shut down of the global grain belt due to climate change caused drought, flooding, and storms wreaking havoc on the food production sector. Meanwhile the oceans keep acidifying, overfishing continues and the pollution goes on and on. Whether you know it or not, we’re well into the 6th mass extinction (lots of species we depend upon, like pollinators and bats that eat disease carrying mosquitos, are suffering and dying off, to mention just a few). Trees are having a very hard time now battling disease, bark-eating (and other) bugs and the blistering heat and drought, not to mention their continual harvesting by humans for their own needs. With resources of all kinds (especially potable water) becoming ever-more scarce, this year should be a giant wake-up call for the human species. Watch for the new year to bring destruction, famine and conflict.
I am pretty sure we have sewn the seeds of our own destruction over the last 50 years, the only question is how we go.
My current favorite is the Bird flu/swine flu cross the researcher in Holland created. Let loose it will take 50% of us without raising a sweat.