Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Maya End of Times (of Sorts) is Back for 2012

From Neatorama:  Maya End of Times (of Sorts) is Back for 2012

Did we tell you not to panic because archaeologists have discovered evidence that the Maya Apocalypse has been delayed some 7,000 years in the future? Well, scratch that.
A newly discovered Maya text reveals that 2012 is indeed an "end date" of sorts: the end of political stability, instead of an outright apocalypse:
Now, researchers exploring the Maya ruins of La Corona in Guatemala have unearthed another reference. On a stairway block carved with hieroglyphs, archaeologists found a commemoration of a visit by Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' of Calakmul, the most powerful Mayan ruler in his day. The king, also known as Jaguar Paw, suffered a terrible defeat in battle by the Kingdom of Tikal in 695. [...]
In an effort to tie himself and his reign to the future, the king linked his reign with another 13th cycle — the 13th bak'tun ending on Dec. 21, 2012.
David Stuart, a professor of art history at the University of Texas at Austin, recognized the reference to the date among 56 glyphs that were carved on the stone block. "It was a time of great political turmoil in the Maya region, and this king felt compelled to allude to a larger cycle of time that happens to end in 2012," Stuart said in a statement released by UT.
Are they talking about the US presidential election? Can't be a coicidence now, can it?

 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Doomsday pyramid to bring positive thinking in Mexico’s Maya Riviera

From FoxNews: Doomsday pyramid to bring positive thinking in Mexico’s Maya Riviera


PyramidofPositiveThinking.JPG 
 
The Maya Riviera, the northwestern part of the Yucatan Peninsula, alongside the turquoise Caribbean Sea is home to some of the most-visited Maya cities, Tulum, Coba and Chichen Itza.

So it's no wonder that this area is turning into one of the main destinations to celebrate "the end of the world." The ancient Maya calendar ends on December 21, 2012, the Winter Solstice.  It’s not the end of the world, really --as a some like to predict.  Archeologists now believe it is simply the end of one calendar cycle and the start of a new one.  Maya apocalypse or not, the debate and the headlines are good for tourism.  And I could see that first hand during recent trip.

One of the special attractions set up to celebrate the ending of the Maya calendar is a new pyramid that's being constructed for doomsday, and beyond.

Mexican artist Xavier de Maria y Campos hopes the new b’aktunoob, or Maya calendar cycle, ushers in a new era of positive thinking and appreciation of nature and the environment, two things the Maya believed in. That’s why he is building a giant pyramid out of 700,000 recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) water and soda bottles in Aldea Zama, between the ancient and modern cities of Tulum.

This Pyramid of Positive Thinking is to be completed on December 21, 2012, covered in jungle foliage and topped with a giant mirror that will reflect the sun's rays during the day and create an artificial light beam at night.

Visitors are invited to stuff a bottle with a little paper prayer or wish. Mine was that we use fewer plastic bottles. Visitors also can insert a wish contributed virtually via the pyramid’s website, a popular activity for school groups.

As the pile of bottles rises, the structure is planted with greenery. A gardener handed me a cutting, which I pushed into the webbing holding the pile of plastic in place. Eventually, this pyramid will look like just another hill covered with jungle growth, like the hundreds that dot the Yucatan, hiding Maya ruins which have not yet been excavated.

Tulum currently does not have a recycling program. Campos hopes for good cosmic karma from the positive thoughts inside the bottles, the act of getting so much plastic out of garbage dumps, and the eco-awareness his project is building.  It couldn’t hurt.

Maya calendar aside, the Maya Riviera, the Mexican state of Quintana Roo, is also a destination for animal adventures.

Mid-May to mid-September is whaleshark season, when the huge animals feed where the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico meet, off Cancun and Isla Mujeres. Snorkeling with the sharks is big business, and you can sign up for a boat tour at the ferry ports at either end, or through your hotel concierge.

They are called whale sharks because they are sharks the size of whales, feeding close enough to the surface that you might actually land on one when you jump off the boat to swim with them. But that doesn’t happen, since tour boat captains and swim guides are experts at getting close, but not that close.

They also could be called polka-dot sharks, because their huge blue-grey bodies are decorated with grey-white polka-dots everywhere, except on their dorsal fins and tails. Whatever you call them, it’s like snorkeling with a submarine.

On my first two jumps, I focused on getting pictures and video with my underwater camera, which was dumb. It’s tough to see their widescreen glory when you are watching through a postage stamp viewfinder.  So, on the rest of my jumps, I left the camera behind on the boat.

Each jump, my guide, Juan Carlos Coba, held my hand tightly and helped me power-swim after “our” shark. Be sure to ask how many people will be on your boat. Juan Carlos takes no more than eight people, so each of us had more jumps and more time in the water each jump than the other, larger boats with as many as 20 tourists aboard taking turns.  Click for more at CruiseDivers.
The whale sharks were just one of my animal excursions.

On Isla Mujeres, I visited the Tortugranja, a government-supported breeding farm for endangered sea turtles. In the last decade, this small facility has released 1,000 Hawksbill and rare white turtles into the wild. Carefully, I held a week-old baby about the size of a large coin, before returning it to one of the attendants.
In Akumel, between Cancun and Tulum, I swam with adult turtles which hang out in the sea grass just offshore. My guide, Virginia Romano Franklin, grew up here and has been swimming with turtles since childhood. She found a pair feeding blissfully, a few hundred yards from a group of tourists acting like unruly paparazzi, closing in on a solo turtle who must have been terrified. Click for more at Riviera Adventours.
Romano Franklin also is caring for a baby spider monkey at her family restaurant, Oscar & Lalo, in Tulum. Lalito was found abandoned on the family ranch nearby, and wears an infant diaper – she cuts a hole in it for his tail – when he plays tag with guests. Just like a human toddler, Lalito is in constant motion, except when he stops briefly for a cuddle.

On other days, I swam with trained dolphins at Xcaret and at Xel-Ha, the two family-oriented, tourist-oriented nature parks in the Riviera Maya. At Xcaret, dolphins do their famous “foot push”, which is pushing a human visitor across the Olympic size enclosure.

I was instructed to float face down, my legs locked straight, hip width apart.  An instant after the trainer blew his whistle, the noses of two dolphins were pushing the soles of my feet and I was flying across the pool with my arms outstretched, like Kate Winslet on the bow of the Titanic.  At Xel-Ha, one of their tricks is to swim upright, so I could hold their flippers briefly and “dance” with them.

Yes, there is controversy about such captivity and training.  The hope is that anybody experiencing these intelligent and beautiful creatures so closely will be moved to support protecting them in the wild.

Perhaps somebody has placed exactly that wish inside one of the bottles at the Pyramid of Positive Thinking.

 

Friday, July 27, 2012

Ancient Mayan Prophecy Prompts BUTTERFINGER(R) to Seek One Last Worthy Candy Bar Spokesperson for the End of Time

From MarketWatch:  Ancient Mayan Prophecy Prompts BUTTERFINGER(R) to Seek One Last Worthy Candy Bar Spokesperson for the End of Time

GLENDALE, Calif., Jul 10, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- With less than 200 days remaining until the end of the world, BUTTERFINGER(R) today announced its search for one last spokesperson. Taking the beloved brand into the end of time, the winning pitchperson for the world's favorite crispety, crunchety, peanut-buttery candy bar will become Butterfinger's last spokesperson until December 21, 2012, when the world will end, according to the ancient Mayan Prophecy. 

According to Butterfinger, signs of a complete BARmageddon began earlier this year when strange events took place nationwide, all related to the disappearance of Butterfinger bars. To help warn the world about BARmageddon, Emmy award-winning actress Jaime Pressly is signed on to help Butterfinger launch a nationwide search for its last spokesperson. Pressly, a longtime Butterfinger fan, is scheduled to attend Comic-Con on Friday, July 13, and will help identify talented candidates for the life-changing (and earth-shattering), one-of-a-kind role. 

"While nobody's gonna lay a finger on my Butterfinger, I will lay a finger on the last spokesperson worthy enough to represent my favorite candy bar," said Pressly. "I love the notion of BARmageddon because we've all been hearing about the Mayan prophecy, but Butterfinger is spinning it on its head. If the world's gonna end, you'd better believe Butterfinger is going out with a bang." 

The "Last Spokesperson on Earth" for Butterfinger campaign officially will begin July 13, at the world's largest comic book convention, where sightings of aliens and strange beings have been widely reported. To kick off the "Last Spokesperson" search, Butterfinger will be giving away a special edition Butterfinger BARmageddon candy bar, while supplies last, to convention attendees. While there, Pressly will play a principal role in the spokesperson search, as Butterfinger also launches an online video campaign that day at Facebook.com/Butterfinger starring Pressly, who will be judging (and possibly even hand-picking) candidates for the "Last Spokesperson on Earth." Pressly, best known for her award-winning work on the television comedy "My Name is Earl," for which she also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations, recently appeared in the FOX comedies "Raising Hope" and "I Hate My Teenage Daughter." 

Her comedic skills will be fully utilized in the Butterfinger BARmageddon campaign, which will feature Pressly in a series of online videos, conducting the search for Butterfinger's "Last Spokesperson on Earth." 

"Our search for the last spokesperson comes on the heels of Butterfinger's BARmageddon News Network (BBNN) nationwide van tour," said Tricia Bowles, of Nestle USA Confections & Snacks. "The BBNN has been on the road since May, and it has found some pretty compelling evidence out there indicating a true BARmageddon, including a bizarre crop circle in Kansas, and eyewitness accounts of the disappearance of Butterfinger bars in cities throughout the U.S." 

Rare findings from the BBNN van tour, including comprehensive end-of-the-world evidence gathered from around the country, also will be released on July 13. BBNN van tour videos may be viewed online at ButterfingerBARmageddon.com. 

How to Enter the Butterfinger BARmageddon "Last Spokesperson" Search
Fans who think they have what it takes to be Butterfinger's "Last Spokesperson on Earth" may upload a video to ButterfingerBARmageddon.com simply explaining why they'd make the best, last spokesperson for Butterfinger. The winner will be featured in an online video campaign until the world ends on December 21, 2012, making them Butterfinger's "last" spokesperson. (And the winner will be able to enjoy their grand prize--a trip to fabulous Las Vegas and $15,000 in prize money--if the world doesn't end.)
More information and full contest rules may be found at ButterfingerBARmageddon.com. 

About Butterfinger Butterfinger is a one-of-a-kind candy bar with the crispety-crunchety, peanut-buttery taste people love. No other candy bar comes close to the intense flavor and texture of a Butterfinger. Keep up with the latest news about Butterfinger at Facebook.com/Butterfinger or follow its sweet tweets at Twitter.com/Butterfinger. 

About Nestle USA Named one of "The World's Most Admired Food Companies" in Fortune magazine for fourteen consecutive years, Nestle provides quality brands and products that bring flavor to life every day. From nutritious meals with LEAN CUISINE(R) to baking traditions with NESTLE(R) TOLL HOUSE(R), Nestle USA makes delicious, convenient, and nutritious food and beverage products that make good living possible. That's what "Nestle. Good Food, Good Life" is all about. Nestle USA, with 2011 sales of $10 billion, is part of Nestle S.A. in Vevey, Switzerland -- the world's largest food company with a commitment to Nutrition, Health & Wellness -- with 2011 sales of $94 billion. For product news and information, visit Nestleusa.com or NestleNewsroom.com.

 

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Head Mayan Elder, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, Visits San Francisco to Discuss Mayan Calendar

From Sacramento Bee:  Head Mayan Elder, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, Visits San Francisco to Discuss Mayan Calendar
/PRNewswire/ -- Elisabeth Thieriot, a San Francisco-based business woman, co-founder of PhoneCharge, Inc, philanthropist and author of Be Fabulous at Any Age hosted a questions and answers session for the Head Elder of the Mayan Council, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, on June 27th for friends and media at her home, Lions Gate in Tiburon, CA.

"I always enjoy coming to Elisabeth's house because she is a gracious host and has a warm heart," says guest, Sudha Pennathur. "It's even more of a pleasure to be invited to Lions Gate and get the rare chance to meet Apolinario to learn about the Mayan culture and her [Thieriot's] film that has been a big part of her life this year."

Guests sipped wine and savory hors d'ouerves, while Thieriot and Pixtun answered questions one by one from guests and media. Question topics ranged from the Mayan culture and the calendar, to the upcoming movie "Decoding B'aqtun." Guests represented a wide range of backgrounds, from the Catholic Church, a Cryptologist, an Indian jewelry designer, a Guatemalan female empowerment advocate and more.

Pixtun clutched his Mayan spiritual guidance stick while explaining spirituality in the Mayan culture and the meaning of this b'aqtun in particular. He also discussed the film, "Decoding B'aqtun," and the pleasure of working with Thieriot.

"[Working] with Elisabeth was different. It is a different work relationship. It is a different way of seeing life," Pixtun explained. "Working with her is good and especially working on a project that will save humanity."
Thieriot and Pixtun worked well together and bonded in a strong friendship during production. This is why Pixtun made a stop to Thieriot's house on his U.S.A. tour of hosting various Mayan conferences.
The film is a guide to the secret of how to live a fulfilled life through spirituality by the Mayan example. While Pixtun explained the Mayan culture, there is more to be revealed that the film touches on. "Decoding B'aqtun" is scheduled to come out at the end of 2012.

To watch the interview of Thieriot and Pixtun, respectively, as well as highlights from the question and answer session, tune in on July 29 at 5:25 p.m. to "It's a Red Carpet Life…" Red Carpet Bay Area's summer shorts on KICU TV36 and re-watch the segment with additional photos here.

About Apolinario Chile Pixtun Apolinario Chile Pixtun is the Head Elder of the Mayan Council. He is a spiritual guide. He carries the wisdom of his Mayan ancestors and passes it on to generations. He travels around the world to hold Mayan conferences and speak about the calendar.

About Elisabeth Thieriot Elisabeth Thieriot is a San Francisco-based business woman, co-founder of PhoneCharge, Inc, philanthropist and author of Be Fabulous at Any Age. She executive produced and financed the movie "Decoding B'aqtun."

About "Decoding B'aqtun" The film does not yet have a debut date. Shot in Guatemala, the film uncovers previously seen Mayan artifacts from the sites of Tikal and Quirigua, Guatemala. It takes its audience on a journey to discover the optimum quality of life through the Mayan prophecies and example.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/10/4622502/head-mayan-elder-apolinario-chile.html#storylink=cpy


Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/10/4622502/head-mayan-elder-apolinario-chile.html#storylink=cpy
 

Monday, July 23, 2012

Tulane: Mayan discovery shows world will not end this year

From WWL:  Tulane: Mayan discovery shows world will not end this year

 
 
What are the chances of an archeologist discovering the second known Mayan reference to December 21st, 2012...this year?

Not only did that happen, but the find also addresses the end-of-the-world scenario attached to the Mayan calendar.

It was a Tulane University archeologist who made the find at La Corona in Guatemala, a small site with an amazing number of hieroglyphics.

The fears have been running rampant among some people that the world may end this year, due in part to 'supposed' predictions from the Mayan calendar.  A recent survey about that showed that ten percent of the worldwide population believes something dire is going to happen to the Earth this year.

Marcello Canuto, Director of the Middle American Research Institute at Tulane University is just back from Guatemala, and he says La Corona, which means The Crown in Spanish, has been an exciting find.  "This particular site was the mysterious Q site in Mayan archeology that we knew existed somewhere but hadn't really been found yet.

"This year we found this hieroglyphic staircase, where I found two panels in their original location in 2005.  This year we found 12!"

Even though the La Corona site has been looted over the years, countless hieroglyphics and inscriptions remain, including one that he says makes it clear the Mayans were not looking for the entire Earth to stop functioning this year.

He says it's amazing to find the 2012 reference this year.  And Canuto says this find makes it clear the world will go on for centuries. "What the text is saying is that the king is really powerful and he continues to be powerful, and that his reign and that the world order, think of it that way, sort of a metaphorical thing, that the world order will go on forever and forever.

"So it's sort of like actually trying to use their calendar not to predict the end of the world, but try to avoid the end of the world. They're trying to say the world will continue, it's a grand cycle. 'I'm a king of great importance and I will continue to rule.'"

But Canuto does wonder why people are looking to the Maya for predictive capabilities.  "That's what I've always found curious, is that everyone worries about the Maya predicting the end of the world in 2012, but nobody worries about the fact that they couldn't predict their own collapse."

Canuto says the text makes it clear the world will go on for centuries, and that the Mayans did not consider the calendar phase that ends this year to be the final chapter for mankind



Saturday, July 21, 2012

2012 Solar Flares, bunkers, and Mayan prophecies

From Examiner.com:  2012 Solar Flares, bunkers, and Mayan prophecies

Solar flares; are they the beginnings of the Doomsday prophecies.

When we look at the Mayan and their advanced knowledge of our solar system, even the most skeptical individuals may need a moment to pause. On Friday July 6, 2012 a ‘X-class’ eruption showed the power of the Sun’s 11-year solar flare cycle.

With Friday’s ‘Coronal Mass Ejections’, http://www.swpc.noaa.gov/today.html NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center reported, that the flare was 15 times the length of Earth, and say that more X-class eruptions will usher us into 2013.

Are these the events Mayans had witnessed and foretold of, incorporating them into their prolific prophecies? Were they telling us that over the next few months, we will not only have to take cover, but also change the way we do everything going forward? What will the future hold, or are we looking at the beginning of society ending, mega destruction?

Scientists everywhere disprove the theory of a global killing solar ray, yet even the best scientists only have historic and perceived data on this twenty-thousand year cycle.

Geologists and cosmologists alike cannot predict the idiosyncrasies of the Sun’s actions or their impact on Earth; they too can only report what events have taken place.

Taking in the latest heat wave that engulfed North America, will we soon be slathering on the SPF 1000? On the other hand, will we be looking for ways to survive in the depths of the Earth?

People at Vivos: http://www.terravivos.com believe, so much that they have placed a hefty price tag on their six-month all-inclusive packages. For the deluxe model stay in Indiana, you only have to dole out a mere $50,000 per adult and $35,000 for each child. However, for the budget conscience they have downsized some of their luxury suites to accommodate 1000 souls for the price of $9,950 per person in their economy section.
Remember the Titanic, steerage anyone?

 

Thursday, July 19, 2012

Mayan Renaissance tracks 4,000 years of Central American history tonight on TV

(This happened on July 12, but will doubtless be repeated a few times.)

From Denver Westworld :  Mayan Renaissance tracks 4,000 years of Central American history tonight on TV

It's safe to say that the year 2012 is a big one in Mayan culture -- but few people really know the extent of its importance, argues PeaceJam Executive Director Dawn Engle. Not up to speed? No worries: Tonight you can catch Mayan Renaissance -- a Peacejam-produced movie that puts 4,000 years of Mayan history in perspective -- on Colorado Public Television. The documentary, the first on the subject to be shot from the Mayan viewpoint, highlights the influence of European visitors on Central America and travels through 500 years of oppression before continuing to the Maya peoples' present-day struggle to preserve their culture...and also run for political office in Guatemala.

"There's been a lot said about the Maya, but it's always some white professor at Harvard telling you what the deal is," Engle says. "They've never had their own voice heard, the Maya, and we see this as a chance."

In May, an audience at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York gave Engle and PeaceJam co-founder Ivan Suvanjieff a standing ovation at the conclusion of a screening of the film. But its most welcome reception has been from the culture it celebrates.

"The Maya love it because they see their story told onscreen for the first time exactly how they would tell it," says Engle. "We were trying to capture Mayan civilization without the denigrating tactics like historical reenactments on the History Channel. We didn't want it to be our view on anything. We wanted it to be the Mayan view."

To facilitate that perspective, the film's creators obtained artwork and artifacts, many of which had never been seen by outsiders, stretching back to the dawn of the Maya civilization. PeaceJam had already been working with the Maya peoples for seventeen years, collecting film footage along the way. The most difficult aspect of this production, then, was slimming 4,000 years of history down to one hour and eight minutes.
Somehow they managed, though, and Mayan Renaissance has since been translated into Spanish and distributed around the globe. PeaceJam sponsors are currently in talks with the prince of Monaco to stage a European release in Monte Carlo later in the year.

Mayan Renaissance is the first in PeaceJam's Nobel Legacy Film Series, which will showcase the work of a different Nobel Peace Prize laureate each year. Next year's edition, Children of the Light, features South African political activist Desmond Tutu, who delivered what Engle remembers as an "Earth-quaking" speech on social issues at the tenth anniversary celebration of PeaceJam in Denver 2006.
In 2014, Educating the Heart will follow the Dalai Lama's campaign to restructure global education with an experiment in Newark, New Jersey.

But in the meantime, 2012 is the perfect year to shine a spotlight on Mayan culture, aided by the onscreen presence of Rigoberta Menchú Tum, a Nobel laureate and indigenous Guatemalan who ran for the country's presidency in 2007 -- and survived.

"This is their time," Engle says. "For them to be so resilient, to preserve their culture over so many years and then step up now to lead is an incredible story of courage. When people watch the film, they're very inspired because they think that wow, in the face of all of this historical oppression and death, the Maya can create a niche for themselves in the world."

Watch Mayan Renaissance tonight on Colorado Public Television at 7 p.m.; it will repeat five more times through the weekend. Or wait and watch it on the big screen: On August 14, the Denver Film Center will present the film as part of its Women + Film series.


 

Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Cut Tongue, Penis Gave Mayan Vision Serpent: Lewis Lapham

From Bloomberg.com:  Cut Tongue, Penis Gave Mayan Vision Serpent: Lewis Lapham

In A.D. 681, when Shield Jaguar ascended the throne in Yaxchilan, now near the Guatemala-Mexico border, his principal wife, Lady Xoc, knelt, perforated her tongue and drew a thorn-studded rope through the wound. 

Accompanied by music and dance, such pain-filled Mayan rituals date back at least to A.D. 199. They were watched by the assembled people, who’d fasted and washed in preparation.

At the climactic point, the new ruler would lacerate his penis, agitating the wound to make the blood flow more copiously.

Burning the strips of paper that caught the blood created great clouds of black smoke from which the Vision Serpent appeared.

 

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts will be ready

From MichiganLive:  Mayan calendar predicts the end of the world, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts will be ready

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The Mayan calendar predicts the world will end in 2012, and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts will be ready for it.

But as ArtPrize 2012 comes first, UICA will be a venue for the $560,000 competition first and celebrate the end of the world later.

In connection with the premiere of “Free Pie Film,” held Thursday at UICA, the arts organization announced its 2012-13 season with cutting-edge contemporary art, film, education programs and special programs for its 35th anniversary season.

The contemporary arts organization, which has suffered some blows lately, including the sudden, unexpected departure of executive director Jeffrey Meeuwsen in April, will return to regular operating hours, open six days a week, with films each day, beginning today.

Related: UICA has a fresh slate of new, independent films coming over the next several weeks.

But UICA, which just moved into a brand new home in the Gallery on Fulton last year, is bouncing back with a season of innovative programing, unveiled after the premiere of "Free Pie" by Caleb Slain, creator of Microsoft's Surface viral ad, plus nine more video projects by local filmmakers.

“The 2012-13 season marks the thrilling intersection of our new space, countless dynamic artworks, and expanded education, public and special programming,” said Kathryn Chaplow, president of UICA’s Board of Directors and Janet Teunis, director of operations.

In September, UICA will be a venue for the fourth ArtPrize with an exhibition titled “Somewhere Else” that opens with ArtPrize on Sept. 19 but continues through November with work that “transports viewers to another place, constructs surreal contexts and envisions different environments” with immersive installations, aggressive escapism and panoramic perspectives argue that there is no place like home.

“Somewhere Else” also refers to UICA’s 4th and 5th floors, which haven’t yet been used, but will be open to the public for the first time as part of this event.

Special events include “The Odd Ball” in September, a fundraising celebration of exhibitions, costumes and food on Sept. 18 on the eve of the opening of ArtPrize 2012.

Coming in October, UICA welcomes Open Projector Night. Beginning Oct. 9 and continuing the second Tuesday of every month, the free event offers filmmakers a platform to share their own work, inspiration or quirky found-footage with film lovers.

UICA’s Holiday Artists’ Market returns for  one-of-a-kind shopping on Nov. 30-Dec. 1 for work by regional artists.

In December, UICA hosts its “End of the World Party” with live music, performances, food and drink to usher say farewell to the current World Age, according to some interpretations of Mayan and Hopi lore.
Assuming the world doesn’t end in December, UICA’s “Live Coverage” will be back on Feb. 16, 2013 to showcase more than 50 West Michigan visual artists creating art on the spot, part of a fundraiser with live and silent auctions for UICA’s programming.

In March, UICA will participate in the third Gilda’s LaughFest, humor through public programming and film screenings.

Also in the spring, UICA’s first curated Short Film Festival will debut on a date to be announced later. The one-day festival, featuring awards and categories for both students and professional filmmakers, offers a new way for artists working in our community to share their work with film fans.

Coming first next month, UICA’s ArtWorks Youth Program will unveil a mural at 106 S. Division Ave. on Aug. 9, and UICA also will launch new, regularly scheduled Education Programs.

Family Saturdays will be held the first Saturday of every month, beginning Aug. 4 for families to get their hands on art.

Quirkshops, for adults to try their hand at ceramics, begins Sept 6 for hands-on, one-night art making workshops.

Beginning in January 2013, ArtWorks Teen Night will provide students with informal opportunities to be engaged through art-related, career explorative experiences.

 

Monday, July 16, 2012

Bolivia announces the “end of Coca Cola and capitalism” for December 21

From MercoPress:  Bolivia announces the “end of Coca Cola and capitalism” for December 21


According to the head of Bolivian diplomacy on that day marked by the Mayan calendar as the end of an era, will not be the end of the world as affirmed by some prophecies, but rather the beginning of a new life full of changes and respect for Mother Earth.

For this reason the Bolivian government is preparing a special ceremony to celebrate the summer solstice day in the Titicaca Lake shared by Bolivia and Peru at an altitude of 4.080 metres above sea level.

That day “will also mark the end of egoism, of division, it must be the end of Coca Cola” and the beginning of “mocochinchi” (a pop drink made out of dried peaches) and of “willcaparu” (a corn refreshment).

According to the “long counting” Maya calendar on 21 December 2012 will be the end of a civilization and the beginning of another one that implies spiritual transition towards a new cosmic conscience.

The first of the seven Mayan prophecies says that on that day humanity will have to choose between disappearing as a thinking species which threatens to destroy the planet, or evolve towards the harmonic integration with the entire universe.

For Choquehuanca that day will signal “the end of the Macha, the end of hatred, the end of capitalism” and the beginning of “la Pacha, the start of love, of community spirit”. The Foreign minister announced that to welcome Pacha the Bolivian government is preparing a ceremony in the island of the Sun with the attendance of 50.000 indigenous members from different countries.

Choquehuanca made the announcements during a ceremony next to President Evo Morales and Vice-president Alvaro García in which a contract was signed to construct an airport in Copacabana, the main Catholic sanctuary of Bolivia, 120 kilometres west of La Paz.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Will the righteous resurrect on December 21, 2012? Televangelists Jack and Rexella Van Impe think something big will happen.

From The god Discussion:  Will the righteous resurrect on December 21, 2012? Televangelists Jack and Rexella Van Impe think something big will happen.

December 21, 2012, is an important day for Christian televangelists Jack and Rexella Van Impe.  Jack Van Impe says that all sorts of things are going to start happening after that day and that Jesus' return is imminent.
Many doomsday believers think that the December 2012 date marks the end of the Mayan calendar and the end of the world as we know it.

According to Rexella Van Impe, one of the signs is that the Hadron Collider is expected to "solve" the God particle question by the end of 2012, which she characterizes as a "very, very serious thing."  (The term "God particle" is referring to the Higgs boson which could explain why mass is formed.  Scientists do not care for the term, "God particle." Research is being conducted to verify whether a particle announced on July 4 is actually the Higgs boson or some other type of particle.)  Jack Van Impe says that the Hadron Collider is "a monstrous machine" and he will reveal God's word about it, along with the Big Bang Theory, next week.  But in the meantime, the Van Impes point to material published in the book, The Ark of Millions of Years, as evidence that December 21, 2012, is "the resurrection date" in the prophecies of many religions.  Among other things, the book claims that "the Zodiac Clock in the main reading room of the Library of Congress portrays the Roman god Saturn holding the sickle of the December 21, 2012, harvest."

"What's shocking is that these people said this a few thousand years ago," Jack Van Impe remarked about the book.  "They weren't trying to frighten someone into becoming a member of their religion because of that date.  They looked ahead and all of them — the pagan religions — predicted that the resurrection of their dead in their religions would happen December 21st, 2012.  Now, wouldn't that be something if our rapture also occurred then?  We're not setting dates, but this is exciting stuff."

Jack Van Impe thinks that something cataclysmic will happen after December 21, 2012.  "Now listen carefully," he admonished.  "We are to be looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.  Why?  Because we're going to miss all the horrendous things that will happen probably from 2012 onward, because I believe the tribulation hour is going to begin very soon."

Christians will be "caught up" and ascend to heaven, avoiding the tribulations that everyone else will go through, he explained.  "I'm not setting dates now, but God showed me something about a year ago and I've used it once on television already.  A generation is not 40 years," he said, recounting some biblical math. "It comes out to 52 years for a generation.  [...] Get ready, this is exciting!"  Counting from the 1967 6-day war in Israel, he said that Jesus could return by 2019, and minus the 7 years of tribulation before Christ's return, it would be 2012.

"Wouldn't it be exciting if all of us were resurrected on the same day, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame?" he speculated.

Recent storms and power outages are some of the biblical signs that people should be watching for, the Van Impes said. According to Jack Van Impe, a dark supernatural presence created the power outages in early July in the midst of heat waves and extreme weather. "You know who's behind it, all these power shortages? We don't have electricity and light? The Prince of Darkness, Satan. He controls space. God gets the bad rap for everything — Oh, it's an Act of God. No, no. Satan is the god of this world's system (2 Corinthians 4:3). He is the prince of the power of the air and the airwaves. He controls what's going on there. To bring all this darkness into our lives, as the transmissions go out so that we can't have a cool home and we can't turn on the lights, it's satanic power."

 

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Head Mayan Elder, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, Visits San Francisco to Discuss Mayan Calendar

From the Sacramento Bee:  Head Mayan Elder, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, Visits San Francisco to Discuss Mayan Calendar

S /PRNewswire/ -- Elisabeth Thieriot, a San Francisco-based business woman, co-founder of PhoneCharge, Inc, philanthropist and author of Be Fabulous at Any Age hosted a questions and answers session for the Head Elder of the Mayan Council, Apolinario Chile Pixtun, on June 27th for friends and media at her home, Lions Gate in Tiburon, CA.

"I always enjoy coming to Elisabeth's house because she is a gracious host and has a warm heart," says guest, Sudha Pennathur. "It's even more of a pleasure to be invited to Lions Gate and get the rare chance to meet Apolinario to learn about the Mayan culture and her [Thieriot's] film that has been a big part of her life this year."

Guests sipped wine and savory hors d'ouerves, while Thieriot and Pixtun answered questions one by one from guests and media. Question topics ranged from the Mayan culture and the calendar, to the upcoming movie "Decoding B'aqtun." Guests represented a wide range of backgrounds, from the Catholic Church, a Cryptologist, an Indian jewelry designer, a Guatemalan female empowerment advocate and more.
Pixtun clutched his Mayan spiritual guidance stick while explaining spirituality in the Mayan culture and the meaning of this b'aqtun in particular. He also discussed the film, "Decoding B'aqtun," and the pleasure of working with Thieriot.

"[Working] with Elisabeth was different. It is a different work relationship. It is a different way of seeing life," Pixtun explained. "Working with her is good and especially working on a project that will save humanity."
Thieriot and Pixtun worked well together and bonded in a strong friendship during production. This is why Pixtun made a stop to Thieriot's house on his U.S.A. tour of hosting various Mayan conferences.

The film is a guide to the secret of how to live a fulfilled life through spirituality by the Mayan example. While Pixtun explained the Mayan culture, there is more to be revealed that the film touches on. "Decoding B'aqtun" is scheduled to come out at the end of 2012.

To watch the interview of Thieriot and Pixtun, respectively, as well as highlights from the question and answer session, tune in on July 29 at 5:25 p.m. to "It's a Red Carpet Life…" Red Carpet Bay Area's summer shorts on KICU TV36 and re-watch the segment with additional photos here.

About Apolinario Chile Pixtun Apolinario Chile Pixtun is the Head Elder of the Mayan Council. He is a spiritual guide. He carries the wisdom of his Mayan ancestors and passes it on to generations. He travels around the world to hold Mayan conferences and speak about the calendar.

About Elisabeth Thieriot Elisabeth Thieriot is a San Francisco-based business woman, co-founder of PhoneCharge, Inc, philanthropist and author of Be Fabulous at Any Age. She executive produced and financed the movie "Decoding B'aqtun."

About "Decoding B'aqtun" The film does not yet have a debut date. Shot in Guatemala, the film uncovers previously seen Mayan artifacts from the sites of Tikal and Quirigua, Guatemala. It takes its audience on a journey to discover the optimum quality of life through the Mayan prophecies and example.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/10/4622502/head-mayan-elder-apolinario-chile.html#storylink=cpy


Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/10/4622502/head-mayan-elder-apolinario-chile.html#storylink=cpy
 

Monday, July 9, 2012

Mayan Calendar: World Will Not End In December 2012, Expert Says

From Huffington Post:  Mayan Calendar: World Will Not End In December 2012, Expert Says

It's a bright summer day at the National Museum of Anthropology in Mexico City. Outside, in the sprawling front plaza rimmed by palm and willow trees, young couples cuddle by the steps, vendors sell wrestling masks and tacos, and five men dressed in traditional Totonac garb slowly spin upside down in the death defying "Dance of the Flyers" for the tourists.

Inside the museum is a wonder of culture and history. Each wing is dedicated to a separate civilization in Mesoamerican culture—one for the Toltecs, another for Teotihuacan. But the largest spaces are reserved for the Aztecs and Maya. And in the center of the building is the stunning Aztec Stone of the Sun—often erroneously called the "Aztec Calendar"—perhaps the most recognizable symbol in Latin America. Diana Magaloni Kerpel, the museum director, peers at the stone.

"It is not a calendar. It's really the image of space and time. It's an image of how the Aztecs conceived themselves as in the center of time and space," she says. "Look at that. There is face in the middle—that is the cosmos. The Maya wouldn't do that—ever."

If you have not been paying attention to doomsayers or John Cusack movies, December 21, 2012, is the day that many say the Maya predicted the world would end. Internet stories regularly detail the Maya calendars although displaying the Aztec Stone of the Sun (including one, we regret, that was published on Scientific American Online). Looking at the reality of ancient Mesoamerica, it quickly becomes clear that much of the uproar rose out of a confusion of two distinct cultures that lived 500 years apart.

"There's a lot of conflation between these two cultures. It would almost be like comparing England at the time of the War of the Roses to the Romans or the Romans to the Greeks in the age of Pericles," says Stephen Houston, a Mayanist at Brown University. "They are vastly different periods, separated by considerable distances. The societies had many shared features but they were organized in very different ways."

To the average tourist, all the magnificent art here may blend together, and indeed they share many themes. But the Maya and Aztecs were very different cultures, analogous in many ways to the Greeks and Romans. Like the Greeks, the Maya were the older civilization to the east. Rather than a unified empire, they were more a collection of powerful city-states like Tikal and Calakmul, who occasionally fought each other. They also had highly realistic art and a form of mathematics far beyond that of ancient Europe.

The Aztecs (properly called the Mexica), on the other hand, ran a Romanesque, centrally organized empire with a powerful origin story for their all-powerful central city. They believed their people began in a mythical place to the north, called Aztlán. Like the Romans or the Jews before, they wandered through the wilderness, eventually reaching a giant lake in the mountains where they built Tenochtitlan—the largest city in the world at the time, now called Mexico City.

That was A.D. 1325, four centuries after the end of the great Maya era. The differences between the cultures can be seen in their art, politics and especially the way they perceived time.

Mexica mythology was full of wrath, death and enough cataclysmic destruction for a Hollywood movie. Their art evolved from highland people like the Toltecs through a tradition of sculpture. The Mexica regularly discussed the end of the world and sacrificed people to prevent it. Pieces like the Stone of the Sun or the Tlaltecuhtli monolith, discovered in 2006, were highly representational and filled with intimidating monsters. Tlaltecuhtli, the largest Mexica icon ever discovered, has claws, blood spurting from her mouth and skulls for knees. People were blocky with generic faces, almost like communist or nazi propaganda.

The Maya, in contrast, had a more fluid style of art founded by painters. They depicted people more or less how they looked, often with subtle emotions rather than blank stares. Scientists recently announced the discovery of a mural found in the home of a royal scribe in the long-forgotten Maya city of Xultun —a city now reduced to little more than mounds of rubble and vegetation in northern Guatemala. The mural depicts an actual king, rather than a god, and accurately renders his court.

The mural also showcases the unique Maya Calendar, which was wholly distinct from the calendar used by the Mexica. As with the Mexica, Maya dates combine at least two calendars—one covering 365 days and the other 260 days, such that every day had two names, which reset every 52 years. But unlike the Mexica, it also uses a "long count" system that adds a numeral at the end of a cycle to keep a constant count of years, more like the Christian calendar. "Let's say something happened in '76. Is that 1976 or 1776?" says Karl Taube, an iconographer at the University of California, Riverside. "Unless you have a constant chronology, we don't really know. But with the Maya long count, we know exactly."

This "long count" feature is how we are able to extend the Maya calendar all the way to 2012. The Mexica calendar, by contrast, simply reset at zero at the end of a cycle. The Mexica would have no way of conceiving such a specific date so far into the future.

Yet it is the Mexica, not the Maya, who trafficked in the apocalypse. The Classic Maya had almost no tradition of cataclysmic endings (though they may have picked it up centuries later from groups like perhaps the Mexica). For them, 2012 is just a year when several of their calendars reset, like 2000 for modern calendars. Taube, who is helping interpret the paintings around Xultun, says the 2012 hysteria totally misses the point. It's not that Maya were tracking the apocalypse but that they saw significance in every new day. With multiple calendars, ancient Mesoamericans had a different combination of dates for every day, each combination having a special significance. Almost as if every day was a holiday.

"It's a much more lush view of time," he says. "Every day is going to have multiple, multiple inputs. It's going to have multiple shadings of possible meaning. In a way, it's a richly rewarding way to go through time. You are not just ticking off a day in your calendar. Each day is just percolating with all of these different meanings and recollections and hopes."

Back at the  museum, Magaloni shakes her head over people asking about the 2012 prophecy. Museums like this, she says have a much bigger message to tell of the past. Namely, they celebrate and inform the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica and try to uncover their culture that was nearly eradicated during the Spanish Conquest.

"The world is coming to an end in 2012—that's an idea of the 21st century," she says. It's not about the world ending; it's about cycles of time. They [the Maya] are really in love with those calculations and they are discovering the universe through their calculations."


 

Friday, July 6, 2012

December 21, 2012: warriors from the spirit world for humanity?

From CantonRep:  December 21, 2012: warriors from the spirit world for humanity?

The Mayan Calendar
Good news and bad news
 
 The Maya Long Count calendar is divided into bak'tuns, or 144,000-day (394 years) cycles that begin at the Maya creation date. The winter solstice of 2012 (Dec. 21) is the last day of the 13th bak'tun, marking what the Maya people would have seen as a full cycle of creation.
 
A second discovery of a Mayan tablet predicting doom and gloom on that date was a carving found on a staircase in Guatemala. The 1,300-year-old inscription is said to be the most significant find in decades. In it there is a reference to "the end".
 
There are other believers and experts and that are predicting that December 21, 2012 does not indicate “the end of the world”, but, some sort of profound global spiritual event. This 1300 year old inscription talks about political history rather than prophecy and experts claim Mayan predictions refer to the start of a new era rather than the end of time.
In the Bible it is said that we will not know the day and the time at the end of days.
Taking into account what we know or believe the answer is either Yes, No or Maybe.
 
The bad news:
The world ends.

The good news:
The world does not end.
Under this scenario; there could be some prime opportunities to see a lot of ghosts. The period between the Autumn Equinox (September 22, 2012) and the Winter Solstice (December 21, 2012) is considered as when the “Veil” that separates the worlds of the living and the dead are at its thinnest.
Since ghosts are of a spiritual nature and there are an equal number of experts who believe that December 21, 2012 represents a global spiritual event; could this possibly mean that the spirits of the dead are somehow going to play into a global spiritual scenario that then represents the expected new era of humanity?
 
More bad news:
No one knows what condition the planet will be in on December 21, 2012 as a result of the Zombie Apocalypse tearing apart humanity bit by bit. Could the spirits of the dead be the new warriors and one of the reasons they could come back in order to fight the zombies and other threats to save humanity?
  
 

Thursday, July 5, 2012

New discovery indicates Mayan 'doomsday date' meant something else

From StraitsTimes:  New discovery indicates Mayan 'doomsday date' meant something else

(THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Archeologists have found a new reference about so-called 'doomsday date' of Dec 21, 2012, that suggests Mayans may have never predicted the apocalyptic end of world, according to news reports.

Scientists from Tulane University and Universidad del Valle de Guatemala announced on Thursday findings of Mayan hieroglyphs carved on a stone steps in the Mayan ruins of La Corona. It was the second known reference that mentions the famous date.

Contrary to the beliefs of many new-age believers and doomsday anticipators, the 7th century Mayan text does not contain prophecy on the end of the world.

Instead, it describes the actions of a powerful Mayan ruler at the time, Yuknoom Yich'aak K'ahk' of Calakmul, or Jaguar Paw, who visited La Corona after severe defeat by the Kindom of Tikal in AD695.

Monday, July 2, 2012

Maya Calendar Ending In 2012, New Inscription Discovered

From Planet Save: Maya Calendar Ending In 2012, New Inscription Discovered

Researchers working at the La Corona site in Guatemala have found a 1,300-year-old Maya inscription referencing the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012; this is only the second known reference to this date.
This discovery is one of the most important hieroglyphic discoveries in the past couple of decades. The finding was announced at the National Palace in Guatemala on June 28, 2012.
  <div class="rpuEmbedCode">
  <!--rpuEmbedStart-->
  <script src="http://1.rp-api.com/rjs/repost-article.js?3" type="text/javascript" data-cfasync="false"></script>
  <div class="rpuArticle rpuRepost-bd850ac6b736bbd04764de4b923573ff-top" style="margin:0;padding:0;">
    <a href="http://s.tt/1gt27" class="rpuThumb" rel="norewrite"><img src="http://img.1.rp-api.com/thumb/2395377" style="float:left;margin-right:10px;" /></a>
    <a href="http://s.tt/1gt27" class="rpuTitle" rel="norewrite"><strong>Maya Calendar Ending In 2012, New Inscription Discovered</strong></a> (via <a href="http://s.tt/1gt27" class="rpuHost" rel="norewrite">Planetsave</a>)
    <p class="rpuSnip">
        Researchers working at the La Corona site in Guatemala have found a 1,300-year-old Maya inscription referencing the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012; this is only the second known reference to this date. This discovery is one of the most important hieroglyphic discoveries&hellip;
    </p>
  </div>
  <!-- put the "tease", "jump" or "more" break here --><!--more--><!--break--><div style="display: none;"><hr class="at-page-break" /></div>
  <div class="rpuArticle rpuRepostMain rpuRepost-bd850ac6b736bbd04764de4b923573ff-bottom" style="display:none;">&nbsp;</div>
  <!-- How to customize this embed: http://www.repost.us/article-preview/#!shash=bd850ac6b736bbd04764de4b923573ff -->
</div>
Researchers working at the La Corona site in Guatemala have found a 1,300-year-old Maya inscription referencing the so-called “end date” of the Maya calendar, December 21, 2012; this is only the second known reference to this date.
This discovery is one of the most important hieroglyphic discoveries in the past couple of decades. The finding was announced at the National Palace in Guatemala on June 28, 2012.