Tag Archives | Cosmology

John Major Jenkins on Mayan Cosmology and 2012

By on December 18, 2012 in News 4

Joe Moore presents episode 40 of the Occult Sentinel Podcast:

This is a recording of a talk that John Major Jenkins gave to Evolver Boulder on December 6th 2012. He discussed the trajectory of his work, his key findings, and how he found them. I personally think his work is pioneering and foundational to Mayan studies.

He is the author of a number of books including:

- Maya Cosmogenesis 2012: The True Meaning of the Maya Calendar End-Date
- Galactic Alignment: The Transformation of Consciousness According to Mayan, Egyptian, and Vedic Traditions
- The 2012 Story: The Myths, Fallacies, and Truth Behind the Most Intriguing Date in History
- Pyramid of Fire: The Lost Aztec Codex: Spiritual Ascent at the End of Time

John also helped to translate and edit The Key to the Kalevala by Pekka Ervast.

See his website for more information – http://www.alignment2012.com

Audio MP3… Read the rest

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Martian Romances, Channeled Landscapes and the Social Value of Gross Speculation

By on October 5, 2012 in News 5

“We dare to hope that the day will come when scientific methods yet unknown to us will give us direct evidences of the existence of the inhabitants of other worlds, and at the same time, also, will put us in communication with our brothers in space.”
- C. Flammarion, La Planète Mars et ses conditions d’habitabilité (Paris, 1892)

NPR just ran a story looking at some interesting enigmas in the Martian landscape, strange black spots that appear seasonally on the surface of the sand drifts during the Martian spring. Scientists have been batting around speculations on what they could be since they were first observed in 1998.

The most accepted hypothesis, at the moment, is that they are some sort of mineral deposit left after the increasing heat of the sun on the surface of Mars allows CO2 deposits to spew forth from beneath:

“Scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey, from Hungary, from the European Space Agency have all proposed explanations; the leading one is so weird, it’s transformed my idea of what it’s like to be on Mars.

… Read the rest

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How The Universe (Something) Appeared From Nothing (Video)

By on August 3, 2011 in News 10

Granted this video is a promo for the New Scientist‘s recent issue on “existence”, it’s pretty interesting, if you are OK with incomplete answers. (Figuring out how the universe got so large is still a serious head-scratcher.) My takeaway after watching this, is if “something” is not really that different from “nothing” (according to our human perception) then, well, there is still much to ponder …

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From The Origin Of Life To 2012: Pseudoscience On The Loose

By on March 8, 2011 in News 12

The Biological Big BangHave alien bacteria fossils been discovered in a meteorite by a NASA scientist?

On Friday night the “Journal of Cosmology” published an article entitled “Fossils of Cyanobacteria in CI1 Carbonaceous Meteorites: Implications to Life on Comets, Europa, and Enceladus,” attributed to one Richard B. Hoover of the NASA/Marshall SFC [1], claiming such a discovery.

Extraordinary claims, however, require extraordinary evidence, which is nowhere to be found in the paper. While I am trained in and have worked in scientific fields, I am admittedly not a scientist, so I refer you to the blogs of PZ Myers [2], David Dobbs [3], and Rosie Redfield [4] for detailed analysis/straight-up debunking. In sum, per Redfield: “Executive Summary: Move along folks, there’s nothing to see here.”

There’s nothing wrong with alternative theories – and certainly nothing wrong with leveling a critique at the scientific establishment – provided that they are supported by data and arguments that meet the epistemic criteria for scientificity.… Read the rest

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