‘Now the time has come; there is no place to run’
As we all know, the Mayan long-count calendar comes to an end today, at the winter solstice of the 13th b’ak’tun. And there are three basic interpretations of what happens next:
A.) Nothing.
B.) A new era begins, dramatically different from that which came before.
C.) It all ends. Everything. Kaput. Finito. Put a period on that sucker.
"I swear, these fools will believe almost ANYTHING!"
Option A, while most likely, is also the least amount of fun. Totally boring.
Option B, on the other hand, offers far more opportunities for exploration. Might we really be at the dawning of a new age? There are some who say we might very well be.
Consider, for example, the fact that the last time the Mayan long-count calender flipped over was some 5,129 years ago. And what was happening around that time frame?
A lot, as it turns out. Roughly 5,000 years ago, the Stone Age ends. Early agriculture begins in North Africa. Troy is founded. Betty White is born. Stonehenge is built. Cities emerge. The Bronze Age begins, and with it recorded human history. It was indeed a time of total transformation of human consciousness.
Are we now perched at the edge of another such transformation? The evidence. some say, is compelling. Consider, for example, this portion of the Dresden Codex, a Mayan book and the oldest known book written in the Americas. It is reported to deal with the end of time. Note the prominent figure carrying a bucket spilling water — a water carrier. As in Aquarius, the water carrier.
As in Age of Aquarius, dawning of? I report, you decide.
For those of a more pessimistic frame of mind, we offer Option C. The problem with Option C is that many, many prophecies of the end of time have been issued by charlatans over the centuries, and so far none has come true.
And how do we know they’ve never come true? Because you’re still sitting there reading this, you dummy.
But you see, that’s the easy answer to the easy question. The deceptively easy question. Here’s a tougher question: What if we’re NOT really here? What if the world as we knew it really HAS ended, and we are now someplace else but just don’t realize it?
Sure, everything may look the same. It may even feel the same. It’s Friday. Friday Night Travelin’ Music is on Bookman’s blog, just as it always is. It’s all exactly the same.
But … isn’t it all just a little TOO exactly the same? What if this world is SUPPOSED to look the same and feel the same as THAT world?
In the words of that great seer, Rod Serling:
“We know that a dream can be real, but who ever thought that reality could be a dream? We exist, of course, but how, in what way? As we believe, as flesh-and blood human beings? Or are we simply parts of someone’s feverish, complicated nightmare? Think about it, and then ask yourself, do you live here, in this country, in this world, or do you live instead… in the Twilight Zone.”
I suspect that is a question that John Boehner has no doubt asked himself often.
Now the time has come (Time)
There’s no place to run (Time)
I might get burned up by the sun (Time)
But I had my fun (Time)
I’ve been loved and put aside (Time)
I’ve been crushed by the tumbling tide (Time)
And my soul has been psychedelicized (Time)
EXCELLENT COWBELL!
– Jay Bookman
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887 comments Add your comment
JamVet
December 21st, 2012
3:42 pm
Well, might as well start out tonight with something dark and disturbing. And then see what happens!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGmAmJFUvzM
TBS
December 21st, 2012
3:49 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d78K4rCEfAo
Soothsayer
December 21st, 2012
3:50 pm
In recognition of Jay’s hitting the “Big Time!”
josef
December 21st, 2012
3:50 pm
Big Daddy
Excellent choice and one of your finer commentaries…
MEANWHILE
Have an errand to run before it gets too late…so, Armageddon outta here for a few…can’t hardly wait to get back and catch up…
Aquagirl
December 21st, 2012
3:56 pm
Early agriculture begins in North Africa. Troy is founded. Betty White is born.
Oh, gawd, my sides hurt.
And fractals! Yaaaaayyyyy!
indigo
December 21st, 2012
3:56 pm
Joan Baez says it best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiyXfYcqDZM
RB from Gwinnett
December 21st, 2012
3:59 pm
Has anybody seen a Mayan today??? Perhaps the world did end……for them!
what a country
December 21st, 2012
3:59 pm
aahhh mellow mushroom pizza n cold beer
Thomas Heyward Jr
December 21st, 2012
4:01 pm
The Mayans had no clue about Romney/Obama-Bots.
If so……..They would have adjusted accordingly.
Nov 6 2012……..Dec 21 2012.
.
They were still pretty close.
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siZ4mS0_kGE
Soothsayer
December 21st, 2012
4:02 pm
what a country: I love that “everything but the kitchen sink” pizza of theirs. Don’t have one any where near me. I wish.
moonbat betty
December 21st, 2012
4:03 pm
If you’re still here, you should be dancing in the streets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3b9gOtQoq4
TaxPayer
December 21st, 2012
4:03 pm
In your world, Jay, Betty White may be Eve but not in mine. I’m here enjoying my own reality.
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
4:06 pm
Great Betty White reference. Just saw Jack Reacher. Ends like 90% of movies: shoot out at the ok corral. Don’t bother. two hours long, and there’s maybe one hour of movie that doesn’t stink. Rent.
Reebok
December 21st, 2012
4:07 pm
Awesome.
Mr. Snarky
December 21st, 2012
4:07 pm
Slow newsday?
East Cobb RINO, Inc (LLC)
December 21st, 2012
4:09 pm
Have a happy & prosperous 14th b’ak’tun.
Real Scootter
December 21st, 2012
4:10 pm
Please don’t take this out of context! Or do!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rzU2iJ9qfXg
Counting Votes and Taking Names
December 21st, 2012
4:14 pm
Loved the Chambers Bros., but the Ramones’ version, though decidedly less psychedelic, is still unmitigated joy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RtcpMpqw_U
TBS
December 21st, 2012
4:15 pm
Real Scooter
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsIqEq9OFxE
BADA BING (imagine an umlaut above the i, I'm trying to class this place up a little)
December 21st, 2012
4:17 pm
What if I had spent money like there was no tomorrow yesterday, and the World ended today? Would I be a genius or what?
JamVet
December 21st, 2012
4:26 pm
To Sooth’s point, how did it go on the boob tube, JB?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VZC5vFVJJY
moonbat betty
December 21st, 2012
4:28 pm
Woo Hoo!
Everyone can stop running now
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckuc1j63AIU
Mr. Snarky
December 21st, 2012
4:28 pm
What if we split off into multiple universes? Fox News and MSNBC have been working on this project for over a decade.
moonbat betty
December 21st, 2012
4:32 pm
Confess to your sins infidels!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quVERH404pA
getalife
December 21st, 2012
4:34 pm
Some humans will believe anything.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mbBbFH9fAg
Corbin Sharpe. I think, therefore I am...I think
December 21st, 2012
4:36 pm
Sappy, but I like the words…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLfFOCfAlIc
larry
December 21st, 2012
4:37 pm
You mean this stonehenge?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Zdyo4vJuCU
JamVet
December 21st, 2012
4:39 pm
There might have been things I missed
But don’t be unkind
It don’t mean I’m blind
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKI0d6TMlhM
moonbat betty
December 21st, 2012
4:45 pm
This is for you getalife.
Hope it’s not too “hard” for ya
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvVZM-B-t6M
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
December 21st, 2012
4:51 pm
Well, if it’s the end of the world, I can’t think of nobody to sing it better than this one. Have a good weekend everybody.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
December 21st, 2012
4:51 pm
Oops! Forgot to add the song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7nWr31_RXA
TBS
December 21st, 2012
4:52 pm
moonbat – TURN IT UP
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_z-hEyVQDRA
moonbat betty
December 21st, 2012
4:57 pm
It’s TURNT UP ALL THE WAY, TBS.
One of my favorites, thanks.
Catch you later this evening. It’s happy hour time.
getalife
December 21st, 2012
5:04 pm
Moonbat,
Change:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPpDyIJdasg
godless heathen - Law Abiding Citizen
December 21st, 2012
5:09 pm
I suspect that is a question that John Boehner has no doubt asked himself often.
Didn’t have to wait for the comments to get the first splashdown tonight.
http://youtu.be/hOMd7CSt0KU
Where's Granny spewing...
December 21st, 2012
5:09 pm
…that it is the Repubs fault?
wet wiccan
December 21st, 2012
5:12 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdMi_TW65Ho
Ken
December 21st, 2012
5:14 pm
Tax the rich 100%. Won’t do any good at this point.
Jm
December 21st, 2012
5:18 pm
“And how do we know they’ve never come true? Because you’re still sitting there reading this, you dummy.”
How do we know? Maybe the old universe ended and we’re in a new one. I’ll be back with more shortly.
Jm
December 21st, 2012
5:21 pm
The university of Bonn is going to run an experiment and tell us if we’re all really just brains in a vat, in the matrix, whatever
http://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2012-10/how-do-we-know-were-not-living-inside-massive-computer-simulation
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
5:22 pm
The Mayans were pussies. I coulda taken over the whole empire with a couple of troops of boy scouts armed with sling shots. Just like the Spanish did. F the Mayan WussWipes. (disclaimer. It’s miller time).
Orange12
December 21st, 2012
5:24 pm
Are Mayans Dems or Repubs? Hmmm.
godless heathen - Christmas Declared War on Me
December 21st, 2012
5:25 pm
the heathen’s favorite holiday song:
http://youtu.be/CRW2poUfJ34
josef
December 21st, 2012
5:27 pm
We went looking the wrong place for the words of the prophets…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6cR5furQac
getalife
December 21st, 2012
5:27 pm
Too many turds in the punch bowl.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04F4xlWSFh0
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
5:29 pm
Fiscal Cliff nightmare Alert: Oh, man! CNBC’s “Options Action” has a Asian female host who has been asking guests now for a half hour, “What happens to the market if A happens? What happens to the market if B happens? What happens to the market if they kick the can down the road? What happens if it’s like a little A and little B? What happens if the Mayan Calendar is right? What happens…..SHUTUP!!!!!!!
Obama about to address the nation on the Fiscal Cliff.
Orange12
December 21st, 2012
5:29 pm
I found the Mayans.
http://sonsofanarchy.wikia.com/wiki/Mayans
stands for decibels
December 21st, 2012
5:32 pm
time time time, see what’s become of me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfjoxkhp-vE
Jm
December 21st, 2012
5:32 pm
Maybe we’re just in a reboot, if god writes software as well as Microsoft
http://news.discovery.com/space/are-we-living-in-a-computer-simulation-2-121216.html
stands for decibels
December 21st, 2012
5:32 pm
(forgot to mention–the Speaker can carry a cup in his hand.)
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
5:32 pm
Option C
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z0GFRcFm-aY
Jm
December 21st, 2012
5:37 pm
“Think about it, and then ask yourself, do you live here, in this country, in this world, or do you live instead… in the Twilight Zone.”
Well. In my dreams, I live in Singapore.
Or on a boat. In my dreams. I must not be dreaming then…. Which means if I’m dreaming now then god is mean turkey.
josef
December 21st, 2012
5:37 pm
another MOT on interpretation choice B
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfQsngNoV7I
Jm
December 21st, 2012
5:39 pm
I nothing else, Boehner enjoyed a good learning experience yesterday.
And his prayer was very apropos.
Toodles!
josef
December 21st, 2012
5:42 pm
SFD
Beat me to it, only I was pulling up the S & G version…
JamVet
December 21st, 2012
5:44 pm
OK, screw the Mayans, I’m off to yet another holiday party.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=spjcPS4ekOA
josef
December 21st, 2012
5:46 pm
okay, we can all break out our copies of the Centuries and try again…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qa89bt0GZvQ
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
5:46 pm
THe Asian host of “Options Action” just asked, “what happens to the market with Plan C”. What a dope, honestly.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
December 21st, 2012
5:52 pm
Well, seems to me everybody talks about this Mayan stuff but nothing ever happens about it. So let everybody talk:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBswp3-B9jA
Yeah, I can get modern once in a while.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
5:57 pm
Georgia
4:06 pm
Just saw Jack Reacher. Ends like 90% of movies: shoot out at the ok corral. Don’t bother. two hours long, and there’s maybe one hour of movie that doesn’t stink.
————————————————-
The Jack Reacher character was created by Lee Child.
In the books the character is 6′5 and 250 LOL
Tom Cruise doesn’t quite fit that image
josef
December 21st, 2012
5:58 pm
but then, again….it may only be the….take note, JM…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqmdG2iNaxE
TBS
December 21st, 2012
5:58 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSH9ryRzHQ4
I’m sure posting will be sparse over the next several days. If I miss you, I want to say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the Bookmanites. Enjoy your time celebrating your friends and family. Be safe and have a great time.
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
6:02 pm
josef
Just for you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgIwLeASnkw
Tom Middleton
December 21st, 2012
6:10 pm
Well, Jay, here’s one for ya: What if the earth’s coming into exact alignment with the center of the Milky Way – our galaxy – and the sun (which is what’s supposed to be happening today) would be like putting a strong magnet (the center plus the sun) against a weak magnet (the earth) with a subsequent revitalization of our magnetic field and possible polar shift. Earthquakes? Tidal Waves? Floods? Betty White dancing in spite of herself (or better yet, having the best sex since her 20s)?
And what if all that moving around wouldn’t happen in an instant (like today) but over a period of weeks, months, and possibly years, as pressure builds up from the metal in the crust trying to realign until, of course, it does?
Hey, just trying to keep the fun going for all those enjoying this Mayan stuff. And as for the Chambers Brothers, here’s the long version of “Time” for those really, really into this thing. Oh, and isn’t Atlantis supposed to be rising up as well? “Cuckoo!”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxpcZrQQM-4
The Snark
December 21st, 2012
6:13 pm
Jay, put down the bong and step away slowly …
josef
December 21st, 2012
6:20 pm
Common sense
indigo
December 21st, 2012
6:23 pm
Orange 12 – 5:29
Let’s get them to guard our schools!!
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
6:31 pm
Jack Reacher. Tom is very good, and it’s interesting to see how he handles his craft with his heart obviously broken by you know who. Compare his performance to Clark Gable, after he lost his amazing wife in that horrible accident during WW2. What a loss. Carole Lombard. OMG. There’s a noticeable difference in the King of Hollywood. Nobody’s dethroned him, don’t worry…..but get a load of Clark Gable in “the misfits”. Compare that to Tom’s “Jack Reacher”. There’s a depth. There’s a tone that wasn’t there in the Mission Impossible movies. Nobody can touch the King, that will stand forever, but Tom has a new dimension in his acting, even though Jack Reacher stinks……..(disclaimer: it’s an hour and a half past miller time.)
barking frog
December 21st, 2012
6:36 pm
Boehner’s babies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf8BT3wbZSo
getalife
December 21st, 2012
6:44 pm
Thanks for that movie critic Georgia.
Kyle shut down so here come the cons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7dHBjXnbtk
josef
December 21st, 2012
6:46 pm
GEORGIA
“…interesting to see how he handles his craft with his heart obviously broken by you know who.”
I don’t know. but rumor has it this is who…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clKAdQnwJ7A
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
6:47 pm
Jay might be interested in this criticism of journalism. ABC news just reported that one of the those guys who climbed out of a prison window only inches wide in Chicago 17 stories high got arrested. But the report doesn’t say how those two got through the busted window only inches wide. I mean, they captured one of them, and the mystery should be solved simply by offering the captured one a carton of cigarettes or a woman if he spills, hello…….(disclaimer: I’m posting this from the pot-legal state of Colorado)…….
Chris Salzmann
December 21st, 2012
6:48 pm
Maybe it’s like the Rapture and all the Tea Party idiots and “Conservative” Christians disappear? That would be like Christmas in……..December??? No wait………..
josef
December 21st, 2012
6:57 pm
getalife
@ 6:44
“Kyle shut down so here come the cons”
Film at 7…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vSri8ruSLKE
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
7:02 pm
josef
I don’t know. but rumor has it this is who
—————————————————-
Mean Queens are the worst eh
josef
December 21st, 2012
7:06 pm
GEORGIA
@ 6:47
All right…disclaimer noted
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJCaZh9obc
barking frog
December 21st, 2012
7:08 pm
Boehner to Barack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1fECcM0cS4
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
7:08 pm
Chris Salzmann
6:48 pm
Maybe it’s like the Rapture and all the Tea Party idiots and “Conservative” Christians disappear? That would be like Christmas in……..December??? No wait………..
———————————————-
You left out the song to go with it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSqYh1qcAHs
St Simons - he-ne-ha
December 21st, 2012
7:09 pm
It’s B. a new Age. And it’s already started. The Mayan day started
and ended at 2pm, (was that EST, Mountain, or Pacific?)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhbxI5eVnM4
josef
December 21st, 2012
7:10 pm
COMMON SENSE
“Mean Queens are the worst eh”
But only when they’re….
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CnTFNsmToHg
godless heathen - Christmas Declared War on Me
December 21st, 2012
7:11 pm
Where’s the party?
http://youtu.be/vYOuGWAKrxY
marko
December 21st, 2012
7:12 pm
I strongly suspect that the world will end sometime before midnight. We chose to ignore the NRA. I suspect we might of saved ourselves if we’d only had five or six more guns.
As to the the small chance I survive the night, remind me to get serious about my Christmas shopping,
stands for decibels
December 21st, 2012
7:13 pm
Probably my favorite Bowie lp is Alladin Sane, and fortunately, there’s a tune for tonight’s theme on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROmdX7hXDdE
Time – In Quaaludes and red wine
Demanding Billy Dolls
And other friends of mine
Take your time
The sniper in the brain, regurgitating drain
Incestuous and vain,
and many other last names
I look at my watch it say 9:25 and I think
“Oh God I’m still alive”
We should be on by now
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
7:14 pm
Kurt Cobain said everyone is gay in a song that will live forever for sho. I think he was right, but I wouldn’t have blown my head clean off after realizing it. If homosexuality is a sin against God, then we by definition of a sin are all gay, because how can you condemn one soul for an act that cant possibly be performed by a non-gay soul? We are all subject to the all knowing, all seeing, all encompassing judgement of the Lord, and it wouldn’t be a Lord any of us would want to worship if he favored one persuasion over another. No, either we’re all gay or nobody’s gay. (disclaimer: I just saw a Judy Garland marathon on TMC and it’s two hours past miller time and I’m posting from the pot-legal state of Colorado).
Common Sense isn't very Common
December 21st, 2012
7:16 pm
Georgia
just saw a Judy Garland marathon on TMC and it’s two hours past miller time and I’m posting from the pot-legal state of Colorado).
———————————————————————–
Even if it weren’t a pot-legal state I would have to be high as hell to watch a marathon of any kind
stands for decibels
December 21st, 2012
7:19 pm
(Heh. On that Bowie tv special I linked to @ 7.13, the tv censors leave in the line: “Time, prances like a whore, falls wanking to the floor.”… but bleeped when David sings “Christ, you’re looking old.”)
josef
December 21st, 2012
7:23 pm
He ne ha
From the Unmentionable to you on Option B…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eU0fS0GA6Ek
miriam belko
December 21st, 2012
7:23 pm
georgia Maybe the start of NO GUNS in this world.
skydog
December 21st, 2012
7:27 pm
White Xmas? It don`t get no whiter than this.
http://www.songstube.net/video.php?title=Please%20Come%20Home%20For%20Christmas&artistid=7908&artist=Johnny%20Winter&id=220704
josef
December 21st, 2012
7:32 pm
GEORGIA
If you’re NOT gay after a Judy Garland marathon,,,,
Myra Blackmon
December 21st, 2012
7:41 pm
So, is this the next new age after the “Age of Aquarius” that was dawning when I was in college 40 years ago? There has to be a better way to invest our energy. Like, maybe, sane protections for our school children?
0311/8541/5811/1811/1801
December 21st, 2012
7:44 pm
“Might we really be at the dawning of a new age? There are some who say we might very well be.”
This is the Christmas season ……… as He came those many years ago.
When “Messiah” comes again ………… ALL will change !
Wonderful short story and music as you have probably never considered it before :
http://www.ignitermedia.com/mini-movies/2667/The-Christmas-Scale
josef
December 21st, 2012
8:01 pm
SCOUT
Wow! Thanks…that was worth it…
MYRA
It’s an Indian thing…you wouldn’t understand…but, try anyway,,,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5reZbdkRto
getalife
December 21st, 2012
8:03 pm
“When “Messiah” comes again ………… ALL will change !”
No, you will call him liberal and crucify him again.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgtN5lLLBw
getalife
December 21st, 2012
8:05 pm
josef,
Why do they love Garland and Liza?
Georgia
December 21st, 2012
8:05 pm
Okay, time to address what’s happened to Kyle Wingfield. Read his snowman, snow, man blog. Go head. Read it. The man cant write. He cant. He is a talking head, and he’s good. His internet debates with Jay were incredible. I couldn’t believe it was him. What a delivery. He’s a young George Wills, or he has the potential to be, but come on, readers, he can’t write. It’s torture to try to wade through any of his articles, isn’t it? Even if he makes a really good point, it’s poorly expressed. I don’t like criticizing anybody, really, I don’t, especially at my advanced age of ninety seven dog years, (please don’t do the math, this is a bit), BUT, this guy can’t write and it’s a total insult to those of us who can write, and theres lots of us unemployed losers who can write, and I think Kyle needs to join ABC’s “This Week” and follow in Cynthia Tucker’s footsteps. Sorry Kyle, but you stink as a writer, but soar as a talking head. You do. Fact, pal. Move on, and please stop trying to write like you understand the power of the printed word vs the power of the spoken word. I’m so sorry that you really really stink. OMG. do you stink. Maybe it’s not too late for you to delete your last five hundred articles……..jklol. (disclaimer: I wandered into a group sex orgy and it is three hours past miller time and I am posting from a communist country where they make you smoke pot).
josef
December 21st, 2012
8:07 pm
getalife
They loved us when nobody else did….
getalife
December 21st, 2012
8:11 pm
“They loved us when nobody else did…”
What did Garland say to show her love?
getalife
December 21st, 2012
8:12 pm
Georgia,
You write like political foreskin.
How is your comedy career going?
josef
December 21st, 2012
8:20 pm
getalife
She frequented the underground gay clubs and “spoke to” something, well, gay in that time and that place…a fantasy world “over the rainbow…” And Liza…”Cabaret,” what more can you say…?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judy_Garland_as_gay_icon