Forget the Mayan nonsense

Forget the Mayan nonsense moncler cheap . Goofy prophecies and Mesoamerican calendars won't bring about the end ofcivilization, but there are at least a dozen scientifically valid ways the apocalypse could arrive before 2012 isout. Predicting the end of the world is both a sure bet and a fool's errand. Eventually, the total destruction ofcivilization, the human race, and, indeed, the world is a near certainty moncler coats cheap . The tricky part about predicting theapocalypse is the timing. But that hasn't stopped people from forecasting impending doom throughouthuman history. Holy men, ancient astronomers, and even modern computer scientists have all occasionallyread the leaves in their occupational cups of tea and concluded that the end is nigh. And, withoutexception, they have all been wrong moncler jackets cheap . But maybe this year is going to be different. On Dec. 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar will reach the end of a394-year cycle called a b'ak'tun, which has sent end-time aficionados into a frenzy. (About the movie basedon the 2012 theory, the less said the better.) Archaeologists laugh off that doomsday scenario moncler jackets sale , explainingthat the Mayan calendar cycle is no more momentous than our own calendar ticking over from 1999 to2000. So that's a relief. Still, just because the Mayans didn't predict the end of the world this particular year doesn't mean oursafety is assured. There are plenty of other risks to life on earth that scientists do take seriously. Thesemight range from disasters that threaten millions or billions of people to an all-out "extinction-level event moncler jackets on sale "that wipes out the majority of life on the planet. Could one of these global bummers strike us this year? Not likely. But not completely impossible. Tounderstand the infinitesimally small—but nonetheless real—risk of planetary disaster, it helps to travel backin time. Because such events have happened before. And the results weren't pretty. To see the evidence, let's take a trip moncler sale . Start with a visit to the American Museum of Natural History in NewYork City. On the fourth floor, just inside the entrance to the Hall of Saurischian Dinosaurs, you'll find achunk of Montana dirt with dark and light bands layered like Neapolitan ice cream. Not very excitingcompared to the huge creatures on display nearby. But one thin, grayish-beige layer might explain whatexterminated these great beasts: moncler jackets It's the impact residue of a 6-mile-wide asteroid that struck the Yucatán 65million years ago. "In its aftermath we see extinctions of everything from single-celled organisms to thelargest dinosaurs," says Mark Norell, chairman of the museum's paleontology division. Could another oneseal our own fate? Or could some other extraterrestrial catastrophe bring us death from above moncler jackets women ?