Maya time is cyclical, and the end of the Long Count calendar in December 2012 is just that, the end of a cycle.

José Huchim Herrera, Yucatec Maya, Archaeologist and Architect

If you want to learn the real meaning of the year 2012 to the Maya, read the article here. It’s from a website setup by the Smithsonian to inform misinformed numskulls about the misconceptions associated with the Mayan calendar.

Source: maya.nmai.si.edu

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you give me combo #1 now, that’ll be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don’t, I will look for you, I will find you, and I will kill you.
Me, ordering from Taco Bell when I’m starving.
Every great magic trick consists of three parts or acts. The first part is called “The Pledge”. The magician shows you something ordinary: a deck of cards, a bird or a man. He shows you this object. Perhaps he asks you to inspect it to see if it is indeed real, unaltered, normal. But of course…it probably isn’t. The second act is called “The Turn”. The magician takes the ordinary something and makes it do something extraordinary. Now you’re looking for the secret… but you won’t find it, because of course you’re not really looking. You don’t really want to know. You want to be fooled. But you wouldn’t clap yet. Because making something disappear isn’t enough; you have to bring it back. That’s why every magic trick has a third act, the hardest part, the part we call “The Prestige”.

Opening dialogue to Christopher Nolan’s 2006 film: The Prestige. H/T to MG Siegler and his recent Techcrunch post on the iPhone 5.

Source: TechCrunch

This is where they fought the battle of Gettysburg. Fifty thousand men died right here on this field, fighting the same fight that we are still fighting among ourselves today. This green field right here, painted red, bubblin’ with the blood of young boys. Smoke and hot lead pouring right through their bodies. Listen to their souls, men. I killed my brother with malice in my heart. Hatred destroyed my family. You listen, and you take a lesson from the dead. If we don’t come together right now on this hallowed ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don’t care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other. And maybe… I don’t know, maybe we’ll learn to play this game like men.

Coach Boone, played by Denzel Washington, from Remember The Titans, attempting to unite his racially segregated high school football team to play as a team. Classic.

Source: imdb.com