Class blog for sharing and commenting on current events in biology.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

End of the World


Andrew Dent                                                                                                 December 10, 2012
Bio C odd                                                                                                      1Mrs. Davies

"Is the World Going to End." End of the World. Multipurpose Room, Bronxville. 14 Nov. 2012. Lecture.

            This was a presentation that took place at the school. A teacher from Sarah Lawrence College came to talk about if the world was going to end on December 21, 2012. He decided that the world not going to end and that the world was not going to end for a few reasons. For one her compared it to the last time we thought the world was going to end in 2k. He said that we were all afraid on that date because it was the beginning of a new century and that scares most of us. December 21, 2012 is the beginning of the new century in the Mayan Calendar and most people think that because nothing happened in the last event that something must happen this one.  He went on to talk about the Mayan Calendar and that how right it has been about a lot of thinks. Also he said that down in New Mexico Mayans are still alive using this system and calendar. 
            This topic is a large discussion going on around this time. Many people are afraid this is the end of the world and that many bad things are going to happen in the next month. As a result many people are making drastic decisions that are not good for society so this idea that the world is not going to end and many people should not get worried.  I chose this article because this is a relevant discussion that interests me. Also I believe that the world isn’t going to end so I like o hear what others have to say about it.
            I think this was overall a good presentation. For one I liked how he got the group engaged in the topic and also how he knew what he was talking about and liked it. From what I saw I did have any real complaints. Although when he would ask questions he would really listen what the people have to say. Also I think he did really give proof about how many things he talked about, he pretty much said it. All in all I think it was a good presentation. 

3 comments:

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  2. Andrew did a great job writing this review and explained the presentation very well. There were several things I enjoyed while reading this. First, he explained what the speaker said during his presentation in a way that was easy to understand. He made me want to read more about the topic because it seems very interesting. Also, he explained the affects of this topic to society. I thought it was interesting how many people really believe the world is going to end and never thought about the repercussions of this until reading this review. Finally, I liked how added the part of the speaker comparing 12/21/12 to 2000 when people thought the world was going to end. It defiantly adds to the review. I thought this review overall was very strong. One suggestion I have is to maybe explain more of what the presentation was about. I’m not sure how long the presentation itself was but going into a little more depth would have benefited the review. However, this didn’t have a huge effect on the review and it was still very well written overall.

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  3. Lea Tanenbaum 12/13/12
    Biology Current Events Comments

    I thought Andrew’s report about the speaker for Sarah Lawrence on the topic of the world ending, was interesting, not only because of the contents, but also because it’s a topic which is fairly relevant to everyone. Andrew also took important facts, that some might have overlooked, but which actually have an impact on the merit of the presentation. For example, he wrote, “He said that we were all afraid on that date because it was the beginning of a new century and that scares most of us. December 21, 2012 is the beginning of the new century in the Mayan Calendar and most people think that because nothing happened in the last event that something must happen this one.” This fact is a topic which the speaker harped on a fair amount, implying that it was important. The speaker, “went on to talk about the Mayan Calendar and that how right it has been about a lot of thinks. Also he said that down in New Mexico Mayans are still alive using this system and calendar.” Because so many people think that the Mayans died out years ago, it could have had an effect on their decision making process, but with the new knowledge that there are still New Mexican Mayans still using this system and calendar, definitely swayed some votes. Andrew gave interesting feedback about the physical presentation by the speaker. Andrew’s keen eye for details, as well as his informal writing style was refreshing and interesting to read.
    Although I enjoyed reading the report, there were a few areas in which Andrew could have improved. Firstly, he could have gone into deeper detail when talking about the existence of the New Mexican Mayans. He could have explained how because they were the ones who supposedly predicted the end of the world, and yet, were still living life as if the world wasn’t going to end, it proves that it wasn’t going to end. In addition, Andrew could’ve used more examples of why the world wasn’t going to end. The speaker spent an hour or so addressing a bunch of different predicted events, such as meteors and supernovas, which Andrew could have included in his report. In addition, he didn’t seem to read over it for grammatical and spelling errors because I found a few in the report.
    The speaker himself gave me new insight on why the world wasn’t going to end. I already wasn’t a believer, and he just strengthened my stance with his mathematical and scientific facts. Every possibility which the students could have fathomed was immediately proven wrong, which if I had feared the world ending, then I would have found it comforting.

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