Having read “Wally’s World” regarding the Mayan calendar (March 21) and the apocalypse that it is supposed to foretell, I found his alternate explanation for termination in this year due to work rage in an astronomer an interesting possibility.

However, there is another possibility that I consider more likely. Since most of these types of programs have always been supported by governments or rulers, I suspect it was so in the Mayan culture, possibly tucked in under the umbrella of a larger department, such as Weights and Measurements or just the king’s library. Maybe what happened was they had financial ups and downs like other civilizations and found themselves with a prolonged recession, property values dropped, the budget couldn’t be balanced and departments had to be downsized. Chiseling a rock to predict the future 2000 years just wouldn’t seem to be high on the “must keep” list. So that gives us at least 2:1 odds that we will be here next year. Good enough for some people to take to Vegas and bet a bundle. What have you got to lose? There won’t be anyone to collect if you’re wrong.

Bill Hougham

Enumclaw