Happy New Year

Well, here it is: January 1th, 2010 – Arthur C. Clarke was wrong (on two counts), the dreaded winter Olympics loom ever closer, and we are a mere two years away from finally finding out if my unswerving faith in the wisdom of the Ancient Mayans has been warranted. I think it was that whole ‘Chariots of the Gods’ thing that firmly cemented those squat, heart – ripping, “Centers of the Known Cosmos” forever in my own (so far un-removed) heart. One piece in particular must have had the murderous, coca-leaf chewing forehead flatteners laughing their advanced little asses off, just as I did mine. I refer, of course, to the world-famous stone carving, discovered in the tomb beneath the Temple of the Inscriptions at Palenque, Mexico, and hailed by many, (primarily, it's discoverer, famed UFOlogist and pseudoarchaeologist, Erich von Däniken) as incontrovertible proof that Visitors, extraterrestrial ones, had visited Earth centuries ago. For those who have never read a National Enquirer™ or Weekly World News™; watched PBS, or known a real U.F.O. fan, the piece I refer to is a stone carving found on a sarcophagus lid. The carving seems, at first, to depict a Mayan astronaut, complete with Space Helmet and oxygen tanks, seated at the control console of some type of aircraft. Astro-Maya sits, surrounded by levers, buttons and dials, looking for all who want to see it that way like a Saucer Commander preparing for take-off to quadrants unknown. Around the outer rim of the carved disk one sees strange, indecipherable lettering, presumably of otherworldly origin, also presumably supplying precise and detailed operating instructions to our lucky little primitive. Oh, and look - he’s seated in a sort of bent, squatting position in a circular seat of some kind, just as one would expect when piloting a high velocity interstellar vehicle. 
Now for the fun bit.
It seems that, in their rush for proof, von Däniken and his bunch somehow managed to overlook the enormous body of evidence from Maya art, symbolism, and inscriptions, all of which identify the sculpted figure, not as some ancient astronaut, but as the Ruler buried in the sarcophagus, shown falling into the Underworld at his death. The merely superficial resemblance between an astronaut's launch position and our Maya ruler's pose was treated by Erich & Co. as yet another massive piece of positive evidence in defense of their Alien Visitor theory. 
So, a huge Mayan laugh, right in the face of the ‘Incontrovertible Evidence camp. Sorry. Hey, I’m not slamming people who believe in life elsewhere, I’m one of them. But I am slamming those who fuel their beliefs by finding ‘absolute proof' wherever they look, while simultaneously ignoring any information that goes against their convictions. Serves you right if you end up looking like a bunch of squids because you chose to turn a blind eye when presented with evidence to the contrary.  
Now, let’s sit back, relax, and try to forget about those wretched winter games and Erich von Däniken, at least for the next two years. Unless the Mayans were wrong. In that case, we will have a shitload of time in which to sit back, relax, and try to forget. Oh yeah, Happy New Year (for now)