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12-21-12: The End of Days or Time to Throw a Party?

The Mayan calendar ends on Winter Solstice, but scientists say Earth has some years left in her.

There are rumors the world will end on Dec. 21, 2012. That's when a 5,125-year period known as the Long Count in the Mayan calendar supposedly comes to a close.

Dec. 21, 2012, essentially is the end of a cycle, like when you change the calendar in your kitchen on Jan. 1. But for those who take the most dramatic interpretation of the day, it has spurred fears of apocalypse, solar storms, meteors, polar realignments, UFOs and other doomsday predictions.

While conspiracy theorists are stocking up on supplies and survival gear and true believers are panicking, most will just recognize that the day is Winter Solstice and the shortest day of the year.

And some have found a way embrace the day and whatever it may bring by throwing an End of the World Party.

The website Doomsday Party 2012 is advocating for a worldwide celebration extravaganza in case Dec. 21 really is the End of Days. Among the advice on the website: only invite people to your apocalyptic event who can help you fight off rioters and zombies. Good soundtrack options include R.E.M.'s "It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine)", Europe's "The Final Countdown", and Bad Religion's "Los Angeles Is Burning".

Cruise ships are destined for the Yucatan Peninsula, the Mayan region of Mexico. There, the Museo Maya de Cancun opened earlier this year and the Mexican government declared it Mundo Maya 2012, which melds education about the culture and tourism.

Of course, not everyone is ready to party. In Russia, the women incarcerated at a prison near the Chinese border grew so hysterical with fear that the nation's minister of emergency situations issued a statement reassuring the country that the world wasn't ending. There's even a live countdown until the appointed hour, 12-21-12 at 11:11 UTC—which is 8 hours ahead of West Coast time.

NASA published scientific explanations to diffuse the Mayan Calendar theory and other possible causes End of Days. For example, scientists say giant solar storms are not a threat. Solar activity has a regular cycle, with peaks approximately every 11 years, according to NASA.

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What are your thoughts on 12-21-12? Do you have survival gear ready, or are you planning an apocalyptic End of the World party?

Ben December 17, 2012 at 04:50 pm
The ending of the Mayan calendar has no more signifiance than the computer software that couldn't recognize dates past 1999 due to only storing 2 digit years. The Mayan calander system is over 5000 years old and they saw no need for calandering dates this far in the futue when they created it. Just like IBM, Apple, and Microsoft when they created they're digital calendar systems that couldn't see in to 2000+. Get some sense.
"The Black Panther of Poetry" December 17, 2012 at 05:17 pm
2012
Like from the impact of a nuclear bomb the window of my heart is melting away from what the windows of my eyes stair at each and everyday So go ahead and name your poison mines, I've already chosen I'm so tired of praying for peace that I can't pray anymore and trust me, I've prayed high and low I've prayed not for the coming apocalypse,the solar storms The Polar realignments And Humanities coming nuclear doom. I’ve prayed against that which will happen on Dec 21’st in the form of a Mushroom Plume! So Go ahead and enjoy your remaining time on Earth cause your pending doom is near And there is no answer to be Make the Earth quake and shake So we all will be free Free as it is in your heaven but now it will be your hell It's strange how the Mayan Calendar predicted this all on December twenty first of twenty twelve!!!
Joe Feltcher December 17, 2012 at 05:34 pm
Don't quit your day job (assuming you have one).
Jim December 18, 2012 at 01:22 pm
There have been about 514 leap years since Julius Caesar created leap year circa 45BC. The Mayan Calendar didnt account for leap years. Without the extra day in the calendar every 4 years, the world would end in July of 2013. Technically, the world should have ended about 7 months ago using the literal Myan calendar. People need to chill the hell out.............
Vires Pugno December 19, 2012 at 01:52 pm
I think I have some Kool-Aid here for you.
Kathryn December 19, 2012 at 09:12 pm
What if we're holding the Mayan calendar upside down? What if the world ends in 5105?
John Headley December 20, 2012 at 02:53 am
Vires, I find your comment racist and appalling.
Minister Geren C. Ambrose December 20, 2012 at 07:15 pm
I look forward to your future poems.

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Greg Coppes June 12, 2013 at 05:07 pm
a Auto parts store. An O'reilly's I'm pretty sure
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