It’s 2012, another year for ‘doomsday’ chatter

On December 21, 2012, the Mayan calendar reaches the end of its
5,126-year epoch. That's a cause for consternation among some end-time
adherents—and for amusement among some descendants of the Maya.

Fresh
from having survived one end-of-the-world prediction—a two-stage affair
covering 2011's drop-dead dates of May 21 and October 21—we now plunge
into the countdown for End-Time 2012.

Should you be inclined, you
can use your smartphone to check how many days are remaining before a
date that was carved into rock by a pre-Columbian civilization. You can
blame—or credit—the Maya for the commotion. Or, more likely, their New
Age adherents.