Is 2012 the End-of-the-World? No, it's not. The 2012 End-of-the-World Prediction is Complete Bullshit.

At work today, a woman (in her twenties) told me she saw a T.V. show last night which told of the Mayan end-of-the-world prediction for 2012. She told me she couldn't sleep last night as she was extremely worried. I said, "Do you know there was a end-of-the-world prediction for 1,000 A.D? And... there have been many end-of-the-world predictions every century since."

She wasn't convinced at this point. I said, "How old is the earth?" She didn't know. I didn't know. I said, "Let's look it up on-line." I quickly found the Earth is approximately 4.54 billion years old. I said, "It's not the year 2009. 2009 is a bullshit year. This date of this year is actually 4.54 billion and such and such and such and such." Then she looked at me and said, "Oh." She said, "I'm still a little scared." I rolled my eyes.

When I came back to my apartment today, I quickly referenced a book to finish this blog entry because the research by James Randi has already been done for us. In Appendix II of his 1995 book titled, An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural, lists "49 End-of-the-World Prophecies—That Failed."

"December 31, 999 A.D. The biblical Apocrypha says that the Last Judgment (and therefore, one supposes, the end of the world) would occur one thousand years after the birth of Jesus Christ. ...public documents of that era began, "As the world is now drawing to a close..." —Randi, James 1995. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. Appendix II, New York, St.Martin's Griffin, New York.

---definition---
aprocrypha - 2capitalized a: books included in the Septuagint and Vulgate but excluded from the Jewish and Protestant canons of the Old Testament b: early Christian writings not included in the New Testament -from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/apocrypha, January 9, 2008
---end definition---

Randi provides a nice list (with descriptions) of end-of-the-world predictions for 992, 1000, 1033 (Why the year 1033? After 1000 A.D. passed and the world did not end, they quickly revised their end-of-the-world date to be at Christ's death day, instead of this birthday.), 1186, 1260, 1524, 1532, 1533, 1537, 1544, 1572, 1584, 1588, 1624, 1648, 1654, 1665, 1666, 1704, 1719, 1736, 1757, 1761, 1774, 1801, 1814, 1820, 1843, 1874, 1881, 1914, 1936, 1947, 1953, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1980, 1996, 1999. —from Randi, James 1995. An Encyclopedia of Claims, Frauds, and Hoaxes of the Occult and Supernatural. Appendix II. New York, St.Martin's Griffin, New York. [There are several dates above I left out, from Randi's book.]

The 1999 prediction was from Nostradamus. And yes, none of Nostradamus predictions are real, they are all fraudulent. For more information about Nostradamus see this book: Randi, James 1993. The Mask of Nostradamus. New York, Prometheus Books.