I think the Internet makes the number of people who seriously believe in 2012 nonsense seem much larger than it actually is.
Generally the more seriously people take the Mayan calendar, the less likely they are to believe the world is going to end. IME.
[anecdotal]
Just the other week, I overheard someone rambling to a shop assistant about how scared they were about what was going to happen in 2012. He didn’t actually seem distressed about the prospect, but he did seem convinced that something big was going to happen.
Of course, this was while I was skeptically browsing in Watkins, the main New Age-y bookstore in London, so it was hardly a random overheard sampling of the population. But the first time I’ve come across someone expressing the worry other than online or in print. In the wild, so to speak.
[/anecdotal]
Those few moments between the destruction of Fox News and the complete obliteration of the human species will be blissful, indeed.
Totally worth it.
In defense of Y2K, I actually got overtime to monitor it, and fixed a Y2K error afterward. It was new code, written in perl, so there was no reason for it to fail other than a case of rare idiocy in the programmer.
As to the folks who worry about 2012, they’re too sparse to be more than entertainment, I think. I know one person who’s mentioned it, and they’re not the type to do lots of preparation.
2012 is going to be great! We’re going to have the Olympics, Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War, and the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812.
Being Wiccan, and also a practitioner of Yoga and meditation, I am SURROUNDED by these nutcases (and I use that term with love and compassion 
). In those circles, unfortunately, I think the fervor and hype is just going to intensify, and I wonder how much of the to-do is going to spill over to more mainstream circles.
It’s nice to hear that some of you believe it’ll remain somewhat limited in scope - limited, that is, to people with whom I associate.
Yep - you’ll get the honor of ‘taking one for the team’.
I was on duty on an army base at midnight, just in case civilization collapsed.
It didn’t, by the way.
Are you sure about that? Tila Tequila has her own show.
Cite ?
ETA : Damn, ninja’d
Can I go for Door Number Two?
My students are all talking about the 2012 Mayan calendar as if it is a dead-certain fact. Trying to use logic to refute their concerns is an uphill battle.
It’s going to be a pain in the ass as a librarian. We already can’t keep all the books in that have anything to do with it - they get stolen as fast as we can put them on the shelves. I’m resigned to years of answering the world’s stupidest questions. (Had one on the Trilateral Commission today - an oldie but a goodie!)
I live in the area where the London Olympics will be in 2012. It’ll be crazy, to say the least.
My grandmother said the worst she saw was in 1900. She said many thought bit was the end of the world and cults popped up everywhere. I don’t know whats special about dates. It was too bad when the world ended in 2000. …Oh wait it didn’t did it. But the cults were out as stupid as ever.
I had someone tell me all about this just today - because I was a bit stressed. She informed me that it was all part of the great change in the cosmic cycle that started in 1987 and will finish in 2012 when billions will die (if they haven’t learned how to love) and on and on - until I said “Cycle? Cycle! That’s it, I’m due for my BC shot - quarterly PMS is a bitch.”
Made my day.
I’ve come across only one person in real life who even knows about the 2012 craziness, and he thinks it’s crazy too. My prediction is that on Jan 1, 2013, you can say how we dodged the 2012 bullet, and most people won’t know what you’re talking about.
I’ll be stocking up on some .444 rounds, not because I think the world is going to end (I don’t), but because I think some people who believe it will may do some crazy things, and if any come through my door I want to be prepared.