Without a clear understanding of how things work, most anything could seem to be a sign from God. Early man must have pondered on how that big fiery thing in the sky could completely vanish at night. Perhaps the glowing life-giving sphere was our creator? God? Whatever helps you sleep at night, I always say. Without any learned knowledge of the universe and our role in it, things in the sky had no better explanation than being something worth worshiping.

When the signs are so clearly not from God, why treat them as if they were?  Recently some crackpot radio station owner put up a bunch of signs of his own. It was kind of funny, I know. Especially since he was wrong about his prediction and the world did not end on May 21st as he so loudly proclaimed it would, but some real damage was done.  Consequences from something not real are still real consequences.

Mr. Harold Camping's radio station spent as much as 100 million dollars on billboard ads. Some of that was donated to the station from supporters. If that's what they want to do with the money, that's their business...

I'm sure offering homeless people shelter or food, building low-income homes to keep others from becoming homeless, giving the $100 million to any number of charities, or sending AIDS medicines to those in Africa that desperately need it but can't afford it, all seem like a lost cause when the world is ending.

It's more than simply a sad misuse of money. Apparently people quit their jobs, said goodbye to loved ones, sold their homes/stocks/everything, and wasted their entire life savings on bus ads needlessly promoting insanity to sane people. I know you're thinking, "they shouldn't have been so gullible".  But for every person foolish enough to follow the words of a loud moron, there are innocent families affected right along with them, both financially and psychologically. It's up to all of us not to propel one crazy guy to national or world-wide stardom for our own amusement.

Camping had briefly spoken with a few reporters on Sunday, saying he was “flabbergasted” that the world didn't end.

He's made predictions before, and he'll likely make more failed predictions later.  Mr. Camping now predicts October 21st as the actual end. Just a little math error I'm sure. He's going to keep guessing until either the world ends or he dies, whichever comes first. At 89 years old I'm betting it'll be him... Although, next year is 2012 and if the internet has taught me anything it's that the world will end on December 21, 2012.

This is the third paragraph from Wikipedia's entry for the 2012 phenomenon:

Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of such cataclysmic events occurring in 2012. Mainstream Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar "ends" in 2012 misrepresents Maya history. The modern Maya do not consider the date significant and the classical sources on the subject are scarce and contradictory. Astronomers and other scientists have rejected the apocalyptic forecasts as pseudoscience, stating that the anticipated events are contradicted by simple astronomical observations.

Really smart people don't think the 2012 end of the world story is in any way credible. That's kind of important. I know there are people who don't believe much of what scientists have to say these days. Seems hypocritical to me to love your iPhone, DVR, or boner pills and hate scientists at the same time. I suppose God sent us the Roomba directly from Heaven.

Many of us were genuinely terrified of the overblown Y2K Bug scenario. At least it was based on a real deficiency in the coding of our computers. Computers control our financial and weapon systems, right? Reason enough for concern in my book. Luckily nerds like the characters from Office Space saved us by coding out the bug and preventing the threat of our desktop's clock showing the time incorrectly.

My birthday happens to be December 21st so I've been a fan of the folklore since I was little. The idea that just because some people ran out of paper when writing a calendar thousands of years ago means the world is going to end should be preposterous to everyone. Don't underestimate the logical reasoning skills for most of the human race though. Panic and fear for survival are just part of being a mammal. We're like squirrels nervously looking around for danger, only we're at the top of the food chain so we have to make up the boogeymen to be afraid of.

I'll save the long list of theories of what people think will happen in 2012 for the "experts" on other websites. Ideas range from the uncreative meteor-hits-earth theories to the more elaborate humans-will-reach-a-new-level-of-evolution-as-our-pineal-gland-absorbs-the-energy-from-passing-through-the-center-of-the-universe theory.

What concerns me is that if the world doesn't end on December 21, 2012, what real damage will we be talking about the day after? There's been talk on the internet of massive orgies planned for the weeks leading up to the day, and then mass suicides within 24 hours of "doomsday." At least they have the good sense to get laid before killing themselves.

Perhaps it's survival of the fittest and those who are stupid enough to kill themselves help to strengthen the human race as a whole? I sit and wonder if parents would actually kill their children to save them from an imagined horror? How far in the wrong direction can our impressionability and love of fanciful concepts take some of us? Will the US congress start passing laws to protect us from ridicules conspiracy theories after enough citizens call and email their senator? What would they ask for? Most likely the giant boats from the end of that Roland Emmerich movie I'm sure.

It used to take years to learn new information passed around by spoken word, handwritten books and documents, or the pony express. Before the printing press, only the wealthiest people could afford to read the news because it had to be written by hand. As time marches on, even poor citizens of the planet will finally have access to news information, even joining in the conversation. Anyone just now tuning in is certain to be overwhelmed. To those who have always paid attention, it must feel like things are speeding up with big events happening more frequently. Really, there has always been a lot happening on the planet, it's only now becoming technically possible to see it all in real-time.

We get news so fast now that it's literally as it's happening, regardless of our social class, geographic location, or income level. Some guy tweeted about the secret kill Bin Laden mission as it happened from next door, giving a play-by-play of what he was hearing outside his home.

Uh oh, now I'm the guy who liveblogged the Osama raid without knowing it.  -Sohaib Athar

When a cat does something funny on this planet you better believe 20 million people will watch it online within 24 hours. That's the greatest measure of today's technologies... how fast we can all enjoy a good cat video together.

The world is a lot to take in. Between the earthquakes, oil spills, birds falling out of the sky, climate change, Arnold Schwarzenegger quitting politics, and Lady Gaga debuting her new album in FarmVille, it could look like the end of the world to anyone.

Maybe it's something we need in our society? Perhaps the feeling we have on that day after each apocalyptic-near-miss is somehow rejuvenating for us, allowing a collective sigh of relief as we make it through yet another made-up danger unscathed. It's like a big, expensive and tolling way to learn that "Today is the first day of the rest of your life." Unless you killed yourself of course.

I believe if the world is going to end, I will go with it when it does.  What if it doesn't end?  Please people, have a plan B... Just in case you find yourself flabbergasted the next day when nothing happens.

End of the World Dates to Fear After 2012 (Full List)

• 17 December 2020 -  Mr. J Jackson - Mr. J Jackson has concluded that a planet past the planet of neptune named Sedna, will collide into the earth causing a universal explosion. He has also stated that Earth will give out life when it explodes on other planets.
• 2060+ - Sir Isaac Newton - Newton proposed, based upon his calculations using figures from the book of Daniel, that the Apocalypse could happen no earlier than 2060.
• 2150 - Peter Joseph - Joseph proposes in the first part of his movie, Zeitgeist, that when the Astrological Age of Pisces is over, a new age will begin and transition the world. He makes no mention of Apocalypse.
• 2240 - Talmud, Orthodox Judaism - According to an opinion in the Talmud and mainstream Orthodox Judaism, the Messiah should come within 6000 years from the creation of Adam, and the world could possibly be destroyed 1000 years later. The nature of the period of desolation is controversial and no one theory is binding.
• 2280 - Rashad Khalifa - According to Rashad Khalifa's research on the Quran Code, the world will end in the year 2280 CE.
• 3797 - Nostradamus - Wrote in a letter to one of his sons that the world would end in 3797. His prophetic quatrains ended with this year.