Contrary to popular belief…and I’m willing to go out on a limb about this…the world will NOT end in 2012 when the Mayan calendar ends.

But I repeat myself, and will again. THE WORLD WILL NOT END IN 2012!

“How can you be so certain, Eric? There are signs EVERYWHERE!” people gasp and stare at me like I’m a complete idiot.

Let me just say that I’ve lived through dozens of “end-of-the-world” scenarios. So have you. From Y2K to the rogue planet Nibiru’s supposed passing in 2003 to aliens coming to take us to their planet to the flurry of ‘end-of-days’ stories from religious texts.

There are no more floods, volcanoes, earthquakes, plagues, wars, etc. this year than say…oh…1918 when there was a global pandemic killing nearly 20 million people, a World War going on, volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and more.

We just have better forms of communications today. A cartoon at XKCD.com shows that twittering was faster than the seismic waves of an earthquake. We hear and share everything we see and read about without verifying it’s authenticity. Snopes.com is a good place to check for crazy rumors, stories, emails, news, and photos like this.

With movies such as 2012 that show global disaster, many people believe everything written in the script. From solar flares, to polar shifts, and crustal displacement. Poor NASA was so overwhelmed with questions they made a special site to answer questions. If you have any, you might want to check it out as well.

To wrap up, we all will die. Worrying about it happening at some specific date takes the joy out of living today. And even if I am wrong…and I’m not…shouldn’t we all use the time given to make the most of our lives and the days amazing?