Mayan Notpocalypse

Do you think the world is coming to an end on December 21, 2012?

Well, it isn't. The whole thing about the Mayan calendar ending on that date is baloney. Hog wash. One hundred percent unadulterated phooey. I could go into details — and I have — but you can just go to the fantastic 2012 Hoax website and get everything you need to debunk this unfettered crap.

Of course, there are lots of people promoting this flim flam, including some hoping to profit from it. When I was shopping at a local drug store the other day (cough cough Walgreens cough) I walked past the magazine rack and saw this gem:

A magazine saying the Maya predicted the apocalypse would occur in... 2012. Credit: Phil Plait

I thumbed through it, and it's chock full of ridiculousness, as you might expect, including two pages right next to each other with one saying it was maybe all real, and the other (rather lackadaisically) debunking it. So this may not be the best reference you can find.

I was fairly unhappy while perusing it — it was pretty much the same feeling you'd have getting down the last bite of a plate of food and then finding a maggot in it — but then I noticed something that made a slow, evil grin spread over my face.

What was it? Why, did you notice the statement made at the bottom left of the cover, under the bar code? Here, let me show you:

You can’t make this up. Oh wait, they did: I saw this magazine in late 2012. Credit: Phil Plait

Ayup. It kinda makes you wonder how seriously the publisher takes all this, doesn't it? I never knew expiration dates themselves had expiration dates past their own expiration date.