Of course it is! We all know the world is going to end this year, not next. Ahem. According to those eggheads at NASA -- the same ones who made a big deal about an arsenic-based "alien" life form on earth -- Roland Emmerich's disaster porn 2012 is such a bad example of science-fiction, that it doesn't even deserve to be called science. "The agency is getting so many questions from people terrified that the world is going to end in 2012 that we have had to put up a special website to challenge the myths," said Donald Yeomans, the head of NASA's Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous mission. "We have never had to do this before." Fun! Let's check this sucker out.
Titled "2012: Beginning of the End or Why the World Won't End?" the NASA site is a font of frequently asked questions regarding the end of the world. A sampling.
Question (Q): Are there any threats to the Earth in 2012? Many Internet websites say the world will end in December 2012.
Answer (A): Nothing bad will happen to the Earth in 2012. Our planet has been getting along just fine for more than 4 billion years, and credible scientists worldwide know of no threat associated with 2012.
Q: What is the origin of the prediction that the world will end in 2012?
A: The story started with claims that Nibiru, a supposed planet discovered by the Sumerians, is headed toward Earth. This catastrophe was initially predicted for May 2003, but when nothing happened the doomsday date was moved forward to December 2012. Then these two fables were linked to the end of one of the cycles in the ancient Mayan calendar at the winter solstice in 2012 -- hence the predicted doomsday date of December 21, 2012.
Q: Does the Mayan calendar end in December 2012?
A: Just as the calendar you have on your kitchen wall does not cease to exist after December 31, the Mayan calendar does not cease to exist on December 21, 2012. This date is the end of the Mayan long-count period but then -- just as your calendar begins again on January 1 -- another long-count period begins for the Mayan calendar.
And so on. Unfortunately the NASA site makes no mention of mass bird and fish deaths, so whether or not they're a signifier for the end of days is still unclear. In the meantime, it would be best to avoid not only 2012 but also The Core, Armageddon and Volcano if you want actual science with your blockbusters. Pfft, so NASA is telling us that Bruce Willis and a team of oil riggers couldn't stop an asteroid from destroying Earth by using undersea drilling equipment and a nuclear bomb? Puh-leeze.
ยท Film Least Likely to Happen in the Real World? '2012' [Airlock Alpha via /Film]