It's December 22, 2012!

Congratulations. If you're reading this, you survived the apocalypse.

All that fuss over a calendar.

Now, look here. December 21, the shortest daylight time of the year, was a common marking of the new year. It makes sense that it would be the last day on a calendar. You guys don't assume the world will end on the 31st because it's on the modern day calendars, do you?
No?
Exactly.

The Mayans were are not psychics. These "predictions" were made by using astronomy. We still use astronomy today - did you know? - to determine when a solar/lunar eclipse is going to happen, to locate stars we couldn't see before, to find new planets, etc.
It's not magic. It's science. An ancient, basic, respectable science that we are rediscovering as time goes on.

Oh, wait. You still don't believe me, do you?

Take a look at the Mayans today.
They'll tell you that you saw the end of a calendar and assumed it was the end of the world. But you won't listen, because "they ain't real mayans 'cause they died years and years ago."

It's so much easier to listen to a centuries old calendar than a real group of people. A calendar can't call you out on your stupidity.

Now, would you like me to lay out some real doomsday possibilities?

No?
Too bad.

See, the Earth will come to an end someday. But it's not going to happen without some big natural disasters happening more often than they have this year. It's not going to go from calm to insanity and beyond. It's not going to be a hurricane named Sandy or a bunch of public massacres that predict the end.

• Our planet could end up like Mars. Mars was stripped of its atmosphere by solar winds and quite suddenly exposed to sudden death by the awesome vacuum that is space. All that would survive are the organisms that thrive in the underground gaseous caverns which are toxic to us.
• We have become very careless with resources on Earth. We could drain it completely, and pollute all its water. Eventually, we will end up destroying the planet ourselves, creating an unlivable barren land.
• The most likely end to the world would be when the sun dies. Our sun is the type of star that will expand into a red giant before it dies. The fire will consume the planet completely.
• And if by some rare impossible chance that the sun doesn't expand that far (like that could ever happen), the "habitable zone" will move with the sun's surface; outward. And Earth will not move with it. When we are thrust out of our little strip of life-sustaining temperatures, the Earth will burn.

I know what you guys are probably arguing now.
"There was more than one year on that calendar!"

I know.

The end of that calendar marks the end of an era.

Shut up.

The end is nigh.

I've done the calculations.
I've looked at the charts.

There is one hour during which it is actually December 21, 2012 everywhere in the world.
This hour is the hour of 10 AM GMT.

Be prepared, my friends.

Even though time zones are more a man-made thing so the Mayans would not have predicted the end according to that.

Anonymous Question: Prepare to meet your DOOM!!!!

Or at least an idea of how it will come about.

"If you could see the end of the world happen, how would you want the world to end?"

It's funny - my high school Biology teacher asked our senior class the same question for our final project of the year. We had to pick and choose our favorite 2012 Doomsday theory and disprove it. In the end, it turned out to be a very fun project.
Something I never liked to do was work alone, but I just couldn't share my glory this time. I put together this epic Microsoft PowerPoint project, complete with an automatic slide-show at the beginning with Gir from Invader Zim singing his famous "Doom Song". 
Unfortunately, back then Windows Movie Maker wasn't compatible with YouTube, so a video was never made. So...you'll just have to deal with a written version.

For my assignment, I chose the Black Hole Alignment.

The theory:
At 11:11 GMT on December 21, 2012, the sun will touch the Dark Rift near the Galactic Center (The sun, Earth, and the center of the galaxy will be in alignment). Some believe this "Dark Rift" is a black hole. The Mayans viewed the Dark Rift as the center of death, transformation, regeneration, and rebirth. This alignment will have a huge gravitational effect on the Earth, throwing it off its axis and wreaking havoc and chaos upon us all.

"Facts are facts and will not disappear on account of your dislikes." -Jawaharlal Nehru

Black holes, defined by NASA:
"A black hole is an area in space with a powerful gravitational pull." In other words, an imploded star.
(I'd like to pull away from my Doomsday topic for a science lesson, but I won't be that mean. So, click here if you don't know what I'm talking about.) Basically, the mass of the star is compressed together into a size that is too small for its mass, which can itself be as small as a large city, but with the same gravitational pull as its larger former self (which would have been very large).
The pull is VERY intense and constant up to a certain point away from the mass, which is the "surface" of the black hole, known as the event horizon. The event horizon is the point of absolutely no return; at this point, the gravity actually kicks in, strong enough to pull everything in faster than the speed of light. This means that there is no matter within the gravitational field of the dead star for light to bounce off of, rendering it virtually invisible.

A Supermassive Black Hole...at our center?
Scientists believe that most galaxies have a black hole at the center, including the Milky Way Galaxy. There is a radio-wave source called Sagittarius A* (SgrA*) that has stars moving rapidly in its orbit. The fastest star orbits SgrA* every 15.2 years at 3,100 miles per second. This speed could only be achieved if that star is orbiting something with a mass about a million times higher than that of our sun's. Because it is such a small space for something supposed to be so large, and the fact that this massive object is seemingly invisible, it is thought (and logically so) that SgrA* is a Supermassive Black Hole.
So, yes, one could argue that there is indeed a black hole at the Galactic Center.

The Alignment:
The Galactic Alignment can and will happen in 2012. The sun WILL - from the Earth's view - line up with the Dark Rift near the center of the Milky Way Galaxy.
Oh, I forgot to mention; the "alignment" isn't even really an alignment. The sun's going to pass several degrees over the Dark Rift.
THIS HAPPENS EVERY YEAR IN LATE DECEMBER!

Fact or Fiction?
This "black hole alignment" theory seems legit, right? Yeah. So do most other Doomsday theories. The details of this theory are derived from the simple facts of the universe. Anyone can make a load of absolute garbage sound truthful and intelligent if they know enough random facts and can put them together. Basically, it's a bunch of crap, and the "black hole alignment" is a highly unlikely end for humanity.

• If this "alignment" happens every year, why should 2012 be any different? Why would any year be any different?
• That being said, why would the Earth's axis be thrown this time, or any time in the future because of this?

"Everything will be okay in the end. If it's not okay, it's not the end." -Unknown

 PHEW! Now that that's over, let's get back to that question. "If you could see the end of the world happen, how would you want the world to end?" I think it goes without saying that I would love to see the Black Hole Alignment destroy the world. Why? Because it would be pretty ironic after what I just typed up. And I love irony.

Although, I wouldn't mind if the Irken Empire ended up killing off the human race instead.