The 2012 Apocalypse-The End of the World As We Know It?

Yes another 2012 Hub.
Everyone focuses on the scary Mesoamerican Long Count calendar but there are a lot of weird precursors to 2012 if you look around.

Back in 1975, author Frank Waters (the "grandfather of Southwestern literature") wrote a book called Mexico Mystique: The Coming Sixth Age of Consciousness, where he devoted two chapters to Hopi prophecies and a global "consciousness shift" signaling the beginning of a new age.
Yes that was back in 1975.
34 years ago.

Also in 1975, Mexican-American author, artist, and educator, José Argüelles wrote The Transformative Vision, which mentions 2012. He mentions it again in his book The Mayan Factor: Path Beyond Technology which was published in 1987.

But maybe the most unsettling thing goes back even further with The Maya by Michael D. Coe published in 1966.
In The Maya, Coe says:
"There is a suggestion . . . that Armageddon would overtake the degenerate peoples of the world and all creation on the final day of the thirteenth [baktun]. Thus … our present universe … [would] be annihilated on December 23, 2012, when the Great Cycle of the Long Count reaches completion."

Now Coe isn't some kind of crank.
He's regarded as one of the foremost Mayanist scholars of the 20th century, he held the chair of Charles J. MacCurdy Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, Yale University, and was Curator Emeritus of the Anthropology collection in the Peabody Museum of Natural History, where he had been Curator from 1968 to 1994.
In the early 1950's he got his Ph.D. in anthropology from Harvard University.

And there's Terence McKenna's really cool "Timewave Zero" theory that states that in November 2012, the universe's interconnectedness, or organised complexity will increase to such a level that anything and everything imaginable will occur instantaneously.
Well it was originally November 2012.
After he realized that the date was so close to the 13th baktun, he adjusted his date to December 21, 2012.

But even though there are some strange early references, there are some you may have actually heard of that have been blown out of proportion.
Scientific research does not confirm that the Maya attached any apocalyptic significance to the year 2012.
The Timewave Zero theory is not recognized by professional mathematicians and scientists.
So far, research indicates that the Hopi prophecy does not appear to mention the year 2012.
The Bible says nothing about 2012 or any similar date.
The Lost Book of Nostradamus (Vaticinia de summis pontificibus) does not mention 2012.

So it's all just blown out of proportion right?
Wellllll....there are some real, verified things happening in 2012 that might just make you wanna think twice about that.
Things like....

January 31, 433 Eros, the second-largest Near Earth Object on record, will pass Earth at 16.6 million miles.
Yes, in space 16.6 million miles is close.
February 6, Queen Elizabeth II will celebrate her Diamond Jubilee.
(Okay, I had to throw that in for all my Conspiracy Theory buddies out there)
April 17, The United States will cede wartime control of the military of the Republic of Korea after 50 years.
Hmmm...where will Kim Jong-il be?
May 20, Annular solar eclipse, a Sunday.
Signs in the sky of the coming apocalypse?
No, not if you know years in advance its coming, I don't think it counts.
June 6, Second and last solar transit of the planet Venus of this century. The transit will be best viewed from the Pacific Ocean. North America will be able to see the start of the transit, while South Asia, the Middle East, and most of Europe will catch the end of it. The transit will not be visible in most of South America or western Africa.
July 27, Opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics begins in London.
Okay the Olympics aren't scary. But it is a major event. And it screws up TV programing.
November 13, Total solar eclipse (visible in northern Australia and the South Pacific).
Another solar eclipse?
Yes, and we know this one is coming too.
December 21, at 11:11 UTC...... Winter Solstice.
At 11:11? Now that should set off your New Age warning bells if nothing else does!

Also in 2012, Pleiades, a petascale supercomputer built by SGI at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, will be completed, reaching a peak performance of 10 Petaflops (10 quadrillion operations per second).
Sequoia, a petascale Blue Gene/Q supercomputer being constructed by IBM for the National Nuclear Security Administration as part of the Advanced Simulation and Computing Program (ASC) is supposed to go online. Actually I've heard it was bumped up and may go online in 2011 which totally ruins any scary connections.
Skynet anyone?

On the sun, the solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 in the 11-year sunspot cycle is forecast to occur.
And with the Earth's magnetic field weakening....

And if all that's not enough to scare you, Finland, France, Ireland, Mexico and the United States will all hold Presidential elections in 2012.

So there you have it, the 21st century equivalent of " Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my!".
You have a global shift in consciousness, or just plain old annihilation, anything and everything imaginable happening all at once, a Near Earth Object, eclipses, Winter Solstice at 11:11, two major supercomputers going online (okay, maybe just one), solar maximum of Solar Cycle 24 (maybe a killshot solar flare) and Presidential elections (scary enough by themselves).

And I didn't even mention Nibiru.

But not to worry.
The LHC is scheduled to go back online in November of 2009.
So 2012 may be a moot point.

Have a nice day!

Here we are just a little over one year away.
And for everyone that keeps asking, no I don't think that the death of Kim Jong Il is a sign of the Apocalypse.