If you haven’t heard of the fear regarding the Mayan Calendar and Dec 21, 2012 you’ve been living under a rock. If it makes you fearful, you’re living under the covers. I wish I could call the hype disinformation, but disinformation supposes some kind of real information is being hidden. The Mayhem Prophecy fear-mongers have created this hoax out of whole cloth.

Here’s how the Mayan calendar works…
kin = 1 day
uinal = 20 kin
tun = 18 uinal = about 1 year
katun = 20 tun = about 20 years
baktun = 20 katun = about 394 years
pictun = 20 baktun = 7,885 years

The baktun was called the long count because it was the smallest unit that actually separated calendar dates to different lifetimes. Within your life you would never see the same date in two separate baktun. The date notation is dotted such as: baktun.katun.tun.uinal.kin today(Jul. 18, 2012) is 12.19.19.10.4 on the Mayan calendar. On Dec. 21st the number will roll over to 13.0.0.0.0. Again, in case you missed it… the calendar rolls over to a new baktun every 394 years! Here are some recent “new baktuns”. While some may be able to connect them to world changing events, I don’t believe they record a cycle of wholesale destruction…

10 baktun: Mar. 13, 830
11 baktun: Jun. 15, 1224
12 baktun: Sep. 18, 1618
13 baktun: Dec. 21, 2012
…
20 baktun: Oct. 13, 4772

Now the one possible horror I do see is that Dec. 21, 2012 happens to fall on a Friday, which would make that day Friday the 13th baktun. I can’t find any evidence that mankind has ever survived such an ominous thing as that. A portent such as this is known by the latin ‘demens apparere’ which literally means “Crazy Appearance.” You’ll often see it abbreviated in technical discussions, simply as CrAp.