2012
The year 2012 means many things to many people, few of which bring good news. A New Age belief cites 2012 as the year humans will undergo a physical and spiritual transformation, while some people predict that sometime that year, Earth will collide with a black hole or a planet named Nibiru. But perhaps the most popular belief is attributed (falsely, many scholars argue) to the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar from the ancient Mayan civilization. Interpretations suggest that the fourth world, in which we live now, will end on Dec. 21, 2012. This belief inspired the disaster movie 2012 starring John Cusack, in which a tsunami tosses the aircraft carrier U.S.S. John F. Kennedy onto Washington, crushing the White House and killing the President (played by Danny Glover).