Get Ready!

ESOTERICA

I just found out about this, but apparently

there is a seed of spectacular buzz germinating over the notion that the ancient Mayans predicted the end of the world, and that its date is Dec. 21, 2012. A major motion picture scheduled for release this fall, 2012, assumes the Mayans knew what they were talking about and shows how the planet is put out of its misery in a series of giant tsunamis, mega-earthquakes and fantastic meteor showers, just to name a few of the coming attractions.

In one of his memoirs, James Thurber writes about a character he (and the rest of Columbus, Ohio) referred to as the Get-Ready Man, a fellow who showed up on the strangest of occasions declaiming that "The wor-ll-d is coming to an end!"

Since even such a venerable entity as NPR has picked up on the story, it might be time to start taking such warnings seriously.