Are YOU prepared for December 21, 2012?

[Albort]

The Mayan Calander never accounted for our leap year system...

so "technically" Doomsday Dec 21st would had happened like 9 months ago...

 

[Swimnoid]

Oh! I was worried for a moment. Then I saw that 12/21 is the day we return from WDW so thats ok then!

 

[Feralpeg]

Y2K wasn't about the world ending, it was about computers having a problem with their date codes being in two digit format. When the year 2000 struck, the dates would read "00" and it was predicted there would be problems. My mom was responsible for the team that checked every single piece of medical equipment with computer components in our provence for Y2K compatibility. It used to drive her nuts when people talked about how it was "no big deal" because she spent years of her life making sure it wasn't, as did computer people around the globe. IBM actually donated their people to ensure the dangerous things in orbit were good to go when the clock struck 12.

My poor mother always felt there should have been an award for the computer people of the world for how few problems there actually were. I made her one with glitter the next year.

I was in charge of the Y2K technical group at my company. We reviewed and tested all the code in the system to make sure we wouldn't have any problems. It took almost a year to do so. We had close to 10,000 programs. There are a lot of systems people out there who are responsible for the fact that Y2K was a non-event.

The week of 12/21/12, I am not going to clean the house or mow the yard! So there!

 

[WDWBarb]

Finally!! A date I don't have to diet to prepare for.

 

[disney1990]

So, promise me that 2 weeks before 12/21, you are going to resign from your job.

The last time somebody predicted the world was going to end, some of these people really did quit their jobs - wonder where they are working now.

 

[DeaverTex]

So much excitement, just because the Mayans couldn't find a bigger rock.

And yes, as a PP stated, there are other Mayan records with dates long past Dec 21, 2012.

 

[POOHsie]

I was checking out at the Grocery Store, and I had some Beef Jerky. The older couple behind me asked how long it was good for. Turns out it wasn't too long 'til expiration. The man said that wouldn't do -- he was looking for stuff that lasted a l-o-oo-o-ng time. I was curious what he was planning for, but I was afraid to ask...

 

[pigletgirl]

Sure! As long as peanut M&Ms sustain, I shall be safe.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I am going to post this thread and attempt to attach a poll with it to try an figure out if my husband is crazy or not. There's not much of any backstory to this, but my husband has been buying and storing water, canned goods, batteries, matches and other necessities down in our basement for the past 6 months. I asked if this was for the Zombie Apocolypse or something (always said jokingly). He admitted that while he doesn't necessarily believe the world will end on December 21st, or that zombies will take over, he does believe that something awful may happen (think back to Y2K panic). He wants us to all be prepared if some awful catstrophe happens. I personally think this is crazy. I'm wondering if anyone else is doing this (or will even admit to doing this).
He is very intelligent so this kind of thinking seems very irrational to me.

We have enough canned ravioli to open a food pantry at this point. Please someone tell me that we aren't the only family preparing for the end of the world. (I shouldn't even use the word "family" since he is the only one doing this).

...attempting poll now. Sorry if it doesn't work. EDIT: My option 2 was too long so apparently it didn't post the poll.

It will be my 22nd Marriage Anniversary.

*IF* I was going to prepare it would be vacation planning.

Oh and watch those things with "tomato" in them. The shelf life is very short on some of them.

I do think people should be prepared for power outages just as a precaution. However as far as preparing for the end of the world like "Doomsday Preppers", I don't understand that line of thinking.

 

[Katy Belle]

Two of my boys have already planned parties! One wants to watch the movie 2012! So we will have a house full of teenage boys no matter what happens.

We have 3 Boy Scouts, so we have done the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge 3 times. We have a few days worth of food and water and basic survival stuff. We also always have a pantry full of food. We arent planning on anything happening, but we would survive a few days!

 

[ladypage]

Two of my boys have already planned parties! One wants to watch the movie 2012! So we will have a house full of teenage boys no matter what happens.

We have 3 Boy Scouts, so we have done the Emergency Preparedness Merit Badge 3 times. We have a few days worth of food and water and basic survival stuff. We also always have a pantry full of food. We arent planning on anything happening, but we would survive a few days!

End of the world party!

That's my plan! I figure that the world has the same chance of ending as any other day, but it's a great idea for a party. Good friends, good food, and good drinks, what else does a person need on their potential last day on Earth?

 

[cornflake]

No offense, your husband is a little nutty on this.

As others have said, having some things for a general emergency situation (a few days for storm or whatever power outage or unexpected whatever) is perfectly reasonable.

A basement full of tinned ravioli you all aren't going to eat except in a Donner Party situation because planet Nibiru/X/Bob is going to scurry out from its hiding place behind the sun, hurtle into Earth just as the poles shift and the Mayan calendar runs out, causing the continents to wander all over... is bananapants.

I think maybe discussing this with him might be a good idea - you don't even know which wackadoo theory he's gotten into apparently. They're all very easily debunked.

As a previous poster said, if the end of the Mayan calendar signified the end of the world, so does Dec. 31 - it's only the end of their calendar as in turn the page. There are, also as noted, ones found with the page turned.

The rest? Easily debunked. Find out what he's gotten swayed by and stop the ravioli hoarding with the powers of logic and science.

 

[jenjifer]

My uncle was one of those Y2K whack-jobs: he even built a bunker and had a 500-gallon propane tank brought in in order to prepare. And he's a BIG fan of the second amendment. Not sure what he was going to do with the collection he amassed.

He was a Y2K speaker, people and organizations paid him to go speak about how to prepare for it...

I can't decide if he honestly believed something was going to happen, or if he hoped something was going to happen. I suspect it's the latter. He's always looking to make a quick buck, so I'm pretty sure he'd come up with a way to make money from it beyond his speaking fees. Maybe he was going to charge people to stay in his giant bunker?

Anyhow, OP, I admire your ability to let him roll with what he feels he needs to do. You're a fantastic wife! Enjoy the ravioli!

 

[GRUMPY PIRATE]

My uncle was one of those Y2K whack-jobs: he even built a bunker and had a 500-gallon propane tank brought in in order to prepare. And he's a BIG fan of the second amendment. Not sure what he was going to do with the collection he amassed.

He was a Y2K speaker, people and organizations paid him to go speak about how to prepare for it...

I can't decide if he honestly believed something was going to happen, or if he hoped something was going to happen. I suspect it's the latter. He's always looking to make a quick buck, so I'm pretty sure he'd come up with a way to make money from it beyond his speaking fees. Maybe he was going to charge people to stay in his giant bunker?

Anyhow, OP, I admire your ability to let him roll with what he feels he needs to do. You're a fantastic wife! Enjoy the ravioli!

Too bad it wasn't cans of ham and turkey he stocked, because if it was, on 12-22 he could have donated them to food banks or homeless shelters.

you know, someone who's world really ended.

 

[shortbun]

We had our house rewired and installed a generator, not for December 21st but it will cover us. We have several cans of gasoline and I'm looking into a propane tank with a new gas run generator right now. We always have seed packets for growing the following year from our garden and I winter over all of our herbs. I keep a rotation of at least two weeks of full meals but could stretch that over a much longer period if necessary. Have rainbarrels. We just prefer to live with a small footprint so we're consequently somewhat prepared for an emergency. Our basement is finished with a fireplace and we have about 3 cords of wood. We are 7 houses from a huge park with a big river, wildlife and fish. I think we could make it if the infrastructure falls. It would not be fun but we have good friends all around us and I'm sure we'd bond together pretty quickly. I only think about things like this when someone brings it up. I don't think anything is going to happen. My parents were always prepared for an emergency too.

 

[DisneyFan32WI]

Too bad it wasn't cans of ham and turkey he stocked, because if it was, on 12-22 he could have donated them to food banks or homeless shelters.

you know, someone who's world really ended.

I love this idea. Last night, he ran to the store for the usual milk, bread, etc. and came home with an additional bag of canned food. I saw ravioli again , and he quickly and quietly brought it down to the basement. I said, "I just posted your craziness on the DIS today." I am going to mention to him today that he should buy items that would be good for a holiday meal for needy families if by the off chance we don't need to use those items he's been storing.

I am going to try and post a picture of this nonsense one of these days. It would make for a good laugh.

 

[budcollector]

thats the day before i leave for Disney, the only thing i plan on doing is Packing and getting a good sleep.

 

[aprilgail2]

I'm prepared to be finishing up my Christmas shopping around then! I don't buy into any of these fairy tales.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

I love this idea. Last night, he ran to the store for the usual milk, bread, etc. and came home with an additional bag of canned food. I saw ravioli again , and he quickly and quietly brought it down to the basement. I said, "I just posted your craziness on the DIS today." I am going to mention to him today that he should buy items that would be good for a holiday meal for needy families if by the off chance we don't need to use those items he's been storing.

I am going to try and post a picture of this nonsense one of these days. It would make for a good laugh.

At least tell him to stop with the canned ravioli. I mean if I were preparing for the Zombie Apocalpyse there are better choices for canned food & bartering items.

Food would be...
Tuna, salmon, sardines, beans, peanut butter, coffee, sugar, rice, etc...Tell him to lay off the "tomato based" stuff. It does not store well long term.

You want high nutrition, high protein. Canned ravioli is very processed and not very nutritious from a "health" standpoint.

Bartering items would be cigarettes, liquor, and bullets. Then you have the medication & first aid category.

Also innoculations...My dd had to get an Typhoid innoculation for China. So does not take a leap to figure out you need up to date on immunizations (include Hepatitis in there) and in addition you can go get innoculations for Typhoid, Rabies, and a whole host of things. That would be something I would do. Think about it. If the "end of the world" happens disease will spread. Typhoid is from living in less that clean conditions.

Of course the most important item would be clean water. That is our limiting factor for life, right now.

Anyway, at least have a talk with him. At the very least he is having anxiety over this. Maybe you can talk with him and redirect some things.

 

[MoonFaerie]

yeah, because those Mayans were really good at predicting stuff, I mean look at their current civilization!


Oh...

wait.....


nevermind!!

BTW, I think the SNL explanation was probably right, they just ran out of space!

And there's the fact that adjusting to factor in the modern calendar and leap years and such, going by the Mayan dates, the day the world should have ended already passed...

But I guess I'm ready. We have a huge bottle of rum.