If you believe doomsayers or John Cusack movies, the world will end Dec. 21. That's the date of the so-called Mayan Apocalypse, when an important cycle of the Maya Long Count Calendar draws to a close.

Not to worry. End-of-days predictions have made and broken pundits and self-proclaimed prophets for millennia. Not to be outdone by religious fanaticism, contemporary culture embraces the drama of a cataclysmic end to the world.