Fasten your seat belts! 2012 here we come!

Were the Mayans right, I ask myself? ... 

... Horrific flooding in Pakistan resulting in the loss of thousands of lives; powerful tornadoes tearing through New York City; a storm the size of Australia working its way across New Zealand leaving a wake of destruction only weeks after an earthquake hit the Islands; and now the British Defence Secretary, Dr Liam Fox, issues a warning that the national grid could be knocked out for months by solar flares due in 2013.

Earlier in the year, Nasa warned that a peak in the sun's magnetic energy cycle and the number of sun spots or flares '''around''' 2013 could generate huge radiation levels (spoiler: isn't that how the movie 2012 begins?).

Apparently, "the resulting solar storm could cause a geomagnetic storm on Earth, knocking out electricity grids around the world for hours, days, or even months, bringing much of normal life grinding to a halt" (Press Association 20 September 2010).

I watched the movie '2012' the day before yesterday. I watched the movie 'The Day After Tomorrow' when it first came out in 2004. And I watched the movie 'The Day After' when it first hit the cinemas in 1983.

How many more warnings do we need before we start taking this shit seriously?!