It’s the end of the world as we know it: 7 sites to prepare you for the apocalyspe

Mark this day down in your calendar. We have crossed the threshold — less than one year to go until it all goes up in smoke. The Mayan Calendar predicts the end of days on 21 Dec 2012. For obvious reasons, this is quite a big deal to many people, and will affect your decisions on whether to upgrade your phone now or later, pay off your debts, ask that girl out etc…etc…

What do you do when you need hard-core, irrefutable proof in life? Obviously, you turn to the web. Let’s take a look and see which sites you should be using to monitor your impending doom.

Deep breath…

2012endofdays
The design here is not totally appalling, so that’s a good start although it is rather random, including a selection of slides of a Mayan temple. Doesn’t exactly inspire confidence when the first blog post says “11/11/11 was a non-event”. Not sure these are the guys to rely on. Bit wishy-washy.

December212012
This one claims to be the “Official Website” of the apocalypse. So it must be serious. And it has a string of B-Grade celebs as “celebrity believers.” Phew. Hang on though, they’re selling 2012 T-shirts here, a 2012 End of days racing game and a “humorous, new gift calendar”. In this case, 2012 feels like a marketing push. Avoid.

Endoftheworld2012.net
It’s all in black. Serious stuff. These guys have got a prediction about 10 ways that the world could end, ranging from biological warfare to the Planet Nibiru passing through our system. There’s also a fair amount of real estate encouraging me to click a button to see what would be even worse than the end of the world. Right now, contracting a virus that infects this whole system would be worse than the End of Days, so I’m not clicking that, no sireee!

2012warning
This bunch of wingnuts greet you with a giant Google Ads display above the fold, advertising Justin Bieber’s Under The Mistletoe for download. They could be on to something re:end of the world.

Then you see this image and you know you better get out…fast!

2012hoax.org
The most modern looking website so far. My eyes were beginning to bleed so that’s good. These are party-pooper astronomers who are worried that you might waste your money buying a survival kit for 2012. They mention the word “children” a lot and really want to help you. So if you’re panicking, head over to this happy-clappy site.

2012supplies
Your chance to download a widget which gives you the countdown clock for your very own website. Can also be used for counting down roast chicken in the oven, your fertility cycle and anything else which might be happening before 21 December. What happens thereafter to the clock is a mystery. Does it have a one year warranty? These are the questions you need to be asking.

Websiteevangelism.net
This is an absolute cracker. More to do with the movie 2012 than the actual apocalypse, it seems to be trying to convert people to missionary life, and using this opportunity to preach the gospel. Includes priceless lines like “I want to thank you for being a tool God has used to bring me back to Him.”

First thing you see?

A sentence that reads “2012 Mission Invitation — Come Fishing with us”.

What’s not to like about this site?

That’s it for me. I’m done. There are more, no doubt, but I can’t go on. The fonts, the colours, the doomsdaying — it’s all rather absurd and sad and makes you almost wish that the end was a bit sooner so we could all be put out of our misery. Doom on!

Image: Brian Hofsiss