2012: Is the world really coming to an end?

(Here's a link that provides seven different reasons for why the world will end in 2012:
http://buburuza.net/2008/08/seven-reasons-the-world-will-end-in-2012-proven-scientifically/)

I'm sure everyone has heard of the infamous claim that the world will end on December 21, 2012--according to the Mayan calendar. So how does this Mesoamerican Long Count calendar even work?

The calendar is arranged in multiples of twenty. The basic unit is the k'in, or a day. Twenty k'ins make a uinal, eighteen uinals make a tun (which is equivalent to a 360-day year), twenty tuns make a k'atun, and twenty k'atuns make a b'ak'tun (roughly 394 years), and finally, thirteen b'ak'tuns compose the whole cycle (about 5,125 years). Ultimately, according to the starting date of this calendar, 5,125 years later would be the year of 2012, and the end of the calendar cycle.

The Mayans were great mathematicians and astronomers, with amazingly accurate measurements, as the article mentions. So, it would make sense to believe that there was a purpose for the day in which the Mayans chose to end their calendar cycle: the Earth's doomsday. But, according to Occam's razor, the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is usually the correct explanation. Although the idea that the world is coming to an end is a pretty simple explanation, are there any other explanations that may be even simpler? Could this just be a coincidence? Maybe 5,125 years is so long that the Mayans saw no point in creating another calendar cycle? Or maybe the calendar makers got tired?

But due to this claim, there have been massive floods of ideas revolving around the topic of how the world will come to an end. Some of the most popular scenarios include: an asteroid will smash into Earth; the Earth's magnetic field will reverse; the black hole in the galactic center will affect us; the Sun will align with the galactic equator on the winter solstice. The article also provides a few more reasons, such as a sun storm, volcanic eruption, and evidence from different religious teachings (which would be impossible to prove or disprove since it is a metaphysical claim). But with all these extraordinary claims, there seems to be very little extraordinary or concrete evidence. In addition, the author repeatedly uses the words "suggests" or "likely," which provides a low sense of validity to these claims.

I neither strongly believe in nor oppose these claims. But because people are constantly searching for answers in fear of the unknown, they often begin to lack logic and or rationality as a result, so it is important to analyze the many different aspects of a situation.