[Anonymouse]

Actually, we won't have to wait that long; the Sun's output is gradually increasing, and in about one billion years' time, things will be a bit too hot around 'ere.

As for the prediction - it's the specificity of the date that renders it nonsensical. What did the Mayans know about rogue planets hurtling through space, or whatever it's supposed to be? They couldn't have predicted anything that far in advance. Besides, gravitational pertubations throughout the solar system would've alerted astronomers across the world by now, if a large-enough body were on its way here. Besides, it's far more likely Jupiter would've grabbed it and turned it into yet another temporary moon. It does that.

<slightly O/T, I think>
And don't even get me started on the doomsday planners. Oh, too late; never mind. There isn't going to be a nuclear war; Russia is no longer capable of waging it - or, for that matter, inclined to. Any other country that has nuclear capability has to worry about delivery systems...and America will see it coming anyway and bomb 'em out of existence. That hardly qualifies as a 'war'.

Besides, a post-nuclear world wouldn't be worth surviving for (no trees, flowers, kittens. butterflies? Noooooooo!). Nor would we deserve to; doing such a thing would conclusively prove we were an evolutionary failure. The Earth would eventually clean itself up and carry on as if we'd never existed.

The prediction's on a par with Star Trek's ludicrous plot device of imminent life support failure, as if the crew would die immediately after the failure. There'd still be breathable air for a while, and the Enterprise wouldn't simply freeze instantly. There would be time. There would be options. I always hated those episodes.
</slightly O/T>