This morning's report on TODAY recaps the no-show for the apocalypse, and the segment raises an interesting question: What about all those folks who were preparing for the sort of doomsday portrayed in the movie "2012"?
"Doomsday Preppers" is the top-rated show on the National Geographic Channel, and the show will stay on the air even though the Maya apocalypse was canceled. I'm betting that the preppers will keep prepping as well. In fact, the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy demonstrates that it's wise to stock up on emergency gear and extra supplies even if you see absolutely no deeper meaning in a centuries-old calendar.
Most of the people concerned about the end times are not motivated by the Maya myth, but rather by biblical reference to the end times — or just a general sense that things are going to go south sometime soon. That came through clearly when Zap2it's Jacqueline Cutter chatted with some of the National Geographic Channel's preppers.
Braxton Southwick, a mechanic living in a Salt Lake City suburb, told Cutter that he was inspired by the 9/11 crisis.
"I don't want to see my kids go though horrible crap or gangs or starve," he says. "If you were told you were going to be in a concentration camp, you would say 'I am going to die.' But they fought to live. So I look at it that way. Human nature is to fight to live."
Do you know of anyone who's making preparations for a future doomsday? Are you a doomsday prepper yourself? Feel free to get your point across in the comment section below.
More about coping with disaster:
- PhotoBlog: Survivalists prepare for the end
- Ready.gov: How to build an emergency kit
- Are you prepared for the worst?
- Cosmic Log archive about 2012 and doomsday
Alan Boyle is NBCNews.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter and adding the Cosmic Log page to your Google+ presence. To keep up with Cosmic Log as well as NBCNews.com's other stories about science and space, sign up for the Tech & Science newsletter, delivered to your email in-box every weekday. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for new worlds.
