Note on this, particularly the section in bold:
Most of his predictions are cryptic and its the way they are interpreted that results in all these wild predictions. However he did say that natural disasters would increase though 2010, 2011 and there would be an uprising in the middle east in 2011 in the countries surrounding Mesopotamia (iraq)
The mayan calender ends in 2012, where once every 25800 years the planets and sun of our solar systems align with the centre of the milky way galaxy i believe. Its the 'winter Solstice day' on 21st Dec 2012.
Alot of people believe there will be cataclysmic events at this point. This is because the moon will at its closest point to the earth whilst the gravitational effects of the sun and milky way will be at their peak.
People and many scientists believe the moons gravitational pull is responsible for earth quakes etc due to its gravitational pull. For instance at the moment the moon is extremely close to the earth compared to normal. with today being its closest for a very long time, and we have just had this huge earth quake and tsunami.
Statisticians have found that when the moons orbit is inclined around the southern hemisphere there are more frequent earth quakes than when the moon is orbiting the northern hemisphere, and vice versa.
However you cant ignore the fact that Japan is also on the edge of 3 Teutonic plates (the Eurasian, Pacific and Philippine plates) and that geological shifts in the earths crusts cause earth quakes, volcanoes etc.
I'm a geek and love all this stuff 
i don't really believe anything. ultimately the Mayan Calender begins and ends at the alignment of the galaxy, so whilst it may end in 2012, people are speculating but have no idea what will happen. Ultimately the Mayan Calender just restarts at day 1,1year
From Dr James Garvin, chief scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center:
"the combination of the moon being at its closest to Earth in its orbit, and being in its 'full moon' configuration (relative to the Earth and sun), should not affect the internal energy balance of the Earth since there are lunar tides every day. The Earth has stored a tremendous amount of internal energy within its thin outer shell or crust, and the small differences in the tidal forces exerted by the moon (and sun) are not enough to fundamentally overcome the much larger forces within the planet due to convection (and other aspects of the internal energy balance that drives plate tectonics)."
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/moonmars/features/supermoon.htmlI realise you qualify the statement with your lack of belief, but please, let's spread as little misinformation around as possible.
