Did someone mention Doomsday?

For those who miss the good old days of the easy going 20th Century, a shrill reminder of Y2K is back.

At least the mounting fear that an upcoming date could be the death of us all - or at least a very bad day for some.

Late last week, Professor John Beddington, the UK government's chief scientist, warned a sustainable development conference that a "perfect storm" of food shortages, scarce water and insufficient energy resources would land on the world's doorstep in 2030.

But for those souls who can't wait that long to panic, then mark 2012 on your Armageddon-out-of-here calendar. A growing number of books and blogs revolve around Dec. 21, 2012, when the 5,125-year long count cycle of the Mayans' calendar draws to an abrupt close.

Works like Michael Drosnin's best seller, The Bible Code, predict space meteors may plow into the earth.

Self-described alien contactee and author, Riley Martin, has theorized a great mother ship could return in 2012.

Author Dannion Brinkley predicts in his book, Secrets of the Light, humanity will finally go through a spiritual transition in the same year the world goes through physical changes.

Some scientists argue an alignment of our entire solar system will take place, though according to the Journal Nature, it'll be another 30 million years before it happens.

Others predict a legendary and much debated heavenly body - often dubbed Planet X - will enter our solar system to throw our world for a loop.

Author Lawrence Joseph, whose book Apocalypse 2012 (Random House) takes a science-based look at the threat of the Earth's weakening magnetic field and the part the Sun may play as it pelts us with storms, is now quickly writing another to feed the public hunger and the mouths of his two young children.

Devastating earthquakes, hurricanes, spiking global temperatures and tsunamis, Joseph makes a case that modern science and old beliefs are converging on 2012, and that it could be a cataclysmic, or at least pivotal, point in human history.

"I am sorry if I've made people afraid," he says by phone from his Los Angeles area home. "But where there is a genuine danger approaching, the fear has to be mastered."

He says he gets mail routinely from people asking if they should run for the hills, and tells them: "Don't - unless you're a person who loves the country side. Our salvation is in building stronger networks in our community."

The good news is many scientists say foretelling future events in the lifespan of the world is like predicting where the very first raindrop will land during a storm.

And Canadian-born academic and Maya authority, Sandra Noble, believes too many people have hijacked an important and triumphant date - the survival and evolution of an ancient calendar - and turned it into a foreboding threat. Any physical anomalies the Earth may go through are not related to the end of one measurement and the start of a new cycle, she adds.

"It's just another chance, like Y2K, to publish a book," says Noble, the executive director of the Foundation for the Advancement of Mesoamerican Studies in Florida.

There even exists a lingering debate about just when the Maya calendar ends its phase - possibly two days later, on Dec. 23, 2012.

So, all that December, just relax and party like it's - in the Maya way - "13.0.0.0.0 4 Ajaw 3 K'ank'in."

Though, be warned, your Visa bill will still arrive in January.