U.S. government: The world will not end on December 21

Your taxpayer dollars hard at work.

A post on the U.S. government’s official blog went up Monday to shoot down perpetual "scary rumors" that the world is going to end this year.

“False rumors about the end of the world in 2012 have been commonplace on the Internet for some time,” the post reads. “Many of these rumors involve the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 (it won’t), a comet causing catastrophic effects (definitely not), a hidden planet sneaking up and colliding with us (no and no), and many others.”

It goes on: “The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012.”

A handful of theories have long predicted the demise of the world as we know it, most notably that the Maya calendar says that Dec. 21 is the final day for this world. (Or maybe they weren’t predicting it after all?)

Still, apparently enough people were worried to warrant an official response from the government, including links to a trio of explainers from NASA to explain with science why the ideas are bunk.

“At least a once a week I get a message from a young person ? as young as 11 ? who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday,” David Morrison, a planetary astronomer at NASA Ames Research Center in one of the NASA posts.

For the kids, you guys, just be cool.

(h/t Politico)