Call it playing the odds, but NASA figures that when the sun rises on December 22, we're all still going to be here, and that the Mayan calendar thing will be proven so much stardust. NASA is so confident, in fact, that they've not only put together a video, but recently released the video explaining why the 12-21-12 was a colossal failure, and they've even entitled it "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday".
The video, which runs four minutes and 21 seconds, can be currently found on YouTube (News - Alert) and provides a bit of a rundown explaining why just because a big stone calendar made several thousand years ago finally ran out of pages, metaphorically speaking, it doesn't mean that the world itself is coming to an end. Heavily featuring Dr. John Carlson, who's been studying the Mayan prophecies and the calendar effect for the last 30 years, the video describes the ability of the Mayan calendar to "roll over". Additionally, information from NASA about the status of rogue planets, solar flares, and other astronomical activities seeks to make pretty clear that our chances of a near-term apocalypse of some kind that isn't man-made are really rather slim.
Naturally, many have noticed that this particular video was released a little over a week ahead of schedule. This has in turn prompted many to wonder why it was released so early. Some believe that NASA is simply that sure of the outcome of 12-21-12. Others with a somewhat darker bent believe that NASA is playing it up for the crowds, attempting to keep everyone quiet by assuring them that nothing will happen, despite the fact that NASA has long since run for the bunkers.
Admittedly, most find it a bit strange that NASA is so clearly overplaying its hand like this, but then again, should NASA's video turn out to be dead wrong, there likely won't be too many people left to take NASA to task for its erroneous video.
So NASA is quite clearly playing the odds here, certain in the knowledge that they are in a perfect "Heads I win / Tails you lose" situation, as either the world won't end and they'll be proven right with the accompanying bump in credibility, or the world will end, and the last thing on anyone's mind will be what NASA had to say about it in a YouTube video 10 days prior. Still, it's generally a safe bet that the sun will rise, given that its risen most every morning for several thousand years' worth of recorded history, so betting on a long-established practice to continue is a good use of the odds.