Well, folks, it was a nice run, but it had to close out sometime. Let us take a lesson from Monty Python's Life of Brian and always look on the bright side of life as we whistle our way to world-ending weltschmerz.

Top ten reasons I'm looking forward to the Mayan end of the world:

• (10) Microsoft Windows will FINALLY start working as well as other operating systems.
• (9) No longer have to worry about what happens when the Unix calendar ends in 2038.
• (8) I can bring my Rapture Catapult back out of mothballs.
• (7) I'd rather face that feathered-snake thing the Mayans worshipped than that God guy.
• (6) W3C finished the HTML5 specification just in time for it not to matter.
• (5) I have plenty of practice rebuilding civilization from scratch through years of Minecraft addiction.
• (4) What the hell, I'd already given up on ever having a flying car anyway.
• (3) Now there will be plenty of IPv4 addresses to go around!
• (2) At least we made it past Y2K!
• (1) Threesome with Cthulhu!

BONUS BUCK: Sysadmins ask "Proper shutdown policy for the end of the world?"