Mayan Mythology, 2012, and the end of the world

A Live Science article by Benjamin Radford addresses the doomsday meaning of the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21 2012. Radford says that:

In fact, the link between global catastrophe and Mayan calendar-based prophecy is largely fiction. Ads for “2012” begin with the phrase, “The Mayans warned us,” though of course the Mayans did not “warn” anyone — they simply had a calendar system that happens to “end” in 2012, much as the way the Gregorian calendar on my office wall “ends” on Dec. 31.
The Truth about 2012 Doomsday Hype