Mayan Calendar 2012 Aftermath: No Apocalypse, But the 'End of Days' for Some Things

So the apocalypse didn't materialize. Not everything made it to this side of the Mayan calendar. For some things, 2012 really was the End of Days. Here's a look back at what we lost.

Twinkies
The one thing that was supposed to be able to survive the end of the world, and they're really and truly gone. Sure, maybe some company will buy the recipe and combine random chemicals and Yellow #5 into an oblong mold, but they won't be Hostess Twinkies. How will our children's children understand Zombieland?

Whitney Houston
Sure, the diva with the voice of a nightingale had been out of the spotlight since thee days when Kevin Costner was still cool, but 2012 was the year all the drugs and self-loathing finally caught up to her. No bodyguard could have saved her from herself.

Predicting Elections With Gut Feelings
The pundits are dead, long live the statisticians! No matter how the media tried to spin the presidential election into a horserace, it was never very close. Nate Silver accurately predicted the outcome of the election in all 50 states, definitively proving that you can't argue with arithmetic.

Mitt Romney's Career
He looks rested, pumping gas and visiting Disneyland. Republicans begrudgingly nominated Romney in a desperate bid to seem reasonable, but President Obama still won the election handily. Romney did get a nice runner-up prize: PolitiFact's "Lie of the Year."

Senator Daniel Inouye
Sent to fight in Italy during World War II as part of the all-Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Inouye took a bullet to the stomach, but still managed to destroy two German machine gun bunkers with hand grenades and his machine gun. As he readied another grenade, his arm was shot off. Inouye pried the live grenade from his dead arm and threw it into a third bunker, destroying it, then killed the last German soldier with a one-armed machine gun blast. He was awarded the Medal of Honor, and was elected to the Senate in 1962, serving there until his death this year.

Climate Change Skepticism
At least in New York and New Jersey. Hurricane Sandy knocked out power to millions of people for days and thousands of people for weeks. Homes and entire towns along the beach vanished. Seawater flooded every tunnel into Manhattan, and nearly two months later, many subway lines still aren't running.

The Reverend Sun Myung Moon
The leader of the popular religious denomination, considered a cult by mainstream Christians, The Unification Church often called "The Moonies," performed mass weddings involving thousands of couple who had never met before. His power was greatest in the 1970s, but the church held sway with conservative groups in America for years, pouring money into lobbying and propaganda efforts. The church still owns the right-wing newspaper The Washington Times, which has done decent job of remaining a relevant media outlet.

Ambivalence on Gun Control
The deaths of 20 children and 6 of their teachers last week in an elementary school shooting in Newtown, Conn. leaves no one undecided on gun control. President Obama may now have the support necessary to pass a ban on assault weapons like the ones used in the shooting. Those opposed to more gun control measures are in the minority, but they are vocal and politically-connected. But something will be done in 2013, even if only to assuage collective guilt about the loss of the most innocent of life.