Political Upheaval: Mayan Calendar Mixup?!

When the Spaniards arrived in Mexico at the beginning of the 16th century, they met and eventually subjugated the Maya, a people who were far more advanced in many ways than any civilization on Earth. Among the Maya's amazing accomplishments was a highly complex calendar system that accurately records events from the time of the Big Bang to the current day. That calendar comes to an abrupt end about four years from now. Many believe this portends a great cosmic shift of some sort, perhaps a great shift in human consciousness or the end of history as we currently understand it.

Today, I read this excerpt from an article in The Guardian, and wondered if maybe the Mayans weren't as accurate as we thought. Did they mess up on that date? Conservatives boycott Fox News? Geezus, what next? Did the great shift happen on Nov. 4, 2008?

As the implosion of the defeated Republican campaign continued yesterday, the landscape of American conservatism was dotted with signs that these were very strange times indeed.

Rush Limbaugh, behemoth of right wing radio, took to the airwaves to declare war on two enemies: Barack Obama and the Republican party. Bloggers at FreeRepublic.com, an internet hub for conservatives, announced a boycott of Fox News, and John McCain's aides fell over one another to leak embarrassing details about the campaign to the press.

-Oliver Burkeman in The Guardian, 11/8/08

This ain't the world we knew!