^^ Yeah, I've done my bit of reading on the Mayan calendars too, and how they count down from the beginning of an "age" till when it ends. Then the next age and hence the next calendar starts.
What scares me is that they got it right last time. In their previous calendar, they predicted that age would end via water, and right on time, we were hit by the flood, more popularly known as Noah's flood in this part of the world. With the current Mayan calendar, it says this age ends in 2012, this time by fire...
Sounds like nuclear or some shit, and with idiots like George W. running around with access to "The Button", it could well be...
I think the predictions are just a warning by "the wise ones" from the past, when we weren't so stupid, who knew that civilisations and the earth itself follow certain cycles, and some point in those cycles, shit gets so wild that most of us meet our doom.
Even the egyptians charted these cycles, and others before them, which is what the signs of the zodiac represent as well...
So brace yourselves, and f*** the seatbelt, it won't save u from shit this time...