From: R. Joe Brandon - maintainer of the shovelbums.org mailing list & once Mayan Archaeologist from the team who found some old stone calendar
1: Bak'tuns are really long periods on a calendar, about 394 years (144,000 days to be exact).
2: We are currently living in the 13th Bak'tun of their calendar (which means there were 12 before this one).
3: The Maya make references to dates on other calendars far beyond the 14th Bak'tun (14th is the name of the next Bak'tun cycle that starts on Saturday).
4: Just like we have said things like "our calendar ends on December 31st, 1999" (and 1998, and 2000, etc…) we don't feel the need to then say, "but then it begins again on January 1st of the next year.". This is just like what the phrase in the Maya text "The Thirteenth Bak'tun will be finished (on)" means. That 13th calendar cycle is ending, the Maya did not feel the need to mention that the 14th Bak'tun starts the next day on our Saturday. Heck they were carving this stuff in stone, they needed to be concise with their words!
5: What is the most future date you have ever heard? For lots of you it is what Fergie sung in the song Boom Boom Pow. Fergie sings "Im so 3008, You so 2000 and late". Just because Fergie only sings about 3008, does not mean that she does not expect there to be a 3009.
