TSOABWTWHEK

2012.

The End Of The World As We Know It.

TEOTWAWKI.

I'm confident you've already heard that the Mayan calendar ends on 12/21/02012.  In reality, it doesn't so much end as it starts over.  It's more of a Y10K problem; as long as we only use 4 digits to write the year, in 7988 years we will have the same problem.

Don't get me wrong, while I don't like the concept of THE EOTWAKI, it is useful to talk about the world changing so fundamentally that the rules we have known no longer apply; you could call it a teotwawki.  However, I don't the fact that the emphasis is on what is ending.  If the sun goes supernova or an asteroid the size of Texas crashes in to the Earth, then by all means call it a teotwawki.  Other, lesser changes like the supply of oil not meeting the demand represent an opportunity, though.  We should use an acronym that represents that. I propose TSOABWTWHEK:

The Start Of A Better World Than We Have Ever Known

While we need to watch our step, we also need to keep looking up as we make the Long Ascent.