If I remember rightly, nobody noticed in 2004 either!
Nor in 1843. Have you heard of THE THE MILLERITES--predecessors of the modern Seventh-Day Adventists?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MillerismMiller was a prosperous farmer, a Baptist layman and amateur student of the Bible, living in northern New York, in the region of that state which has come to be known as the Burned-over district. Through years of intensive study of prophetic symbolism of the prophecies of Daniel and using the year-day method of prophetic interpretation, Miller became convinced that Christ's Second Coming was revealed in Bible prophecy. In September 1822, Miller formally stated his conclusions in a twenty-point document, including article 15, “I believe that the second coming of Jesus Christ is near, even at the door, even within twenty-one years,—on or before 1843.”[1] This document however, remained private for many years....
It seems that given the right set of social conditions--usually the kind that are not very good for many people--some among us can be convinced to believe in and support amazingly foolish and too-good-to-be-true ideologies usually out of the mouth of demagogues. For example, check out:
http://www.hypnosisblacksecrets.com/political-hypnosis/hitler
