Doomsday May 21, 2011

In case you had not heard, the end of the world (Judgment Day in Christian circles) is supposed to start on May 21, 2011, with a series of earthquakes just before 6 pm (not sure what time zone though) and the Earth will be utterly destroyed in October 2011. All this according to various news reports about Christian "prophet" Harold Camping who preaches through his Family Radio Christian network (FamilyRadio.com). Camping apparently did his calculations from Biblical verses but only counted forward from 4900 BC. Other Christian leaders have dismissed his claims. Camping had previously calculated Doomsday to be in September 1994, so clearly he has no credibility. Robert Fitzpatrick's book The Doomsday Code (2010) is based on the Camping Calculations.

Apocalyptic earthquake in Japan, March 11, 2011

Northeastern Japan was struck by an 8.9 magnitude earthquake on March 11, 2011. A large tsunami was generated that not only devastated parts of Japan but also swept across the Pacific. While Hawaii and British Columbia were spared any significant damage, there were reports of damage in California. My deepest condolences to the victims and their families. I hope you will help support the recovery effort in Japan by a donation to one of these disaster relief organizations. Here is a link through which you can follow Google News indexed coverage of this terrible catastrophe.

The End of the World (1998) book

Edited by Lewis H. Lapham with Peter T. Struck, The End of the World (1998, c1997) is an anthology of essays, memoirs, and extracts from historical writings about events that were considered apocalyptic at the time of their occurrence. The first of these is the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh from around 3000 BC. The book is divided into three parts:

1. The Ruins of Empires


2. The Fall of Nations


3. The Twentieth Century: The End in a Void

The last part includes reference to and information from the Rapture Index.

There is also an "End Times" table with predicted dates for the end of the world. This table does not include the supposed Mayan calendar prediction of the world's end in 2012 AD.

Condolences and concerns about the Chile 8.8 magnitude earthquake and tsunami

My heart goes out to Chile and all those affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake early Saturday morning in Chile. I'm particularly concerned about Hawaii and the possibility of tsunami damage there.

2012 the movie

The one trailer I've seen in theaters so far for the movie 2012 looks impressive -- a tsunami engulfs the Himalayas and overwhelms a monk who's sounded the alarm -- all caused by Planet X, also known as Nemesis or Niburu (the Destroyer). so I'm anxious to learn what's caused this catastrophe Clearly, Mr. Monk didn't need to bother since nobody would be left to hear or heed his warning. The full trailer at the official site is spectacular. Roland Emmerich, the genius director of two other mega-death movies, Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow, turns his attention to the powerful Mayan prophecy that the world will end on December 21, 2012. Now if the ancient Mayans had somehow synchronized their timekeeping efforts with the Western world’s calendar and had the world ending on December 20, 2012 (get it, 20122012 as some people might express the date), I might have been a believer, but then again, maybe all the big disasters are happening on December 20 and the world officially ends on December 21, 2012. The 2012 movie premieres on November 13, 2009. Watch the full trailer and a teaser trail on the official site.

In addition to the trailers, check out some of the movie publicity sites: This Is The End from some dude named Charlie Frost -- I'm pretty sure Sony Pictures dreamed him up -- but he's even on Twitter, The IHC or Institute for Human Continuity, whose mission is to prepare the world for 2012, and Farewell Atlantis, the title of the novel by Jackson Curtis, the character played by John Cusack in 2012.