End of the World

Armageddon, Apocalypse, Last Judgement, Rapture, Big Crunch...time's up; we're outta here. Will the earth collapse in a conflagration of fire and brimstone? Will dolphins fly from the oceans as they bid mankind, "So long and thanks for the fish"?

For millennia, man has pondered the world's demise, but today, the end has become big business. Programs on it fill our airways. Volumes fill our bookstores. Films fill our theaters. So who's to blame?

Nostradamus - I've read the original "Centuries" and they are as ambiguous as Dylan's lyrics. Maybe "the transgressor" mentioned in Century IX was Quinn the Eskimo?

The Maya - 2012 is approaching which some say the Mayan prophesied as the end of time. Their descendants deny this; claiming Mayan eschatology differs from the Western European concept. Therein lies our misunderstanding of their cycle of time.

The Bible - various prophets have looked at the old and new testaments for a clue to our end. William Miller used the Bible to predict the day of the world's demise in 1844...twice. Erroneous both times, his followers still believed in the concept, but credited bad interpretation for doom's no-show. They went and formed the Seventh Day Adventists.

The true imminent doomsday is the loss of the daily newspaper. Sure, we can get news from the Internet or TV, but what about eating at a diner? Imagine sitting in a diner without a paper to read. Eggs, scrapple and cup of coffee without a sports page? It's unthinkable! This is what Nostradamus referred to as "The grandeur of the translator will come to fail." Where's the History Channel when you need it? As ever BB

Adam & Eve on a raft, wreck'em, mystery in the alley & moo juice"

Scrambled eggs on toast with a side of corned beef hash and a glass of milk in diner-speak.