Nostradamus never predicted anything with 2012. The closest said the following: [rquoter] The year 1999, seven months from the sky will come a great King of Terror. He will bring back to life the great king of the Mongols. Before and after war reigns happily. [/rquoter] He also stated that his predictions were valid through 3797. People come up with elaborate stories to explain how he really meant 2012 in order to align all their paranoid ramblings. It is a Rorschach Test of paranoia. Stare at any random assemblage of data for long enough and you begin to think you see patterns. People have been predicting the exact date of the end of the world back to the 18th century. When their absolute final and true predicted dates come and go, they always manage to rationalize the creation of a new absolute and true final date. A very good example of this is the Millerites (who later became Seventh-day Adventists) who climbed up on a mountain to await the end of the world something like three or four times. Thinking that you live at some uniquely special time in history is a vanity of the highest order.
I can't believe I missed that thread. Must have been on vacation. We currently have no way to defend ourselves against an on-coming asteroid or comet, which could turn out to be a bummer.
Wow. And this one is large enough to scare the pants off a virgin. The asteroid is about 320 meters wide. "That's big enough to punch through Earth's atmosphere," devastating a region the size of, say, Texas, if it hit land, or causing widespread tsunamis if it hit ocean, says Chodas.
Because we're so damn big (the size of France... those damn Frogs!) and because the state is so well loved by folks worldwide that it connects on an emotional level, something news writers try to do, if they are inclined to that style.
Scarily, I think something like 30% of americans think that the rapture or something will call them to Jesus in their lifetime.
<object width="425" height="355"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGqroT1FZ5Y&rel=1"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/cGqroT1FZ5Y&rel=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="355"></embed></object> But I have the Blessed Hope... and I feel fine.
