This is SO funny!!

[Old Dad]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33261483/ns/technology_and_science-science/

Sorry, but I think the whole thing is hilarious! By the time Dec. 22, 2012 - and for months to follow, all the fruitcakes and nuts will be hard-pressed to find another big doomsday deal. Of course, with imaginations like that though, they're sure to come up with something. If all else fails, they can always fall back on other old worn out ideas. But at least they can stop bugging the Mayans.

[Sunflowers]

As you said, there have been a lot of these apocalyptic predictions over the centuries. Usually, groups of cultists take themselves off to some cave or other and hide until they emerge sheepishly some time afterwards.

The trouble with these predictions is that they're usually so vague that anyone can read anything into them and, unfortunately, there are always those people who get so worked up about it all that they kill themselves or others. Take the girl in India, for instance, who committed suicide because she was afraid that the CERN experiment which was supposed to take place last year would mean the end of the world and those (literally) misguided people who commit mass suicide because they've been told that the world will end.

This is a good article about several Apocalyptic cults and their beliefs.

My philosophy is that if such - literally - world-shaking things are going to happen then I can't do anything about it and it's likely that no-one else can either so I might just as well concentrate on keeping going now!!!

[Major Tom]

By the time Dec. 22, 2012 - and for months to follow, all the fruitcakes and nuts will be hard-pressed to find another big doomsday deal.

You surprise me, OD. I think you are underestimating the fruitcakes.

Major T.

[Old Dad]

As you said, there have been a lot of these apocalyptic predictions over the centuries. Usually, groups of cultists take themselves off to some cave or other and hide until they emerge sheepishly some time afterwards.

The trouble with these predictions is that they're usually so vague that anyone can read anything into them and, unfortunately, there are always those people who get so worked up about it all that they kill themselves or others. Take the girl in India, for instance, who committed suicide because she was afraid that the CERN experiment which was supposed to take place last year would mean the end of the world and those (literally) misguided people who commit mass suicide because they've been told that the world will end.

This is a good article about several Apocalyptic cults and their beliefs.

My philosophy is that if such - literally - world-shaking things are going to happen then I can't do anything about it and it's likely that no-one else can either so I might just as well concentrate on keeping going now!!!

Well said, Caroline, that's the only sensible thing to do.

[Old Dad]

By the time Dec. 22, 2012 - and for months to follow, all the fruitcakes and nuts will be hard-pressed to find another big doomsday deal.

You surprise me, OD. I think you are underestimating the fruitcakes.

Major T.

Good point, MT. I suppose that at any given moment they've probably got several more crackpot ideas in their hip pocket.

[Major Tom]

Good point, MT. I suppose that at any given moment they've probably got several more crackpot ideas in their hip pocket.

A few years ago, in 2003, in a popular science board in Hebrew, there was a guy who, over the course of six months or so, regularly posted about an upcoming calamity having to do with the very same Planet X, which he called "Nibiru". He brought detailed timeline of what's going to happen, supposedly coming from a "portal person" receiving the information through telepathy of some kind.

As you know, we are now either hallucinating in our afterlife, or more likely, nothing happened. Our guy never came back with an explanation. However...
What was different than all the other crackpots was that this guy, who at the time of the "prophecies" was a highschool senior or something around that age, started college, and now and then came to the same forum with questions. Every time he posted, I posted a reply asking for explanation of why he posted what he did, whether he was wrong, and what it says about it all.
I always got the same response - he became very angry, asking whether I'll ask him that every time. I always said that I will, until I get some answer.

I never got one.

Major T.

[Old Dad]

Good point, MT. I suppose that at any given moment they've probably got several more crackpot ideas in their hip pocket.

A few years ago, in 2003, in a popular science board in Hebrew, there was a guy who, over the course of six months or so, regularly posted about an upcoming calamity having to do with the very same Planet X, which he called "Nibiru". He brought detailed timeline of what's going to happen, supposedly coming from a "portal person" receiving the information through telepathy of some kind.

As you know, we are now either hallucinating in our afterlife, or more likely, nothing happened. Our guy never came back with an explanation. However...
What was different than all the other crackpots was that this guy, who at the time of the "prophecies" was a highschool senior or something around that age, started college, and now and then came to the same forum with questions. Every time he posted, I posted a reply asking for explanation of why he posted what he did, whether he was wrong, and what it says about it all.
I always got the same response - he became very angry, asking whether I'll ask him that every time. I always said that I will, until I get some answer.

I never got one.

Major T.

And I'll bet you never expected an answer, either. Some things just aren't intended to be understood by mere mortals like me and thee. <smirk>

[LA Bob]

The Jehovah's Witnesses cult has had its moments of clouded prophecy. They have predicted the end of the world for 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1989.

Kind of like betting the Lotto maybe? If they cover as many numbers as they can, sooner or later they'll hit the big one?

The sad part was the fiasco in 1975. So sure was the Watchtower Society that the world would end, they told all the JW members who owned real estate to mortgage it to the hilt and send the money to the Watchtower. Thousands did. And paid for years on the properties they didn't lose outright.

[Requiel]

The Jehovah's Witnesses cult has had its moments of clouded prophecy. They have predicted the end of the world for 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1989.

Kind of like betting the Lotto maybe? If they cover as many numbers as they can, sooner or later they'll hit the big one?

The sad part was the fiasco in 1975. So sure was the Watchtower Society that the world would end, they told all the JW members who owned real estate to mortgage it to the hilt and send the money to the Watchtower. Thousands did. And paid for years on the properties they didn't lose outright.

That right there would make me suspicious.

'So the world's going to end in 1975 right?'
'Yep!'
'And you want me to mortgage all my property just before then and send you the money?'
'Yep!'
'What are you going to spend it on if the world has ended?'
'Erm....'

[Old Dad]

The Jehovah's Witnesses cult has had its moments of clouded prophecy. They have predicted the end of the world for 1914, 1918, 1925, 1975, and 1989.

Kind of like betting the Lotto maybe? If they cover as many numbers as they can, sooner or later they'll hit the big one?

The sad part was the fiasco in 1975. So sure was the Watchtower Society that the world would end, they told all the JW members who owned real estate to mortgage it to the hilt and send the money to the Watchtower. Thousands did. And paid for years on the properties they didn't lose outright.

Wow, i wasn't aware of any of those - and that one in '75 truly WAS sad!! I suppose the reasoning was so that they (the Watchtower) could use the money to help spread the word of impending doom across the whole world...