Friday, April 03, 2009

Everything old is new again

On Sept. 21, 1945, Pasadena minister Charles Long and his followers stayed up all night, reading Scripture and waiting for the world to blow up, as Long had predicted.

"Many had sold their possessions, paid their debts and made peace with their neighbors," The Times reported.

To their considerable surprise, the sun greeted them the next morning. The minister matter-of-factly explained that he had made a "minor error in his calculations," The Times said.

Sixty-four years later, there still seems no end to end-of-the-world forecasts.

The latest concerns a supposed ancient Maya prophecy that pinpoints Dec. 21, 2012, as doomsday (a Friday, in case you were making plans).

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