End Times?

Religious broadcaster's billboard predicting end times

I was going to post my shock about the news that 41% of Norwich kindergarteners and sixth graders are considered obese, wondering what that bode for the future of society.   Then another group indirectly pointed out that this sobering statistic may not matter much.  According to Harold Camping, the 89-year-old founder of Christian network Family Radio Worldwide, his prediction of when our world will begin to violently unravel - Judgment Day - has been suddenly moved up to this Saturday, May 21st.   Family Radio owns 66 radio stations, including AM 1170 WCTF in Tolland County, CT and a giant waste of major market FM signal on 94.7 WFME New York.   Just when we thought we were OK until at least 2012 (according to the Mayan calendar and a few folks on the History Channel), now comes this cataclysmic claim of worldwide earthquakes that would have the potential to ruin a lot of people's weekends, not to mention a couple of my friends' birthdays.   I know the sluggish economy and world conflicts are among everyone's concerns.  Hey, even our week of rainy days makes we wonder if there's a Noah out there preparing for more nasty weather.   It's bringing the Doomsday crowd out of the woodwork.   There are many times in history when the Rapture has been incorrectly predicted, and this Family Radio guy hasn't exactly been batting 1,000 himself in earlier forecasts.    As for myself, this student of history will rely on what Comedy Central's "fake news" anchor Jon Stewart said last year: "These are tough times, not end times."   If Saturday passes for anything like a normal day, I promise not to gloat on Sunday.

UPDATE 5/23:  We're still here.