September 21, 2001

3:43 PM

The Rapture Ready indexis a numerical assessment of signs that indicate the end times are here. Maintained by USAF supply sergeant Todd Strandberg, he says the Index isn't meant to show when the Rapture will come, but how quickly we are moving towards it. It's a speedometer; not a clock. (More inside.)
posted by waxpancake (12 comments total)

"Fine," you say. "Some nut with a web page likes to keep track of how quickly we're moving towards an event I don't even believe in. What's that got to do with me?" Well, his site is interesting in that it serves as a sort of global anxiety meter, a measure of our collective angst. Wars and rumors of war, economic indicators, unrest in the middle east, it's all there. Unsurprisingly, we're at an all-time high (beating the previous high of May of '99) since Todd began counting.

(The above link and comment were written by Mat Honan, who would've posted it himself, but doesn't have posting privileges just yet.)
posted by waxpancake at 3:47 PM on September 21, 2001

Oh, and here's a second interview with Todd posted on Open Letters last year. He's a strange guy.
posted by waxpancake at 3:48 PM on September 21, 2001

I don't know what's creepier his index or that he speaks of himself in the third person.

"I figured God and Todd had somehow failed to make that final connection. "
posted by skallas at 4:08 PM on September 21, 2001

When I first found it, I wrote a perl script game to play the rapture index like the stock market. Unfortunately I didn't realize that it's updated rather infrequently so it's not much fun. If only he'd update it on a weekly/monthly basis, then we'd all be talking about how we wish we would've bought civil rights low.
posted by betaray at 4:10 PM on September 21, 2001

When I first found it, I wrote a perl script game to play the rapture index like the stock market. Unfortunately I didn't realize that it's updated rather infrequently so it's not much fun. If only he'd update it on a weekly/monthly basis, then we'd all be talking about how we wish we would've bought civil rights low.
posted by betaray at 4:10 PM on September 21, 2001

Speaking of clocks, this has me wondering if the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists is going to move the minute hand on its Doomsday Clock soon.

The clock has been appearing on the cover of the Bulletin since 1947, and the minute hand has moved 16 times. It last moved on June 11, 1998 when it went from 14 minutes till midnight to 9 minutes. The present situation plays out their 1998 rationale for moving the clock close to nuclear midnight.
posted by bragadocchio at 4:16 PM on September 21, 2001

A Rapture Index. How f-ing awesome is that?! I love stupid crap like this. Bring on Rev. 23!
posted by dopamine at 4:33 PM on September 21, 2001

Sample from the Mother Jones interview, in case you didn't read that portion of the link:

Todd: "Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw, Peter Jennings, Bernard Shaw--are all people of a liberal slant whom one would consider agnostic."
Interviewer: "Why do you think that is?"
Todd: "Well, I believe that they're put there by the devil himself. "
Interviewer: "You think Peter Jennings is actually doing the work of the devil?"
Todd: "Most definitely."

Hmmm...maybe he moonlights as a writer for the Weekly World News...(caution: 2 pop-unders...but worth the click!)...?
posted by davidmsc at 5:37 PM on September 21, 2001

More Nostrildumbass...where's Matt??
posted by rushmc at 6:08 PM on September 21, 2001

I'm a little confused.

Where exactly in Revelations does it say that Oil Prices, Inflation, and Interest Rates play a key role in the Rapture?
posted by mkn at 6:52 PM on September 21, 2001

"In 1987 I bought my first computer.... an Apple II clone made by the Franklin Computer Company.... In 1989 I purchased a 286 PC, and I had to switch all my Basic files over to DOS."

I'm pretty sure this falls under Rapture Category 13: Apostasy.
posted by Dean King at 7:01 PM on September 21, 2001

Where exactly in Revelations does it say that Oil Prices, Inflation, and Interest Rates play a key role in the Rapture?


Or "civil rights", for that matter.
posted by glenwood at 8:44 PM on September 21, 2001