So you wake up tomorrow morning to find almost everyone on Earth missing.
The Internet will continue to work for a few hours: what information could you download to ensure your survival and rebuild civilization? A few suggestions:
The CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics.
Third Word Development (18 GB of information on agriculture, livestock, food processing, construction, water, sanitation, health and much more).
The Global Village Construction Set (previously). Copies of
Gray's Anatomy,
Where There Is No Doctor, and
The Ship Captain’s Medical Guide.
A few more that might be handy even in ordinary times: all of
Wikipedia, or perhaps
just a portion. (Ideally, of course, you’d already have a
bound, printed copy),
Offline Google Mail (Chrome) to save correspondence;
SiteSucker to download sites you’d like to keep around while offline.
posted by Bora Horza Gobuchul
on Jan 5, 2012 -
89 comments
Fred Clark posts at a blog called "
Slacktivist", so he is often referred to by that name. But this left-wing Christian is far from a slacker. His blog is a powerful voice against the usual conservative Christian presence in America, and the best distillation of his strength is his series of posts analyzing the
Left Behind novels of Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. Fred savages these books for their "bad writing and bad theology" but it's not the usual Internet snark; Fred has a larger mission here than just pointing and laughing. He just finished dissecting book two,
Tribulation Force, so it's a great time to jump on if you already haven't. (He has promised that after a holiday break, he's going to do the
Tribulation Force movie, and then on to book three.)
[more inside]
posted by Legomancer
on Dec 20, 2011 -
183 comments
"
Harold Camping, 89-year-old leader of the ministry
Family Radio Worldwide,
has predicted that a five-month destruction of humanity will commence Saturday with a Rapture, in which believers will ascend to heaven. 'Whereas this five-month period will be an enormous horror story for those who have not been raptured, it will be a time of great joy and wonder for those who are raptured,' according to the Family Radio website. Camping
uses a mathematical formula linked to prophecies in the Bible. He once predicted Sept. 6, 1994 as Judgment Day, but that math didn't quite work out. This time around, Camping's organization took out an ad in Reader's Digest, stating: 'The Bible guarantees the end of the world will begin with Judgment Day May 21, 2011.'"
* [more inside]
posted by ericb
on May 19, 2011 -
437 comments
Christian Sex Retailing. Christian Sex Toy Retailing There's a new sexual revolution happening, and the people driving it are not exactly a bunch of free-love libertines. Many people probably think of evangelical Christians as being more preoccupied with denying the pleasures of the flesh. Christianity has always had a lot to say about sexuality. But attitudes are changing and new approaches to Christian sex are emerging. Dagmar Herzog was interviewed today on CBC's The Current (second segment, requires Flash Player), and, who says in
a recent interview with Salon:
For liberals, sex has become the problem that has no name; one simply does not hear liberals articulate a defense of sexual rights. Instead, what we have witnessed is a coalescing of conservative evangelical and mainstream secular perspectives on sex. The conversation on sex in America -- when sex is discussed in a serious and earnest way at all -- tends largely to adopt the parameters set by the Religious Right.
Herzog's new book. A collection of print interviews with Herzog can be found
here.
[more inside]
posted by KokuRyu
on Aug 1, 2008 -
44 comments
We all know The Rapture is coming soon (although "no one knows the day or hour"), and many of us will want to send out appropriate taunting messages from our heavenly perch to our loser buddies that didn't get chosen. At last, a service provider has arisen to serve this need. At
You've Been Left Behind, you can store up to 250 MB of documents to be sent to up to 62 separate emails addresses in the event of the Rapture. Rapture is determined to have occurred when 3 of the 5 team members fail to log in to the site over a 3 day period.
posted by jonson
on Jun 3, 2008 -
146 comments
ON JUNE 6 2006 (6606) IF THE FIRST OF TWO RAPTURES HAS NOT HAPPENED AND ANTICHRIST HAS NOT DECLARED HIMSELF ON WORLD SIMULCAST TELEVISION, THEN I (PASTOR HARRY) WILL REVEAL THE TRUE NAME AND IDENTITY OF THE ANTICHRIST AT 11:05 PM EST ON THIS SITE AND ON DOOMSDAY TALK RADIO, OUR INTERNET RADIO BROADCAST.
posted by three blind mice
on Jun 6, 2006 -
148 comments
Interpreting Revelation's "Millenium." Outside of the all-too-virulent
rapture-crazy pre-tribulational dispensationalist premillenialism permeating JesusLand, some Christians hold to other, more nuanced eschatological alternatives. You've got
historic post-tribulational premillenialism, which places the transformation of the faithful at the final judgment rather than before it;
amillenialism, which regards Christ's "millenial" reign as a symbolic spiritual reign culminating in the last judgment; and
postmillenialism, which sees the millenium as a gradual progression towards goodness and light. Overlapping those, you have the "it's all been fulfilled"
preterists, and their prophecy-party-pooping compatriots, the
hyper-preterists. It's a debate just slightly more fun than
the end of the universe. Meanwhile, the
noncanonical apocalypses sit in a corner, sadly ignored, and
sunny Megiddo is still waiting for some end times
action.
posted by brownpau
on Feb 1, 2006 -
76 comments
Indeed, all over the world, millions of born-again Christians have vanished into the mystical ether--leaving behind their clothing, their eyeglasses, even their dentures--along with every child under the age of twelve. Airplanes are crashing, automobiles are veering driverless and out of control, and fetuses are disappearing from their mothers' wombs, as the born-again and the unborn alike are abruptly "raptured" to heaven.
Harper's Magazine reviewer Gene Lyons discusses apocalyptic entertainment.
posted by iamck
on Mar 11, 2005 -
48 comments
Republican environmental politics as usual? While the president's policies seem to be standard for his party, Bill Moyers thinks there's more than meets the eye. On receiving Harvard medical school's Global Environment Citizen Award, Moyers posits that destruction of the environment isn't just good for big business, it's a self fulfilling prophecy of the apocalypse. Not just any old apocalypse, it's
The Rapture, complete with plagues for the non-believers and immmediate ascension to the right hand of God Himself for the righteous.
Two days after Moyer's speech, Science magazine looks at
the scientific consensus on global warming. If you're having a hard time explaining all this to your kids, don't worry, your
tax dollars are hard at work.
posted by jimray
on Dec 8, 2004 -
51 comments
RaptureLetters sends an email to your unsaved friends, after
the Rapture, explaining where your good soul has disappeared to. I suppose this means that they only employ
sinners, in order to ensure that someone remains behind to operate the site...
posted by adamms222
on Dec 5, 2002 -
29 comments
The Rapture Index This rather bizarre site is the Dow Jones of the end of the world. From the site, "You could say the Rapture index is a Dow Jones Industrial Average of end time activity, but I think it would be better if you viewed it as prophetic speedometer. The higher the number, the faster we're moving towards the occurrence of pre-tribulation rapture. "
Whacked...
posted by Coop
on Sep 20, 2002 -
23 comments
A Refreshing Change of Pace for everyone with an opinion about Isreal/Palestine. The Middle East Conflict - Has it Been Engineered by Extremist Rightwing Christians and Zionists Hoping to "Force" the "Rapture"? Sounds crazy, looks crazy...but the suggestions are not made on the basis of paranoia alone, unfortunately. The fact that the Americans involved are very religious (and Isreal being the location of a few scheduled divine appearances) is an obviously important but consistantly avoided side of this pile of conflict. So how crazy is this article? Isn't it just a bit naïve to think this is just a big property argument with some jewish/muslim tension thrown in? Hey, as long as we can't decide whether Arafat or Sharon is worse than the other, we may as well discuss something else in the meantime...or discuss something
totally unrelated in this thread, for a
refreshing change of pace.
(From the reputable, extensive and fascinating news website, unknownnews.net)
posted by Settle
on Apr 4, 2002 -
52 comments
Noah's Ark is being rebuilt, but I don't think
it will float. I can't help but think that it would make a wicked skateboard halfpipe. The project broke ground in 1976, but seems to be moving slowly. More info
here and
here. Any Maryland MeFi'ers know the current status of this thing? more inside:
posted by machaus
on Mar 5, 2002 -
26 comments
The Rapture Ready index is 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
on Sep 21, 2001 -
12 comments
What do you get when you mix a
zealous Christian, 12
blow-up dolls, and a
toga party? It's just too strange, but it might have been
the rapture for one woman...
posted by atfrost
on Aug 28, 2001 -
7 comments
The Rapture Index "by no means is meant to predict the rapture, however, the index is meant to measure the type of activity that could act as a precursor to the rapture." It tracks such data as unemployment, inflation, false Christs and, of course, plagues.
posted by philip
on Apr 10, 2000 -
0 comments
