This looks to be about as accurate as those “arrival/departure” listings at airports, but it’s better than nothing. Until I get my own set of finely-calibrated Swiss stigmata, I’ll just have to bookmark The Rapture Index, your handy-dandy guide to the approaching End of Days.
Today’s forecast is for continued instability, with an expected average Rapture Score of 158 with lows of 151 and highs of 159, which reminds me of the Hard Drug Report (was it Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie?); for the weekend flurries of cocaine are forecast, with highs where you think you’re superman and lows where you’re depressed and impotent.
Let’s go to the snapshot, shall we:
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.
Rapture Index of 85 and Below: Slow prophetic activityRapture Index of 85 to 110: Moderate prophetic activityRapture Index of 110 to 145: Heavy prophetic activityRapture Index above 145: Fasten your seat beltsI begin to like this guy. He may be a religious nutter, but he's the kind of religious nutter I'd like to have by my side at the end.
2003 High 177 2004 High 157 2005 High 161 2006 High 159
2003 Low 133 2004 Low 135 2005 Low 143 2006 Low 151Record High 182 Record Low 57
24 Sept 01 12 Dec 93COMMENTS ON ACTIVE CATEGORIES02 Occult The lack of activity has downgraded this category.03 Satanism: Satanism is reported to be flourishing in Russia04 Unemployment: The US job market shows signs of improvement.05 Inflation: Higher inflation has rattled the stock market.06 Interest Rates: Federal Reserve raises the core interest rate to 4.75%07 The Economy The economies of The U.S. and Japan show healthy growth.08 Oil Supply/Price The price of oil climbs to around $70 per barrel.09 Debt and Trade: The U.S. federal and trade deficits hit new highs.11 Leadership During the past few weeks, several end-time categories have become locked in a holding patern.
via both BoingBoing and Fark. Some of these are pretty spiffy. I’m relatively sure I used to have these in a booklet; probably a Girl Guide camping manual of some kind, cuz gawd knows I had all that shit. raincoaster was all about the Girl Guiding, until she got into horses.
Behold the last-ever catapult launch of an F-14. Weep if you must.
Atlantic Ocean (July 28, 2006) – Aboard USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), an F-14D Tomcat assigned to the “Tomcatters” of Fighter Squadron Three One (VF-31), aircraft number 112, completes the final catapult launch of an F-14 Tomcat fighter aircraft. The last launch marks the end of an era for Naval Aviation. The F-14 will officially retire in September 2006, after 32 years of service to the fleet. Theodore Roosevelt is completing Joint Task Force Exercises with USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communications Specialist 3rd Class Nathan Laird
Or so they claim. No Euripedes? No Ovid? The Guardian editors have much to answer for. For much the Guardian editors have to answer.
Whatever.
Here‘s the list, each one with a handy-dandy link to buying it on Amazon, even the ones that have been online at Gutenberg for years.
The case for the defence. Don’t like the list? Post your own suggestions for the 100 best books on the Observer blog.
1. Don Quixote Miguel De Cervantes
The story of the gentle knight and his servant Sancho Panza has entranced readers for centuries.
2. Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan
The one with the Slough of Despond and Vanity Fair.
3. Robinson Crusoe Daniel Defoe
The first English novel.
4. Gulliver’s Travels Jonathan Swift
A wonderful satire that still works for all ages, despite the savagery of Swift’s vision.
5. Tom Jones Henry Fielding
The adventures of a high-spirited orphan boy: an unbeatable plot and a lot of sex ending in a blissful marriage.
6. Clarissa Samuel Richardson
One of the longest novels in the English language, but unputdownable.
7. Tristram Shandy Laurence Sterne
One of the first bestsellers, dismissed by Dr Johnson as too fashionable for its own good.
8. Dangerous Liaisons Pierre Choderlos De Laclos
An epistolary novel and a handbook for seducers: foppish, French, and ferocious.
9. Emma Jane Austen
Near impossible choice between this and Pride and Prejudice. But Emma never fails to fascinate and annoy.
10. Frankenstein Mary Shelley
Inspired by spending too much time with Shelley and Byron.
Buy Frankenstein at Amazon.co.uk
…
Who did we miss?
So, are you congratulating yourself on having read everything on our list or screwing the newspaper up into a ball and aiming it at the nearest bin?
Are you wondering what happened to all those American writers from Bret Easton Ellis to Jeffrey Eugenides, from Jonathan Franzen to Cormac McCarthy?
Have women been short-changed? Should we have included Pat Barker, Elizabeth Bowen, A.S. Byatt, Penelope Fitzgerald, Doris Lessing and Iris Murdoch?
What’s happened to novels in translation such as Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, Hesse’s Siddhartha, Mishima’s The Sea of Fertility, Süskind’s Perfume and Zola’s Germinal?
Writers such as J.G. Ballard, Julian Barnes, Anthony Burgess, Bruce Chatwin, Robertson Davies, John Fowles, Nick Hornby, Russell Hoban, Somerset Maugham and V.S. Pritchett narrowly missed the final hundred. Were we wrong to lose them?
Let us know what you think. Post your own suggestions for the 100 best books on the Observer blog.
raincoaster 