Doomsday predictions are usually doomed to failure

Dec. 21, 2012.  It will be the end of the world as we know it!
Yeah, right. We should be so lucky.
Doomsday prophets have prospered throughout the ages by feeding off end-of-the-world phobias. One of the more recent nutcases forewarning global cataclysm was Harold Camping who predicted that the world would end on May 21, 2011.
Camping’s vision of destruction was however mathematically sound. 2011 is a prime number and is itself the sum of 11 consecutive prime numbers (with 11 likewise being prime). What better prime time for a prime disaster?
So his chant rang out. “The world is ending! The world is ending!  Give me all your money!”
And people did. But when the “final day” came and went without incident, Camping announced that the date had changed to Oct. 21, 2011.
“The world is ending! The world is ending! Give me all your money!”
And again, people did. Yeah, it’s easy to laugh at him, but that clown accumulated $75 million from his circus followers. Not bad for a small doomsday cult.
I’ve never understood the logic behind the money part.
With Judgment Day right around the corner, I suppose some people hope that they can buy themselves a few million years reprieve from Purgatory?

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