May 21, 2011. The date of the Rapture.

I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

OK... since I'm still here... and I can't seem to reach my daughter, who believes in the message of the christ... then I have to assume she went with the rapture...

And I will be here for the next 1000 years... or portion there-of, to live in hell on earth...

Which today will include BBQ steak, kabobs & sausages...

I bet the lines at the stores will be shorter outside of town... not so much in this neck of the woods.

 

Re: I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

Be sure to write her out of your will. It wouldn't do to have your money go to a demon possessed simulacra.
:rapture:

 

I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

Ummm... everyone named in my will, will get what's coming to them in my will, Bra... because they either are kin that deserve it, or were friends that earned it.

Shoot... my cousin didn't get taken up... that means that a lot of folks around her are gonna be miserable...

Maybe it really did happen... and all 144000 of em that were already dead and buried are the chosen ones...

I did sorta feel the ground shake then...

 

It's 6:00PM in Kathmandu, Nepal, and later than that toward the east. Two thirds of China, all of Malaysia & Indonesia, and all of Australia are deep into twilight and night of their waning Saturday, safe and sound. And it's Sunday morning in an undisturbed New Zealand.

As 6:00PM speeds westward at more than 1000 MPH, as it begins to pass the points these Camping idiots inhabit I can assure you that the LAST thing minds like theirs will conclude is that they failed to make the grade and got rejected. That would require admitting they weren't fit, and while logically that would be the ONLY possible reason they find themselves still here, that's the one outcome they WON'T concede.

The first public statement out of Camping's mouth a few hours from now when Saturday has been erased off the globe by Sunday will be to assign blame elsewhere than himself. What he will NOT say is that obviously he and his followers were rejected by their idol.

 

This is an incredibly well-written, informative post, with a really great analogy. Thank you! :thumb:

 

Re: I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

I wasn't serious.

 

Must be why I do not get it.

The train is clear -- it takes time for end of the train to pass after the head of the train passes. The sun however does not subtend an arc in the sky 12 hours in length, let alone 24 hours.

Maybe airportkid is talking about the result of an arbitrary longitude separating today from tomorrow.

 

Man, I guess I am stuck here with you all...

 

Re: I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

But... the rapture is serious Bra...

Steaks are on the marinade...

 

I am glad your here because I am still here. MJ, is that you?

 

Yes. If you are going to cut the Universe up with petty labels, you need these arbitrary distinctions.

"I don't care if they have sunsets twenty-four hours a day, I'm not setting foot on that planet." -- Zoe Washburn, Firefly

 

Even without the Int'l Dateline or timezones a "day" still would exist on the surface of the earth for 48 hours. Midnight is what separates today from tomorrow, not the dateline. Wherever you are on the planet, "today" begins at midnight where you stand. For the next 24 hours, midnight races west of your position at more than 1000MPH bringing "today" to the rest of the planet. 24 hours later midnight reaches you again, having brought "today" to the entire earth's surface. "Today" ends for you and "tomorrow" begins. Midnight meanwhile continues speeding westward at more than 1000MPH changing "today" to "tomorrow", and it'll take it 24 hours to complete the job. When midnight reaches you again, turning "tomorrow" into "the day after tomorrow", it will have fully replaced "today" with "tomorrow" around the globe.

Greenwich & the Dateline serve only as a standard "place to stand", and a named day of the week is born on the Dateline. Saturday, May 21, 2011 began its existence at midnight on the dateline.

An hour later, it's Saturday, May 21 for only 1/24th of the planet.

By noon at the dateline it's Saturday, May 21 for half the planet. For the rest of the world it's still Friday.

At midnight it's finally Saturday, May 21 worldwide. But just for an infinitesimal instant of time. Sunday, May 22 is born and instantly begins wiping Saturday off the earth's surface.

By noon only half the world is still at Saturday while half is at Sunday.

At midnight Saturday has finally been completely erased, 48 hours after it was born.

 

are you saying i have to wait until monday to find out? i think camping is probably using a similar excuse.

 

Re: I knew I wasn't going with the date of the Rapture.

This has greater significance than you might think. First of all present world population is about 6.8 billion. If only 144K of even the living are picked that's a 1 in 47,222nd chance of getting picked. There are lotteries with better odds than that.

Even using Camping's 200 million, only 1 in 34 people would be the lucky ones. If Camping's got 3400 believers only 100 of them would make it.

But if the dead are included that changes the odds substantially.

Now, we assume this appies only to people born after 1 AD. All those poor bastards unlucky enough to have been born before christ are screwed. That's, in very round numbers, about 50 billion homo sapiens left to rot for eternity for the crime of being born too soon.

Since 1 AD, another 50 billion have come and (mostly) gone, 42.2 billion of them. Only 6.8 billion of that 50 are alive today.

200 million of 50 billion is one 250th, meaning only 1 in 250 people was ever good enough for the christian god. Kind of a picky jackass, that one. It would take considerable conceit to imagine oneself good enough to be among the selected.

Not that sanctimonious conceit is unheard of in religious circles.

How Many People Have Ever Lived on Earth? - Population Reference Bureau

 

Wow, a Facebook "friend" has just added me to a group called "People of Destiny Christian Fellowship" (without asking me first, of course!)

What to do? What to do? Should I repent immediately before it's too late?

 

You could also say it's *always* day for half the planet.

I'm curious to hear your explanation for the dark side of the moon. No, not the album.

 

I'm still scratching my head over this. When midnight hits me, it is one second past midnight at one second east of me. You say they have (24 hours - one second) until 'today' arrives for them, but why not say they are one second into today ?

This sounds like a paradox.

 

The "Recalculation" is just in. The date is off by 50 days.

 

Couldn't have checked the math yesterday, of course.

 

Earth still rotates only once in 24 hours. Is this a case of applying 'flatland' Euclidian thinking to a spherical, non-Euclidian problem? To use the mile-long train analogy, the front of the locomotive is coupled to the back of the caboose. In a 'now and Zen' kinda way, the end is the beginning.