What phenomena were projected to be apocalyptic, but fell well short of catastrophic status?

[bluestateguy]

In other words what phenomena that you remember was projected to be a catastrophic disaster by the corporate media, but instead either proved to be nothing at all, or a manageable inconvenience in the grand scheme of things?

Let's make a list. I'll start:

*The Y2K computer glitch

*H1N1 flu

[slackmaster]

1. Earth passing through the tail of Halley's Comet in 1910

That was a close one.

[Duer 157099]

2. Electing Obama

Not saying it's what *I* thought (I didn't).

[customerserviceguy]

13. The opposite party of whoever is elected President

seems to find that election apocalyptic. Yet, we continue to survive, and even manage to elect someone from the opposite party every one, two, or three elections down the road.

[Warpy]

3. The end of the world, many times over

The first one I went through was when Sweet Daddy Grace died in 1960. There have been several afterward, each cult denying the prediction had ever been made once it failed to occur. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_House_of_Prayer_For_All_People

[TygrBright]

4. Armageddon, again and again. And armageddon sick of it. n/t

[flvegan]

5. 2004 ALCS Yankees v Red Sox

Prophecy DE-NIED! Suck it, Yankees.

:rofl:

[mike_c]

6. why too, 'kay?

The ex and I spent New Year's Eve 1999 on the beach in Baja waiting for the world to end. Unfortunately, it was still there when we drove out a couple of weeks later....

[WhiteTara]

7. The Cassini Spacecraft

passing the earth on its way to Saturn.

[Posteritatis]

32. I loved that one

People in my hometown howling about it tainting the pristine environment of space with deadly radiation.

[stevedeshazer]

33. I remember that.

Good one.

[Bonobo]

8. bird flu, swine flu, etc.

[stevedeshazer]

9. Well, here's one I kinda doubt...but mark your calendar for May 27, 2012. Just in case.

http://the-end.com/2008GodsFinalWitness/?gclid=CMacxY2F0aMCFQImbAodJ0afDA

<snip>

The year 2008 marked the last of God�s warnings to mankind and the beginning in a countdown of the final three and one-half years of man�s self-rule that will end by May 27, 2012.

On December 14, 2008, the First Trumpet of the Seventh Seal of the Book of Revelation sounded, which announced the beginning collapse of the economy of the United States and great destruction that will follow. The next three trumpets will result in the total collapse of the United States, and once the Fifth Trumpet sounds the world will be thrust into WW III.

The Seven Trumpets of the Seventh Seal, as well as the Seven Thunders of the Book of Revelation (which the apostle John saw but was restricted from recording) are revealed in this book.

Many of the prophecies of the Seven Thunders are being fulfilled and will continue to increase in strength and frequency throughout this final three and one-half years of man's self-rule on earth.

The prophecies revealed in this book explain the demise of the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Great Britain, and much of western Europe, which will be followed by man's final world war. This last war will be the result of clashing religions and the governments they sway. Billions will die! The destruction of this time will far exceed the very worst times of all human history.

-----

All that Revelations stuff sure gets people stirred up, for Pete's sake.

[Terra Alta]

29. Also mark your calendars for May 21, 2011.

which, according to some goofball named Harold Camping, will be the date of the rapture. The actual end of the world, however, won't come until five months later on October 21.

[pitohui]

10. global thermonuclear war

that hiding in some neighbor's basement in october 1962 sure looks silly going close to 50 years later...

oh, and a black family moving into our suburban neighborhood, as my mother said, "high time we got it over with and they figured out the world isn't going to end"

[customerserviceguy]

11. I know I'm gonna get grief for this

but forty years ago, the population bomb was supposed to make all humanity absolutely miserable by 1990, or at least 2000. I'm not saying that overpopulation is not exacerbating things like the Pakistani floods, but according to the "new" social scientists of the dawning of the Earth Day era, things were supposed to be completely FUBAR for everybody on the planet long before now.

[pitohui]

12. oh well if you're gonna mention THAT don't forget peak oil

"the population bomb" was the name of a best seller, and "peak oil" wasn't even a best seller...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

14. Deepwater Horizon.

[TheKentuckian]

15. How would anyone know? It's worse than the happy horseshit being sold for sure

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. Riiiiight.

And Y2K will still prove to kill us all.

[TheKentuckian]

23. Never thought it would for a second. The events are not even comparable and you know it

See there really was a giant ass spill of toxic substances that really actually was bad for wildlife it wasn't a speculative scare but an actual event.

If you want to compare this event to worrying about a clock going from 99 to 00 then you are a sick puppy.

THIS HAS HAPPENED!

It has happened and there is no way to be sure of the long term effects no matter what bullshit the Ministry of Truth and the assholes that did the damage want to pitch us.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

24. Well, they both happened, silly.

And neither caused the apocalypse, like so many were hoping for.

[TheKentuckian]

28. are you intentionally obtuse and evasive of the facts or just limited?

And why do you think you know the extent of the damage or how long the ill effects will be with us?

Also, what makes you think anyone WANTS a disaster? What is the benefit?

[stranger81]

30. If you believe all the cheerleading you're being fed, I've got some waterfront property in AZ

that might interest you.

[Barack2theFuture]

17. The DU fundraiser

[depakid]

18. H1N1 influenza is still out there waiting, mutating and virally reassorting

Tick tock.

[AnnieBW]

19. Red Sox winning the Pennant

n/t

[Terra Alta]

20. May 5, 2000

Six planets and the moon were in alignment that night, and it was supposed to cause earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, etc.

The night passed without incident, although I will remember it most as the day I started my very first job.

[SharonAnn]

21. Y2K was only a "non-event" becasue of the tremendous amount of work that

was done to prevent it from being a catastrophe.

It may have been over-hyped ("airplanes falling from the skies") but it was serious and wide-spread. It would've had serious economic impact if it had been unaddressed.

Because we successfully dealt with it, doesn't mean it wasn't a serious threat.

It's kind of like the successful apprehension of the terrorist in Port Angeles, WAS just before New Year, 2000. The Millenium Bomber was captured. That didn't make the danger any less real before he was captured.

[slackmaster]

26. I was the Official Y2K Coordinator for my employer at the time

I produced a 100+ page report that concluded that we didn't have to do anything special to prepare for it.

[awoke_in_2003]

36. lots of old time COBOL programmers...

made some decent coin during the run up, that is for sure.

[Hannah Bell]

22. The rice shortage (for anyone but the global poor, that is).

[Morning Dew]

25. The Alien spacecraft that was traveling behind Hale-Bopp

was kind of a bust.

[Touchdown]

27. Apple taking over computers and destroying open source plager...err...innovation.

;)

[NBachers]

31. Heaven's Gate

[MilesColtrane]

34. World War III - between the USSR and the USA

It wasn't for lack of trying by Reagan though. The meme of a final battle has been around at least as long as the Book of Revelation.

Global contagion - a la 'Outbreak' More likely than nuclear Armageddon is now, thankfully.

Extinction level asteroid hit - Statistical certainty barring the technology and will to avert it.

Genocide of the human race by malevolent, intelligent machines - I give this one a 50/50 chance.

[Prometheus Bound]

35. Mad Cow - I think half of the UK was supposed to be dead by 2007.

[awoke_in_2003]

37. The release...

of Sarah Palin's latest book :hide:

[ProgressiveEconomist]

38. Overpopulation, killer bees, crack babies

[eridani]

39. That when you keep on driving past the sign that says "Bridge Out 1 Mile"

--you are going to drive over the bank into the water. On the other hand, you could pay attention to the sign and stop, which just goes to show that there wasn't any danger at all. You didn't fall in, right?

[melm00se]

40. Planetary conjunctions

planets will all align and the earth will be torn apart

[MilesColtrane]

42. Ah yes, the Jupiter Effect.

I'm old enough to remember that book.

[TexasProgresive]

41. About Y2K

While this story was being hyped to the moon by the useless media seeking ratings and not truth an army of mostly elderly programmers rewrote mountains of code staving off possible disaster. A co-workers mom was called out of retirement to use her expertise in COBAL and FORTRAN. My own mom would've also but she is no longer with us.

This is the real story about Y2K and those programmers are the real heroes but, hey, who cares when there's Natalee, Brittany and Lindsey to fill the airwaves.

As far as H1N1 I don't know if this was over hyped. Living most of my life looking down the barrel of hurricane alley (anywhere on the Gulf coast) people get all in a twist because of warnings that don't pan out. All it takes is for them to live through one Carla, Camille or Katrina to run like Hell when they see the strange semi-circular clouds from the south. If it doesn't wipe out your property good- if it does, well, you have your life and that is good.

I think people like to get all wound up about these things kinda like riding a roller coaster. The thing is you need to be aware and take precaution but not buy up all the toilet paper and bottled water in the supermarket.

Stupid is as stupid does.

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

43. Killer Bees

[MilesColtrane]

44. How about the Large Hadron Collider Fear?

I saw more than a couple of stories in the media about the LHC possibly generating a black hole or strange matter that would eat the entire Earth.

Of course since they've only run it at half power, I guess this one could still happen.

LHC Webcam

http://www.cyriak.co.uk/lhc/lhc-webcams.html

[Romulox]

45. The whole bankster bailout/executive bonus thing was another "TERRA TERRA TERRA!" style swindle. nt

[Buns_of_Fire]

46. The breakup of the Beatles. nt