Tag of the Beast

666: Many scholars think it was a coded way of referring to the Emperor Nero; Martin Luther thought it might refer to a Pope named Benedict. Iron Maiden is somehow mixed up in all this.

Evidence suggests the infamous "Number of the Beast" might not be 666 at all, but 616--it all depends on the Language--Greek or Latin--upon which you work your gematria, a "system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase, in the belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other, or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to a person's age, the calendar year, or the like." Clear?

According to a recent poll, almost a quarter of self-identified Republicans think Obama is the Antichrist! Or not. We're not the only ones who think this is a dubious statistic. Hell, by some accounts, even the Hutaree didn't even consider the end times to be at hand; they just wanted to Be Prepared, as it were.

Anyway, this photo is from the wall of Barcelona's Sagrada Familia church. Maybe the Antichrist is just some dumb stoner with a can of spray paint.

Yeah, I Know It's a Drag... But Wastin' Pigs Is Still Radical

You may have heard that a self-proclaimed Christian militia was raided over the weekend and nine arrested. According to the indictement, the group intended to kill a policeman and then attack (and kill) others at the funeral.

Apocalyptic thinking at its finest: "Preparing for the end time battles to keep the testimony of Jesus Christ alive."

Amazingly, the militia's website is still active. Now, you might not expect a group such as this to have a sense of humor, but you'd be wrong. Check out the "Beast Watch" section (itself inadvertently funny), which includes "The beast's number (humor)":

Examples:

670 - Approximate number of the Beast
DCLXVI - Roman numeral of the Beast
1-900-666-0666 - Live Beasts! Call Now! Only $6.66/minute. (Must be over 18)
$665.95 - Retail price of the Beast
666 F - Oven temperature for roast Beast
666k - Retirement plan of the Beast
666 mg - Recommended Daily Allowance of Beast
666i - BMW of the Beast
668 - Next-door neighbor of the Beast

I actually found this funny and damn curious among all the serious allegations of "the mark of the beast" etc. Which leads me to ask. Can a militia who strikes my funny bone really be out to do so many dastardly deeds? Not that one has anything to do with the other....

I'm gonna hafta read that site in more detail -- while it lasts. As much as I'd like to point my finger and say a-ha! I told you so, and as much as the videos and photos of these guys supports the feds' claim, my immediate reaction was one of caution. Let's see what facts unfold. It's a given this will be seen by many as a setup and/or psy-op, but who knows? Maybe the paranoids are right.

Epistomology is such a wonderful minefield these days!

Watch your back

I don't know why, but recent posts got me to thinking about where I used to live in Ithaca, NY. Maybe it's the significant geographical loci, the low-grade onomamania, the apocalypticism. I dunno.

But something made me remember that in Ithaca there is a Sodom Road! Now, I get the idea of naming things after Biblical places, but Sodom? Not the most propitious name. I mean, buggery aside, the place was destroyed, no?

Leads me to wonder, why? Wtf?

Fortunately, some kind soul has photographed the street sign and released it to the public domain. Hence the proof you may require, above....

Some explanation:

"In its earliest years during frontier days, what is now Ithaca was briefly known by the names "The Flats" and "Sodom," the name of the Biblical city of sin, due to its reputation as a town of "notorious immorality", a place of horse racing, gambling, profanity, Sabbath breaking, and readily available liquor. These names did not last long; Simeon DeWitt renamed the town Ithaca in the early 1800s, though nearby Robert H. Treman State Park still contains Lucifer Falls.

That early reputation for immorality, together with its more recent reputation as having a left-leaning population, has once again made Ithaca mildly infamous in some circles as the "City of Evil," due to a satirical campaign by members of a politically conservative online discussion board....According to religious conservatives, this idea is further buoyed by Cornell University's early nickname, "the godless university" which came about due to their lack of affiliation with any organized religion."

An evil place? Hardly. Cold as Hell, though....

P.S. There are others.

"God is stronger than the NWO"

Just happened upon this article today, about the Georgia Guidestones. In light of recent posts on sacred stones, the apocalypse and even the cultural/political conflicts of our times, it is especially relevant to our discussion. Sample quote:

"The four vertical slabs that dominate the Guidestones are inscribed back and front with Christian's 10 principles, each side in a different modern language. The capstone is inscribed in the alphabets of early human civilizations -- Egyptian hieroglyphics, Babylonian cuneiform, Sanskrit and classical Greek.

The center column has a slot through which the transit of the sun throughout the seasons can be observed, while a hole higher up focuses on Polaris, the north star. Another hole in the capstone focuses a beam of sunlight onto the central pillar at noon. Those features would allow the survivors of Christian's feared apocalypse to reproduce three of the basic tools of civilization: the calendar, clock and compass."

Can't believe this is the first we've heard of it! Actually, though, this article from Wired is much more intriguing. A mysterious stranger obsessed with secrecy turns up and says he and his group had wanted to do this for 20 years; a local minister predicts it will become a magnet for occult groups--and is right; the sandblaster who made the inscriptions reported hearing "strange music and disjointed voices"; Freemasons are intimately involved etc. etc.

Fun stuff....

Tea Baggers Gone Wild

Moore's supervillan Adrian Veidt watched one hundred TVs simultaneously to glean trends. Me? I read metafilter, a microblogging collective from which narratives arise occasionally from the chatter.

Today, for example, I learned today that the Tea Baggers, gathered to protest health care legislation, went wild today, spitting on Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-Mo.), shouting ni**ger at Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) and "faggot" at Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), and holding a sign that read "If [Sen.] Brown Can't Stop It, A Browning [pistol] Can".



I also learned via metafilter that Idaho, South Carolina, and Georgia are making moves towards forcing the feds to take back the gold standard.

Finally, today, I learned that we're on the teetering on the edge: an information revolution may tip us toward an empathic society--if we don't kill ourselves off first.

Put this chatter together with the recent LoS conversations regarding apocalypse 2012, together with rumors that Robert Erickson totally punked those Tea Baggers into chanting "Columbus Go Home!" (see his previously madness), together with my five-year-old son announcing that god is not real (he's "legendary") ... and all I see is revolution in the air.