A brilliant idea: why not take all the indicators of the end of the world -- crime rate, moral standards, apostasy, floods, earthquakes -- and combine them into one easy numerical index? Lo and behold, the folks at Rapture Ready have beaten me to it.

Taking a long trip? Afraid that the end of the world will spoil your vacation plans? No fear -- you can consult the Rapture Index every morning -- preferably right as your computer boots up. Should the rapture occur in mid-day, you won't waste the afternoon working.

On a more serious note: is there anything else which illustrates the madness of this short-attention span, information hungry, stock-market-ticker-tape age we live in?