Time to stock up on canned goods and ammo. Again.

The end of the world, maybe
There may be a slightly greater chance than usual that the world will end on Tuesday. That, at least, is the conclusion of the eminent Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, who raised the apocalyptic alarm in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed essay. In this doomsday scenario, Iran and its belligerent president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, loom large. According to Lewis, Tuesday, Aug. 22, corresponds on the Islamic calendar this year to the night in which Muslims “commemorate the night flight of the prophet Muhammad on the winged horse Buraq,” to Jerusalem and then to heaven and back. Coincidentally, or not, Aug. 22 is also the date that the Iranians have promised to deliver their final answer on whether they’ll accept a generous offer by the European Union and others to suspend their nuclear program. Might that answer come in the shape of a mushroom cloud somewhere? Lewis thinks so. “This might well be deemed an appropriate date for the apocalyptic ending of Israel and if necessary of the world. It is far from certain that Mr. Ahmadinejad plans any such cataclysmic events precisely for Aug. 22. But it would be wise to bear the possibility in mind.”