But seriously, folks …

Asteroid 2005 YU55, the latest death from the sky.
(image by NASA/Cornell/Arecibo (cropped by user)
(Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Comet Elenin broke up before it reached us—though it was never coming all that close to begin with. Nibiru exists only in the fevered imaginations of true believers and conspiracy theorists. And as it turns out, there aren't nearly as many asteroids out there menacing us as we thought. Does that mean we've run out of death-from-the-sky stories?

Thankfully, no! 

By Linda Felaco

Speaking of conspiracy theories …

V838 Mon, the star that's touted as photographic evidence of Nibiru.
(image by NASA, ESA and H.E. Bond (STScI)

NASA has driven the final nail in the coffin of Comet Elenin—or has it … ?

By Linda Felaco

Which doom is it? I'm so confused.

Warning: ROSAT might kill those of you who are still here after the rapture.
(image courtesy of NASA)

Doomsday predictions seem to be sprouting like mushrooms after a heavy rain lately. 

By Linda Felaco

First the faithful were supposed to all be raptured up to heaven on May 21—a date that on May 22 was hastily revised to October 21. Then there was that asteroid that was supposed to hit us in June. In September, NASA's UARS satellite, while not ending the world, was potentially going to give at least some unlucky inhabitants a very bad day—until it safely splashed into the Pacific. Then Comet Elenin was supposed to destroy Earth this past Sunday—until it disintegrated en route. No sooner was that catastrophe averted when we learned that the German ROSAT satellite is now headed our way. Sunday Sunday Sunday! Unless, of course, the rapture comes on Friday. In which case you're safe from ROSAT, unless, like me, you're not getting raptured. 

The End of the World as We Know It – not

Safe for now

Editor's Note: one of the several ways the Planet Earth was supposed to be destroyed this month is no longer a threat. The Comet Elenin, a.k.a. Planet X plus a lot of other things, was a red-hot item among the aluminum foil hat crowd. They speculated that Comet Elenin was going to smash into Earth and case mass extinctions, if not total annihilation. But according to the comet's discoverer, that's not going to happen. Comet Elenin was scheduled to make its closest approach to Earth next Sunday, October 16.

Larry LeBlanc's Land: an end game?

At 7 PM tonight, the Town Council is holding a special meeting – and maybe a vote – to acquire Larry LeBlanc’s land on King’s

Factory Road

overlooking Route One.

Since acquiring the nearly 100 acres of undeveloped land from Narragansett Electric in 2003 for $1.1 million, LeBlanc has proposed various things that have made vocal elements in town go berserk, such as:

• A very large affordable housing development
• Selling the land to the Narragansett Tribe to add to nearby land where the tribe has wanted to build affordable housing
• Or maybe a casino,
• And if the town doesn’t like that, buy the land for $5.5 million (reduced to $4.5 million) and then more recently
• Two industrial sized wind turbines
• Or maybe a smaller affordable housing development and
• You don’t even want to think about what else he might have in mind.
• Or the town can buy the land (Larry’s first offer: $3 million)

Reset the Doomsday Clock

Just because you’re still here doesn’t mean that Harold Camping’s Doomsday prophecy was wrong. Even though the 6 o’clock hour last Saturday passed without 200 million people getting “Raptured” away and without the giggunda-sized earthquake he predicted, Camping is sticking to his story.

According to his broadcast over his Family Radio Network Monday night (May 23^rd), his prediction for May 21^st came true. Except it was an “invisible judgment day.” According to Camping, this invisible event has now triggered the five-month clock counting down to October 21^st when “the world is going to be destroyed all together, but it will be very quick,” said Camping.

Meanwhile, anyone who donated all their stuff to the Charlestown Democrats’ “Not the End of the World Tag Sale” is welcome to buy it back this coming Saturday from 8 AM to 4 PM. Look for it at Old Post Road between Genwood Drive and the Ocean Aire Motel.

Short Takes

URI Bay Campus

 BRING ON THE NUKES! Now that wind power in Charlestown is effectively dead, maybe it's time to revive an idea that died in 1978 - our own nuclear power plant. That was one of the uses considered for the Charlestown Naval Air Station (now Ninigret Park and the Ninigret National Wildlife Refuge). That nuke plant was Donna Walsh's first experience as a political activist. In Thursday's GoLocalProv, there's a piece asking whether RI's only operating nuclear power plant, the two-megawatt nuclear reactor on URI's Bay Campus in Narragansett is safe. Generally, the article concludes "there's no cause for alarm" but I noticed they didn't say anything about shadow flicker in the story.

NIMBYS LOSE IN WESTERLY. In an earlier post, I confessed to working for almost 20 years to help NIMBY groups block toxic dumps, coal mines, liquid pig manure lagoons, etc. but that I was disgusted to see the same tactics used to block good things. I'm happy to report that the Wilcox East Neighborhood Association lost its bid to kill the WARM Center's planned affordable housing for the disabled and new eating facilities for the homeless. Even though the Wilcox East folks used the line, "we're not against affordable housing, BUT...." they have been trying to drive WARM out of the community. They have actually proposed that a better place for WARM would be the town dump. Well, they had their asses handed to them last Monday when the Westerly Town Council voted unanimously to approve a compromise plan.