Two dates to note:
In 1774, a vicar in a small
village called Boazum published a "little book of doom" which caused a
sensation throughout the Netherlands. The vicar, Eelco Alta, claimed
that an alignment of the visible planets early in the morning of May 8
presaged the "demolition" of the solar system.
In 1998, the
movie "Deep Impact" was released, preceding another large-budget film
about an asteroid strike on earth - "Armageddon" - by just seven weeks.
