Several years ago I ran a marathon. I trained hard to be as prepared as possible, but there's a part of a marathon that's always hard to prepare for. A marathon is just a little over 26 miles, but experts tell you not to run over 20 miles in your training. That means the last six miles of a marathon are "no man's land." You don't know what you're getting yourself into. You may hit a wall. You may ...

...

Enter comedian Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report. The man has DNA, and someone thinks his DNA is the perfect "seed" for a new humanity. Really! In the fall of 2008, Colbert's DNA was digitized and sent to the International Space Station to be kept in a time capsule. The courier for the DNA was video game tycoon Richard Garriott, who spent ten days in space in October ...

On Sunday, October 28, Belgian felon Nordin Ben Allal escaped from prison for the fourth time.

The prisoner's most recent jailbreak is by far the most sensational to date. During an inmate recreation period, Ben Allal's accomplices hijacked a helicopter and forced the pilot to land on Ittre prison premises. Ben Allal first climbed aboard the helicopter, but so did several of his fellow inmates. Overburdened ...

Theologians use a phrase to talk about how Christ-followers are already redeemed but will not experience the fullness of redemption until they live with God in heaven. The phrase is, "The already and the not yet." How does that work exactly?

A little girl in England, Josie Caven, was born profoundly deaf. Growing up, she often felt isolated because of her inability to hear, but that changed after receiving ...

A New York Times article titled, “How to Get Out Alive: What the Science of Evacuation Reveals About How Humans Behave in the Worst of Times,” tells what researchers have learned about evacuation from disaster survivors.

In the case of the doomed Trade Towers, those who made it out waited for an average of six minutes before evacuating. Some lingered as long as half an hour. What did they do while ...

Some years ago my wife and I went to see Shakespeare's Hamlet. Near the end of the play there is a climactic fight scene—guys swordplay all over the stage. Well, that night, right in the middle of all that action, Hamlet suddenly shouted, "Stop! Stop!" All the actors stopped and looked puzzled. Then Hamlet stepped to the edge of the stage and said, "Someone's been hurt. Is there a doctor in ...

Fire is often used as a symbol of God's judgment in the Bible. And for good reason. The ancient world understood fire as a terrible destructive force. One of the greatest fires in the ancient world occurred in Rome in A.D. 64. The Roman historian Tacitus, who left us the best account of the fire, says it began at the east end of the Circus Maximus: "Amid the shops containing inflammable wares, the ...

When asked about the most disheartening thing that had happened to him, Marilyn Manson answered, "I think that the world's been ending since the day I was born, and it keeps beating toward that every day. One half of me wishes that it would get it over with; the other half of me has this optimism that I can contribute something worthwhile."

How the news media would announce the end of the world:

Sports Illustrated: "Game's Over!"

Ladies' Home Journal: "Lose 10 Pounds by Judgment Day with Our New Armageddon Diet!"

Inc. Magazine: "Ten Ways You Can Profit from the Apocalypse."

CNN: "World Ends; Women and Children Most Affected."

AOL: "System Temporarily Down. Try Calling Back in 15 Minutes."

For centuries there have been innumerable theories as to when and how the world might end. Here are some highlights gleaned from alleged prophecies:

In 960 Bernard of Thuringia, a German theologian, calculated 992 as the most likely year for the world's end. As the time approached, panic was widespread.

German astrologer Johann Stoffler predicted an overwhelming flood on February 20, 1524. Believers ...