What are the signs of the end of the world? Or even still, the end of time?

When you start to think about it you realize that the end of the world and the end of time are two different things in a sense. The end of time is more of a universal thing (the actual universe), whereas the end of the world is just that, our world. Religions, philosophers, shamans, prophets, and even "nut cases" (you know, those on the street corners with the signs as we so often think of t hem) all have their own ideas and times as when the world will end. And the thing is, they don't entirely all agree on how or when. But pretty much they all would agree that sometime, eventually, the world will end and probably the universe too.

So how will the world end? Will the end of the world come at the finger of a man controlling the nuke button? Will the end of the world come with a natural space-born disaster such as an asteroid? Perhaps the world will end when our sun expand? Maybe the world will end when a deity will return to earth? When it happens, it won't really matter -- that'll be it. But what does matter is how people prepare for it. And what's not too surprising is the preparations are the same no matter what you believe. Even if you believe that God will return, there's no reason not to prepare for an asteroid impact! It's perfectly likely that we'll have another one. We've had thousands in the past, and they haven't stopped yet.

It doesn't really take that much effort to prepare (as much as any human without government funds at least). Really, everyone should be doing this as it is anyway! And it's quite simple:

• Stock up on canned foods -- rotate the stock, but always keep at least 6 months supply on hand (with rationing at the least).
  
• Stock up on bottled water (or if you can find out how, bottle your own).
  
• Get battery-powered devices, "green" power (solar panels & small wind turbines), and power generators
  
• Keep a can opener and some "camping" cooking utensils by the food
  
• Keep an "emergency" food and first aid kit in every car (even if just simple camping stuff), AND at your workplace at your desk
  

Now the first time you buy the stuff, you're going to have a huge bill compared to normal. After all, you are buying enough canned goods for 6 months (assuming you eat only 1 canned item per day, that's 180 cans for one person; 300-360 for two [sharing cans], etc). And that's a LOT of cans! They'll take up the majority of anyone's pantry. It's probably best to also buy a commercial food cart to store the foods on. They come in different sizes, are designed for food storage, meet food service guidelines, many/most times are on wheels, and they're designed to hold 500-2000lbs. Why bottled water? They'll be a shortage, or just the tap will be undrinkable (not to mention high prices in stores).

Well the second the world's coming to an end (like an asteroid or some other problem) what do you think will happen? People will rush to the stores. And if you're lucky, really, really lucky the governments will put a lock on all prices before all the goods sell out. And they will. Pop, water and canned goods will be gone within minutes of an announcement. People will rush to the streets to get to the stores. Now if you stock up in advance, you'll be fine! No need to rush to the store, no need to even leave the house. All you'll need to do is make sure others don't know you have food (otherwise they'll probably break in to steal it, killing you and your family in the process). And don't let the religious people or any "good natured" people fool you. When the world comes to an end, people will revert to animalistic "kill or be killed" instincts. Your friend today will be enemy the second the world's end is near.

But it is very, very important to cycle the foods! Keep on shopping as normal. Buy foods to replenish those eaten, just put the new cans in the back -- remember oldest goods get eaten first (so push the goods forward, and stock the back). The same goes for water! Water can't be saved forever; it has an expiration date (for one reason or another). So treat it just like the other foods.

And even if the end doesn't hit in your lifetime (even though I'm betting something really "world ending" will happen by 2060), being stocked up on food is good for any "minor" disaster such as earthquake, flood, tornado, volcano, etc. And the thing is, you'll actually be eating the food, so it's not like you're wasting money (so much). Even if the government does the right thing when the end of the world's announced, by having food stores for people, do you really think they'll have enough for everyone in the country to eat for six months? Of course not! For one they figure many of the people will die. But no matter what, you'll be forced to eat whatever they give you without choice (any religion-based diets, vegetarians, etc would be pretty much, well, screwed). By stocking up now, you'll be prepared for the world's end when it happens.

But for the end of time, in a universal aspect, there's not much you could do. On the plus side, most likely no one will be around to see it. So end of time, end of the world, world's end, end of existence, extinction level event (ELE "ellie") -- whatever you want to call it, it's time to be prepared. I personally don't believe in using guns. You have a gun, neighbor has a gun, comes down to using guns the winner's the best shot or just the one who pulls the trigger first -- and really, when all life might be ending a person's survival instinct will cause them to charge a man (or woman) will a fully loaded shotgun if that person has what they need. Why? While you might shoot them (and they'd die), if they don't, they'd die; but if they charge and you miss, they live.

Now there's a lot more for the end of the world stuff that needs to be done. Much, much more. But for now I'll end it here. I have detailed plans for everything needed to survive during an end of the world event, or at the least survive longer than others, that everyone can do. And if implemented, could save the lives of almost everyone not at ground zero for the event. Of course, extinction level event method greatly influences this (i.e. planet-sized asteroid impacting = kiss butt goodbye [food or no food], small meteor striking the earth = potential for survival of almost everyone).