It appears we dodged another bullet yesterday when the world did not end or even veer significantly off course.
June 6, 2006 — a k a 6/6/6, the so-called Day of the Devil — failed to live up to the beastly expectations some had lumped upon it.
There was no earth-shattering news.
No one got to take today off — on account of there being nothing to report back to.
About the only predicted event that happened right on schedule was the release of "The Omen," a movie about the devil's child, named Damien, that is a remake of the 1976 movie of the same name. "The Omen" was officially unleashed on a suspecting public yesterday at 00:06:06 in the morning. Never accuse Hollywood of failing to seize the moment.
But other than that, the sixth day of the sixth month of the sixth year was rather ordinary. Just the usual wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes and pestilence.
Although there were some people who did manage to reap a profit out of all the concern that either the apocalypse would arrive or at the very least some apocalyptic-type events.
The people who run the online gambling service, BetUS.com, for instance, didn't have to pay off on any of their End of the World bets.
Proving yet again that humans will wager on anything, even the Chicago Cubs, the Web site started posting odds on "Whether or Not the Apocalypse Will Happen on 666" several weeks ago.
More than 700 people put their money on chaos and calamity. According to The New York Times, they laid down an average bet of $2 that the world would end.
By the time the betting windows closed Monday night, on the eve of possible destruction, the odds that it would were 100,000-to-1.
That meant that a $2 wager, if correct, would result in a $200,000 payday — providing, of course, there was a way to collect it.
It makes you wonder: did these people want to win or not?
Although spokesman Mike Forman of BetUS.com reassured the Times, "Come rain, sleet, snow or apocalypse, our clients will receive their winnings."
Maybe that's a sign that the apocalypse is upon us.
Another sign might be all the attendant commotion over 666. It hasn't always been like this. The fixation is rather recent. It doesn't take much of a backward glance to see that.
I pulled up the June 6-7, 1966, editions of the Deseret News to see how many stories were written about the Day of the Beast 40 years ago.
There were exactly none.
The headlines were about war brewing in Vietnam ("Viet Crisis Boiling to Climax") and the arrival of the circus ("Shrine Circus Comes to Town").
There was just one small item about the 6/6/66 date. It occurred in a city column by Steve Hale, who wrote:
"David E. Johnson and his wife Kay Ella, natives of Riverton and West Jordan, returned from their home in California to celebrate an occasion that would delight a numerologist. Monday was their sixth anniversary — the 6th day of the 6th month of 1966. Both are 26."
Nothing at all about the devil, the possibility of the world ending, or the chance to bet on it.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.