Doom-o-meter: 23 September 2009.

It seems almost laughable to check the gauge on the Doom-o-meter these days, since I've been praying to be eaten first for a long time now, but I've seen a few interesting things lately, and I'd say that we're really only at level "Slightly Unsettling, But Not Too Alarming" -- despite my protestations.

Let's start with a little sunshine amongst the usual grey detritus. Kate Harding recently presented a beautiful dissection of celebrity-death apophenia in her Jezebel piece criticizing the "Summer of Celebrity Death." We can be assured that common knowledge is often wrong, of course -- though I am still somewhat relieved to be non-famous at this time...just in case.

In the other news, devout Christians can now make sure their pets are taken care of after "the rapture" by atheists -- who at least love animals, even if they are godless heathens, and whatnot.

And finally, a red panda escaped from a zoo in the UK, proving that the pandas are in fact coming -- though not the kind that can hide in an Oreo cookie factory, sadly.

See, we're practically safe as houses these days. Except for all the doom, of course.