today it's 06/06/06!!! seriously. i hope you are not suffering from hexakosioihexekontahexafobia? (no i'm not making this up)

"Let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred and sixty-six," says Revelation, the last and obscurest book of the bible.

Vlad the antichrist

Meanwhile, Vexen Crabtree, the Minister of the London Church of Satan, plans to go to one of the alternative clubs that are celebrating 06/06/06. "My official take on it is that 666 is really only a Christian number," he explains. "But any excuse for a party is a good one." Crabtree dissociates the Church of Satan from the Temple of Set and the First Church of Satan, saying it is the only Satanist group that is "sane and worthwhile".

He says any Satanists who actually worship the Devil, rather than revering "Satan" as an abstract value, are "immature, unstable and nothing to do with us". It is perhaps reassuring for people of other religions to see that Satanists have the same controversies as everyone else.

At the other extreme, some Christians have foretold dire events. Tom Chase, a New Age Christian writer from the US, has used astrology and the Bible to calculate that the antichrist will emerge, followed by an asteroid collision and within a year or two the battle of Armageddon. The antichrist, according to Chase, is Vladimir Putin.

The majority of scholars interpret the number of the beast as a reference to the Roman emperor at the time Revelation was written - either Nero or Diocletian. They both put large numbers of Christians to death. And using the Jewish system of Gematria, where each letter is given a number, either name can be made to add up to 666 - or 616 as some early versions of the Bible had it.

That has never stopped Bible readers applying it to their own times and enemies though. The Pope has been the most common choice throughout history - even among Catholics. Napoleon, Martin Luther, Hitler and Bill Gates have also had their moment in the numerological spotlight.

The book "Is George Bush The Antichrist?" was published in 2004 in the US. The answer was yes, showing all kinds of ways of doing the maths to get the president to equal 666. Ronald Wilson Reagan was also a popular contender for a while - just count the letters. He even retired to 666 St Cloud Road, Bel Air - although he took the precaution of changing the number to 668 first.

Equally afraid of the number of the beast - hexakosioihexekontahexaphobic, if you will - some expectant mothers have been asking to have their birth induced to avoid the ill-omened day, according to the Sunday Times.

It is also told how, during the recording of Iron Maiden's album The Number of the Beast, their manager had a crash with a van driven by nuns and the repair bill came to £666. The story has been repeatedly confirmed by members of the band - though as the good book says, the devil is a liar.

and don't forget:

d-day is 42 years ago! king albert II has his birthday today.

wow