Reading the Drudge main page this morning, I got:

–Suburban Fla. man strangles rabid bobcat.

–Man bursts into flames after being shot by taser.

–Sewage flows down aisles of transatlantic flight: Video. (Er, no thanks)

–Angry bank customer, 94, attacks deputies.

–The amazing menage a trois at the top of French politics.

–American Indians say “Earth Mother getting angry” about global warming.

It was all very reminiscent of the opening chapter of the great classic Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, which lists various omens indicating that the Han Dynasty was about to disintegrate. From Moss Roberts’ translation:

In the second month of the fourth year of Established Calm, an earthquake struck the capital, and tidal waves swept coastal dwellers out to sea. In the first year of Radiant Harmony, hens were transformed into roosters. And on the first day of the sixth month a murky cloud more than one hundred spans in length floated into the Great Hall of Benign Virtue. The next month a secondary rainbow was observed in the Chamber of the Consorts. Finally, a part of the cliffs of the Yuan Mountains plunged to earth. All these evil portents, and more, appeared–too many to be dismissed as isolated signs.
Emperor Ling called on his officials to explain these disasters and omens. A court counselor, Cai Yong, argued bluntly that the secondary rainbow and the transformation of the hens were the result of interference in government by empresses and eunuchs. The Emperor merely read the report, sighed, and withdrew.

You may smile, but the death of Mao Tse-tung (9/9/76) was preceded by a colossal earthquake (7/28/76). Omens are omens; portents are portents.