A convention of political advocates, religious nutcases, and unemployed philosophers issued a public statement from their conference at the Lucky Dice Tavern, declaring that the world, as we know it, continues to exist and has not ended, as many had thought. Like the Second Coming, Millennialists (as they are known) had long prophesied the end of the world either on the turn of the millennial or an even-numbered century. There were divisions in their camp as to whether the new period started on January 1, 1900 or January 1, 1901.

Therefore, it was thought wise to wait some months, just to be sure. "It would be quite embarrassing if the world had already ended and we were not aware of it", one of the participants noted. "On the other hand, it would be just as embarrassing to say it was just fine and have the world end the next weekend, too!"

But out of this collective college of mental deficiency, cooler heads prevailed. "I always had the idea that this was a bit extreme," an outside observer was quoted as stating "I think we can safely put this behind us. It's not likely that anybody in the future will bother with "end of the world" nonsense. Certainly when the year 2000 comes along, there couldn't be any reason people would fear a coming tragedy."