Berlitz (fresh off books on Atlantis and the Bermuda Triangle), warned that 1999 could inflict flood, famine, pollution and a shift of Earth's magnetic poles.

Street signs in the United States follow a simple pattern of shapes and colors: Yellow triangles are cautionary, red octagons are imperatives, and green rectangles are informative.

Nigeria's most prominent militant group, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, had warned of the explosions about an hour before they occurred.