(Short version of what's at the link: a toxic cloud of spilled chemicals in Utah killed a bunch of sheep. People realized that had the wind been blowing another way, the cloud would've headed towards Salt Lake City.)
Speaking of The Stand, a while ago I commented that I was surprised there haven't been more songs and pop-culture references inspired by that book. Well, Wikipedia provides: Not only is there the song "The Stand" by The Alarm, but also songs by Anthrax, Glenn Frey, and others. Oh, and I should have remembered Patton Oswalt's quote from Feelin' Kinda Patton:
The Apocalypse is coming. That's the one thing I like about George Bush: I really think he could get us into the fucking Apocalypse, like the Biblical...I think he really believes that he'll be the guy, y'know, in the white hat. I think he's read that Stephen King novel The Stand a couple times, y'know, and he really thinks there's a dark man in the desert somewhere and he's gonna fight him or something like that...