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 Astronomy
 Asteroid on collision course? Looks likely.
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the_ignored
SFN Addict

2562 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  02:58:43  Show Profile Send the_ignored a Private Message
Hmmm...this could prove to be a problem.

quote:
Nasa has estimated that an impact from Apophis, which has an outside chance of hitting the Earth in 2036, would release more than 100,000 times the energy released in the nuclear blast over Hiroshima. Thousands of square kilometres would be directly affected by the blast but the whole of the Earth would see the effects of the dust released into the atmosphere.

And, scientists insist, there is actually very little time left to decide. At a recent meeting of experts in near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid.


Wonder how they'll get their act together for this one, eh?


>From: enuffenuff@fastmail.fm
(excerpt follows):
> I'm looking to teach these two bastards a lesson they'll never forget.
> Personal visit by mates of mine. No violence, just a wee little chat.
>
> **** has also committed more crimes than you can count with his
> incitement of hatred against a religion. That law came in about 2007
> much to ****'s ignorance. That is fact and his writing will become well
> know as well as him becoming a publicly known icon of hatred.
>
> Good luck with that fuckwit. And Reynold, fucking run, and don't stop.
> Disappear would be best as it was you who dared to attack me on my
> illness knowing nothing of the cause. You disgust me and you are top of
> the list boy. Again, no violence. Just regular reminders of who's there
> and visits to see you are behaving. Nothing scary in reality. But I'd
> still disappear if I was you.

What brought that on? this. Original posting here.

Another example of this guy's lunacy here.

Randy
SFN Regular

USA
1990 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  05:02:21   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Randy a Private Message
>snip:
quote:

At a recent meeting of experts in near-Earth objects (NEOs) in London, scientists said it could take decades to design, test and build the required technology to deflect the asteroid.


Where's Ethyl Merman when we need her?


"We are all connected; to each other biologically, to the earth chemically, to the rest of the universe atomically."

"So you're made of detritus [from exploded stars]. Get over it. Or better yet, celebrate it. After all, what nobler thought can one cherish than that the universe lives within us all?"
-Neil DeGrasse Tyson
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  05:04:17   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message
Hmm, yes, I read that one a little earlier. But not to worry, it is merely the NASA buffoons trying to run another swindle on the world, for who knows what reason.

Everybody knows that you can't photograph a 300 meter orbit without a real horizon and a flat tragectory. BNB (Big NASA Buffoons) are making you gullible fools!


"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  06:44:18   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Alan Fitzsimmons, an astronomer from Queen's University Belfast, said: "When it does pass close to us on April 13 2029, the Earth will deflect it and change its orbit. There's a small possibility that if it passes through a particular point in space, the so-called keyhole, ... the Earth's gravity will change things so that when it comes back around again in 2036, it will collide with us." The chance of Apophis passing through the keyhole, a 600-metre patch of space, is 1 in 5,500 based on current information.
OK, so 1 in 5,500 are not great odds. But still-- this is a big deal. And the thing is, we'll know in 2029 if it passed through the "keyhole," meaning that we'll have around 7 years of knowing that the earth is gonna be screwed. Civilization will plunge into utter chaos. I think I'll work on getting my bunker in the Utah* wilderness ready now.

*Not real location; actual location undisclosed for security reasons
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ronnywhite
SFN Regular

501 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  06:48:50   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send ronnywhite a Private Message
Interesting read, but the more I read, the less my palms were sweating. I get the feeling it's a long shot (no pun at all).

quote:
Originally posted by filthy

... for who knows what reason.



Mucho tax dollars?

It appears that our government views other threats as imminently more pressing and serious- such as the danger that too much wealth might accumulate in the US... and they're taking drastic measures to assure us we'll never have to face any omenous consequences this might result in. It seems to me that government isn't taking any chances on having an outbreak of wealth toxicity (possibly beginning with a symptom as seemingly innocuous as a trade surplus) and as desperately and effectively as this immediate threat is being addressed, we've made unbelievable strides of progress in impeding it's progression.

For example, we're becoming so skilled in sending incredible volumes of money all over the globe at near-light velocities, it's detracting from what used to be our "pet interests," like sending it off into the solar system. I think we've just about mastered the art and science of sending our cash to China... we may soon need to increase the bandwidth of our transglobal data communications to keep pace with all of the transfer, unless before that point it's decided it would be more cost-efficient to just hand the Federal Reserve over to Peking and let them figure out how to best expedite the process. We're working on developing other money disposal methods to deal with accumulation of this potentially hazardous material, as well, with new dump-sites being established and old ones expanded in places like the Middle East (in case Asia alone can't keep pace with our desires and needs to jettison all of that sinful green stuff we've had lying around.)

Ron White
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  07:40:36   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message
Indeed. It is unlikely that I'll be around to see it, but my advice is as always for almost everything: hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition, can you gimmie an Amen?!


"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Ricky
SFN Die Hard

USA
4907 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  08:43:50   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Send Ricky an AOL message Send Ricky a Private Message
No, but I can give you a Ramen. It servers both purposes.

Why continue? Because we must. Because we have the call. Because it is nobler to fight for rationality without winning than to give up in the face of continued defeats. Because whatever true progress humanity makes is through the rationality of the occasional individual and because any one individual we may win for the cause may do more for humanity than a hundred thousand who hug their superstitions to their breast.
- Isaac Asimov
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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  10:41:15   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by filthy

Indeed. It is unlikely that I'll be around to see it, but my advice is as always for almost everything: hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition, can you gimmie an Amen?!



Filthy, does ammo expire? I mean, if I splurged and bought, say, a box (50 rounds per box) of 9mm rounds each week, that'd be 52x50=2600 round per year. For ca. 30 years, that's 78000 rounds when the thing hits. Enough to last through a few prolongued fights with marauding hoards. But the question is, will my older rounds be any good?

Also, how long will canned food last? What about Spam®?
Edited by - Cuneiformist on 12/07/2005 10:41:49
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astropin
SFN Regular

USA
970 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  10:43:10   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send astropin a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by ronnywhite

Interesting read, but the more I read, the less my palms were sweating. I get the feeling it's a long shot (no pun at all).



Yes, a long shot, but what if? Do you wait until 2029 to do anything? Is there anything you can do? Do you think they will tell us if it does pass through the keyhole?

I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.

You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.

Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.

Infinitus est numerus stultorum
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pleco
SFN Addict

USA
2998 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  10:47:40   [Permalink]  Show Profile  Visit pleco's Homepage Send pleco a Private Message
Spam®, like god in heaven, is eternal.

by Filthy
The neo-con methane machine will soon be running at full fart.
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Dude
SFN Die Hard

USA
6891 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  10:49:54   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Dude a Private Message
quote:
Do you think they will tell us if it does pass through the keyhole?


With the number of independent and amature astronomers out there... it would be impossible to maintain it as a secret now that everyone knows to look for it.


Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson

"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin

Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth
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furshur
SFN Regular

USA
1536 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  11:23:41   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send furshur a Private Message
This must scare the bejesus out of Bigbrain because he knows there is no possibility of launching a rocket to intercept the asteroid.



If I knew then what I know now then I would know more now than I know.
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Subjectmatter
Skeptic Friend

173 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  11:44:20   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Subjectmatter a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Cuneiformist

quote:
Originally posted by filthy

Indeed. It is unlikely that I'll be around to see it, but my advice is as always for almost everything: hoard canned goods and stockpile ammunition, can you gimmie an Amen?!



Filthy, does ammo expire? I mean, if I splurged and bought, say, a box (50 rounds per box) of 9mm rounds each week, that'd be 52x50=2600 round per year. For ca. 30 years, that's 78000 rounds when the thing hits. Enough to last through a few prolongued fights with marauding hoards. But the question is, will my older rounds be any good?

Also, how long will canned food last? What about Spam®?


Unfortunately the ammo will be quite worthless since no matter hom much ammo you bought you would still have no gun.

I suggest also training cricket seven hours a week, eventually you will be able to throw the ammo at supersonic speeds.

Sibling Atom Bomb of Couteous Debate
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard

3192 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  11:46:29   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send BigPapaSmurf a Private Message
Im more worried about this ATM
EMP problem

Plus wouldnt the asteroid be a great way to die.

"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History

"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini
Edited by - BigPapaSmurf on 12/07/2005 13:30:35
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filthy
SFN Die Hard

USA
14408 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  12:47:04   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send filthy a Private Message
Modern ammunition, stored properly (cool & dry, & so forth) will keep indefinatly. Beware ammo from the Korean War or earlier. The promers were crossive and hard on barrels even when new.


"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)

"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres


"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude

Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,

and Crypto-Communist!

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Cuneiformist
The Imperfectionist

USA
4955 Posts

Posted - 12/07/2005 :  13:47:39   [Permalink]  Show Profile Send Cuneiformist a Private Message
quote:
Originally posted by Subjectmatter
Unfortunately the ammo will be quite worthless since no matter hom much ammo you bought you would still have no gun.


Now, Subjectmatter, why would I get ammo if I didn't have a gun?
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