Near miss asteroid...a very near miss.
 

I just learned that there was an asteroid that just passed by Earth. It was only 40,000 miles up when it passed. It was a pretty big one and would have landed in the Pacific Ocean as I can remember. If it would have made an impact with us, it would have been the size of a nuclear blast. The near miss is the good news. The bad news is it's coming back. Hopefully it will miss, otherwise we'll have to take action.

why not just blow it up?

As I can remember, I think they said it was 1/4 the size of the moon. With an asteroid that large, it would be better to somehow move it so it takes a different trajectory. If we were to blow it up, then it would break into smaller pieces. If it's broken into smaller pieces then instead of a huge asteroid making an impact with the earth, many asteroids would make an impact with us. I mean, it wouldn't be as devastating, but it would still be a major catastrophe. It's also important to determine what the asteroid is made up of. They are not all made of rock. Some of them are rock, some of them are a mixture of rock and metal, and there are some that are almost entirely metal. There's a lot of "planning ahead" and work that goes into stopping a huge asteroid from making an impact with us.

You didn't see Armageddon did ya? :D

Bruce will die if we try that.

LOL.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Ann Curry reported this on the Today show this morning. She said the asteroid explains why her hair was flat today. :D

And, though John Denver's original will always be the best, I thought Chantal Kreviazuk did a fabulous job with Leaving on a Jet Plane.

Duh! Anyone who saw Armageddon knows that it's made up of iron ferrite! Maybe if we drill deep enough into it (drill, baby, drill!), we can break up the asteroid into small enough pieces that miss us by juuuuust enough. And it'll create jobs! And win back all the goodwill we've lost in the past decade!

"The United States government just asked us to save the world. Anyone wanna say no?" - Harry Stamper

Great. Something else to worry about. :rolleyes:

We may need a bailout plan to fund blowing up the asteriod unless we can make this an international effort and divert the world's attention away from the drying up of natural resources.

Isn't saving the world an international effort?

Oh, and if I have to do it, I don't want to pay taxes again...ever.

Was that comment even necessary? Seriously.

cheerfulgreek, have you seen Armageddon? Most of the posts here are in reference to that movie. Peppy's comment wasn't unnecessary - it was funny, and it was all related to the movie.

Sometimes I think you look for anything you could construe as mean. I don't get it.

At least we wouldn't have to worry about the economy any more! I'm so tired of thinking about it!!

Yes, I did see the movie, but I wasn't referring to it. RU OX Alum asked me a question, so responded to his question. Maybe I should have responded to him by saying, "Duh, moron, didn't you see Armageddon? Obviously, it would break into smaller pieces if we blow it up, still causing a major problem.:rolleyes:" I don't think he would see that as a condescending response. Do you?

Instead I just answered his question.

To me, saying "Duh" to my post was clearly condescending and unnecessary.

Sydney, if that's what you think, then that's fine.

You're kidding, right?

No, I wasn't.

you're a moron

LOL

Cheerfulgreek misinterprets and overreacts but she calls people mean when she thinks THEY misinterpret and overreact. All of our communication styles aren't easily conveyed on GC. There will be misunderstandings. Just be able to roll with the punches...or the imaginary punches.

This asteroid story makes me nervous. I agree that this is yet another thing to "worry about" that 99% of us are completely helpless about. But the ocean and the universe make me nervous because they are huge domains with so many unknown aspects. Enough of my rant. :)

PhiGam, you don't have to be a prick everyday of your life, ya know.

Why can't people just have a decent chatting conversation like they do IRL? Yes, I would react to people like that if they said something condescending to me IRL. They don't because people seem to get along with me quite well and vise versa IRL.

Some of you are just so angry and I don't understand why.

Someone just called me a moron FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER! How am I supposed to react to that?

I agree with the 2nd part of your post.

Good grief, someone sound the violins.

No tell us what it was in this thread that conveyed anger? Is it along the lines of what disturbed you about my "christiangreek" mistake? Get a grip!

I wasn't even really talking to you, cg. I just quoted you because it was the OP. I thought the whole story was pretty funny, because in case you hadn't noticed, what you typed (the story/the news/what's happening) is JUST like what happened in the movie. There. Are you happy now that I explained all of my attempts at humor away?

KSUViolet, I know you're not. You're very respectful and I can have a decent chatting session with you. You never make unnecessary posts involving name calling or putting others down.

I didn't mean you.

To be fair CG, you seemed to be upset before PhiGam called you a "moron" (and no one else has called you a name on here).

The reason was that you're typing like a moron.

Yeah I don't get why people are "angry" all of a sudden, cheefulgreek, besides you.

My point is, it's a joke. You don't need to take the "Duh" personally all the time. In fact, you post like you take everything everyone says on GC personally, and I just don't get it. We've never met you, we're not your friends. Why do you have to take such offense?

I don't think you'd have been called a moron had you not posted that you thought it was condescending or inappropriate for PeppyGPhiB to take the Armageddon jokes (that had already been posted) and run with them. Of course, I'm not PhiGam, so I can't speak for certain on what his intent was.

I'm also pretty sure that Peppy's joke was not a personal slight against you. Just because she quoted your post does not mean she was attacking you.

Well, I didn't know. So, if someone calls me a moron or an asshat, I guess I'd better just assume they were kidding and lol it off. Right?

Thanks for making that clear to me Peppy. I apologize for assuming.

cheerfulgreek, you always want to call people mean or angry.

How is that really different from people calling you a moron, stupid, or an idiot?

It's all based on perceptions of people's posts. You don't know us and we don't know you. What some of us find funny you may find mean. Must you always cry us a river?

The tone of KSUViolet's post was neither more or less neutral than the tone of anyone else's posts in this thread, except for PhiGam's.

You're weird.

People explained the humor before you. :) She just wanted to be the victim AGAIN.

Right, I would think you HAD to have thought of Armageddon when you read about that news story, right? Anyone that's seen that movie would. And when I think of that movie, I think of how awesomely bad it is - quotes and all!

Now say it with me, "No nukes! No nukes! No nukes!"

Well, it was clear she needed reassurance from me.

Was Armaggeddon(sp) that bad of a movie? Was it Bruce Willis' worst movie?

o.k. you guys, can we just please talk about what the original post was about?

What I find interesting about asteroids is they actually come from planets that were on their way to forming into worlds possibly 4 times or more the size of Earth. Sometimes, I wish it were possible to see the beginning and how it all started.:)

ETA: fabulous! back on topic.

That depends on how delicate we have to be with you.

You don't get to call people angry and mean all the time and then act like THEY are the ones who can't get over it and are being too serious.

o.k. I get it now. sheez.

You really are my favorite person on here

No, you don't. We'll be back here sooner than later. Don't try to dismiss something that YOU started.