Slashdot Mirror
What, Me Worry?
Space.com dissects (or see the same story on MSNBC, with handy Torino scale graphic) the asteroid scare that's been in the news for the past week, asking some good questions about the roles of the news media and the scientific community. I suppose my take on it is something like this: given that truly insignificant threats to individuals get hyped all out of proportion routinely, at least in this case it was an insignificant threat to the entire planet.
A good discussion of the asteroid/comet collision risk is covered by the Near Earth Object Information Centre's website, which is a not-so-secret agency maintained by the UK government:
/. discussion along similar lines from back in September 2000:
http://www.nearearthobjects.co.uk
Also of note is a
UK Publishes Asteroid Armageddon Report
When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
It was referred to as DHMO. Dihydrogen monoxide. First mentioned in the Washington Post--here's a link to an article about it, from the same site I posted earlier in the article about misleading statistics.
"I may be quite wrong." - Socrates
I'm probbaly not the best person to explain this, but:
Classical theory: is the belief that the markets are perfectly in balance, self-correcting, and nothing should be done to disrupt this equilibrium.
Keynsian Economics: Keynes formulated an alternative, arguing that governments should step in with deficit spending in order to boost the economy in times of recession. The theory came from his observation of the Great Depression. His theory was eventually implemented (the great public works projects in the US) and the depression was brought to an end. He is the only economist to have an entire field of economics named after him -- Keynsein Economics.
Monetarist Theory: The failure of Keysian Economics was the stagflation of the 70s. Friedman stepped in with a Nobel prize winning theory -- Monitarist Theory -- that states that inflation is a monetary problem. he came up with the concept of velocity & acceleration of money, and the idea that you could control the supply of money. This is the basis of interest rate adjustments.
This sketchy outline should lead you to sites on the web that'll give a clearer & more complete explanation than I am capable of. I found this site: The Virtual Economy that looks like a good start.
"Glory is fleeting, but obscurity is forever." --Napoleon Bonaparte
I thought the whole asteroid thing was kind of neat, so I made a little box on my web site that grabbed the latest impact data from NASA and shows year of impact, probability of impact, and danger rating.
Here's the (php) code .
"If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards."