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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.
Pretty, liberal, on the comma, use, aren't you?
I was trying to accentuate the similarities between the two phrases by breaking them up in the same way. I understand that the comma is generally recognised as the best way to do this. Still, it did not help my spelling any!
Damn FUNNY I am listening to that Pixie song as I was reading post, I know off topic but very cool!
Perhaps you think my post was in jest, but believe it or not, we ARE killing the planet Earth.
The pollutions that we have done to Earth has causes many side effects, one of them, Global Warming, and that, in some sense, has expanded the volume of the AIR that surrounds the Earth.
The mass of the Earth is not just the mass of the Solids, but also the liquids, and the gasses, all combined.
Although we don't actually increases Earth's mass, the "bigger air ball" that surrounds the Earth has created more "drags", and that, in one way or another, has altered the orbit of planet Earth.
I know, I know, the alteration is really minute, but then, however minute the orbit is altered, it may bring unneccessary consequences to the Earth - not only ecologically, but also, astronomically.
So far, planet Earth is the only known planet in the Solar System that supports life, and the position of planet Earth is the KEY - it's not too far away, nor too near, the sun.
And if Earth's orbit gets altered more and more, it may shifted Earth's ability to support life.
Life itself is a phenomenon to planet Earth. We might argue that living things are kinda "parasites" to Earth, but for better or for worse, the "parasites" have made planet Earth a unique place in the Solar System, if not the whole universe.
If we humans continue do what we do, we may destroy all lifeforms, and not only that, we may destroy planet Earth beyond its capability to support life itself.
That, in other words, is the destruction of planet Earth.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Along this line, I really *liked* the threat from NT7. Given the timeframe, we really could have done something about it and probably averted the disaster. Even counting the usual government piddling and lollygagging we would have had time.
But now we've decided *this* one wasn't really a threat, so we don't have to worry. So we haven't even begun the work needed to protect ourselves for the day when it isn't.
But on the other hand, even unfettered by competition I'm sure Microsoft would get NT7 out before 2019. Wasn't Win2k NT5 and WinXP NT6? Having the Earth threatened by a version of NT was an interesting place to be.
The living have better things to do than to continue hating the dead.
I don't think the government would find that sufficiently satisfying. Such a "war" does not require massive invasions of civil liberties or decreases in government transparency in the name of "national security" to fight.
I'm betting we'll stick with our current "war" on terrorism.
Happy Premise #3: Even though I feel like I might ignite, I probably won't.
After a brief press conference today, president George W. Bush was seriously mauled, when he declared war on The Rock, actor/wrestler Dwayne Johnson, which resulted in a surprise drop kick attack followed by a head butt and a pile driver by the professional wrestler, before White House Spokesperson Ari Fleisher managed to stop laughing out loud and informing the press and Dwayne Johnson that the President meant "rock s " and not " The Rock". President Bush was rushed to the local hospital where doctors feared severe brain damage, but concluded that "there was nothing there to begin with, so it couldn't be hurt anyhow".
The President later appologised for his mistake blaming it on terrorists who had sabotaged his statement.
We do not live in the 21st century. We live in the 20 second century.