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Meteor Over Midwest
bigpat writes "According to this story in the Chicago Tribune or this article, a meteor estimated to be the size of a 'Volkswagen bug' exploded over the Midwest around midnight yesterday morning. The resulting small meteorites hit homes causing some damage. The largest meteorite collected was 7.5 pounds. So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Perhaps you would prefer an Isetta.
That what was all this school was for... to teach us how to solve our own problems. -- janeowit
Meteor strikes like these are not as uncommon as one may think, it's just that the information is rarely released in such a public fashion. Who wants to release news that may create mass hysteria?
The issue is that the scientific community has chosen to withhold any information regarding the potential threat of meteors for this very reason. With more public acknowledgement of the problem, we could develop something like the Patriot missile defense system for extraterrestrial bodies so things like this would not happen. The trillions of dollars spent on SDI and later the Patriot system would have been better spent on such protection.
Have you been stalked by Seth today?
Why not a Ford Pinto?
They explode when they crash....
There is no reasonable defense against an idiot with an agenda
:wq
because the bug is the astronomical equivalent of our LOC measurement system, of course!
Volkswagen? That unit is meaningless to me. How many Volkswagen bugs are there in one Library of Congress?
i don't know. soft top? hard top? convertable? thank god it isn't the size of an usv. that would be dangerous, volkswagon is just small enough to make it cute.
Because there are probably more VW's on the road in just about any country you can imagine. Tell someone something was the size of a VW Bug and an image instantly comes to mind (not to mention that being an highly "odd" shape, it helps me conjure an irregular surfaced object). For example "It was the size of a VW bug" as opposed to "It was an irregular object approximately 2 meters by 5 meters by 2 meters", which is more helpful to the average person, even someone in the science fields?
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
The rock punched a hole through the roof and ceiling, shredded a set of venetian blinds, ricocheted off a metal window sill, shot about 15 feet across the bedroom and shattered a floor-to-ceiling mirror before coming to rest on the floor.
Yeah, stuff that flies through my atmosphere, roof, and blinds usually doesn't have the power to go through the window sill, and thus rocochets.
In the long run, we're all dead.
They're cool from a distance, but the closer they get to you the further you want to run away!
F-bacher
James Tiberius Kirk: "Spock, the women on your planet are logical. No other planet in the galaxy can make that claim."
It's not just meteors that get compared to volkswagon bugs, those little things are used in all kinds of analogies.
"You see, Bruce, I like to pick up girls on the rebound from a disappointing relationship. They're much more in need of solace and they're fairly open to suggestion. And, I use that to fuck them some place very uncomfortable."
"What, like the back of a Volkswagen?"
How are you going to keep them down on the farm once they've seen Karl Hungus?
Let's just hope the meteors don't adopt an American way of life, and turn into SUVs! :-\
A meteorite the size of the Library of Congress exploded in the atmosphere. Small documents have been landing everywhere.
It's probably an age thing. The astronomers were probably driving VW beetles during the 60s when they were plentiful and popular among the hippie culture.
History is so yesterday!
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
is the official corporate sponsor.
The largest meteorite collected was 7.5 pounds Since when size is measured in pounds?!?!?
The above post is an editorial, the poster cannot and will not be held responsible for all or in part for it's contents
You heard it here first!
Why are meteors always the size of VW bugs?
Or the Corvair: Unsafe plummeting through any atmosphere
--
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
--
A Yugo?
Maybe a City Bus. . .
why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
because they can be used as escape pods on the ISS. =)
It's funny how after all this research, after how much we have learned about the universe around us, and all our theories on different topics we are still vulnerable to silent threats moving at higher velocities than we can move our own space craft.
I wonder if we will ever build a laser large enough to vaporize incoming asteroids because right now, all it would take is a big bertha, and we'd be gone, again.
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
It's related to the fact that everybody in the world is aware of the size/shape of a old model VW bug.
Or would you prefer being referred to the size of a 1992 Honda Civic hatchback with 16" rims and low profile Goodyear tires?
Move over bacon...now there's something meteor.
Queens of the Stone Age - they rule
"I thought, 'Is it God? Is it an attack? Are we going to die?' The light freaked me out. It felt really funny, like it went through me," she said.
In a statement released later, God denied any involvement in the meteor attack on Chicago, saying he was busy blessing and damning souls at the time. No other supernaturals have commented on the charges, although the leader of the Vulcans stated that attributing the attack to them would, of course, be highly illogical.
Paranormal scientists currently are investigating the Roman and Greek Dieties for involvment, as they could not be found anywhere, perhaps in hiding.
"I only speak the truth"
Karma: null(Mostly affected by an unassigned variable)
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?" Because after grad school and student loans, that is all they can afford to drive.
If you see a green pool leaking out of the meator, don't TOUCH IT! Even if you think the local unvirsity will give you money for your finding. It will cause green fur to sprout. If you do end up touching it try not to itch it, and refrain from washing it. They love water and it will spread all over your body until your a big green furry monster. Then your only option will be to take you shot gun and blow your green furry head off.
Because libraries of congress are too big?
Anyways, it's curious that they say the meteor was the size of a Volkswagen bug when it _exploded_. Do they not know how big it was before it entered the atmosphere? Or do they think not that much of it burned up before it exploded?
I would have thought that the explosion would have had to have occured relatively low in the atmosphere, after a fair portion of the burning up stage was over, or the smaller post-explosion pieces would have burned up completly themselves.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
/. posts tend to end with witty or sarcastic questions?
So why is it
/* TAANSTAFL */
Because it is the one true unit of measurement. You could list it in bushels, stones, hogsheads, pounds, kilos, "my mom's dog's" and someone somewhere would be confused. but EVERYONE knows what a VW bug looks like. And about how big they are.
(They didnt specify old, new, or super, however)
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Perhaps astronomers are afraid to refer to them in 'Micro$oft bug' units because the impact of a Micro$oft bug does a lot more damage? Besides, the impact of a metor is over realtively quickly for anything less than an extinction level event. Micro$oft bugs last on and on and on....
I was skeptical, but:e or.html f eb/m14-013.shtml
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20010528/met
http://www.virtuallystrange.net/ufo/updates/1999/
http://www.theblob.info/xtras/kecksburg.pdf
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Who knows. But it should probably be nominated as a standard astronomical unit of measurement. (Not to be confused with AU, an Astronomical Unit, which is the distance between the Earth and the Sun.) It could be used to relate the size of small astronomical bodies, much the same way we, for example, measure planetary or stellar bodies in the number of Earths they could contain.
{dammit mozilla 1.3 does not want to copy and past..WTF?}
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Consider the two standards of measurement: American Standard and Metric and you'll agree not everyone is familiar with both and may find it hard to visualize the size of the object in question.
So, while everyone on the planet may/may not be able to visualize a 7m, 3cubit, 14ft or what have you object, I'd think quite a few know the size of a VW Bug.
Heh, I suppose it could be considered a 3rd standard of measurement: American, Metric and VW Bug.
Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
because i'd sure like to see my boss's face if i told him i couldn't come to work because i'd almost been hit with a...
me: i almost got hit with a...
work: Almost? So not really? Get in here!!!!
now, if i worked on a space station.... look, folks, if we can't even predict a little bitty rock, we're going out fast.
and I STILL want to know why atheists can't be exempt from 'acts of god' insurance exclusions...
"I'd say 'Have a good time,' but arson is still illegal.
Though meteors are often equated to Volkswagens, it is much more common for asteroids and other non-planetary objects to be "potato shaped." When I hosted Inside Space on SciFi Channel, this was a constant source of amusement between the producer and me.
all astronamers are Nazi Sympathisers.....the "people's car" Im sure.
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
Today a Volkswagen Bug, approximately the size of a meteorite,
...the size of a Buick
...the size of a City Bus
...the size of a Garbage Truck
...the size of an 18-Wheeler
...the size of a '57 Chevy
... and of course, the size of Cowboy Neal's father's 1978 Pontiac Bonneville
Everyone will start to cheer when you put on your sailin' shoes.
From the story:
Garza said he was in bed when heard his dog barking and what sounded like thunder. He got out of bed and was downstairs when the meteor hit.
This morning, he called his boss and told him he wasn't coming into work today. "I told him what happened, and he said, 'Okay, but don't use that excuse again.'"
Now, *that* is a true-blue, dyed-in-the-wool, head-up-the-ass boss!
I'm not really a web designer, I just play one on the Internet.
Didn't the old beetles used to have a problem where they could explode if they were rear-ended?
Maybe meteors are really extraterrestrial mini-space ships.
I can see it now:
Froton hops into his brand new 2003 VW Meteor and heads down to the local interstellar watering hole. Downs a couple pints of ice cold plasmatoid, and decides its time to pay his ex-girlfriend a "special visit"
On his way, he makes a wrong turn, accidentally flips on warp drive, loses control, and crashes recklessly into a random planet, burning up in the atmosphere.
Dont drink and drive.
Aliens Wanted (VW)
~fuzz
http://www.digifuzz.net
"We're blasting meteorites out of the sky for the kids."
Imagine a weapon where you capture and fling a iron meteor around the sun and aim it at the country of your enemy.
I haven't seen that show for a long time. Many years. :D
It would be far too many widths of a human hair for the average person to comprehend.
Aging Hippie Nostalgia Syndrome
" So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
In Return of the Jedi, a Rebel A-Wing crashed into the bridge of the Super Star Destroyer. To film the effect, they actually smashed a VW-Bug through the set. Since astronomers watch Star Wars too much, it's obvious that this is their rationale for comparing destructive meteors to Bugs.
I need to see something like this, from time to time. It reminds me that, on an evolutionary time scale, we just stepped out of the caves a few moments ago.
I'm not saying the human race is doomed. But we do still have one hell of a long road ahead of us. I'm going to read some Sci-Fi now.
-Peter
The railroad comapies must wake up and do something here. :-)
Apparently anything that makes noise tastes like chicken - eh - sounds like a train I mean.
Otherwise next time we see a chicken - sorry - I mean a train we won't know how it sounds - the chicken I mean - or was it the bug?
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
because that is the largest they can be and not make global head lines.
otherwise "a meteor the size of the library of congres has impacated on what was formerly know as Illinoise."
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
this being sandstorm season probably has nothing to do with it.
This is actually kind of scary if you think about it. This stuff is hitting our atmosphere all the time, and more of it gets through than you'd like to think. When I was a kid, a friend of the family and I used to go looking for meteorites in the hills and valleys of Lincoln Co., WV. We even found some on occasion.
What's scay is when you think of what meteors are. They are chunks thrown off of much larger comets as they pass through the solar system. There are often meteor showers before and after a comet's passing, and the meteors can hang around for a long time after, such as the Perseids. (I mean long in an astronomical sense, not a human sense.)
So every time there's an unexpected meteor shower or a strike like this, I have to wonder, is this just a precursor of something bigger that's on its way, or is this just the left over detritus of something that came and went a while ago?
Just be sure to wear the gold uniform when you beam down -- you know what happens when you wear the red one.
Top 10 rejected comparisons for Chicago meteor
10. Rush Limbaugh
9. Ford Pinto (those tend to explode very early in the trajectory)
8. Angry Balrog
7. Chicago Fire II
6. Al Capone
5. Star Wars "Attack of the Clones": the biggest bomb ever to take place in space.
4. This thing plummeted like the Bulls did after Michael Jordan left
3. This went down in flames just like my Windows 2003 beta-test!
2. Mass-driver attack from Centauri cruiser
1. Skylab
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There's nothing quite like an explosion over your house when your country is at war!
-Derek
Once the meteor is corroded by the atmosphere to a small pebble, it slows down.
Try and throw a small pebble a long way and see what I mean.
Nbc 5 has some nice pictures of the meteor. The slideshow is really cool. Spaceweather.com also has some more information concerning it.
I was one of the people that felt and heard the sonic boom it created, my sister witnessed it in the sky.
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
Because aliens drive Bugs. "Meteor the size of a Volkswagen" is code for "another arrival". Most astronomers drive old, beat-up bugs too, but not because they are poor. The loud motorcycle like engine noise of the beetle has a soothing, almost sexual effect on the aliens. Kept in thrall by a highly addictive psychoactive drug laced alien produce that looks like a common Earth food known as a "twinkie" the astronomers have been pressed into service to alien races, driving their bugs around town to produce the soothing, erotic melody with their engines while ship after ship lands, their arrival heralded only by announcements such as the preceding.
Either that, or it's an object that everybody has seen.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?
1728
VW Bugs happen to be just the right size to compare to a meteor! That and it's probably excatly what a VW would do if it was dropped on earth like that....
Frank the Astronomer: Dude we just dropped th VW from space to see what it would do
Bob his accomplace: It looks exactly like a meteor!
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
Well, I had something the size of a police car run into the back of my bug a couple months ago.
Why are these people bringing in their rocks? Are they turning them in? They've got to be worth some money, though less than before this 'windfall'. Will NASA be suing these rocks?
He said three homes in Park Forest were damaged, along with the fire department and possibly one car. Two homes in the nearby town of Matteson also were struck by meteorite pieces.
Since there are all these new damaged objects, I think that the Ford Pinto? that was smashed will likely no longer be worth as much - scarcity breeds value. IIRC, the value placed on that car was somewhere in the 6 digits.
Sipiera said it's very rare for meteorites to fall on populated areas.
I know that with the rampant humping that's going on, this will only become more common. Hopefully, we can have natural selection return with meteors. If we could fit the meteors with stupidity finders, the world would be a better...OW! Ding dang moon rock jist hit me! I'll whup it's ass!!
I think it's time we follow the advice of this guy: NasaCaveDude
The Moore-Murphy Law: The number of things that will go wrong will double every 2 years.
Why is it that if someones thought process works like this.
Eg: Something happened, i don't understand it... I know, it must have been an invisible guy in the sky who caused it. See i wasn't sure but that light that kind of felt like it went right through me, well that clinched it.
That you can't just lock them up or at least refer them for some sort of psycological treatment. Just imagine if you replaced the words Green Fairy for everytime someone says God, you get some hillarious results.
This thread isn't a discussion, it's a (bad) punchline contest. I likey.
aren't gauss canon bullets about the size of VW bugs? or are they usually compared to chevy engines?
regardless, they'll rip your mech to shreds.
You've got 5 big rocks falling off the sky. One hits the ground and devastates a large area. Where should the remaining 4 rocks fall? That large area that is *already devastated* seems like a good choice. Why destroy new stuff? Keeping these 5 rocks in one piece so they fall at the same place is best.
oh man, that is hilarious, i just shat my pants upon reading that. Man, my cornhole is in bad shape, but your post is TITSEN!!!111!!!!
To which his wife certainly sighed and replied, "Damn."
Do other scientists feel this way? Does a marine biologist hope to be devoured by sharks? Does a physicist hope an aberration in quantum mechanics obliterates his or her body? Does an anthropologist secretly yearn to be a headhunter's next prize?
----------
Cheese it! It's the FEDS!
Its fun until the cool kids see you. :-(
"Comedy's a dead art form. Now tragedy, that's funny."
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
:-)
I've always wondered why tumours are always compared to fruit (grapefruit, melon, etc) and hail is always compared to sporting equipment (golf ball, baseball, etc). Why not body parts? I'd like to see hail the size of testicles
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
Because they are all dirty fucking hippies who have never had a real job in their lives.
Scientists compare meteors to Volkswagon Bugs because obviously the Bug was designed by an alien...
Because a Bug is an easily-identifiable object which weighs very close to one ton.
These days, since the New Beetle weighs over 1.5 tons, one might use a Mini for comparison. But the Old Bug has become traditional.
This fucking website is gay and sucks because you can't post yer fuckin stories!
That was the Wrath of Allah, Infidels!
Now, bring me my virgins.
I metamoderate, therefore I am
Come on, what scientist wouldn't love to see a VW bug burning up in re-entry?
from article on CNN....
"Park Forest Police Department said about 60 pieces of space rock ranging from gravel-sized to softball-sized were brought in to the police station."
Have you seen what these are going for on EBAY. Sell, Sell, Sell
http://www.kubuntu.org/
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Because, interestingly enough, the VW Beetle is the only current automobile which has a size which "The Size of Texas" is evenly divisible by. It just sounds better than saying 1/22349938th the size of Texas.
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
Oh, because those are all leftovers of the advanced space programs of the Third Reich, finally falling out of orbit now. We just got tired of using the proper 30-syllable term, so now we use the euphemism "Volkswagon".
It's just about the only such international unit as well. Americans talk about Manhattan Islands, New Jerseys and Libraries of Congress, while Europeans have the Rock of Gibraltar or Belgiums. You really don't want to be hit by a Belgium. You wouldn't call it plucky little Belgium if it landed on your head.
...this bug-sized meteorite *had not* exploded into smaller bits?
-Mike
I had just left work and was driving home when
the sky lit up - I ducked (like that would help) thinking it was a nuclear weapon going off...
I had to turn away from the light - it was so bright it was actually blinding. Shortly after there was a loud 'boom' and what looked like flaming debris falling from the sky.
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs"
Have you ever seen an astronomer's paycheck? There's a reason they never compare anything to a Crown Victoria or an SUV, though you might see comparisons made to 'big as two Bugs' in such cases.
Mmmmmm... Bold, yet refreshing!
It's a good thing it wasn't the size of an NT bug
The US military budget is 380 billion for FY2004, or 17%. The US spends the bulk of its budget (about half) on entitlements such as social security.
You'd prefer that the energy be converted to heat at the earth's crust instantaneously? I'm not following.
Since during the first gulf war the patriot missle systems saved many lives in Isreal(only one death due to direct missle strike, others were heart attacks, strokes, and suffication). Now the citizens of Kuwait are benefiting. Protection from Random astronomical event that has yet to cause any significant damage in our time, or Protection from Ruthless Dictator willing to fire weapons at people not involved in the conflict?? I think most people will agree the second choice is better
And now seems that one has return.
Did any fragments land in/near Kansas? Any childless couples get run off the road dodging said fragment? Any new births 'far away from the hospital' with the child listed as 'Clark' to 'Martha and John'?
Jesus was all right but his disciples were thick and ordinary. -John Lennon
Back when Armageddon, Deep Impact, and other Americans-save-the-world propeganda was flying around, there was a great little Canadian film called "Last night"
The situation is... a little while ago scientists figured out the world was going to end. They tried to do something about it, but realized it was utterly futile. People panicked a bit after that... but that didn't change anything. Yep, the world is going to end and there is absolutely nothing anyone can do about it. It's great :-)
http://users.aol.com/aleong1631/lastnight.html
What makes it extra beautiful for the geeky crowd is that it doesn't even touch the sci-fi aspects. It just ignores that stuff... they don't even really get into why or how the world is going to end. It's just some un-discussed astronomical disaster.
Oh, and the review is a little off... it's not that the world ends at the end of the millenium, it is that they adjust the clocks and calendars so that the world ends at that point. No trite, sucky 'fate' or religious apocolypse overtones...
I was sitting at my desk that night where my windows face east (I'm northeast of where the explosion was), and remember thinking "Wow.. Lightning", and didn't think anything of it. bah...
People as far away as in Hammond, Indiana were calling into radio stations say they saw the explosion and the trail of sparks afterwards.
I read though the article, but it was never mentioned why it blew up. Don't they usually just burn up in the sky and arrive intact but smaller? What makes this one special enough to shatter?
------
Sweet! I hope it's clear out tonight... now... where's my baseball glove?
"I thought, 'Is it God? Is it an attack? Are we going to die?' The light freaked me out. It felt really funny, like it went through me," she said.
Why do so many people jump to attribute unexplained natural events to a supernatural, invisible "being" that lives in the sky and controls everything in existence and know the number of hairs on the head of every living being??
Might as well attribute meteor showers to the Easter Bunny, or hey, maybe it's a "sign" from the Heaven's Gate folks!
This is a copy of an email I sent some friends yesterday after seeing the light. I live on the very north side of Chicago, in Rogers Park.
I got a strange story.
I got home from a buddy's house late last (wednesday) nite, around 11:30 and sat down in my front room with my mandolin picking quietly trying not to disturb my crack-head nieghbors. I am in chair facing south at my three front windows, the blinds are closed on all three but the left most in up half way. The only light in the room is my computer monitor's screen saver.
So I am looking at the finger board of my mandolin when out of my upper peripheral vission I see the sun rise out side my window. I immediatly recognized the sun, then realized that it was white light shining in my window, not yellow light. Have I been playing for 6 hours? Maybe a crack head had stumbled into my courtyard and the police were pursuing him with a flood light. No, then the light would shine across my cieling, not my floor. Mind you, all this was going through my head in an instant trying to figure out what it was. Was it a nieghbor with a high powered flashlight accross the courtyard signaling they were sick of my mandolin? Maybe a helocopter with a flood light looking for a fiend on the run... Maybe just glare accros my glasses. The light was gone in an instance, but I was still trying to figure out what it was. Maybe a haunting. Maybe, I was thinking, I am just overtired.
It was a bright light, filled the whole room, through a half open shade with light for a half a second. Through the closed shades I cound see daylight. Maybe it was god giving me a sign that I wasn't living right, I thought. I looked at the clock, 11:43 or so... I had been picking for 10 minutes since last I looked at the clock. No unexplained lapse of time. I wan't ubducted and probed. I figured it was just one of the flashbacks I had been promised and went to bed.
6:30 the alarm goes off and NPR comes on with stories of the war and then something about a meteor...
I am waiting for my water to turn to blood.
(why exactly am i feeding a troll??)
Life moves pretty fast; if you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. -FB
"Where's my insurance agent," quipped her husband nearby.
;-)
Ummm, I don't think my homeowner's policy covers me against meteors.
It's probably excluded under the "Skylab" clause.
Chip H.
Approximately the size of 2(two) head of cattle
/* No Comment
All your Park Forest are belong to us.
Launch every redunant comment, for great justice!
You are not the customer.
Bruce Willis wasn't immediately available for comment.
Ed Wedig
Graphic design services
docbrown.net
It would be nice to see american and british companies exempt from contracts within iraq after the war. Doing so eliminates any conflicts of interest and proves this conflict is based upon moral reasons and not economic troubles within.
It would also be nice to see this military operation done without compensation, international law says this war is illegal plus the original evidence that provoked this conflict were proved false.
Still even with all the lies and murders, given the choice between supporting a genocidal practice or the hawks, it's the hawks hands down. Even if I could benifit from said practice, it's against what I believe to be correct. Let's not forget what life was like under the fbi and clinton idiocy.
This brings up an interesting question: what is the standard unit of measure for estimating internet bandwidth? I thought maybe a "Slashdotting", but that's probably too big--you'd have to estimate most events in terms of fractions of Slashdottings. "XYZ corporation was hit today by a DDoS attack about half the size of a Slashdotting. Fortunately they upgraded their server bandwidth recently, and were able to withstand the attack unscathed."
Convert RSS to HTML - integrate webfeeds into your website
I was driving home in the south west suburb of Naperville, and saw the sky light up. It was cloudy, so I could not see where the light came from, but it was intensly bright.
I have to admit it made me think we'd been nuked. But then the light went away a few seconds later. I only heard a bit of a rumble over the roar of my 4 banger running at 3500 RPM at 80 mph. If I had not been going so fast, I would have stopped to take a look around, and soak up some good radiation if was a nuke.
All I can say is I'm glad that some local news made it past all the Iraq coverage.
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Because that's the only car they can afford to drive on their measly research incomes...
+1 Insightful, -1 Troll. What can I say, I'm an Insightful Troll.
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Possibly because they have a similar tendency to explode in flames on impact.
Same reason everything else is measured in football fields.
Who cares about rocks? I never been hit by no rock from outer space. I just found out that there's these neutrino thingys that are busting me up, a trillion a second. That's Mother Nature popping a bad cap in my ass! I want me a neutrino shield.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
Today, a Volkswagen Bug, approximately the side of a meteorite
NO CARRIER
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
For the same reason the size of hail is always compared to golf balls. Which leads one to wonder how people described hail before there were golf balls.
I think the volkswagen is:
- the only roughly meteor-shaped car (round or 1/2 spherical anyway)
- a car (i.e. conjures up images of large and/or dense)
- well known
It is the largest living thing you can hit with it and not total the car.
We were told by our prof. in Geo 101 my first year of college that "VW bug-sized" is a common and appropriate geo. term......
1. When the pin is pulled, Mr. Grenade is no longer your friend.
2. Do not eat iPod shuffle.
It was a scud, no doubt about it. Man, they really increased the range on those things!
Your question: why use a car developed by the nazis when comparing meteor sizes.
Answer: If you were going to compare the meteors to any US built car, you would have to use a difficult concept like fractions.
How small a thought it takes to fill a whole life
Because Microsoft bugs are too large for a reasonable comparison.
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Because they can't figure out how many LOC's it is.
Speaking of which, whats the conversion factor here?
210 million strong in the america's and growing.
That meteor missed me by >< that much....
Would you believe > < that much?
Support FSF: Stop thinking with your wallet, and think with your imagination. (cc/non-commercial)
'cause they're smaller than Rhode Island.
What ever happened to breadboxes?
It's somewhat eerie, but I read that a common less mythological explanation for the Great Chicago Fire is that a meteorite struck in a few places. Not some cow tipping over a lantern.
I bet insurance companies are gonna create specific language excluding meteorites from homeowner coverage.
They should build a kevlar dome.
And them Patriots are pretty darned good at shootin' down British Tornados, too.
So I hear.
Anyway, all the advanced military technology in the world won't be beneficial to the people of any country if the Commander in Chief is a paid-for puppet of corporate, aristocratic interests.
I tend to think the conversation ran more like this:
Reporter: "So, how big was that thing?"
Scientist (reviewing some calculations): "Well, about the size of a small car. But rounder."
There are only 10 types of people: those who understand decimal, those who don't, and, uh, 8 other types I forget.
... it does seem that whenever they talk about space they compare things to Volkwagens.
Miko O'Sullivan
God doesn't like this war
- Sandstorms in IRAQ
- Lightning hit Blair plane
- Columbia crash
- Square sunrise in Japan
and here is
- Meteor in midwest.
May be it's time to stop it ASAP...
The whole thing BRIGHT WHITE!
Thinking it was a terrorist attack (everyone's first thought these days) I nearly pissed myself.
When nothing blew up I assumed it was a lightning. Thought it odd that I never heard thunder, until this morning when my sister asked if I had heard about the meteor!
Bill
bamph
i don't think the whole vw bug/ meteor mental connection subject has been completely exhausted (!?), so i sent the 2 terms to google sets (large set), which came up with this list:
F lare
H oly
;-)
Meteor
Volkswagen Bug
Mars Society
Amateur Clubs
meteorite
COMET
Esat Digifone
Eircell
Asteroid
Planetarium Associations
DER
Comets
Asteroids
Meteoroid
France
StAR
4 6
liquid
SUNECLIPSE
Blue slime
gas
solid
SETI
Space
Solar
Eclipses
Ultima
this seems to me to be the psychosocial equivalent for all of society to someone having a psychiatrist asking them th classic free association question: "i'm going to say a few words, and you tell me the first words that pops into your mind." draw your own conclusions.
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
Wouldn't that be "midnight last night" ????
Is Slashdot messing with the time-space continuum? (Maybe that's why meteor-sized VW bugs are flying throught the sky)
Someone had better explain this concept to me...
-- Steve
"Ethel, you stinkin' pinko, if you'd voted for the anti-immigant law we wouldn't have these alin rocks landing in our backyard. Because that's what they are--illegal alin's. Now I know we call them Iraqis, but these look like IROCKies to me. What are you laughin' at, you dumb woman?"
Why can't you post yer fuggin stories, just like all the heterosexual websites?
It's just not normal. So it must be gay.
Maybe it was an actual Volkswagen Bug... if that's the case, I bet the UBC Engineers had something to do with it.
This sig is umop apisdn.
Because that's all they can afford on their salaries.
Didn't bother to "duck and cover".
/.ers in the Chicago area besides me see the flash? If so, did you hear any sonic boom? How long after the flash did you hear the boom?
I thought it was lightning and didn't really give it much thought. The only thing I thought was weird at the time was the fact that it was so bright and I didn't hear any thunder. Did any
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. -Frederick Douglass
Well, was it the size of an old bug, or new bug?
Because the New Bugs do come from outer space!
still living in the 1960s
Get a life.
Windows to endorse RMS in Windows 2003 server.
Oh, i mean 'Rights Management Server' not
'Richard M Stallman'.
The new VW Beetle or the classic VW Beetle? I think it's because almost everyone at some point has seen a VW Beetle. I mean if I said it was the size of a Volvo VN 780, then maybe some people would know but not most.
until God smacks you down and drives your face into the dirt.
approved the design of the orignal VW bug and HITLER was an alien from outer space who arrived on a meteor!
Excuse me, I have to go take my meds now.
It's Christmas everyday with BitTorrent.
Looks like you need to learn how to make permalinks to OPACs, not to mention properly search phrases instead of general keywords...
And you guys call yourselves geeks. You're pwned by librarians!
Assuming 1 byte = 1 cubic centimetre, how many LoC's is a volswagen bug ?
Lately i have seen a couple of absolutley tiny cars driving around my neighborhood they appear to be street legal and about the size and layout ofa golf cart but much fancier. Anyone know what theses are? The appear to be new models and I seem to remember them advertised in magazines.
I was in the area - the sky was bright, almost
blinding... my dog was barking like mad when the
'boom' was heard.
Here are a couple links to other articles w/pictures:
Article + rock pictures
Article + sky pictures + rock picture slideshow
This post will be modded down for no particular reason by a sweaty 14 year old who is not allowed out past dark.
While the people saw a Meteor what it came from was a
Meteoroid and what fell were
Meteorites.
Nate
I'm feeling like nitpicking. ;)
'fahrvergnuegen' should be 'fahrvergnugen'.
As for the origin of the word for anyone who is going "what the hell?" -- it's a 'made-up' word VW used in its ads for a time; it translates to 'driving pleasure'. A form of this campaign still exists, in the form of the "Drivers Wanted" slogan.
"On the road of life, there are passengers and there are drivers."
I still remember the old ads for the Rabbit/Golf:
"Volkswagen does it again!" -- a reference to the original Beetle and the huge worldwide sales it generated. The Golf has now outsold the Beetle.
-- proud and very happy owner of a 2000 Golf GLS
i am a soviet space shuttle
Now, imagine the same scenario, except this time you have 200 pounds of ice cubes, instead of one giant piece. Again, as you approach the second boat, you throw the ice overboard. What happens this time? Do you think the second boat will still sink?
Of course not. This time, with their increased surface area, the ice cubes will slow much faster, melt more quickly, and those that do reach the boat will impact over a much larger area, causing little to no damage. The same amount of energy was dissipated into the water (the cooling affect of the ice was the same) and the ice had the same amount of kinetic energy as in the first case, but this time, the outcome is much more favourable for the second boat.
Do you see where I'm going with this?
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
Well indirectly. My wife was driving home a party that night, and she saw a green light streak across the sky and kind of explode. She's been a little worried about the possiblity of the US getting attacked by a country that is protesting our actions in Iraq, more like a back of the mind uncertinty then a real fear.
So according to her she hit the gas and drove home on the m-59 expressway at about 90 miles an hour. I think she hit or kicked me a couple times before I woke up and was a little pissed.
She explained the entire thing and made me sit up with her for an hour flipping around the tv trying to find out what it was. I figured it was some kind of meteor or space debris, but at that time all she heard was "I'm tired and we're not dead so lets go to sleep.". Finally I was allowed to go to sleep but she said she stayed up until 3am looking for info. We didn't hear anything about it until i saw it on drudge the next day.
...oh hang on - it landed in the Mid West you say?
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Due to the unfortunate decision to route the fuel line on top of the engine block, bugs have a nasty tendency to explode into fireballs. Not so unlike said meteors.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
...its a feature
NEOCA - Custom LED Flashlights
http://www.mrspeel.org/vwcalc.html
I am 0.239227 VWBs.
In good standing, a south american-saudi-etc solution. And a freebie on the way.
...it was friendly fire!
You may not be aware of this, but the UMCS has strict guidelines for what must be used as the dependent clause of any statement containing the phrase "about the size of".
Because (US)Americans are particularly dense and limited in their appreciation of the world at large, the USUMCS is particularly restricted.
Geographical areas can only be described as about the size of:
1) Texas (the "largest" US state*)
2) Rhodeisland (the "smallest" US state)
3) Manhatan island (**)
For any item that moves, flies, or can be thrown:
1) The VW Bug (+)
2) A battleship (++)
3) An aircraft carrier (+++)
If it is a "weather object" or a part of the human anatomy:
1) a golfball
2) a softball
3) a grapefruit (&)
4) a mellon (&&)
(* In fact Alaska is larger than Texas, but since that "largness" involves lots of separate parts [islands] and unreal areas [ocean bits] the US Public School education doesn't prepare the populous well enough to use Alaska as a USUMCS referrent.)
(** sorry, can't spell it, but I live on the west coast now so, like everyone else not on the east coast, I don't really beleive it exists...)
(+ A VW bug is "cute" so everybody knows how big it is. We could also use something like "a kitten" but the idea of a kitten plummeting through the outer dark of space to burn up on reentry and explode over Kansas is too disturbing to be allowd on TV)
(++ Most people have never seen a battleship, but because they have seen the *game* battlship they know a battle ship is 3/5ths the size of an aircraft carrier because it takes three pegs and an aircraft carrier takes five. And three pegs is a hell of a lot, heck a VW bug cant even hold one peg!)
=== Side note: people who actually know about battleships and talk to other people, will often make reference to the fact that the big guns fire really big rounds. That act, in accordance with the Universal Military Comparison System [this UMCS is not to be convused with that UMCS], is routinely described as "tossing a VW bug across several miles of ocean" etc. ===
(+++ Every body has seen aricraft carriers on TV and knows they are at least twice as large as a battleship. Recursively applied everything is either infinitely large or infinitely small dependig on hol long ago the person last played the game battleship and on how big their TV set is.)
(& Grapefruit is used because every person who needs to use the UMCS has picked up a grapefrut and noticed how dissimilar it is to a grape, which is a fruit, and the irony is fixed in their head.)
(&& the UMCS [Universal Mellon Comparison System] dictates that all mellons, reguardless of pedegree or growth environment, are the same size.)
Innocent people shouldn't be forced to pay for inferior software development.
--"Code Complete" Microsoft Press
I remember a few years ago, when one American warship or another was visiting Australia to participate in some sort of practice with our guys, the newspapers all carried front page pictures of huge guns on US warships that were capable of hurling shells "the size of a Wolkswgen Beetle" over the horizon.
Of course, it should also be pointed out that the VWB unit of measure isn't universal. The standard unit of measure for items hurled through the air by trebuchet is the 'Metric Cow', as derived from the 'Imperial Cow', used in medievel times before the VW Beetle existed.
I find your ideas intriguing and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
by Paul Sipiera, a professor of geology and astronomy at Harper College in Palatine, Ill. "For me, it's a dream come true," he said. "I always tell my wife that when I die, I hope I get hit in the head by a meteorite flying through the roof and it came pretty close," he said. Classic. (link)
Arm punch to you!!!
pdrome4robert
It may have been about the size of a VW Bug, but how tall was in in Olympic Swimming Pools?
KP
I'm in NW Indiana less than a mile from the Illinois border. I was getting ready for bed in the bathroom with the lights off so it wouldn't wake my wife. The flash made me jump and nearly miss what I was aiming at. It was like lightning, but much brighter. I figured it was a close lightning strike, but was a bit surprised when there was no thunder. I didn't hear about the meteor strikes until the commute home the next day.
Like how many licks to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
This was an ICBM from Baghdad, intercepted by a Patriot missile just seconds before impact.
Smaller meteroids were clearly planted by the Office of Homeland Security in conjunction with the Israeli Mossad.
You are not funny.
So how long before common sense decides to invade you?
why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs
Only minor bugs are caused by this class of metheorites.
On the other hand, had it been classified as Pinto, there you're in for some serious crash.
All that needs to happen now is to fit just one more VW Bug into the Library of Congress...and the level of concurent coincidences will reach Kevin Bacon-esque levels.
The Dullness of 1729
My 1969 VW Bug still runs well, and has about 350K miles. Gets about 48 MPG on long Interstate runs. I often pass whole automobile junkyards with everything in there a newer car model than mine. I did go to a used car lot today, and they had an old 1949 Ford car out back, not in running condition, however. My VW has many modifications, the newest of which is the addition of a rear view mirror from a 1972 VW Bus, to keep an eye out for the Cops .
comparing it to a VW bug is quite silly.. everybody knows space debris is measured in relation to a chihuahua's head.
Why thats almost TWO volkswagen bugs!
Apparently the meteor had a license plate that said "Feature".
What sort of temperatures do you reckon a meteor would be at just before impact on the Earth's surface?
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
Please tell me that it was that dead sexy key lime color...
Actually, it's because the VW Bug is a common object in American culture, and probably elsewhere in the world as well. When you say "VW Bug", it doesn't take a whole lot of scrabbling around in ones memory to come up with an appropriate mental picture of how large the asteroid is.
Also because it's round and heavy. B-)
And because if the asteroid were the size of a Cadilac ElDorado they wouldn't be explaining just a few damaged roofs. And if it were the size of a semitractor/trailer rig or a house they might not be explaining anything at all.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
Friday morning, a whale calf was washed up on the shore of a Japanese village by a mini-tsunami. The tsunami was caused by a landslide on a hillside above the water.
Nobody was hurt by the incident, allthough property damage could exceed ¥ 2000000.
The local population could take advantage of the situation, though. After veterinary authorities had deemed it safe, the meat was distributed among the population.
When asked about his experience of the situation was, a local man answered:
"It sounded like a train. It was the size of a Volkswagen beetle. It was colored like the wind. And it tastes like chicken."
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
I'm reading this article at 517 comments and this is the only Kalel reference. Cripes, people are weak today. :)
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Yes, a new measurement, but not metric. In keeping with older and arguably more practical measuring systems, a Bug should contain 4 Seats, a Seat should contain 14 Parts, and there should be 923 Bugs in a Mile. Just because.
If you compared them to a Citroen, nobody (in the U.S. anyway) would know what you're talking about. Those who did wouldn't take it seriously.
If you compared them to the size of Oprah, reactions would be two exact oposites, polarized by gender.
If you compared them to the size of a Dung Beetle, nobody would much care. They might chuckle over the name though.
If you compared them to the size of a software bug, Bill Gates would just shrug and say "we're not supporting this meteor because it's badly designed".
If you compared them to an anthrax bug, somebody in the Bush family would start a "War on Celestial Bodies" and it would the only thing considered news worthy for six straight months.
michael writes:
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
Because a meteor looks nothing like a Volvo?
My
Limekiller
[...] one of my friends commented that "A few thousand years ago, this would have been taken as an omen. Perhaps an omen of the end of the earth!" we all chuckled and got a bit smug about how far we've come as a civilization five days later we returned from the wilderness, switched on the TV in the motel room and were treated to the news of the Heaven's Gate mass suicide [...]
Remember that not EVERYBODY is civilized - or intelligent - or well-educated.
Also rembember that everybody starts out life ignorant. Bring up a child - or a generation of children - with the training methods and lore of any past culture and you get a typical member of that culture.
It takes about 13 to 15 years to go from the just-talking to young-warrior (i.e. cannon-fodder) stages of maturation. So that's the amount of time it take to completely turn a civilization around.
This has happened a number of times. Japan between WW I and WW II is one shining example. In WW I the Japanese treated their prisoners of war with impeccable courtesy, in good European style. After WW I the descendants of the Samurai class ran the education system, and raised a generation with a belief set including the idea that anyone who would surrender was essentially subhuman. Thus the Death March on Bataan and other atrocities during WW II.
Of course something similar happened in Germany during the same period. Along with other countries. (For instance: The US went from a confederation of small countries with a weak central government to an imperial welfare-state whose massive central government was mostly unquestioned.)
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
>> So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs? They have to, when the meteors aren't big enough to compare to football fields. :)
Astro
Look out, the Space Terrorists are bombing our homes with VW sized meteorites! There's nothing we can do to stop them either, but lets have make a UN resolution about it anyways!
Posting with out proof reading since 2001.
It was drizzling throughout the night, so I just thought, "eh, big-ass lightning, no big deal." I would have remained under this false assumption for the rest of my life had it not been for Slashdot.
OK, that's it - that's my story. Had to share. Thanks.
A missile of Saddam it was, that's what!!! Probably Syrian-sponsored too. Let's get them all...rant, rave, slobber
Having tried shoving one of those mutha's home in a camper i can really relate to the momentum involved man...
P.S. washing up liquid and suguar gets rid of the oil!
My hyperlinks aren't worth the paper they're printed on.
A standard astronomer's joke begins or ends with the phrase "imagine a spherical cow." It's because they are constantly using mathematical shortcuts, like pretending something is spherical, even when it isn't, to guess its volume. A Volkswagen is the most spherical car around.
"I'm so moist I'm sticking to the leather." -Kermit the Frog on The Late Late Show
1. To answer the question about why a VW Bug: "Because everybody knows how big a VW Bug is." Just try finding another object of similar size which everybody on the continent can use as a happy reference.
2. Laugh while you can. These suckers are going to turn the Earth's surface into ash and kick-start the next ice age. --Notice how they're getting more frequent, larger in size, and generally more destructive as time goes by? We never this many many rocks falling from the sky when I was a kid!
Heck, the last really big near miss nobody knew about because NASA cut the live feed from SOHO. They did this because this near miss was really near and that's just bad for business as usual. Can't have people leaving work early, now can we?
These rocks are just remnants of the last comet cluster which visits us ever 3600 years or so. (Go look at Ice Core samples if you want yer dang proof.) Anyway, there's a new load of big rocks on the way, due to arrive within the next ten years thanks to the Dark Star which either just passed, or will soon pass through the Kuiper Belt and knock some shit out of orbit and into a nice, quick, Smash the Inner Planets kind of trajectory.
If the twin sun came or went, I'm not sure. Something big made a brief appearance a few years ago way out Pluto-way, but it's so hard to keep on top of what is a lie and what is a fact when you don't have you're own observatory and red flashlight.
Anyway, in other words. . , if you manage to survive the all war and the fascism, (and the final defeat of the U.S. by continental Europe and Asia), and all the other exciting chapter ending stuff the next decade is bringing, (and what an amazing show that is already turning into!), then you're going get to see some pretty dazzling fireworks as the land turns into a molten furnace from all the comet strikes.
So you'd better back up your hard drives now, kids!
-Fantastic Lad --Run Chicken Little, Run!
It goes back to the days of the german v2, when the volkswagen (KdF-Wagen) had a cross-licensing arrangement with the group headed by W.v.Braun who sent the first rocket into space...
For the same reason the rate piranas (pirhanas?) consume food is denominated in cows.
Leave the gun, take the cannoli -- Clemenza, The Godfather
They use vw's because that's a small car.
Now when you hear a report that a ford expedition is plumetting torwards the earth, that makes you think of armageddon, the end of all life on earth, etc
So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?
Well, one of the scientists brought up the analogy of a bug hitting the windshield when the meteorite struck the ground, and they rest of them took it from there.
"We've made more Bugs than Microsoft!"
A Volkswagen Beetle the size of a small meteor exploded over Stuttgart today. It is believed that the Beetle in question was Germany's entry to the reality TV show, "Junkyard Wars." More specifically, it is believed that the vehicle was the result of the German team to create an economical and easy-to-maintain space shuttle.
The Beetle's flight recorder or "Black Box" was recovered approximately eighteen kilometers from the explosion site, solidly protected from impact and other forms of destruction by being secured inside the spare tire. Data from the recorder is still being analyzed, but it appears that the initial explosion was caused by a mid-air rear-ender collision with another "Junkyard Wars" team entry from Poland; Specifically, a modified Ford Pinto station wagon.
It is fortunate that both vehicles were unmanned drones; No one was killed in the blasts, but the Ford Motor Company and Volkswagen have suspended a planned merger until more is known about the incident...
Bruce Lane, KC7GR,
Blue Feather Technologies
"why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?" ....because they are large, flaming objects that are moving way too fast for their level of structural stability, and will probably wind up colliding with a stationary object or disintegrating in the atmosphere.
this thing practically landed in my back yard! my roommate and my girlfriend were eating dinner and i saw the flash out the balcony door; just figured it was lightning. then i got the tribune the next day and i was like holy mother! crazyness...
the rest is silence...
"So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?"
They're the most familiar car to astronomers, 'cuz they're the only one most of them can afford to drive.
OTOH, aren't VW beatles sort of potato shaped?
See my journal, I write things there
And no, I'm not referring to my Slashdot comments to date.
There goes any hope of self-awareness.
The largest meteorite collected was 7.5 pounds. So why do astronomers always compare the size of meteors to Volkswagen bugs?" That's easy!
If they compared it to say a GM Suburban or Ford Expedition there wouldn't be any astronomers left to be making the comparison.
'Nuff said? (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
To see whether you're a geek or not.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Because a Volkswagen Bug comes at pretty exactly 1000 kg of dry weight.
There goes any hope of self-awareness.
Okay. I have to admit, that was cute. I couldn't think of a single worthy comeback. Plus it made me chuckle.
-Fantastic Lad
Defending against an extinction level event such as the Yucatan strike described by Alvarez et al would be prudent on a scale of megayears, but is difficult to organise on a scale of election years.
Extinction
deep impact
Must be some kind of new album promotion...
if you have owned a vw bug, then about the only thing that will do any meaningful damage to the bug is to throw it down a gravity well; maybe.
i know for a fact that michael mayers, ( of friday the 13th films), weeps with envy on the vw bug's ability to rise from the dead. i have pictures to prove it!
BOFH excuse #247:
Due to Federal Budget problems we have been forced to cut back on the number of users able to access the system at one time. (namely none allowed....)
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