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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to
heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. John Savard |
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
Quadibloc:
Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. Are we "meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something?" -- I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that you will say in your entire life. usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm |
#3
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thursday, 16 February 2017 06:31:42 UTC+1, Davoud wrote:
Quadibloc: Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. Are we "meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something?" It is optional unless you are a child. Then you should never put any bag over your head[s.] I suppose a tinfoil tricorn is now considered old hat? The tinfoil hat went so well with denim flares and polo necks. It all seems so/like yesterday now. |
#4
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 00:31:40 -0500, Davoud wrote:
Quadibloc: Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. Are we "meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something?" I learned in school that getting under your desk and putting your hands behind your neck could be effective. (Seriously though, it is not entirely outside our power to take action to prevent such a strike, so there may well be value in expanding awareness of the possibility.) |
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7:09:34 AM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:
(Seriously though, it is not entirely outside our power to take action to prevent such a strike, so there may well be value in expanding awareness of the possibility.) I admit that, but because the prospect of an asteroid impact is so remote, and the general public has other priorities... it seems to me that an "Asteroid Day" to raise general awareness is not a direction likely to yield much in the way of useful results. John Savard |
#6
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 09:39:17 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
wrote: On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 7:09:34 AM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote: (Seriously though, it is not entirely outside our power to take action to prevent such a strike, so there may well be value in expanding awareness of the possibility.) I admit that, but because the prospect of an asteroid impact is so remote, and the general public has other priorities... it seems to me that an "Asteroid Day" to raise general awareness is not a direction likely to yield much in the way of useful results. True. All the same there are more than 100 UN international days, and hundreds more established by different countries. Most are just symbolic commemorations of something or another. Symbols are not without power, even if that power is very small. |
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
Quadibloc:
Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. Davoud: Are we "meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something?" Chris L Peterson: I learned in school that getting under your desk and putting your hands behind your neck could be effective. Yes, that's true. Fact is, there was a genuine target 19 linear miles NNW (upwind) of my elementary school‹the Irvin Works, which was the largest rolling mill (sheet steel) in the world in the 1950s, and which is still a good-sized mill today https://www.ussteel.com/uss/portal/h...s/company-faci lites-irvinplant-west%20mifflinpa/. An air burst would have destroyed a high percentage of the U.S. capacity to make sheet steel, disrupted Monongahela River traffic, and destroyed important rail lines on both sides of the river. I had done my homework and I told the principal that we were pretty safe from the blast, but that radiation could be a hazard in an upwind blast. I suggested that the school line the floor with lead and that the students all go to the basement cafeteria. That suggestion was not acted upon. The real problem was in telling the kids that the Irvin Works was a target, as numerous kids' dads worked there and they were frightened to tears. Others, including me, took comfort in the fact that their dads were a couple of hundred feet underground in a coal mine for 8 to 10 hours each day. Some hope. (Seriously though, it is not entirely outside our power to take action to prevent such a strike, so there may well be value in expanding awareness of the possibility.) You're right. But the only invisible things most people believe in are UFOs, ghosts, and gods. An event that hasn't happened in human history is unlikely to get people fired up to spend a $trillion or so for a detection and defense system. Tunguska doesn't count; "nobody" knows about it. -- I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that you will say in your entire life. usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm |
#8
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 1:19:42 PM UTC-6, Davoud wrote:
Quadibloc: Just heard on the news that the UN is proclaiming an annual Asteroid Day to heighten awareness of the possibility of an asteroid striking the Earth. Davoud: Are we "meant to lie down or put a paper bag over our head or something?" Chris L Peterson: I learned in school that getting under your desk and putting your hands behind your neck could be effective. Yes, that's true. Fact is, there was a genuine target 19 linear miles NNW (upwind) of my elementary school逆he Irvin Works, which was the largest rolling mill (sheet steel) in the world in the 1950s, and which is still a good-sized mill today https://www.ussteel.com/uss/portal/h...s/company-faci lites-irvinplant-west%20mifflinpa/. An air burst would have destroyed a high percentage of the U.S. capacity to make sheet steel, disrupted Monongahela River traffic, and destroyed important rail lines on both sides of the river. I had done my homework and I told the principal that we were pretty safe from the blast, but that radiation could be a hazard in an upwind blast. I suggested that the school line the floor with lead and that the students all go to the basement cafeteria. That suggestion was not acted upon. The real problem was in telling the kids that the Irvin Works was a target, as numerous kids' dads worked there and they were frightened to tears. Others, including me, took comfort in the fact that their dads were a couple of hundred feet underground in a coal mine for 8 to 10 hours each day. Some hope. (Seriously though, it is not entirely outside our power to take action to prevent such a strike, so there may well be value in expanding awareness of the possibility.) You're right. But the only invisible things most people believe in are UFOs, ghosts, and gods. An event that hasn't happened in human history is unlikely to get people fired up to spend a $trillion or so for a detection and defense system. Tunguska doesn't count; "nobody" knows about it. -- I agree with almost everything that you have said and almost everything that you will say in your entire life. usenet *at* davidillig dawt cawm You forgot Zombies. Oh wait, they're not invisible. never mind. |
#9
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:19:38 -0500, Davoud wrote:
An event that hasn't happened in human history is unlikely to get people fired up to spend a $trillion or so for a detection and defense system. Tunguska doesn't count; "nobody" knows about it. True enough. But let it happen just once and see how much money we'll throw at it. We're very good at dealing (or attempting to deal) with foreseeable problems once the actually bite us. I believe that Clarke's novel _Rendezvous with Rama_ started with a good chunk of Italy being destroyed by a small asteroid, resulting in the development of an asteroid detection system that ended up detecting an incoming spacecraft instead (that spacecraft having been fashioned from an asteroid, however). |
#10
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June 30th is Asteroid Day!
On Thursday, February 16, 2017 at 5:07:50 PM UTC-7, Chris L Peterson wrote:
True enough. But let it happen just once and see how much money we'll throw at it. We're very good at dealing (or attempting to deal) with foreseeable problems once the actually bite us. Of course, just *one* asteroid equivalent to the one that killed the dinosaurs, if it hits, would leave none of us around to worry about, let alone deal with, the next one. And a *lesser* strike might cause enough economic damage to lessen our means to create a system to defend against asteroids, even if it meant we now had the will. Global warming is another problem that is even more urgent, though. John Savard |
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