There’s an asteroid heading towards Earth. It’s named 2012 DA14 — it was named after its great-grandfather, I assume — and discovered by Spanish astronomers about a year ago.
Oh, it’s not going to hit the Earth. It’ll come within 17,000 miles of the planet, but that’s as close as it will get … this time.
Those of you who were hoping for a killer asteroid to destroy the planet would’ve been disappointed anyway. Had it hit Earth, it would have created a blast roughly equal to the Tunguska event. Hardly a planet killer.
So, if you want to witness to destruction of civilization as we know it, you’ll have to settle for watching Obama on the news.
So that was the purpose of the one-trillion-dollar coin: to put in the giant Asteroids machine they’ve been building.
(New bumper sticker: If rail guns cost a trillion dollars, only trillionaires will have rail guns.)
“Those of you who were hoping for a killer asteroid to destroy the planet would’ve been disappointed anyway.”
So, OK. How about just Washington D.C.? Is that too much to ask for?
If it exploded directly over the Washington Monument, it might even leave it standing. Washington (the president) was kinda awesome, so I’d hate to lose his obelisk.
Has anybody else been wondering about these asteroid prospecting companies that have lately become fashionable? Do they really want to mine asteroids? Or, do they want to drop them on the heads of people who won’t pay the ransom?
Damn, next time he’ll have to shoot marbles at under the ninety light-year mark.
But… while everyone focuses their attention on this measly 150 footer, diving out of the sun from the opposite direction, unseen and unexpected, comes… (fill-in-the-blank). 😉