Wouldn’t you rather waste a trillion dollars blowing up earthbound space debris than on killing Iraqis?
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
Let’s start day like this.
It’s beautiful out.
We could annex today’s flyby asteroid as the 51st state.
And we could give it Oklahoma’s senators. Or Utah’s.
And send them to their new residences?
well, they’d have to do some constituent outreach, obviously.
Depends on who got the contract for blowing up the space debris.
As for the Iraqis, the big problem is those were postwar development contracts that were supposed to fix the power plants, upgrade the infrastructure, fund education for girls, and restore the oil engine of prosperity. Isn’t that what we were told in the days before Freedom looted the Iraqi museum?
Silly Booman, we need that trillion to buy hundreds of 5th generation fighter jets with all the bells and whistles, which also don’t work and won’t be used in any 21st conflict. Obviously.
wasn’t there something about a possible beach landing on SC shores?
Getting your wingnut Carolinas confused again?
SC has basic for Army and Marines and a Navy base that ports nuclear subs.
NC has a fighter squadron, airborne and special forces, and marines. A beach landing in NC or airborne drop in NC would not be noticed. Used to be a frequent practice exercise.
No doubt NC legislators are afraid of this training being interrupted by the attack of the 50-foot booby (that’s a cinema reference).
Asteroid Apophis is scheduled to make a very close flyby on April 13, 2029, then again on April 13, 2036. That’s the one we need to watch carefully and probably spend some money on, in a coordinated major effort, is my hunch.
And no, I don’t believe Nasa’s claims that the asteroid will pose no danger either time.
I might reconsider if I see the Russian, Chinese and Euro scientists — including those independent of their govts — also downplaying the threat.
But generally, better to be safe than sorry, a lesson we failed to learn re global warming and CO2.
Btw, did any Nasa or other Terra scientists warn ahead of time about yesterday’s meteor debris impact in Russia?
NASA didn’t warn about yesterday because the meteor was about the size of a kitchen table, far too small to be seen before it became a danger. It’s a very different situation from the asteroids that might endanger the planet. Personally, I think they ought to claim that the asteroids are a serious threat and use the public reaction to force an increase in the science budget.
According to a couple of reports, it was much larger than a kitchen table, some 15 meters across and weighing 7k metric tons. Another report at NatGeo Newswatch said it was the size of a small truck.
And it was the largest object to strike the Earth since Tunguska, also oddly in Russia, in 1908.
We definitely need more investment in detecting objects of this size.
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Early reports mentioned this rumor by locals in Russia, reminiscent of Soviet era. There was great consternation/confusion and some believed Russia was under attack or even “the end of the world.” Seems like a first reaction by Russian officials, we are in full control, we took care of it by a missile strike. We cannot be surprised by an attack from the sky. Astonishing event.