What is Digg?98 Comments
- naruto2372, on 06/28/2008, -1/+39House how about passing a bill that will protect us from our own government
- inactive, on 06/28/2008, -3/+27Ron Paul would not intervene on the right for asteroids to travel freely in space.
- Foot56, on 06/28/2008, -8/+31I’m glad the house is working so hard to lower gas prices, get us out of Iraq, and protect us from terrorism and other tidbits.
- nblsavage, on 06/28/2008, -1/+22From the article - "The House of Representatives just passed bill H.R. 6063, directing NASA to come up with plans for a cheap mission to send a craft to the Apophis asteroid to attach a tracking device. Apophis is on route to come closer to Earth than geostational satellites in 2029, and if it smacked into the planet we'd be a little bit screwed."
I don't see the problem with this bill. It's not like Earth hasn't been smacked by some good sized rocks before. - inactive, on 06/28/2008, -1/+16I wonder how many ear marks are in this beauty.
- miriv365, on 06/28/2008, -3/+18Rusty Griswold: Ya' got Asteroids?
Cousin Dale: Naw, but my dad does. Can't even sit on the toilet some days. - FordSVT1, on 06/28/2008, -0/+14NASA bashing? Check.
Comments about what the government should be doing? Check?
People who think there are three or four issues that the government should "take care of" before they talk about anything else whatsoever? Check.
Carry on.... - sambapati87, on 06/28/2008, -3/+15Now they can focus on those trivial problems, like oil prices, the economy, or the war in the middle east!
- phorty40, on 06/28/2008, -1/+11And you'd think we'd have done it sooner , seeing as what happened with the dinosaurs and all.
Or was that a comet...perhaps a meteor...oh well. - offthewagon, on 06/28/2008, -0/+9In all seriousness, out of all possible natural disasters this seems like the easiest to prevent. Why not spend a few bucks to work up something? Some people are just so damn cynical when it comes to the government they'd oppose a bill to prevent baby rape.
- inactive, on 06/28/2008, -1/+10If they did nothing we'd likely be better off.
- ajwinder, on 06/28/2008, -1/+9Can't we just park the asteroids in Guantanamo?
- pyronik, on 06/28/2008, -0/+7A lot of people who are complaining about there being very real and large problems including oil, war, middle east, climate change (possibly), race, poverty, etc have a legitimate point but we've been dealing with major world issues since the beginning of civilization. This does not change the fact that very real species ending threats end and that we need to set aside our difference and find a way to protect our planet in the short term and figure out how to get off it in the long term.
We need to start worrying about this stuff now, cause the threats aren't going away. If there ever was a "social" cause that should be funded by tax payer dollars this would be it. - RajAtWork, on 06/28/2008, -0/+7believe it or not, he did vote "no"
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/ho ... - jemcneill, on 06/28/2008, -3/+8Surprised it wasn't a non-binding resolution asking the asteroids kindly not to hit us.
- inactive, on 06/28/2008, -0/+5You're assuming their actions will make things better ... not worse.
- SevenC, on 06/28/2008, -1/+6Ron Paul voted against it
Source: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2008/roll421.xml
The House vote: yes 409, no 15, no vote, 9
This funding for NEO research is just a tiny part of the bill.
Bill summary: http://science.house.gov/press/PRArticle.aspx?News ...
Full text:
http://www.rules.house.gov/110/text/110_hr6063.pdf
My guess is that Ron Paul voted against it since he probably feels NASA should be private rather than government funded. - inactive, on 06/28/2008, -3/+8Sorry but I take issue with "mediocre", it was a great film.
http://www.blockbuster.com/catalog/movieDetails/11 ...
http://www.netflix.com/Search?v1=Armageddon - thorseth, on 06/28/2008, -0/+5There seem to be a general lack of understanding of the difference between probability and risk.
Risk = probability of event * loss per event
Giant asteroid hitting earth:
?? = very very small probability of event * loss in case of event, near infinite - chocula78, on 06/28/2008, -1/+6This is actually a serious threat. There are more people working at one Mcdondalds than there are looking for near earth asteroids on possible collision courses. It would only take a rock the size of house to cause some pretty cataclysmic events.
Besides, you could do more to lower gas prices by not driving so much. The house can't control the entire global economy with the snap of Pelosi's fingers. - scotishstriker, on 06/28/2008, -0/+5what about Cheney's death star?
- djholybolt, on 06/28/2008, -1/+6Trump.
WOOOOSH. - inactive, on 06/28/2008, -1/+6We might be protected against the Monsters Astroids of 'Armageddon' but what about the comets of 'Deep Impact'?
... which doesn't even take into account the 'Independence Day' Aliens. - evilcaptain, on 06/28/2008, -2/+6When you work out the odds of dying by an asteroid, it's about 1 in 20000. The same odds of dying in an air crash.
This Ted talk by Stephen Petranek is well worth a watch.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/stephen_petrane ... - thorseth, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4The odds of dying when a Texas sized asteroid hits earth is much higher than if you actually sit in a crashing plane... go figure.
- cknyan, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4As long as they play aerosmith when they're blowing the meteor up(or just nudging it). ;D
- inactive, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4wasting loads and loads more of tax payer money at record speed on pork projects for their buddies?
- twiztidsinz, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4I can.....
.....but I won't - insanebrain, on 06/28/2008, -0/+4no
- xexx, on 06/28/2008, -0/+3Stop being so short sighted. Even ignoring all the technological developments we've gotten from NASA, space travel and colonization is the future of the human race. We'll need somewhere to go after all us idiots ***** the planet up enough.
- DavidThaGnome, on 06/28/2008, -0/+3I wonder who bankrolled the movie Armageddon? Oil drillers save the earth....
- majordanger, on 06/28/2008, -5/+8WARNING All you errant heavenly bodies !
It is NOW against the LAW to crash into Earth..
(At least that green .. no.. brown part with all the McDonald's signs) - Lazydriver, on 06/28/2008, -0/+3Nice.
- Ramble, on 06/28/2008, -0/+3Why? He got to hit that hot girl.
- Ramble, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2Armageddon is famous for throwing science out of the window completely, it's often brought up when talking about asteroids.
- NeoNcP, on 06/28/2008, -1/+3I can shoot the asteroids, I have training.
- xexx, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2At least it wasn't authorization for invasion of the asteroid with the intent of bringing democracy... minerals deserve their voices to be heard too you know.
- docbob84, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2Ask the dinosaurs how that last smack worked out for them. I'm glad they're doing *something*, even if it's just lip service.
- didgital, on 06/30/2008, -0/+2Sadly, dinosaurs died off slower than the extinction event we're presently in.
- senator32, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2Here is all the information regarding HR6063 - http://www.statesurge.com/bills/352657
- sgbeal, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2"...to come up with plans for a cheap mission..."
So humanity is worth saving, but only if it won't cost the taxpayers too much. - Scynet, on 06/28/2008, -0/+2Meteoroids are pieces of asteroids or comets. If a meteoroid hits Earth's crust, it's called a meteorite. If it merely burns in the atmosphere, it's a meteor (shooting star).
- virtualonliner, on 06/28/2008, -2/+4Wow. Now I feel safe if some asteroid decides to hit me. Show me what you got asteroid!
- fsuarez2005, on 06/28/2008, -0/+1make sure the safety's on
- roliver, on 06/28/2008, -0/+1Oh please let it hit! the population needs to be thinned a bit
- inactive, on 06/28/2008, -0/+1Hey, I like meatloaf!
- andyd273, on 06/30/2008, -0/+1What do you think this is? France?
- Hetman, on 06/28/2008, -0/+1animal right?
- TheInformer, on 06/28/2008, -1/+2So the House will take care of business when it comes to asteroids, but they won't when it comes to making us more independent, oil wise? No wonder this Congress has an approval rating less than half of George Bush's.
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