So, a large asteroid is going to wave at us as it passes tonight, which means there will be a few news and talk shows that will give it a brief mention. It won't get nearly the attention that Britney Spears or her sister will receive, but hey. It'll get some attention. A recent NASA study found that there are "...about 20,000 asteroids and comets orbiting relatively close to our planet that could deliver blows ranging from destroying cities to ending all life."

So you'd think that this would be important to the government, especially NASA, in terms of funding and focus. I mean, no matter what some scientific oddsmakers might say, the undeniable facts are:

1. Earth has been getting pelted by these things for billions of years.
2. We will always be at risk of getting pelted by these things in the future.

So it's more than a little alarming/bewildering that this, of all government-funded projects, is perilously underfunded.

Chorus: WTF?

We waste tens of billions on a variety of futile programs and projects every year, but when we go back to ye olde pockets to fund a program to locate and analyze these things, we pull out lint. It's as if foresight itself is not understood. It wouldn't even be particularly expensive to do it.

At least Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart is trying. Read this (2 pages), join the chorus. There's nothing "alarmist" about funding and committing to a program like this. It's about logic, reason, preparation, and millions of species. You'd think that something so obviously important would be taken care of...

Labels: annoyed, politics

Maybe I should try installing more exhaust fans.

Labels: Ha

Or a lowatus.

Blogging was once cathartic for me, at least to an extent. It had started to feel...sorta chore-like. I now have a backlog of bookmarks that reaches to Neptune.

We'll see where it goes from here.

Hellooooo.....?

Is there anybody Out there? (Out there...out there...out there....)

Labels: at home