There's a greater chance that one (or more) of the stars within about 6000 light years or so could give off a gamma ray burst that would wipe out any life in the solar system, no matter where we hid it. It's been postulated the previous-to-the-Yucatan-asteroid large scale die-offs could have happened due to GRB.

Interesting read, but I'm surprised that there was no mention of the Holocene extinction. Given the current rate of extinction, especially of plants, we could be looking at a complete ecological collapse in the not too distant future. It seems like a more serious existential threat than asteroids or rampant AI in that it's actually happening as opposed to something that might happen or could happen.

And then we'll all bitch about the stupid campers and their asteroids.

Is now classified as an Asteroid

The sky IS falling! Could it be associated with the asteroid fly-by Friday? [it's still Thursday here]. Scary

I got a long list of needs gotta satisfy 'em all
And the first on the list is a bag of Tylenol
Cause I'm stressed out thinking I don't have the time at all
To get my shopping done, let me start here, on the top at one

First, I need to check my e-mail
Oh shit, yahoo front page news, another celebrity female
That had a wedding recently, the marriage epicly failed
I need to click the link because I need to get the details

Soon as I click it I'm hit with a little ad
That reminds me of a need that I already had
It's an absolute must have need it really bad
Before I read the story I be rushing out of my pad

Now I'm in my car speeding cause I'm itching to find
A Mickey D's drive through so I can sit in the line
Gotta get in it in time, can't waste a minute of time
The McRib's only there for a limited time

And then I'm hit with a sign, that makes a switch in my mind
Reminding me of a need of a different kind
A brightly colored advertisement on a bus bench
Makes me head to Target to pick up tents

Cause tomorrow they're coming out with Call of Duty 84
And it's a necessity I camp out at the store
You never know they might never fucking make any more
I'm gonna rush to the front when they open the door
And trample over any people that fall down on the floor
This ain't a game, this is war
If you produce it I'll consume it if you shove it down my freaking throat
Everybody else got it, I don't wanna miss the boat

[Hook x2]
It's a lot of shit I really really need
And I need to get all of it at a really fast speed
I'm aware I'm a puppet of another man's greed
I don't care, I'm in love with all this shit I really need

[Verse 2]

My duffle bag is packed
With my phone, and my pod, my shuffle, pad, and mac
Got all of my i's dotted, if they made it I got it
And I'mma open my wallet for the next iProduct

Gotta try to give them all that I can bruh
Cause every phone that I own needs to have multiple cameras
And my last one only had one
How can I be seen from boths sides of the screen, I mean

If I don't desperately plead and request for my upgrade
I'll definitely bleed to death or die of AIDS
I need better resolution, more gigs!
Angry birds is old, I need war pigs!

I need to tell the landlord as far as what is concerned
I gave Apple every cent that I earned
So I'mma be late, now I need a Tecate
To deflate this stress caused by not letting my needs wait

[Hook]

"God damn man I just need to relax, watch some late night TV
Aw infomercials... Aw fuck I need all this shit too!"

[Verse 3]

I got a lot of insecurities, use 'em to attack me
I'm going bald, getting fat, plus I got acne
I'm looking like a combination of all the before pics
Please pretty please let me make you more rich

Cause I need to get over whatever it is that I'm sick from
List some symptoms, I bet I could pick one
Yeah I got the fifth one, out of 45
Stomach aches, surely I need that particular drug to take

The terrorists got me scared as shit
Time to buy a terror kit, with a mask for air in it
God bless my soul, I need to invest in gold
The economy as we know it is about to fucking fold

And we're all gonna die if I don't fucking buy
All the oil's running dry, asteroids from the sky
Who am I, where am I, what am I, I just need to fucking find
The nearest Wal-Mart that's got a gun to buy

>> ^grinter:

>> ^EvilDeathBee:
>> ^grinter:
Shopping carts with swiveling rear wheels are F@$^king stupid!

They're much easier to control in the store, but harder to control in the parking lot, and vice versa for ones that swivel just at the front. I miss the all 4 swivelling trolleys they have in Australia.

I'm seriously not trying to get into an argument about shopping cart design. And I respect your attachment to Aussie swivelcarts. Still, I have to disagree on the point that they are easier to control in the store. When you have a cart with four swivel casters filled with a heavy load, and you get it up to speed, those wheels provide no assistance when you try to redirect the cart's momentum around a corner. It's a danger to shins and container goods.
It's like you are hurtling out of control in the ship from the game Asteroids rather than swooping around in an X-Wing.


You just need practice. After a while, you'll be jumping on the back wheels and drifting sideways down the aisles like a pro

>> ^EvilDeathBee:

>> ^grinter:
Shopping carts with swiveling rear wheels are F@$^king stupid!

They're much easier to control in the store, but harder to control in the parking lot, and vice versa for ones that swivel just at the front. I miss the all 4 swivelling trolleys they have in Australia.


I'm seriously not trying to get into an argument about shopping cart design. And I respect your attachment to Aussie swivelcarts. Still, I have to disagree on the point that they are easier to control in the store. When you have a cart with four swivel casters filled with a heavy load, and you get it up to speed, those wheels provide no assistance when you try to redirect the cart's momentum around a corner. It's a danger to shins and container goods.
It's like you are hurtling out of control in the ship from the game Asteroids rather than swooping around in an X-Wing.

>> ^Yogi:

It's an eco-disaster? I wouldn't think it could be that bad seeing as it's in a horrible wasteland of a desert. It makes sense it would harm the ocean near it though. I was more concerned as you said about the human rights aspect and the slave labor used to build it.


Wastelands are a result of an imbalance in a biosphere. They are usually a result of human interaction within an ecosystem, or occasionally large asteroids/meteors. Deserts are not wastelands, they have some of the most diverse and adaptive lifeforms on the planet.

Yes, fucking up a desert is still considered causing an Eco-disaster.

As for the slave labor... 95% of our goods in North America are from sweat shops over seas. Who are we to pass judgment on ethical practices overseas when we endorse those same practices in every consumer product we purchase?

There is a good reason I find it harder to sleep as each new night approaches.

Edit: dammit that made me bitter. It's a good video of people having fun.

This seems like an inefficient way of landing considering how much it costs to take shit into space. I guess if you're going to the moon or an asteroid where there is no atmosphere it's the only way, but not for rockets putting things in earth orbit or space station resupply.

The pastor says "Jesus said these were some of the signs of the end of the age". He must be referring to the age of planetary bombardment... He should have seen this place a few billion years ago.

>> ^Sagemind:

Just for fun: http://www.baja.tv/watch/video/2RKg-TkiA-s/may-29-
2012-near-miss-asteroid-2012-kt42-whaaaat/
I can't bring myself to post this.... (idiot)

Just for fun: http://www.baja.tv/watch/video/2RKg-TkiA-s/may-29-2012-near-miss-asteroid-2012-kt42-whaaaat/

I can't bring myself to post this.... (idiot)

2012 KT42 is an asteroid discovered by Alex R. Gibbs of the Mt. Lemmon Survey (part of the Catalina Sky Survey) with a 1.5-m reflector + CCD on May 28, 2012. The asteroid had a close approach to the Earth on May 29, 2012, approaching to only Distance: ~8950 miles / ~14,440 km above the planet's surface. This means 2012 KT42 came inside the Clarke Belt of geosynchronous satellites. As of May 28, 2012, the estimated 5 to 10 meter wide asteroid ranked #6 on the top 20 list of closest-approaches to Earth. There was no danger of a collision during the close approach. 2012 KT42 will pass roughly 0.01 AU (1,500,000 km; 930,000 mi) from Venus on 2012 July 8.[3]

It is estimated that an impact would produce an upper atmosphere air burst equivalent to 11 kt TNT,[4] roughly equal to Hiroshima's Little Boy. The asteroid would be vaporized as these small impacts occur approximately once per year. A comparable-sized object caused the Sutter's Mill meteorite in California on 2012 April 22. It was removed from the Sentry Risk Table on 2012 May 30.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_KT42

Just a few decades ago, most scientists thought the idea of asteroids crashing to Earth to be ludicrous. Today, this same idea isan accepted fact. Not only do asteroids fall to Earth, but more are being discovered every day. Yesterday, one of these newly-discovered asteroids just buzzed Earth. Coincidentally, this comes just days after NASA said that thenear-Earth asteroid population was larger than previously thought.

Monday, asteroid 2012KP24, which is about 69 feet across, came within about 32,000 miles ofEarth, well within the Moon’s orbit. Yesterday, asteroid 2012KT42 came within a mere 9,000 miles of Earth. In a fact thatmay be especially disconcerting tosome, the time span between discovery and close approach for the second asteroid was only a day! Talk about next to no warning.

Now for the good news: the asteroids were small and even if either were to collide with the Earth, they may not even have been large enough to survive the descent through the atmosphere,burning up in a spectacular fireball instead. Still, though, the fact that an asteroid can sneak up on us out of space with only afew days notice is the troubling part of this whole situation.

It is a perfectly logical idea that an asteroid could, one day, destroy life as we know it on Earth. The good news is that scientists are busy developing plans to avert doomsday. The problem is this: in these doomsday prevention plans, the time frame for a response is typically, at the least, months, notdays. With only a couple of days notice and with current technology, it would probably be impossible to do anything to save the planet and our civilization.

Read more: http://scienceray.com/astronomy/pair-of-asteroids-justbuzzed-earth/#ixzz1yT02pGAK (watch for pop-up ads)