Hi Ray, Thanks for the URLs on N17. I think many others besides myself must have choked on their early morning cup of tea yesterday because the BBC went out of their way to interview several other astronomers during the rest of the morning who said that if an impact were likely then it would be quite feasible, one way or another, of deflecting it, and that there was sufficient time for doing this before 2019.
Apparently the asteroid is of such a size that the location and timing of an impact could be calculated to within a few feet and a few seconds. Although I was whimsical yesterday when I wrote: <<<< If further observations confirm the likelihood of an impact then it might not be a bad thing at all. It might just possibly concentrate the minds of our politicians into thinking constructively about the planet as a whole. >>>> . . . I am beginning to think now that it would be an extremely good thing if calculations showed that it would smack right into some large populated area. For one thing, as scientists work out and develop the method by which the asteroid would be deflected, then the status of science could be restored to what it used to be before a dumbed-down deficiently-educated generation of people in the developed world had degraded it. For another, if the epicentre could be placed on a city in the Arab bloc -- such as Cairo, Tehran, Lahore or even, so help me, Baghdad -- then perhaps there might be such gratitude to the Americans (who would surely develop and finance the deflection project) that the Arab countries might freely give the rest of their oil and gas so that all Aemricans could drive their own personal SUV at no cost for the rest of their natural lives, rather than otherwise defend their resources in what seems to be an almost certain Middle East war in the next year or two, if Bush has his way, which would cost thousands, perhaps millions, of lives. But, as someone wrote the other day in one of our newspapers (I've forgotten which now), Americans have no sense of irony -- though I must add that American writers on FW have such an advanced case of it that I'm often at a complete loss to understand them. Keith ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ Keith Hudson, General Editor, Handlo Music, http://www.handlo.com 6 Upper Camden Place, Bath BA1 5HX, England Tel: +44 1225 312622; Fax: +44 1225 447727; mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ________________________________________________________________________
