A Near Miss

Now this is scary.

Astronomers have revealed how they came within minutes of alerting the world to a potential asteroid strike last month.
Some scientists believed on 13 January that a 30m object, later designated 2004 AS1, had a one-in-four chance of hitting the planet within 36 hours.

It could have caused local devastation and the researchers contemplated a call to President Bush before new data finally showed there was no danger.

Can you imagine that press briefing?

President Bush: “Al Queda is no longer content to try and use conventional weapons of mass destruction against those who love freedom. Now they’ve figured out a way to use interstellular meteororical weapons against us. They may pound us with asteroids, but they will ultimately lose. As of tomorrow morning at 9:00 a.m., we’re at war with Mars.”

John Kerry: “I have no idea what to do. I never had to fight meteors in Vietnam. You guys do know I was in Vietnam, right?”

I myself think we should go ahead and get a shuttle ready for Bruce Willis, just to be prepared.