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Asteroid anniversary recalls Earth's rocky history

usatoday.com — Summertime — a time for sunny days, beach weekends and of course, leisurely reflections on the end of the world and the monster asteroids that could smack into us. The centennial anniversary of the last big impact, the 1908 Tunguska blast that rocked Siberia, falls Monday, June 30, bringing with it a reminder of the very slight chance that a hunk

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  • InvisibleInk, on 06/30/2008, -3/+4Apophis is coming in 2036. Be ready.
    • DeskFlyer, on 07/01/2008, -1/+2Be ready for what? There is a 1:45000 probability that it will strike Earth on its second approach. For comparison you have a 1:5000 probability of being struck by lightning over the course of your lifetime. I'm more worried about that instead.
      • Jehutes, on 07/01/2008, -3/+1Hmmm....

        I'd probably be more worried about an asteroid that could possibly eradicate the human race through a slow, painful elimination due to blocking out the sun from debris, etc...

        But who doesn't want to see what happens after you die?
      • Epistaxis, on 07/01/2008, -2/+1Sure, the probability that I'll be struck by lightning might be 1:5000, even if that sounds high. But the probability that everyone in the world will be struck by lightning is (1:5000)^(7,000,000,000). That makes 1:45000 seem like a dead certainty.
      • Peck3277, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5I'm more worried about an asteroid that shoots lightning bolts
      • OwdenBowden, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS.
    • GiggleStick, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1@Peck
      For me its the dogs with bees in their mouths, and when they bark they shoot bees at you.
  • Wartyboskfapped, on 07/01/2008, -1/+3Inaccurate. The Tunguska object was never determined to be an asteroid - no one has yet found fragments of the object or any impact craters in the region (although researchers think that Lake Cheko, 8km from the blast epicentre might be a debris crater, but it has far from been proven, it's just a possibility).

    Calling it an asteroid is not accurate, since we don't know that it wasn't one of many other objects.
  • hollyminkowski, on 07/01/2008, -0/+5We must populate Mars as a refuge for humans if the worst should ever happen.
    We need to be a 2 planet society.
    • Castor385, on 07/01/2008, -0/+4We need to populate a planet outside the solar system. Just in case the sun explodes.
  • Premier, on 07/01/2008, -0/+1har har har I get it
  • S1c0, on 07/01/2008, -0/+2I always find this interesting regarding the timing of events....but who knows....

    http://www.tfcbooks.com/articles/tunguska.htm
    http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg17623644.800 ...

  • 2cul2name, on 07/01/2008, -3/+0I think that it was a NEAR (near earth object).
    we must all beware! another asteroid can kill us this second!
    visit my website at http://2cul2name.webs.com

  • musntSurfatWork, on 07/01/2008, -0/+0Landed exactly where Diablo was last killed.(again)
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