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Asteroid Coming!!! Are we gonna die in 2014? (1 Viewer)

Jack Briggs

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A typical Reuters dispatch picked up by a typical portal for such frivolity: Yahoo.



Then why the sensationalist wire report? Truly, if humanity only had eleven years left to watch Gilligan's Islandreruns I think the news might be receiving more attention. And once the orbit is better understood, those 1-in-900,000 odds are going to get wider.
 

dave_brogli

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yeah but come on.. 1 in 990,000. Those are actually quite GOOD odds.

well kinda.
the chances of getting a Royal Flush (of any suit)
are about 1 in 650,000.
 

BrianW

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yeah but come on.. 1 in 990,000. Those are actually quite GOOD odds.
I would tend to agree, though I would call those odds "relatively good," not "quite good."

Judging the outcome of an event that has a one-in-a-million chance of occurring is meaningless without context. We may run the danger of determining that this possible event doesn’t merit another thought simply because one million is traditionally thought to be a “big” number.

The issue to consider is how the odds of this event occurring compare to the “background risk” we endure every day. And it turns out that at a million to one against this asteroid striking us in 2014, the risk of this asteroid hitting us is about two to four times greater than the risk of being hit by any similarly-sized (or larger) asteroid in any given year.

While this is still no reason to panic (one million is a big number, after all ;)), until subsequent observations further reduce the chances of this asteroid’s collision with Earth, the risk it currently poses is definitely noteworthy.
 

Gary->dee

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I say we take a vote on whether the asteroid should hit us or not. I'm for it hitting us hard enough to crack this planet in half.
 

GARY C

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So there's a asteroid, big deal. It'll burn up in our atmosphere and what's ever left will be no bigger than a Chihuahua's head.

:)
 

Ricardo C

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Didn't we go through this last year? We were in danger of being hit by an asteroid on 2017 or thereabouts, and it was eventually determined that it wasn't on a collision course with earth after all.
 

Grant B

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thank god bruce willis & ben afflict are around to save us!!!
then again J Lo might not let him go out and save the earth if it's his day to mow the lawn
OK we are #$%^&*
 

Peter Kline

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Odds have risen to 2 milllion to one according to a NASA scientist on CNN this afternoon. He said as the days go by more tracking data becomes available.
 

Neil Joseph

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Hmmmm.

Just last night I was watching the National Geographic dealy Impact documentary. Got to love that rocket jointly built by the US and Russia. All I can think of is...
our missiles have failed
as quoted by president Tom Beck in Deep Impact
 

Mat_M

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This is just more fuel for con-artists like the planet-X folk and tarot card folk alike. "Hey let's write books on doomsday, sound like we know what we're talking about, and take advantage of people without common sense!"

And don't even get me started on that nut Jon Edward...sheeeesh
 

Leo Hinze

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What do those odds mean anyway? The odds are 1 in 990,000, but 990,000 of what? Does that mean that out of 990,000 total asteroids that come near the Earth, one will hit? Does that mean out of all of the infinite possibilities of the trajectory of the asteroid, 1 in 990,000 of them lead directly to Earth.

As posters have mentioned, 1 in 990,000 odds are not all that rare. You have less chance of winning most lotteries, and lotteries are won every day. With 6 billion or so people on the planet, do those odds mean that if the asteroid comes anywhere near Earth, 6,000 people will die? I'm not a statistician, and only took an engineering statistics course in college, but I find most 'odds' to be rather ridiculous.

Now give me odds on my favorite horse at the track, and I can understand that:) Which makes me wonder, do Vegas oddmakers take bets on such cataclysmic events?
 

Steve_Tk

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It's the same as the lottery. It's just a probability. They say that instead of saying there is a .000000101 percent chance it will hit us. Just be glad it's not a 1 in 2 chance.

Seems like there is one of these every year. Why worry though, because they have said for every one they see there are probably a lot more that they have not found in the vastness of space. It's a lot of area out there and earth is so small in comparison.

I wouldn't worry. If they say it will hit in one year then start digging a hole, but it would not matter much because everything would die anyway. Just better off to watch it hit, enjoy the fireworks, then shoot yourself, or die in the aftermath, whatever suits your fancy.
 

Matt Butler

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"The odds of successfully navigating an asteriod field is approx 3,720 to 1"

Sorry I couldnt resist. :D
 

Mike Wladyka

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It is not the same as the lottery, the only reason that the lottery is won everday or every other day is because so many people play, therefore it increases the possibility of winning, ie the odds go up....if only one person played the lottery, it would very rarely be won. If the odds for winning the lottery were 1:1,000,000 and one person played then the odds would still be 1:1,000,000, but if a hundred thousand people play (barring duplicate numbers on tickets sold) then the chances would be 1:10 of someone winning the lottery (lottery odds are based on an individual winning, not everyone who plays). So odds of 1:1,000,000 is a very rare occurence...
 

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