NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit" - Gizmodo Comments

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

-Core- — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 08:49:48 EDT

You know what? I don't think Nasa would tell us anyways, even if it were going to hit.

As usual an government agency likes to keep its secrets.(Not a bad thing per say,because there are some things I don't want to know) Plus it would probably cause mass panic. So Nasa would probably try to handle the problem covertly.

And then when they screwed up, they would then let us know.

-Core-

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

hnkelley — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 04:52:36 EDT

@Hello_Newman: Not all, just the Mayan and those closely associated with it. Nostradamus is so vague, so difficult to translate, that his so-called predictions amount to nothing more than a glorified daily horoscope. The Christian Bible tells of the end, but no dates, just 'signs' which may or may not be happening. Same for Native American myths. Nope. Nothing to fear but regular, every day humanity and the common natural disaster.

Nothing here to see folks. Please move along.

hnkelley

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GOKOR — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 19:52:41 EDT

@Curves: Unless this 13 year old kid who has likely had a year of pre-algebra and earth science is some super genious, I'd much rather trust and believe a large group of highly educated, highly intelligent scientists that are among the very brightest in their field.

GOKOR

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

vertigo — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:40:21 EDT

We landed on the moon?!!!?

vertigo

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Jesus Diaz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:50:46 EDT

@kydrice: Are you on drugs?

Jesus Diaz

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

kydrice — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 14:16:14 EDT

I'm not saying that the German kid is right but I have to keep in mind that the asteroid isn't due for a few decades so even if it was on a collision course with the Earth there is no way Nasa would reveal this so early which would just cause mass chaos and who knows what would happen. I think Nasa is just biding time to see wtf they can do about this. Perhaps this whole "Mission to Mars" thing that they've been so at arms about has an ulterior motive? Perhaps they're going to try moving the asteroid from Mars or blow it up from there which would give it time to deflect from Earth. Or it could just mean that they're trying to colonize Mars and screw the rest of us here while they sit on their Martian lawn enjoying the fireworks show.

kydrice

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Blake Ruff — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:49:01 EDT

Watch, NASA's going to be completely wrong and we will be that less than 1% that gets hit.

Blake Ruff

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

.tox — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 13:04:42 EDT

To save myself from losing faith in humanity, I believe NASA 100%

.tox

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Tayng — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 12:25:01 EDT

Rock you like a comit.

Tayng

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

DJRob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:47:27 EDT

I guess nobody else is going to say it so I may as well. Isn't it Butthead that should be calling Beavis the dumbass, not the other way around? Sheesh. Am I wrong to expect more accuracy for 90's cable tv cartoon references? I think not. For shame gizmodo.. for shame :-)
And back to the actual story, seemed like I saw all of this play out on this weeks "the big bang theory"

DJRob

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

DJRob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:45:46 EDT

I guess nobody els is going to say it so I may as well. Isn't Butthead that should be calling Beavis the dumbass, not the other way around? Sheesh. Am I wrong to expect more accuracy for 90's cable tv cartoon references? I think not. For shame gizmodo.. for shame :-)
And back to the actual story, seemed like I saw all of this play out on this weeks "the big bang theory"

DJRob

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

totoro — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:20:10 EDT

Unfortunately, true news reporting, died with the advent of the 5 sec. sound bite, news shows like 20/20 and balanced reporting such as Fox News.

The days of reporters digging for facts to back stories before publication are long dead. As a result we should always wonder what the true story is.

Like most Americans, I and our news media, trust our government and what they tell us. Our government would never lie to us, twist facts or do something that was not in our best interest, whatever they decide that is.

How did we become such tools?

totoro

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

totoro — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 10:04:10 EDT

Yes the net jumps on stories too quickly. And because Journalism died with the creation of shows like 20/20, the 5 second sound bite and Fox News - we no longer can look at any news story without wondering what the true story is.

With that said - I like most americans, and news organizations, trust my government to tell me the truth, and that they would do things only in our best interest and safety. I believe everything they say, because they never have lied to us. Baaaaah.

totoro

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

DJRob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:23:50 EDT

I guess nobody else is gonna say it so I may as well. Isn't it Butthead that should be calling Beavis the dumbass, not the other way around? Sheesh. Am I wrong to expect more accuracy for 90's cable tv cartoon references? I think not. For shame gizmodo.. for shame :-)
And back to the actual story, seemed like I saw all of this play out on this weeks "the big bang theory"

DJRob

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

DJRob — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:19:39 EDT

I guess nobody else is gonna say it so I may as well. Isn't it Butthead that should be calling Beavis the dumbass, & not the other way around? Sheesh. Am I wrong to expect more accuracy for my 90's cable tv cartoon references? I think not. For shame gizmodo.. for shame :-)
And back to the actual story, seemed like I saw all of this play out on this weeks "the big bang theory"

DJRob

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Curves — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 06:27:15 EDT

I think the kid has guts speaking up, and I hope some neutral third party is checking the math on both sides. I dont have faith in our government to tell us the truth any more. That in and of itself is a tragedy.

Curves

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

hanswurst0815 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:20:18 EDT

Love the Scorpions shirt.

hanswurst0815

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

citizen024 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:49:49 EDT

they just don't want to admit they missed two decimals, hmmm....remember when they confused metric and imperial units......

citizen024

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Markii — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:27:51 EDT

science ...meh

Markii

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

mattbrown — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 04:23:04 EDT

Thanks for reminding me about Liquid TV. MYSPLEEEENN!!!

mattbrown

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Hello_Newman — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:43:22 EDT

All ancient calendars end in 2012 which is ahead of this guys agenda, just wait for the end and suck it up. Everything indicates a large flood so just get used to it and stop your crying.

Hello_Newman

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Hardcore1 — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 02:40:01 EDT

This 13 year old kid refuted the facts of world renowned scientists and tried to come up with his own manufactured 'science'? This kid has a bright future......as our future president.

Hardcore1

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

icelight — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:30:14 EDT

@trrosen: Yes, they can and do on a regular basis. You might not be able to, but NASA is.

@Hardcore1: They're not responding to the 13yo kid. They're responding to the media frenzy (at least Giz admits they were taken in) that surrounded the kid's claims. If you can get national media attention for your cheese claims, they might respond to that too.

@Darkest Daze: Geostationary orbit is about 35,000 kilometers above the surface of the Earth. That's plenty of space for a few hundred meter wide asteroid to pass through without harming a hair on anyone's head.

And finally, did anyone really stop to think about this? Not just that a young boy would somehow be able to aquire all the needed information and then know the math. At a much more fundamental level, a collision with a satellite would first be highly unlikely even if the asteroid were passing though the highest orbital densities. Even the space above our planet is really, really empty in absolute terms. And second, it would take an astonishingly precise impact to deviate the asteroid just enough to result in it hitting the Earth on its next pass. The NASA simulation found a keyhole only 400m wide the asteroid would have to pass through to set up such a situation. Given that the asteroid is now suspected to pass well outside this keyhole, it is doubtful any impact with objects so many orders of magnitude less massive would be able to substantially deviate the asteroid. And even if a deviation were achieved, is would be very, very, very unlikely to nudge the asteroid into the precise new path required to result in an impact. And finally, is it not at all suspicious that this "new analysis" was exactly 100 times more likely? That's a sure sign of number-arse-pulling if there ever was one.

icelight

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Jesse in Japan — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:15:54 EDT

If it hits a geosynchronous satellite, it's already close enough that there is no way that it can NOT hit. If it gets that close, hitting a satellite isn't going to affect its course one bit.

Jesse in Japan

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

hnkelley — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 01:06:55 EDT

@jdhuck: Jessica Alba won't be going... She'll be with me where it'll be safe. I'll protect her!

But, then again, by the time this comes around, I'll be in my late 60s. I seriously doubt I'll really care that much.

hnkelley

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GundamSLR — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:33:57 EDT

@OMG! Ponies!:

i cant wait

GundamSLR

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Darkest Daze — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 00:32:08 EDT

@OMG! Ponies!:
Don't forget, killer klowns from outer space.

Darkest Daze

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

OMG! Ponies! — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:31:33 EDT

All of this proves one thing:

If you're under 25, don't worry about saving for your children's college education. In fact, don't even worry about what regions have the best school systems.

Anyone who has watched enough movies about life in a post-apocalyptic dystopian future knows that reading and writing and trigonometry and social studies and AP European history and Latin are useless. You need to know kung fu, how to make and properly toss a molotov cocktail at an HK and how to one-arm reload a pump-action .12 gauge shotgun.

The greatest challenge our children will face is not an economy where the United States is no longer the dominant player or a geopolitical environment where the US is not a superpower. It doesn't matter whether the present influx of undocumented immigrants from Mexico and other Central and South American countries destroy the "traditional" culture or whether secularism destroys religion in America. We don't even need to worry about global warming or rising sea levels.

Our children's challenge will be how to avoid mutants, infected, zombies and the walking dead, pseudo-vampires, alien symbiote-controlled people, self-aware killer robots and CHUDs while living in the sewers and hulks of decaying buildings.

OMG! Ponies!

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

nosauten — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:22:52 EDT

When NASA went to the moon they brought back rocks. Everyone knows the moon is made of cheese! Does NASA think we're stupid, bringing back rocks??? Come on NASA. At least you could have brought back some Earth cheese to make your fake moon landing look more authentic!

nosauten

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

tutelary — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:15:31 EDT

"basically killing most life in the planet"
uhhh, no. This kind of strike can level a large city, not destroy humanity.

tutelary

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Accelerata — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:06:19 EDT

@soulman:
@spaceman37:
NASA's brief very distinctly references collision with an artificial satellite, not a natural one.

@minimini:
With Apophis weighing in at 2.1e10 kg (according to Wikipedia), i wouldn't expect a major deviation in flight path even if it did collide with multiple satellites. at least, not enough to result in a 3 order of magnitude change in probability.

Accelerata

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Pieman2 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 22:02:13 EDT

Who to believe....A 13 year old kid....or NASA? Tough one.

Pieman2

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

iomatic — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:58:08 EDT

cod:uo ftmfw

iomatic

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

OMG! Ponies! — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:51:58 EDT

A conspiracy would require a base level of competence that hasn't been present in nearly a decade. I mean, NASA was being run by a 24 year-old college drop-out who ordered NASA scientists to stop pushing the Big Bang Theory. Does that sound like an agency capable of a cover-up?

OMG! Ponies!

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Mandatory_Field — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:50:01 EDT

@chonnes: "Satellites that are orbiting the Earth don't "weigh" anything."

True. They tend to mass a helluva lot, though....

Mandatory_Field

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

chonnes — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:48:00 EDT

Satellites that are orbiting the Earth don't "weigh" anything. @ripfire4:

chonnes

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:41:43 EDT

@wchurchill1945: I think you need to reread what you've written here. Decimal and metric aren't in opposition, metric and "whatever the hell units the U.S. uses" are however.

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:40:03 EDT

2035 huh?

Hmm should be plenty of time to bring the fricken lasers online before then.

Maxwells_Nylon_Hammer

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

wchurchill1945 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:25:34 EDT

I sure hope that someone at NASA isn't getting decimal and metric systems confused again.

wchurchill1945

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

hatter10_6 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:22:58 EDT

I want to believe.

hatter10_6

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Hardcore1 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:19:36 EDT

Wait a second, why is NASA responding to some 13 year old kid? Will NASA respond if I issued a press release stating that the moon is indeed made out of cheese

Hardcore1

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

minimini — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:18:11 EDT

@ripfire4:
larger commercial satellites have a wet mass of around 7 metric tons

minimini

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

frigg — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:17:01 EDT

@AqueousBeef: Rosie O'Donnel wouldn't have to blow up anything. Due to her significant mass and gravitational pull, merely placing her in the vicinity of the asteroid would be enough to divert its path.

frigg

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

apeguero — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:12:59 EDT

I can't believe there are those among us who would think the whole landing on the moon bit was a fake.

apeguero

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Amiash Loves You — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:11:22 EDT

Meh, the kid made a mistake.
atleast the NASA atleast recalculated ehat ever it is(ofcourse I Assume that).

Amiash Loves You

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Mandatory_Field — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:00:51 EDT

Damn. Can we loot anyway? Just a little? How about wild uninhibited sex in the streets? Is that right out too?

Mandatory_Field

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Simpsons-Movie-ruled — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:00:08 EDT

@Papsky: OMG, where the hell were the kids parents?
I would have been like "SHUT UP JOHNNY OR IM TAKING UR EFFIN UNREAL SHIZ AWAY"
[although he probably would have thrown the keyboard at me]

Simpsons-Movie-ruled

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GOKOR — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:57:58 EDT

@AqueousBeef: You could always try Bruce Willis and Aerosmith.

GOKOR

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

trrosen — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:57:48 EDT

I wish nasa would just admit they don't have any fragin idea whats gonna happen. Predicting the orbit of a small astroid like this to the accuracy of earth collision is like predicting the distance a golf ball will travel to the mm. You just cant do it.

trrosen

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

jackfrost132 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:56:50 EDT

@Papsky: SHNIEL!!! I vant to play UNREAL TOURNAMENT!!!

jackfrost132

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

AqueousBeef — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:52 EDT

everyone knows that all we need is Harrison Ford and Aerosmith.

AqueousBeef

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

AqueousBeef — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:52:21 EDT

@jdhuck: No, we need rosie o'donnel. She can be the hero that has to stay behind and blow up the nuke manually, thus sacrificing herself for the sake of human kind. What we won't tell her is that it's actually NOT going to hit the Earth. Perfect way to get rid of her though, no?

AqueousBeef

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Darkest Daze — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:51:58 EDT

@soulman:
I would assume that also, because if a huge rock comes close enough to take out a relatively small piece of metal that's orbiting our planet, we're already fucked, regardless of that piece of metal.

Darkest Daze

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

spaceman37 — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:50:24 EDT

@ripfire4: "Satellites" doesn't necessarily mean the things that monitor the weather (and such).

[en.wikipedia.org]

spaceman37

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

ripfire — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:43:02 EDT

@soulman: So.. there are huge rocks within the earth's main belt of geosynchronous orbit?

ripfire

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

zenmoused — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:42:58 EDT

@GOKOR: Agreed. I look back on that year of my life as nothing but fail.

zenmoused

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Papsky — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:40:39 EDT

im sorry but this is all i could think about...

Papsky

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GOKOR — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:38:49 EDT

13 year olds generally are morons.

GOKOR

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

soulman — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:38:27 EDT

@ripfire4: I could be wrong, but I believe the word "satellite" in this context it referring to an large interstellar body, as in a huge space rock...I don't think they are talking about a man made communication satellite.

soulman

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GHETTO.CHiLD — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:37:16 EDT

Is it just me or does the date for destruction keep changing? I mean come on Giz, first its 2029, then its 2035, then its 2036! Maybe the robots are screwing with us? F'n robots always messing with our math.

GHETTO.CHiLD

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

jdhuck — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:37:05 EDT

@kydrice: Let's throw in Will Smith and Jessica Alba to round out the cast.

jdhuck

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

kydrice — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:30:54 EDT

@JBKing:

Because it's gonna take a wide orbit around Earth and it's path will collide with Earth's path or something like that. This was proposed a while back before this whole satellite thing. Oh and Owen Wilson won't be going unless Ben Stiller comes with him as the manic stow-away.

kydrice

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

yablunk — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:28:54 EDT

Hey, I definetly trust a German student over our fucked up government. Please excuse my language ladies.

@JBKing: We only really need Bruce. lol

yablunk

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

ripfire — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:27:52 EDT

How heavy is that sattellite that it can be enough to change the asteroid's trajectory?

ripfire

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Evangelion — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:27:44 EDT

We've never been to the moon.

Evangelion

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

JBKing — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:24:20 EDT

If the asteriod hits a sattellite in 2029 why will it take another 7 years to collide with Earth? And how old will Bruce Willis, Ben Afflek, Steve Buscemi, and Owen Wilson be by then? Will they be up to the challenge?

JBKing

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

Jesus Diaz — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:17:49 EDT

They are saying that the student report is not true either.

Jesus Diaz

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

GadgetPlay — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:14:33 EDT

Which satellite and what sort of strike are they using to calculate this? To say that if it hits a satellite one time it will hit the earth next time seems a bit far fetched.

GadgetPlay

NASA to Doomsday Asteroid Student: "Shut Up, Dimwit"

MastaFalse — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:10:11 EDT

o_o

MastaFalse