Queens Brian May says we are living on borrowed time .

I respectfully disagree (please sir, Dr May, i am not worthy).

Of course it's a certainty Earth will be hit sooner or later with a big one, but the human race "living on borrowed time"?

I mean, how long's a piece of string?

There's no certainty the human race need ever worry, it's a complete lottery.

Jupiter and the Moon have protected Earth from the vast majority of asteroids that would otherwise have hit...but that's all we know.

The total inability to predict when the next big one is due makes this headline vapid and pointless.

We'll be dead in about a billion years anyway, because we'll lose the Moon and the Sun will get too hot.

It's impossible to say if we'll have an extinction event asteroid collision during that vast time, and we may well become extinct before then from other reasons.

Stick to science, Brian.

I'm a Queen fan since '74 so I gotta share that Brian May also built his electric guitar using wood from a 200 year old mantelpiece and utilizing bicycle parts to make his tremolo system. Hand wound his own pickups as well. Quite the accomplished chap I'd say. I'd always hoped to see him play around with more musicians than he did (check out Starfleet with Eddie Van Halen to see what I mean).

a reply to: hutch622

Gives a whole new meaning to songs like "We Will ROCK You"!

Yes, "Asteroid Aid" is upon us!

How dare we deny the universe's right to throw stones at us?

Really we have one weapon at our disposal to counteract this threat. If we discover a threatening object in time we have now proved we can land a probe. Equip it with a large enough bomb and rock ne more!

Or just shove it out the way with an explosion pin pointed to alter the trajectory.

I guess a defence initiative is common sense thinking.

Greetings on a warm Thursday from Flori-Duh... Mother Earth, being a 'living Being' must also evolve and sometimes She is shaken about like an Etch-A-Sketch™ and what was once covered with water, will be dirt and versa-visa. I must admit I wasn't too aware of doomsday type scenarios until I became a member of ATS™, sure I saw "preppers" and the like when I was switching the t.v. channels but didn't know there was a whole "Cottage Industry" built around 'the end'.. Now there are movies, etc.

I have to ask Is there a new album coming out?

The only constant is change. I'd much rather what some call "Die" in an asteroid strike rather than crapping My pants and not knowing what day it is (But I alerted You it was Thursday from the start. Whether or not it is Thursday or it is just called "Thursday" isn't important right now...)

Instead of 'worrying about death/dying' why not 'Enjoy living Life'?

It is Thursday right? hahahaha

Without trying to sound as if I'm giving direction, Have a nice day! Thats for the folks who enjoy comparing, for the 'Other Me' Make something You enjoy, You being The Creator and all...

namaste

a reply to: hutch622

With all due respect to professor May, he is just recycling words already said.

Many scientists have warned us about pending asteroid strikes and their words have fallen on deaf ears. But the moment a rock god mentions the same thing and suddenly people take notice.

But sometimes it takes a rock god like Brian May to get people interested in science, and that is a fantastic thing. I read a book that he co-authored (I believe it was called BANG!) and it was good, but if his name wasn't tied to the book then copies would be gathering dust on a bookshelf.

originally posted by: Trueman
a reply to: hutch622

I wish we could have more astrophysicists inside legendary rock bands. Minds with a cosmic view are good for rock.

Thanks to this thread, I'm having a vision of Brian playing a beautiful guitar solo on top of a hill in the last minutes before an ELE.

Wasn't Buckaroo Banzai an astrophysicist and a rock star?

...And a neurosurgeon...and a race-car driver...and an inventor...and an adventurer...and dabbled in philosophy.

originally posted by: wildespace
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All things are relative. "Borrowed time" may last hundreds of years, and a city-vaporising asteroid may crash somewhere in the middle of the Pacific, causing nothing more than a huge tsunami around the coast.

I believe that over 40% of the worlds population lives within 50km of the various coastlines. A huge tsunami would likely be a serious catastrophic event to those people. Not to mention the enourmous amount of steam and other vapors released into the atmosphere. Even an ocean impact could be almost an extinction event, depending upon the size of the asteroid.

I remember watching one of those documentaries on the possibility of asteroids and comet strikes a while ago, and the scientist being talked to (it may have even been the late Gene Shoemaker) was standing outside saying something like [I'm paraphrasing]:

"the next major impact event could be in 1000 years, or there could be one entering our atmosphere right now"...

...at which point he stopped and looked over his shoulder, as if to check to make sure one wasn't coming, then turned back to the camera with a mischievous grin on his face.

I got a chuckle out of that.


By the way, I think I'll go listen to Brian May's riff at the end of "We will Rock You" now. That's one of the best guitar riffs in rock history, IMO.

a reply to: hutch622

It is good to know that with warning these type of events can be easily averted ,and that is a

i don't think so. unless they have come up with a quick and faster tested and proven method, other than on simulators or computers a method that is proven to work in the past year.

a wiki cause it's fast. this was from last year in House Hearing

Deflection efforts “
REP. STEWART: ... are we technologically capable of launching something that could intercept [an asteroid]? ...
DR. A'HEARN: No. If we had spacecraft plans on the books already, that would take a year ... I mean a typical small mission ... takes four years from approval to start to launch ... ”
Asteroid impact avoidance

that's just one of many that say the same.

a reply to: hutch622

Firstly let me say that i had no idea Queens Brian May was an astrophysicist .

Brian May studied Mathematics and Physics at college but was sidetracked by the success of Queen , he was convinced to return to his studies in 2006 by the late great Sir Patrick Moore.

Am i justified in being worried

No.
Asteroids are a danger to mankind but they have been from day one and we're still here , Dr. May is correct that we need to be vigilant to give ourselves breathing space to work out a plan if we should discover one big enough to cause us problems.

Asteroids are a concern but not as much as rogue Planets or Moons, I'm sure they're out there and if one of those has our name on it then it time to worry.

I would not call music predictions at all, more like spell casting to co-creators who have been put to sleep by the bad magicians, but still powerful and collectively made to bring in their plans.

If any big nasty asteroids come plummeting towards us we won't know till the last minute. TPTB will not tell us!

I don't think it is a case of 'when'. What are the odds?

As in regards to Brian May and Queen? I saw them in concert in 1986 on their 'Magic Tour' at St James Park, Newcastle. Was a brilliant concert!

And with what Soylent Green Is People was saying in regards to 'We Will Rock You'. Did you know the single recorded for the video was shot in Roger Taylor's garden and the only instrument they used was Brian's Guitar?! The rest as per the video was their feet stamping on pallets and clapping their hands!

Cool!!

brian may wrote this song on their album, "night at the opera". it is about mankind's first flight at the speed of light. even back then, he knew what he was talking about. now if we could just get him on a guest appearance on "the big bang theory"!

www.youtube.com...

a reply to: hutch622

Its sort of amusing in a weird way that if a meteorite ends up destroying us,we will have come full circle-as I doubt humans would exist as we do today,if at all,if not for the space rock which wiped out most of the dinosaurs.

Then maybe in millions of years after we are gone,a highly evolved and intelligent insect/dolphin race will be mining for minerals,and will come across a once top secret deep underground bunker...

They would treat it as a holy relic of the past,a mystery of the ancients,they would figure it was to protect humans from the space rock,and start building their own versions I bet.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People

Thank you. The chuckle was much appreciated.

originally posted by: Asktheanimals
I'm a Queen fan since '74 so I gotta share that Brian May also built his electric guitar using wood from a 200 year old mantelpiece and utilizing bicycle parts to make his tremolo system. Hand wound his own pickups as well. Quite the accomplished chap I'd say.

Thank you for that interesting snippet about Brian May . The man is smart , musical , good with his hands ,not unattractive ,well maybe a good haircut but then it wouldn't be Brian May .Please don't tell me he is good at golf tennis and soccer . Oh and quite well of one would imagine .

originally posted by: Thecakeisalie
a reply to: hutch622

With all due respect to professor May, he is just recycling words already said.

Many scientists have warned us about pending asteroid strikes and their words have fallen on deaf ears. But the moment a rock god mentions the same thing and suddenly people take notice.

But sometimes it takes a rock god like Brian May to get people interested in science, and that is a fantastic thing. I read a book that he co-authored (I believe it was called BANG!) and it was good, but if his name wasn't tied to the book then copies would be gathering dust on a bookshelf.

The thing is he did bring it to everyone's attention and that can only be a good thing as you say . Perhaps if the right people , or enough people pay attention more money and resources might be thrown at this threat .

Sorry Brian,

The only thing that is going to happen.
Is exactly what is supposed to happen.

I like Brian doing what Brian does best.

Odds are, we will get hit again. Certainly. It has happened many times before, both big and small.

Hopefully technology will have advanced to a point that we will be safe when it happens.
Detection has improved, and now they are working on more proactive measures.

Rosetta Comet Landing Is Space Game-Changer

They are actively researching methods to change the trajectory of incoming heavenly objects.

Asteroid Initiative

Hopefully the increased interest and investment in this endeavor does not indicate knowledge that doom is pending at a known time and sooner than we are being told.

originally posted by: BlueAjah
Odds are, we will get hit again. Certainly. It has happened many times before, both big and small.

To work the odds of getting hit again i just look at pictures of the moon . Not many ready made bowling alleys there .