Scientists Live-Tweet Chilling Faux Asteroid Impact Scare 72
The world's top asteroid experts are gathering on Monday, April 29 at the 2019 Planetary Defense Conference in Washington D.C. to take part in a hypothetical asteroid impact exercise that will test how Earth responds to the threat of a potentially devastating space rock. CNET reports: NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office developed the exercise along with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency. "The point is to investigate how NEO observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision makers, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction and evolving information," NASA said. The ESA Operations Twitter account is now live-tweeting the entire scenario, from the discovery of the asteroid (named 2019PDC) to the increasingly grim odds it might hit Earth. The first tweet sounds innocuous. It's a casual mention of international news reports confirming the asteroid's discovery.
The team is appending each tweet with the all-caps hashtag #FICTIONALEVENT so no one will freak out. It's still sobering to follow the events, which recently worsened from a 1 in 250 chance of impact to 1 in 100. ESA Operations will continue to update the plot in the coming week. Participants will receive daily briefings and must role-play the responses from astronomers, space agencies and governments. In reality, we know of no imminent threats from asteroids, but NASA is constantly tracking their movements through space.
The team is appending each tweet with the all-caps hashtag #FICTIONALEVENT so no one will freak out. It's still sobering to follow the events, which recently worsened from a 1 in 250 chance of impact to 1 in 100. ESA Operations will continue to update the plot in the coming week. Participants will receive daily briefings and must role-play the responses from astronomers, space agencies and governments. In reality, we know of no imminent threats from asteroids, but NASA is constantly tracking their movements through space.
Re:I'll miss the incident (Score:5, Funny)
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Twitter is mostly-harmless. 4chan, on the other hand...
#FICTIONALEVENT (Score:5, Funny)
Do you REALLY think those are nukes they're launching into outer space to stop it? Naaa, it's the illuminati -- they've know about this for YEARS. Just see When Worlds Collide [imdb.com] or 2012 [imdb.com] for a practice-run preview.
I'm heading out to start shadowing Elon Musk RIGHT NOW. Heck, that car he launched earlier? He's probably IN that car RIGHT NOW-- we're all just watching pre-recorded stuff and stuff he's beamed back just to convince us that he's still around. Wouldn't want the Tesla stock to crash if we found out he'd bailed, would he?
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As fictional as everything else on Twitter.
Oh, wait....
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Deep Impact [youtube.com] was a much better take on the subject.
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Well, 300m is not world ending, but depending on its speed and where it hits it could be civilization ending. E.g. a high speed impact in a constricted part of the Arctic Ocean could be quite challenging. For that matter, if it's really high speed, a grazing impact along the surface of the Pacific could be extremely bad. You could probably also come up with a scenario that would melt Antarctica.
It's a class 8 rather than class 9 on this chart ( http://spaceacademy.net.au/wat... [spaceacademy.net.au] ), but position and speed
Modern day H.G. Wells (Score:2)
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"The point is to investigate how NEO observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision makers, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction and evolving information,"
Of course this tells them nothing about how people would react if it were real. To truly test that they need to go full Orson Wells. Over all media. No warning that it's fake. Then they could analyze the resultant panic and it would be accurate. Everyone knowing i
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Except Orson Welles didn't do that. He warned that it was fake at regular intervals. People blamed him for their panic anyway because they didn't listen long enough.
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And with the hashtag #FICTIONALEVENT should be a clue.
"The point is to investigate how NEO observers, space agency officials, emergency managers, decision makers, and citizens might respond to an actual impact prediction and evolving information,"
I think it is a conspiracy to eliminate flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, 9-11 truthers and moon landing hoaxers.
The same people who dismiss real events are going to latch on to #FICTIONALEVENT as 100 percent truth, and remove themselves from the gene pool.
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H.G. Wells wasn't a radio broadcaster, Orson Welles re-wrote his story for radio. Welles also applied #FICTIONALEVENT tags at every act break, but a few people failed to listen long enough to hear the announcements that it was fiction. Wouldn't surprise me if there are equally many people who don't even read all the way to the end of a tweet.
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Indeed. There are plenty of fucktards who wouldn't notice that it was a fictional event if it had #FICTIONALEVENT written across the top and you danced on the table singing "#FICTIONAL EVENTS ARE HERE AGAIN".
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Indeed. There are plenty of fucktards who wouldn't notice that it was a fictional event if it had #FICTIONALEVENT written across the top and you danced on the table singing "#FICTIONAL EVENTS ARE HERE AGAIN".
Conspiracy theorists will know it is true because it says it is fictional.
By the way, this whole thing reads like a psych experiment, one in which they discover how crazy people go over the next couple days as the kooks decide that it is real.
Me - I'm taking no chances, so I'm off to the pizzagate tunnels.
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The real stupid and irresponsible thing would be believing that people will act in a drill that they know about ahead of time, and don't expect to be tested on, as if it were reality. For fire drills to work they need to happen fairly frequently, and without advance warning.
You do realize that's an oxymoron, right? (Score:1)
"totalitarian communism" I mean.
It's like saying "centrally planned goosestepping anarcho-libertarianism".
It means you have zero clue whatsoever, what those words mean, and only got your definition from propaganda and failed states that were about as communist as the GDR was democratic.
(Real communism is as impossible as read democracy or a real free market, when humans are involved.)
Re: You do realize that's an oxymoron, right? (Score:1, Insightful)
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Where would communists be without the No True Scotsman fallacy?
With or without, they're still naive and kiltless dreamers.
OK, I'll see myself out...
Strat
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Where would communists be without the No True Scotsman fallacy?
The same place as all the other 'ists are.
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I see a tweet saying an asteroid is going to hit Earth.
What am I supposed to do with that information? Specifically, what actions am I supposed to take prior to the impact?
My suggestion is grab a lawn chair, a fifth of Tequila, and some popcorn, go outside and enjoy the show.
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(A rough estimate, for an impact fireball 1000km high, about 8% of the Earth will see it. That's a very rough estimate.)
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... and you'll have a few percent chance of seeing anything from the initial impact. If you see secondary impacts, well, hope it is a quick death.
(A rough estimate, for an impact fireball 1000km high, about 8% of the Earth will see it. That's a very rough estimate.)
A quick death is the goal. I've seen quick, and I've seen long, painful and lingering. I'm pretty convinced given inevitability, option one is the choice.
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If it's a big one, hedonism.
If you're anywhere near the impact, hedonism.
If it's small and you'll be in the "moderate damage" zone, secure possessions and find shelter.
If it's small and you'll be in the "lesser damage" zone, secure possessions and consider finding ways to help survivors or ways to gain from the catastrophe market, depending on your thirst for profit.
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So, got a proper publication for this? I know of several impact structures in the Sahara, but I can't work out which one this is meant to be about.
This calls for action (Score:1)
Someone could get hurt. These people acted in an irresponsible way. What if there's a panic? We need to send a strong message, authorities should proceed to make high-profile arrests and anyone involved should have their degrees revoked permanently with no appeal.
Stop blaming others! (Score:1)
What if there is a panic ... ... Well, *what if* one is a moron and panics... Don't blame that idiocy on anybody but yourself!
And frankly... if you are SO freakin *retarded* ... like literally mentally retarded ... that you take *anything* on Twitter seriously ... then please just let tee doctors catch you and put you back in that rubber cell with the spirals and numerology drawn all over the walls and floor!
Re: Stop blaming others! (Score:2)
But all of Trump's supporters take what Trump says as truth!... Oh, I see what you did there...
Overestimate (Score:2)
I think they overestimate the intelligence of the average active Twitter user.
They are going to FREAK OUT! OMG WOW!
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Dehydrated water [amazon.ca] isn't wet!
Idiots (Score:2)
Don't they know that all-caps, especially without spaces, is harder to read than CamelCaps?
#FictionalEvent (Score:2)
It got my hopes up for a minute. Then I saw the #fictionalevent tag.
Oh sweet meteor of death.
Fall upon us and deliver us in fire
To peace everlasting
Oh, and there's a prequel, too! (Score:2)
The idea is also expressed in the fossil record (notably the Cretaceous extinction),
and lunar craters, and a variety of other nonfiction sources.
The fictions aren't as scary as the nonfictions.