Curious
Times No. 378
December 7, 2006
KILLER
ASTEROID OR BUST
NASA scientists have finally caught up with Hollywood scriptwriters
and are currently drafting a plan to land an astronaut on an asteroid
in order to figure out if we have any way of stopping one of those
rocks if they come hurtling on a doomsday mission to Earth. “There’s
a lot of public resonance with the notion that NASA ought to be
doing something about killer asteroids,” explained Chris
McKay of the Johnson Space Center in Houston, adding that we need
an exploratory mission because “we don’t know enough
about asteroids right now to know the best strategy for mitigation.”
While the future of deflecting asteroids is still many decades
away, the proposed ideas include planting thrusters on an asteroid
to nudge it from its path, placing an object in the path to knock
it off course, or using mirrors, lights and paint to change the
way the object absorbs light and heat in order to gently change
its direction over many years. And, if that isn’t exciting
enough, taking the rock out with missiles is also being studied.
At the moment Nasa’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory is tracking
831 “potentially hazardous asteroids” which might one
day collide with Earth. They also claim that it is 750 times more
likely that you will be killed by an asteroid than that you will
win this weekend’s lottery. (The
Guardian)
TAKING THE PRACTICE OF NON-ATTACHMENT A BIT TOO SERIOUSLY
A Buddhist monk in Thailand cut off his own penis last week and
refused to let doctors reattach it, saying that he had renounced
all earthly cares. The trouble began when the 35-year-old monk
got an erection while meditating, prompting him to grab a machete
and hack the offending appendage clean off. The monk received
basic medical attention at a hospital near Bangkok but refused
to let surgeons reattach his penis. “We cleaned up the wound,
gave him some stitches, but he declined to have it reattached
because he said had abandoned everything,” a doctor told
reporters. (Reuters)
BRITAIN’S LUCKIEST MASOCHIST
The man who has been dubbed “Britain’s Unluckiest Man”
is back in the hospital after falling down a manhole and injuring
his knees, left leg and back. This is major accident number 16
for John Lyne, 54, who has survived a lifetime of close calls.
Included in his trail of mishaps are being struck by lightning
(twice!), surviving a rock-fall in a mine, nearly drowning and
suffering three car crashes. As a child, Lyne fell of a horse
and cart into the path of a delivery van. As a teenager he fell
out of a tree and broke his arm, then broke it again when the
bus which was taking him to the hospital crashed. “Everyone
thinks it is just hilarious,” said Lyne. (Ananova)
LIFE IMITATES DISNEY
Last year we learned that farm animals such as cows, pigs, goats
and chickens have much richer emotions and more complex mental
lives than we ever thought. That research claimed that animals
nurture friendships, become excited by new challenges and feel
emotions such as fear, anxiety and happiness. Now we have new
research out of Britain which claims that even fish have different
personalities which change as they are exposed to different life
experiences. Biologists from the University of Liverpool claim
to have identified different “personalities” in fish
by observing the boldness or shyness of the fish in response to
various stimuli. The fish were studied as they were exposed to
strange new objects or watched other fish go through experiments
which even included “fixing” fights between fish to
gauge their reactions to winning or losing a fight over food.
The researchers found that the future behavior of each fish changed
depending on what they had seen or experienced. "The general
opinion is that a fish is a fish but they show striking individual
personality differences," said one of the researchers. "However,
we have shown that this is flexible and that behavior is adjusted
to circumstances." (The
Telegraph)
CURIOUS QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“He wanted to go to a motel in the Bronx where I would defecate
on him, but I told him I was uncomfortable going to the Bronx.”
-- Dominatrix Gina Pane, testifying against a police officer in
a Connecticut courtroom last week.
DON’T MISS NATIONAL ANYTHING BUT CHRISTMAS DAY
If you’re looking or something less predictable than Christmas
to celebrate this month, check out these supposed holidays: Dec.
4 is Wear Brown Shoes Day, Dec. 8 is Take It In The Ear Day, Dec.
16 is National Chocolate Covered Anything Day, Dec. 21 is Look
At The Bright Side Day, Dec. 26 is National Whiners Day, and,
of course, on Dec. 30 you can celebrate the Festival Of Enormous
Changes At The Last Minute. Cheers!
YOU’VE GOT A LONG WAY TO GO, BABY
A survey of 90,000 women in India conducted by the International
Institute for Population Sciences found that about 56 percent
agreed that it was OK for a man to beat his wife for one of six
reasons: neglecting the house or children; going out without informing
her husband; showing disrespect to in-laws; infidelity; inadequate
dowry; improper cooking. What if she likes dumb TV shows? Shouldn't
that count?
I-READ-IT-ON-THE-INTERNET-SO-IT-MUST-BE-TRUE FACT OF THE WEEK
86 percent of men in South Africa would vote for Chuck Norris
if he ran for president.
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