Shoot, you beat me to it...

I had to click through to read about that 'possum immune system. I'd heard (at a presentation about wildlife rescue) that possums don't carry rabies because of their relatively low body temperature.

The wikipedia article also says that opossums *are* mammals, marsupial being a sub-set ("infraclass").

How about: In a world where death is nearly impossible, only the most cunning, persistent, X-TREME individuals reach that final destination, that light at the end of the tunnel. Cash Darwin Awards!

You make a good point, but do you mean "dirigible" rather than "derringer"?

So the cut-in-half response should have come from someone from South Carolina?

That is a funny one... Not as common as the ubiquitous millibits and millibits per second.

Yeah, my reading is that the contractor reused an older routine (in English units) with a newer routine (in metric units) without double-checking the interface spec. It's (sort of) like the operators ordered a metric speedometer but received one marked in English. Since the unit wasn't marked, they assumed it was metric as per the specifications.

The MCO Investigation Board report is a quick read and an interesting case study.

Who's your friend?

Agreed! If the warning light comes on, I know I have about 1 gallon of gas in the tank. At 22 mpg, can I still make it to the cheap gas station? It's usually less than 22 miles, but not always.

Can you pull new wires just as easily using a thin wire? My two-story house includes a flexible pipe from the attic to the closet in the master bedroom. The last time I checked the HOT attic, the pull-cord had turned to white powder.

There's other evidence to suppose that civilization will continue past 2012, at least in Hollywood.

Busy work week, so I only just checked back... The NEO Program Office FAQ says they work "to detect, track and characterize", and are "responsible for facilitating communications between the astronomical community and the public". Nothing else. Who does the "aversion"? I'm thinking that falls to the "DoD and international agencies" mentioned above. (Sorry about all the quotes.)

That's not really NASA's job. NASA usually gets criticized for performing commercial or military missions. NASA's job is to do the science: quantify the threat and find good ways to fix it. Their scope might be expanded to a one-off, prototype deflection mission, but a standing "Deflection Corp" would be a millstone about NASA's neck.

It's hard to imagine myself in that situation, but I think my first thought be "Even the military is afraid of that jet." It might not make sense in retrospect, but there it is. Some hardened types would trust the fighter escort for cues, others wouldn't.

Maybe they meant "look forward to sexy cops jumping out of vans/bushes to smack you down and slap the cuffs on you."

Remember: To be a criminal, you don't have to think like a criminal.