Thoughts On The Last Indispensable Nation On Earth

by James Lileks - Februaru 20th, 2007 - Newhouse News Service

An asteroid is heading for Earth. A big one. It's called "Apophis," which might be Greek for "uh oh,", and it will come "uncomfortably close" to Earth on April 13, 2036. (It's a Sunday.)

The odds are 1 in 45,000 that the rock will strike the planet, throwing up sufficient dust to cause a massive drop in temperatures, thereby curing global warming. Hmm: Perhaps "Apophis" is Greek for "repairman," and the technical term for this celestial event is "service call."

James has really gone all out on making this one funny. His satire about the concept of the UN doing anything seriously to protect us from this type of disaster is unfortunately just a little too close to the truth to be completely funny, but it is pretty good.