Time is Running Out
Posted at 4:34 AM on March 5, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(19 Comments)
Today is your last chance to enter your name in the drawing for a pair of tickets to the Susan Werner and Cheryl Wheeler performance at the Cedar Cultural Center on Sunday night. In accordance with the rules of the game, we'll close off entries at 9 am and choose our four winners later today.
It is important to know when time is about to expire.
Which reminds me - What were you doing Monday morning at 7:44?
I was at work, listening as Cyril Pahinui and Bob Brozman played their Hawaiian guitars, and preparing to enjoy Monroe Crossing's version of "Angel Band".
At that moment, an asteroid called 2009 DD 45 was streaking by less than 50 thousand miles from Earth, well inside the orbit of the Moon, about twice as high as some telecommunications satellites.
Astronomers describe it as "a near miss".
A rock similar in size to 2009 DD 45 entered the atmosphere over Siberia in 1908 and the resulting explosion leveled 800 square miles of forest. Had this one come in anywhere near downtown St. Paul, I suspect I would have spilled my coffee.
People who watch for this sort of thing discovered 2009 DD 45 in late February. One scientist was quoted by the Associated Press saying that he knew "within the hour" that this particular rock "posed no threat to Earth". And there was precious little coverage in the hours leading up to the fly-by, although some websites did announce details for interested sky watchers.
Given the way even small stories are sometimes worked up into world-ending catastrophes, I'm glad this one didn't make the news. With no time to react and no real place to hide, what would we do with such information anyway, except worry, or worse, panic?
With an appropriate warning, I might have scheduled that Monroe Crossing song a little earlier.
What about you?
Comments (19)
Good morning fellow Heartlanders -
At least once in their lifetime, Everyone Must Get Stoned. We're just lucky this wasn't the time. I was surprised that this did not make the big news beforehand.
Monday morning I was working on a college assignment. I would rather not know about things we cannot do anything about. What do you do with a crisis like an asteriod hitting the earth? Put your head between your legs and kiss your butt goodbye.
it will be a year ago tomorrow that i retired and, while i loved my profession and my jobs, i feel most fortunate to say that now i am almost always where i want to be. Monday i was in the barn at 7:44 - would have been a fine way to go. but if i have a few more minutes, hearing the Finnish guy sing something in Latin would be just great!
Morning Heartlanders. On Monday at 7:44 I was sitting on hold, waiting to book the summer brat stand for my daughter's gymnastics club! But I'm w/ Mike... who wants to know? I never understand why people call phone psychics. If they tell you positive things, then you have to worry about whether you're doing something that might divert the good stuff. And if they give you doom and gloom, then you sit around worrying about that. So, unless someone telling me about a coming asteroid can also give me enough time and money to make that trip to Churchilll to see the polar bears that I've always wanted to do, then don't tell me! Gail, excellent humor, by the way!
Good morning Heartland,
Had I known that I'd soon be stoned (good one Gail) I would have sent a quick email to my daughter in Namibia saying goodbye and I love you and to make sure to collect the benefits coming to you through my employment. I don't know that I would have tried to contact my other 2 kids. We all live within 500 miles of each other and would hopefully see each other in another place before long anyway. Also, I would have eaten ice cream for breakfast.
Good morning, all!
On Monday, I will be where I always am on Monday, in my chair in my cubicle, drinking coffee and suffering "a case of the Mondays". :-)
Hope everyone is feeling cheerful this Thursday.
out to the barn - but one thing - how do we get talking about funerals, dying, last minutes, etc.? i really love this group, the humor, the different takes on things. fun
thanks
Hmm...Monday at 7:44 a.m. I was attempting to get my four-year-old out the door for preschool. I doubt an impending asteroid strike would have gotten her to move any faster.
Muchas gracias por Jan Marra!
I'd have requested Woody Guthrie's "So Long It's Been Good to Know You" - check out the lyrics, they're eerily appropriate to a near-asteroid miss...
http://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/So_Long_Its_Been_Good.htm
Coincidentally though, at 7:44 a.m. Monday I was at work too (in Owatonna) sipping coffee, listening to the same song, followed by Angel Band (Emmylou Harris had an album by that name with a cover of that song BTW).
Let's see if this works...
back in and loving the music this morning!
love the "stone" references! in the early 70s a friend of mine marked my skies so i would know left from right with the saying "no turn LEFT unstoned" do we have any music from that time? Joe Cocker? Arlo Guthrie? Leon Russell? Lamont Cranston?
Good Morning!
I am very glad that we didn't get 'stoned' mostly for the loss of Dale's coffee on a Monday morning.
So perhaps we can redirect the discussion from the life threatening thread to the coming of spring and the time when more folks will be getting out their bicycles and enjoying the fresh air. Perhaps getting "Bicycle Built For Two" into the play list will get us thinking about spring.
Happy Thursday!
All Music Guide says the other voice on "You Don't Know Me" is Doyle Bramhall.
hey, mark, how's this for changing the subject with a relevant segue:
at 7:44 a.m. on Monday, I had just gotten out of the shower....yep, what a way to meet your maker, assuming there is one, just as one came into the world...
heh heh
On another note, WOW! never heard Ellis before, but was transported by her song How Would It Be? and had to purchase it instantly; and loved hearing Norwegian Wood right after...
I agree Barb,
This group is a fun bunch. No one cracks me up better than us!
OK Dale - you have been handed another of life's eternal questions - Why won't an impending meteor strike make a preschooler move faster?
I often wondered along similar lines when my children were young. I notice in movies that when danger looms and an person in charge barks out an order, people just listen - even if they can't actually see the danger. My experiences have been - well, different. We had to put on and take off boots repeatly to avoid "sock worms" - that hideous phenomena when a seam in a sock can be detected by the wearer of said sock.
7:44 am Monday? I was out with Bear, the Wonderdog. He was busy getting pets and snuggles from the patrons and baristas at a local coffee stop.
I wonder if he knew about the comet?
Actually, Carla, there is some evidence that in times of emergency, people DO "freeze up" when they would be better off getting a move on.
I blame confusion. It's not that people don't recognize the danger, but with the higher stakes, making a decision becomes more difficult.
Although with an asteroid hurtling towards Earth, what are your options, really?
One could argue that with a cosmic impact just moments away, getting ready for school becomes less important, not more.
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