430 ELE NEAs documented, more on their way; but, wait, there's more....

> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3553368.stm

ELE = Extinction Level Event

NEA = Near Earth Asteroid


So: when do we expect that particular doom?


Well, I don't know when it will occur, and neither do the experts, beyond 'soon' (in geological terms). But, then I moved from Collier County, Florida (where the highest point is 17' above mean high tide) a dozen years ago, after I read LUCIFER'S HAMMER, right after I read ON THE SLOPES OF VESUVIUS.

I think Dr. Pournelle and The Admiral both provided a Clue.. and now, I live in cheeful, happy, mountainous Oregon, with in-laws who have a spread at 2,200' on the other side of the Cascades.

> And is there a way to trigger such things?

The article suggested a volcanic eruption would be required, and we don't know how to trigger those any more than we know how to set off an earthquake. There may be some Russians still around who worked on their equivalent of PLOWSHARE, or maybe some Chinese know (shall we send a
Hugh Gregory in to find out?)

However, we can monitor movement on that rockpile with GPS-equipped transponders, as well as monitor the E-layer for seismic strangeness, and listen to extra-long-wave radio; a very good description of the latter, including specifics on receiver construction, was published in the Fall 1990 WHOLE EARTH REVIEW on pp. 101-104.

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