Althouse: "No, it was not the asteroid that hit Russia. I got so many people saying, 'Rush, the asteroid, it didn't just come close, it actually hit!'"

February 16, 2013

"No, it was not the asteroid that hit Russia. I got so many people saying, 'Rush, the asteroid, it didn't just come close, it actually hit!'"

"No, no, no, no, it was a meteorite. It was a meteorite and it was very cool. You ought to see the video of that thing.... But they're now speculating, folks, that the meteor might have been connected to the asteroid, might have broken off of the asteroid and then came down. That asteroid is gonna get fairly close, not gonna hit us, of course, but the meteorite did and of course that means the reporters can say that the meteorite hit us because of global warming. The asteroid is out there because of global warming. CNN told us that, so that's how we know that."

If you're going to mock CNN for seeming to connect an asteroid with global warming, Rush, you ought to be sharper about science. Now, go look up the difference between an asteroid and a meteorite. If the asteroid had come down it would have been a meteorite. (But that asteroid was not that meteorite.)

ADDED: Here's my earlier criticism of Rush's mocking the CNN person.

102 comments:

rhhardin said...: Meteorites grow down from the sky and meteormites grow up.; 2/16/13, 10:34 AM
DADvocate said...: Now, go look up the difference between an asteroid and a meteorite. If the asteroid had come down it would have been a meteorite. (But that asteroid was not that meteorite.)

An astroid becomes a meteor when it enters the Earth's atmosphere. A meteor becomes a meteorite when it hits the Earth's surface. From what you've written, it's not clear you understand.; 2/16/13, 10:35 AM
ricpic said...: I read somewhere that the sonic boom had the power of ten Hiroshimas, or was that two Hiroshimas? In any case how could such a powerful force result in no more than some cuts from blown-in glass? No deaths reported, at least so far.; 2/16/13, 10:37 AM
gerry said...: DADvocate, I agree. Rush didn't say an asteroid was hitting the earth's atmosphere; he said a fragment "might have broken off the asteroid and then came down." The professor misunderstands.; 2/16/13, 10:38 AM
Unknown said...: That kind of thing is Rush's trademark. It's one of the reasons I listen. He gets on a roll like that and anything can happen.; 2/16/13, 10:39 AM
Anonymous said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/16/13, 10:40 AM
Bob said...: Meteor shit!; 2/16/13, 10:41 AM
Bob said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/16/13, 10:41 AM
madAsHell said...: The sky is falling!!; 2/16/13, 10:42 AM
George M. Spencer said...: No.

Asteroids and meteoroids are the same entities, except that asteroids are bigger than Greyhound Buses. This is the scientific definition.

A meteoroid is the smaller than a bus thing that falls.

The visibility of it is the meteor.

It becomes a meteorite when it reaches Earth.; 2/16/13, 10:43 AM
rhhardin said...: An asteroid hit is a disaster.; 2/16/13, 10:43 AM
Automatic_Wing said...: You just can't let go of this one, can you? If the CNN anchor had just mixed up the words asteroid and meteorite, it wouldn't have been a big deal. Wondering whether asteroid flybys are caused by global warming is much, much dumber.

If Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell had asked whether the astetoid was maybe caused by man's sinfulness or gay marriage or something, would you not consider that pretty dumb? And yet that is just as plausible as the idea that it was caused by global warming.; 2/16/13, 10:44 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: As a couple of people have already said, Rush is more correct than the Professor, in her rush to stand up for the CNN anchor babe she stood up for the other day.

And I wouldn't really mess with Rush on science stuff--science and tech are his pet subjects after all, stuff he reads about to decompress from all the toxic politics he has to study.; 2/16/13, 10:44 AM
rhhardin said...: Aqueous meteors become rain.; 2/16/13, 10:45 AM
Sydney said...: I do not understand how global warming could make an asteroid come closer to the earth. Is it drawn in by the warmth?; 2/16/13, 10:50 AM
Brent said...: We should fear hemorrhoids more than asteroids; 2/16/13, 10:51 AM
jacksonjay said...: Anyone who cares about the correct usage of these words obviously can explain the difference between Star Wars and Star Trek! Can you speak Klingon, too?; 2/16/13, 10:52 AM
edutcher said...: God's judgment on CNN?

PS ric, it was 20, according to Insta.; 2/16/13, 10:52 AM
rhhardin said...: Cheap Russian glass was the problem in Russia.; 2/16/13, 10:54 AM
chickelit said...: Aqueous meteors become rain.

Raindrops may be "meteormites" insofar as they are terrestrial dust entrained upwards which then--laden with water--fall back to earth.; 2/16/13, 10:54 AM
Publius said...: The universe really doesn’t care about us at all, and there is scary stuff whizzing about overhead.; 2/16/13, 10:54 AM
rhhardin said...: Rush is not great on science, but he's better than women.; 2/16/13, 10:54 AM
Wince said...: Althouse seems to be splitting hairs on Rush.

I wonder how Jesus got around after the asteroid strike that killed all of the dinosaurs he used to ride on?; 2/16/13, 10:58 AM
Cody Jarrett said...: EDH: post dino meteor he rode about on a succession of flying carpets. Haven't you read your bible?; 2/16/13, 11:02 AM
Chip S. said...: Let's focus on the important stuff. Was Rush drinking water while talking about this?; 2/16/13, 11:05 AM
Chip S. said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/16/13, 11:05 AM
Wince said...: Overpressure (or blast overpressure) is the pressure caused by a shock wave over and above normal atmospheric pressure. The shock wave may be caused by sonic boom or by explosion, and the resulting overpressure receives particular attention when measuring the effects of nuclear weapons or thermobaric bombs.

10 pounds per square inch (69 kPa)
Reinforced concrete buildings severely damaged
Severe heart and lung damage
Limbs can be blown off

4 pounds per square inch (28 kPa)
Most buildings collapse except concrete buildings
Injuries universal
Fatalities occur

2 pounds per square inch (14 kPa)
Residential structures collapse
Brick walls destroyed
Injuries common
Fatalities may occur

Blast overpressure (BOP), also known as high energy impulse noise, is a damaging outcome of explosive detonations and firing of weapons. Exposure to BOP shock waves alone results in injury predominantly to the hollow organ systems such as auditory, respiratory, and gastrointestinal systems."

An EOD suit worn by bomb disposal experts can protect against the deadly effects of BOP.

Overpressure is determined using "Wiebull's formula.

where:

2410 is a constant based on 1 bar (100 kPa; 15 psi)

m = net explosive mass calculated using all explosive materials and their relative effectiveness

V = volume of given area (primarily used to determine volume within an enclosed space); 2/16/13, 11:08 AM
chickelit said...: Althouse is just giving Rush the Wissen shaft.

And it's important to lefties to make conservatives look stupid on matters scientific. It's the même chose.; 2/16/13, 11:09 AM
jacksonjay said...: Paging Dr. Sheldon Cooper!; 2/16/13, 11:10 AM
m stone said...: "And it's important to lefties to make conservatives look stupid on matters scientific. It's the même chose."

Well said, chickelit.; 2/16/13, 11:14 AM
SteveBrooklineMA said...: Does meteorite mean a meteor that has hit the earth or is it simply mineral obtained from space rock? In the old days there was no need for distinction but that is no longer so. We could sample an asteroid in space; 2/16/13, 11:16 AM
Fritz said...: The old poem goes:

A meteor is the flash of light
made by a falling meteorite
I hope to gosh this answer's right.; 2/16/13, 11:18 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: You need a "hairsplitting" tag.; 2/16/13, 11:18 AM
Ann Althouse said...: ". From what you've written, it's not clear you understand."

What's unclear about "If the asteroid had come down it would have been a meteorite"? Coming down, especially after "it actually hit" makes it completely clear we're talking about something that hits the earth.

You're bringing in a third word "meteor," which no one was even using. But if you want to ask a new question "what's the difference between a meteor and a meteorite?" I do know the difference.; 2/16/13, 11:36 AM
JRH, esq. said...: Really, prof A, you usually have a better foundation for such nitpicking. Yes, you have more college degrees than a radio host. But tagging it 'stupid'? Comes off as pointlessly elitist, especially when you are using the luxury of the printed word to critique an on-the-fly statement made in a three-hour radio show.; 2/16/13, 11:38 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "The professor misunderstands."

No, I completely understand. I'm saying Rush sounded pedantic saying there's a difference between an asteroid and a meteorite while also making fun of CNN for something that (as I've blogged about before) was only a question and might have been the set up for a joke. If he wants to be in the "smart" position, he needs to make the point sharply.; 2/16/13, 11:38 AM
machine said...: Can't use "science" and Rush in the same post...; 2/16/13, 11:42 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: Somebody sounds pedantic.

Lighten up, Frances.; 2/16/13, 12:05 PM
Charlie Currie said...: Technically it was a bolide.

Cheers; 2/16/13, 12:08 PM
Penny said...: Neat! Althouse is punching "up" today.

Gives your commenters some time to recover from your incessant pummeling.

Not quite sure why you want to be a boxer anyway, but hey.; 2/16/13, 12:10 PM
Achilles said...: "I am more scientific"

"No, I am more scientific."

"I beg your pardon, but I am most scientific!"

You know you are lost when you aren't even trying to use cherry picked statistics anymore. Ann's and Machine's posts sum up scientific argument by the left these days which comes down to trying to legitimize government power grabs. How is that carbon market working out for you in Europe?; 2/16/13, 12:13 PM
chickelit said...: machine said...
Can't use "science" and Rush in the same post...

plus ça hope and change...; 2/16/13, 12:14 PM
Drago said...: machine: "Can't use "science" and Rush in the same post..."

Well, it's clear that we cannot use "science" and "machine" in the same post.; 2/16/13, 12:17 PM
Dante said...: It has to be pretty hard to talk for hours without making some kind of errors. I read "THE asteroid," you know, the one everyone is talking about. The fact that he said "a meteorite" is not proof "THE asteroid" did not hit, but it sounds that way. But both statements to me are correct. THE asteroid didn't hit, "A meteorite hit," and some global warming people in fact DO claim meteorites might increasingly hit the earth because of expansion of the atmosphere.; 2/16/13, 12:17 PM
SteveR said...: I think its perfectly fair to make fun of CNN, no matter how that is was just a question from a reporter.

1. Al Gore is involved, its already a farce.
2. CNN is where Anderson Cooper lauched "tea bagging" into wide use. Snicker snicker hee hee, so mature, prime time, in the closet.
3. There are whole organizations listening to every word on Rush, FNC, etc for the sole purpose of the same type of gothcha stuff. Turn about.; 2/16/13, 12:17 PM
chickelit said...: @Penny: Lie la Lie; 2/16/13, 12:25 PM
donald said...: Rush is like an NBA Shaquille Oneal.

He gets hacked and mugged constantly without fouls being called.

I do know my politics and basketball though I hate both.; 2/16/13, 12:26 PM
bagoh20 said...: I'm sorry, but when someone makes this point they just sound like a kid who thinks he's the only one who knows something, and who believes you judge people to be "smart" with such banalities. Lots of 10 year olds know the difference, but I bet you would't be listening to their radio show, or quoting them.; 2/16/13, 12:26 PM
DADvocate said...: Coming down, especially after "it actually hit" makes it completely clear we're talking about something that hits the earth.

Not when the "actually hit" is in the headline and not the paragraph where you're discussing the difference between an asteroid and a meteorite. Nothing about it hitting in that paragraph. Of course, it's clear to you because you wrote the post and it all connected in your head. But writing things such that they connect in the reader's head is a different story. Headlines are simply there to grab your attention, not complete thoughts 2 paragraphs down. There's no solid evidence that you connected the hitting part to meteorite, just that it came down.; 2/16/13, 12:28 PM
chickelit said...: @bagoh20: Now you have that young Jesus thing going on...; 2/16/13, 12:31 PM
bagoh20 said...: So, what is the threat actually from "asteroids", "meteors", or "meteorites"? This question demonstrates the reason why it doesn't matter which term you use.; 2/16/13, 12:34 PM
bagoh20 said...: Chikenlit, That's from 1979 when there was a major outbreak of Jesuses, or Jesi, or whatever. They were everywhere.; 2/16/13, 12:37 PM
Penny said...: Just went to clean my, um...glasses.

Thanks for that, chickelit.; 2/16/13, 12:39 PM
bagoh20 said...: If I have a meteorite in my hand and I say "I'm actually holding an asteroid in my hand." Am I really incorrect. Maybe I should say "former" asteroid, but is that really necessary after the age of 12?; 2/16/13, 12:41 PM
chickelit said...: Penny said...
Just went to clean my, um...glasses.

See? Glasses...plural...just like panties; 2/16/13, 12:49 PM
ken in tx said...: Here's what I learned in 7th grade science. A rock in space is an asteroid. If it enters earth's atmosphere it's a meteor—shooting star. If it does not burn up and hits the earth, it's a meteorite. That's why we have meteor showers, not meteorite showers or asteroid showers.; 2/16/13, 12:53 PM
MayBee said...: I dont't get the criticism. He made a point that *the * asteroid wasn't connected to *the* meteorite.

The criticism isn't sharp enough.; 2/16/13, 12:58 PM
Dante said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/16/13, 1:00 PM
Dante said...: If I were to guess, I would suppose Ann is a believer in Global Warming of the Anthropogenic kind, or maybe she really likes that CNN news reporter/anchor/whatever she is.

I'll assume that ridiculing is the real beef, and the Professor is trying to use her English skills as further proof of her position. Though what the two have to do one another, especially since I can't find anything wrong in what Rush said about THE asteroid and a meteorite, escapes me.

So it's verbotten to take to task some woman who told us "When we see a blizzard, we automatically think of Global Warming." We do? I don't. I think "That's a big storm." When I hear statements from CNN lady, I think "Someone is trying to make me Think of Global Warming whenever a big weather event occurs, despite that there is no scientific proof of the increase of 'extreme weather events'."

It's merely a propaganda tool piece used by leftists to get everyone cowering in fear about "Global Warming." These people are doing their civic duty, helping to make Al Gore more powerful and richer.

Sorry, the stupid chick is fair game for parody, as far as I'm concerned.

And until the 50M climate refugees show up, until the plague, pestilence, increased infidelity, increased Meteorites occur, or even accurate 16 year predictions of temperatures increases take place, I'm going think such parody is IN the public's interests, to prevent the government from gaining even more power over the electorate.; 2/16/13, 1:02 PM
Brent said...: Professor,

You lost this one. When your regulars don't understand your "point", and you've got to make it over and over, you've lost.

Take the lumps and do better next time.; 2/16/13, 1:04 PM
Dante said...: bagoh: as always, very clever. I think the way to think of this is to think of them like Pokemon, that evolve.

No really, as I was thinking about the terms, it made me think that perhaps the terms came about at a time when the relationships between these things wasn't understood.

And I see nothing in what Rush wrote that leads me to agree with Ann's criticism that he didn't say things correctly: he did. Prof just doesn't like the pooh poohing of Global Warming.; 2/16/13, 1:05 PM
Dante said...: And as I think of it, she isn't a stupid chick. She is an evil chick. People are concerned about THE asteroid, and she is linking fear of the Asteroid with fear of Global Warming.

Rush wasn't harsh enough in his criticism.; 2/16/13, 1:13 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: I think we need to look at this from the asteroid's perspective. Just because it entered the earth's atmosphere and burned a bit and then hit the earth does not mean that it lost its identity. Calling it something different just because we got in the way of its merry jaunt through space reveals our human-centric, me-first cultural insenstivity.

It much prefers Indigenous Rock Traveler to any of our poor attempts to name it.; 2/16/13, 1:56 PM
I Callahan said...: Here's what I learned in 7th grade science. A rock in space is an asteroid. If it enters earth's atmosphere it's a meteor—shooting star. If it does not burn up and hits the earth, it's a meteorite. That's why we have meteor showers, not meteorite showers or asteroid showers.

Leave it to science to create 9 words for the same damn thing. They're rocks, for crying out loud. It doesn't matter which word Rush used; his point about the CNN moron blaming global warming was more pertinent.

I'm sorry professor, but you're on a vapid streak. First the post blasting interviewees from a cruise ship, now this.

Up your game, as you're wont to say yourself.; 2/16/13, 2:00 PM
BarrySanders20 said...: If I hit a golf ball into the pond, we don't call it something else when it is sinking to the bottom, and then something else when it settles in the muck. It's still a golf ball.

Enough of your imperial attitudes toward our celestial neighbors.; 2/16/13, 2:01 PM
Unknown said...: I like Ann slightly more than I like Rush. Love them both. Sad to see that Ann appears to be, and reinforces the appearance by tagging "stupid", a typical academic who's whole being is wrapped up in her college credentials. Therefore, someone like Rush, a college dropout, CANNOT be smarter than she. But my gut tells me that Rush is smarter. And the more consideration I'd put to the question, the more Rush would come out the victor.

Stupid is as Stupid tags...; 2/16/13, 2:17 PM
Unknown said...: I like Ann slightly more than I like Rush. Love them both. Sad to see that Ann appears to be, and reinforces the appearance by tagging "stupid", a typical academic who's whole being is wrapped up in her college credentials. Therefore, someone like Rush, a college dropout, CANNOT be smarter than she. But my gut tells me that Rush is smarter. And the more consideration I'd put to the question, the more Rush would come out the victor.

Stupid is as Stupid tags...; 2/16/13, 2:17 PM
ddh said...: But it was a meteorite!

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/15/russian_meteorite_fragment_may_have_fallen_in_frozen_lake.html; 2/16/13, 2:48 PM
Illuninati said...: Althouse can nitpick about terminology, that is what lawers do, but the science is clear. Rush was right. The CNN chick didn't just get the terminology wrong, she didn't understand the concept. That is a big difference.

In my experience, leftists are generally quite ignorant when it comes to science. Many of them, like Althouse, are wordsmiths who probably have stellar scores on IQ tests, but that doesn't make them scientists. There's nothing wrong with wordsmiths as long as they understand the difference.

The scary part is when leftists decide that because they are so smart, they have the right to use the threat of violence, to force everyone to act according to their understanding. For example, the might be right, global warming might do some harm, or it could save the lives of hundreds of millions of people if it delays the next ice age. The science is not settled. On the other hand, the resources we expend to prevent global warming is diverted from other risks, like asteroids which we know will hit the earth in the future and have the potential to kill millions of people. There is no question that they are out there and that they are immensely destructive. A very large asteroid strike could kill most of the people then living on the earth. The left have their priorities screwed up because they don't understand the science.

The same thing could be said about nutrition and health issues. Many of the things we think are bad for us, might not be bad at all. Even in well designed studies, it is very hard to isolate variables in someone's life, and to determine whether those variables are really the cause of the diseases which one is researching. Despite all the talk about the evils of fat, we don't even know whether it is unhealthful to be a few pounds overweight. Studies appear to be contradictory. Fat people seem to be more resistant to some deadly infectious diseases like tuberculosis than thin people. Another example, we are all told to watch our cholesterol, and yet there is an association between low cholesterol and alzheimer disease. Is low cholesterol a cause of alzheimer disease or is it associated but not causitive? We don't know, the science is not settled, but that doesn't keep the leftists from making laws about what everyone else can and can not eat.; 2/16/13, 2:59 PM
Anonymous said...: "Althouse can nitpick about terminology, that is what lawers do, but the science is clear.

The scary part is when leftists decide that because they are so smart, they have the right to use the threat of violence, to force everyone to act according to their understanding. "

2/16/13, 2:59 PM

So what manner of "violence" will Althouse do if y'all don't agree with her understanding of Meteorite vs. Asteroid?!

As for liberals and diet, so are you saying all liberals buy into low fat diets? Just for that alone, I want to sock you. :); 2/16/13, 3:15 PM
Smilin' Jack said...: An asteroid needs to be large enough to be considered a "minor planet." This is an important distinction. If a meteor hits the earth, we call it a meteorite. If an asteroid hits the earth, we don't call it anything, because we're dead.; 2/16/13, 3:19 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said:
"So what manner of "violence" will Althouse do if y'all don't agree with her understanding of Meteorite vs. Asteroid?!"

Any time someone uses the law to get their way, they are resorting to the threat of police violence. They are one step removed from the violence, so it is easy to forget that aspect of law. Althouse isn't threatening violence because of the possible misuse of a term, but the people Rush is opposing, and who Althouse is defending, are all about violence.

"As for liberals and diet, so are you saying all liberals buy into low fat diets? Just for that alone, I want to sock you. :)"

I don't apply the word liberal to leftists. I consider myself a classic liberal, that is why I'm a conservative. The so called liberals have changed over the years, they are all about power, true liberalism has nothing to do with the left.

Inga, I have read your posts,and I know you are too smart for that straw argument. Every group has a spectrum of individuals, so on any topic you are likely to find a range of opinions even among people who share a common world view. That doesn't make the groups any less identifiable.; 2/16/13, 3:33 PM
Anonymous said...: Illuninati,

I consider myself a social liberal/ leftist, I always find it annoying when anyone lumps political philosophy and non related issues, such as diet or religion, or feminism, etc. together. There are as many independent thinkers that lean left as those that lean right. No identifiable group fits the identity perfectly.; 2/16/13, 3:51 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Yes, illuninati, Inga certainly is intelligent enough, (RN BSNs have to take organic chem--or used to-- along with the pre-med & chem majors--a weeding out course--and passing that course is no small feat)but that doesn't make her wise or even knowledgeable or experienced in or about the matter at hand...Inga is certainly no female neo-Renaissance DaVinci; 2/16/13, 4:02 PM
Dante said...: So what manner of "violence" will Althouse do if y'all don't agree with her understanding of Meteorite vs. Asteroid?!

Meteorite vs. THE asteroid is a complete red-herring. Her real beef is parodying the Global Warming crowds. And I don't understand her beef with Limbaugh's use of the words either.

To me, it seems like Ann looked around for a cudgel because she disagrees with poo poohing global warming. I've never cared for that kind of rhetoric. Perhaps it's what that Dr. Carson said "They teach you to win in Law School."

Like the CNN lady wants to link extreme weather events in your mind with Global Warming, or even fear of the Asteroid with Global warming.

Note, none of this has to do with AGW is real or not. Propaganda is simply wrong. Attempting to show some wrong thinking about Meteorites vs. The Asteroid is immoral, in my mind, because it attempts to force ones opinion of global warming on the proles, to get them to accept it, not for scientific reasons, or rational thought, but through fear, and trying to heighten ones sense there are more extreme weather events, when there aren't.; 2/16/13, 4:08 PM
chickelit said...: Inga wrote: I always find it annoying when anyone lumps political philosophy and non related issues, such as diet or religion, or feminism, etc. together.

I can agree to that. I consider Sarah Palin a feminist of the highest order.; 2/16/13, 4:10 PM
Anonymous said...: Chickelit, yep, see?; 2/16/13, 4:11 PM
Dante said...: Probably one of the reasons is the kind of force. As I understand it, the nuclear blasts let off a large amount of high energy radiation, the energy of which surface of a sphere, which is proportional to the radius squared. So a lot of folks were burned in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and that's why the military folks were devising white garments, to reflect the radiation. The Asteroid sent a shock wave, which operates on the volume of the shpere, or the cube of the radius. That's why the burn of nuclear Bombs has a bigger radius than the destruction of physical objects.; 2/16/13, 4:14 PM
Cody Jarrett said...: BTW, unless I missed something, your link to your previous attack on Rush is actually a link to a newsbusters story about the CNN babe and her goofiness.; 2/16/13, 4:29 PM
Illuninati said...: Inga said:
"I consider myself a social liberal/ leftist, I always find it annoying when anyone lumps political philosophy and non related issues, such as diet or religion, or feminism, etc. together. There are as many independent thinkers that lean left as those that lean right. No identifiable group fits the identity perfectly"

Inga, I'm discussing what is happening now. The people who are using the power of government to force their ideas on other people who disagree are on the left. In the West and Far East, that has been the pattern for about 100 years. In the Middle East the ideology which is propagating itself by force is it is Islam.

I wish you were correct about the independent thinkers on the left, and within Islam, but so far they have not materialized. Individuals might express an idea or two in private which sounds out of step with their group, but I am unaware of any strong voices on the left or within Islam standing up against the totalitarians within their ideology.; 2/16/13, 4:36 PM
Astro said...: Smilin' Jack said... An asteroid needs to be large enough to be considered a "minor planet." This is an important distinction. If a meteor hits the earth, we call it a meteorite. If an asteroid hits the earth, we don't call it anything, because we're dead.

Or we call it 'The K-T Event' because 65 million years later we are here.; 2/16/13, 4:48 PM
Penny said...: chickelit said...

"See? Glasses...plural...just like panties ..."

And let us not forget tan lines. ;); 2/16/13, 4:50 PM
Astro said...: By the way, I'm not a regular listen of Limbaugh, but I catch his program occassionally, and I give him credit for correcting himself as soon as he realizes his error. (Though, in this case, there is no error on his part to correct.)

A few days ago, while talking about the CNN asteroid / global warming comment, he stated that Bill Nye doesn't even have a science degree and has no credentials to talk about weather or the climate. He then said Nye had a degree in 'mechanical drawing' (which would be like a 2-year AA degree). -- After the next break he said he needed to correct himself, saying Nye had a degree in mechanical engineering. (Which is a 4-year bachelors degree and requires an understanding of Physics, Calculus, etc.); 2/16/13, 5:07 PM
chickelit said...: And let us not forget tan lines. ;)

A tangenital thought--erotic and diverging from my previous examples--but worthy. :); 2/16/13, 5:13 PM
Synova said...: As far as I can tell the words are used interchangably by the people hwo know what they're talking about... and the meteoroid that hit in Russia was an astroidal rock but not at all related to the big one that just passed by us. Who is speculating that they were related? According to NASA yesterday the one that hit Russia came from the day-side and a completely different part of space than the one that passed by us which we could see only because it approached from the night-side of the earth.

(The day-side and night-side of the earth always face the same direction, it's just the earth that turns.); 2/16/13, 5:17 PM
Synova said...: "Asteroids and meteoroids are the same entities, except that asteroids are bigger than Greyhound Buses. This is the scientific definition.

A meteoroid is the smaller than a bus thing that falls.

The visibility of it is the meteor.

It becomes a meteorite when it reaches Earth."

This sounds right to me.; 2/16/13, 5:20 PM
Rusty said...: machine said...
Can't use "science" and Rush in the same post...

Can't use "logic" and machine in the same post....; 2/16/13, 5:50 PM
chickelit said...: SteveBrooklineMA said...
Does meteorite mean a meteor that has hit the earth or is it simply mineral obtained from space rock? In the old days there was no need for distinction but that is no longer so. We could sample an asteroid in space

The suffix "ite" is common in mineralogy and also inorganic chemistry (cf. magnetite, ferrite, quartzite, etc.) According to my OED of Etymology (dead tree edition), "meteorite" originally designated meteor-ite, meaning the mineral or "stone" of a meteor. I'm not aware of a mineral from outer space which isn't found on earth--so the distinction seems academic except for point of origin. Some think that earth's more exotic minerals are of extraterrestrial origin--the earth having been pelted by meteors and churned for eons. I wonder whether metals of extraterrestrial origin would show a different isotopic signature than those thought to originate elsewhere.; 2/16/13, 5:53 PM
Michael McNeil said...: Almost all of what we call meteors as we see them streak through our night skies are not asteroids at all, but rather flecks of dust which have been boiled off of comets. This is particularly true with the so-called meteor “showers” (typically they're more like meteor sprinkles), 'cause all of those occur when the Earth in its orbit crosses or approaches the orbit of some comet or other, where our planet encounters quantities of dust that have been expelled as the Sun heats its frozen ices. (Usually the comet is at some other position along its orbit when the Earth goes by.)

While grains-of-sand sized remnants of past asteroid collisions would also be seen as “meteors” as they fall into our planet's atmosphere, larger fragments of asteroids colliding with Earth are considered not ordinary meteors per se but are called “fireballs” or (at the largest, oftentimes exploding, size) “bollides.”; 2/16/13, 6:21 PM
Penny said...: "A tangenital thought--erotic and diverging from my previous examples--but worthy. :)"

So, chickelit? If I called you a bad speller, would that blow be too low? :P; 2/16/13, 7:48 PM
ed said...: @ Althouse

"... I'm saying Rush sounded pedantic saying there's a difference between an asteroid and a meteorite while also making fun of CNN for something that (as I've blogged about before) was only a question and might have been the set up for a joke. ..."

Any actual ... proof ... of that "joke" assertion? Because I watched that video and that wasn't a lead up to a joke, snark or humor. She was serious.

And calling Rush "pedantic" for making the distinction between "the asteroid" and "the meteorite" does not impress me very much. He wasn't defining the difference between meteorites and asteroids. He was pointing out that the meteorite that struck Russia was not the asteroid people have been talking about.

"The asteroid is out there because of global warming. CNN told us that, so that's how we know that."

-That- is a snarky lead up to humor.; 2/16/13, 8:56 PM
chickelit said...: You can't hurt me, Penny. It's just groin' pangs.; 2/16/13, 10:51 PM
J said...: one of the ways that geologists determine the extra-terrestial origins of meteorite fragments is isotopic variation.The original basis for seeking what became known as the KT event was a layer of Potassium-40 and Iridium which could not be explained by terrestial processes.In a sense all rocks are extra-terrestial in origin(What was the earth before it WAS the earth?)
It is so entertaining to the scientific litterati to observe the uninformed discussions by the high school in crowd.
Big Bang theory is a two way joke.; 2/17/13, 1:39 AM
J said...: one of the ways that geologists determine the extra-terrestial origins of meteorite fragments is isotopic variation.The original basis for seeking what became known as the KT event was a layer of Potassium-40 and Iridium which could not be explained by terrestial processes.In a sense all rocks are extra-terrestial in origin(What was the earth before it WAS the earth?)
It is so entertaining to the scientific litterati to observe the uninformed discussions by the high school in crowd.
Big Bang theory is a two way joke.; 2/17/13, 1:44 AM
Anonymous said...: A close encounter /cum closest approach Check out to know more about Asteroid DA14 :-http://vikramadittya.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/close-encounterapproach-with-meteorite-da14/; 2/17/13, 2:17 AM
Gene said...: Ann criticized Rush for a non-mistake and then defended herself by suggesting he said something he never did.

When you make a mistake just fess up.; 2/17/13, 6:01 AM
Bill R said...: Scientific American is calling it an asteroid. So there.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=chelyabinsk-fireball-asteroid; 2/17/13, 7:25 AM
chickelit said...: Jeff Teal chides: It is so entertaining to the scientific litterati to observe the uninformed discussions by the high school in crowd.

Man condescended from apes and it shows.; 2/17/13, 8:14 AM
William R. Hamblen said...: "I read somewhere that the sonic boom had the power of ten Hiroshimas, or was that two Hiroshimas? In any case how could such a powerful force result in no more than some cuts from blown-in glass? No deaths reported, at least so far. "

It was only broken glass because the bang was a long way away. The rock was small enough to slow down high in the atmosphere. If you are far enough away from an explosion you won't even notice that it happened. Some explosions could be big enough that no place on earth is far enough away. This wasn't one of them.; 2/17/13, 1:45 PM
Gene said...: The Russian meteorite was probably a small asteroid. If it weighs 10,000 tons (a figure I keep seeing all over the place) that makes it heavier than a WWII Liberty ship, which, while hollow to carry cargo, were more than 400 feet long.; 2/17/13, 3:09 PM
Gene said...: ricpic, I agree. I'm also surprised it didn't do more damage if the explosion was, as some scientists are now suggesting, in the 300-to-500 kiloton range (20 to 30 times as big as the Hiroshima bomb).

In the 1908 Tunguska event, I once read, the heat from the explosion was so powerful it set people's clothes on fire something like 20 or 30 miles away. Several people in the current blast mentioned the heat that came with the blast.

Since a lot of people were recording the event, I am surprised no one (as far as I know) caught the sound of the blast. That is something I would like to hear.; 2/17/13, 3:24 PM
J said...: chickelit-it is so FUNNY to see people who have Zero expertise in any given area lecture those of us who spend our lives studying this stuff.First they get the facts wrong then they crow about it and then when we correct them they lecture us for calling them ignorant.
Ignorant as in intentionally uninformed.SO damn high school.; 2/18/13, 1:14 AM