Asteroid the size of a small truck buzzes Earth: NASA

Reuters via nbcnews.com ^ | June 8, 2013 | Irene Klotz

[John W]

Job 1 of all government agencies-crowd control.

[bgill]

That must have been all that buzzing and circling that rattled the windows for about 15 minutes the other night. A couple hours later there was a huge spotlight that lit up everything like daylight for a flash here and a flash there every couple minutes. Weird goings on especially since there are not police choppers anywhere around here. Yep, uh huh, asteroid is better than the alternative.

[DoughtyOne]

An asteroid the size of a small truck zoomed past Earth four times closer than the moon on Saturday...

Am I the only person who dislikes referencing the differences in distance in this manner?

Passing by inside the distance of the Moon to the Earth, it came within roughly one quarter of that distance.

[ridesthemiles]

Is God lining up Obama in his scope?

[DoughtyOne]

I agree Bert.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3029127/posts?page=23#23

[PapaBear3625]

Am I the only person who dislikes referencing the differences in distance in this manner? Passing by inside the distance of the Moon to the Earth, it came within roughly one quarter of that distance.

No, you're not the only one who is bothered by the shift. It used to be that people would say "half as big as", now they say "two times smaller than". It irritates me too.

[DoughtyOne]

New math? :^)

Sounds as if they aren’t confident the public can understand fractions or percentages.

[John W]

That might be sound thinking, possibly based on the fact that they themselves do not.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks John W.

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[Monkey Face]

That’s what I’M talkin’ about!