Five Reason Armageddon Would Be Ace

Source : FHM Magazine

illustration by www.paulwatson.info

1. There'd be no more Wednesdays. Wednesdays are rubbish.

2. You could pretend that only having cans of baked beans in the cupboard was survivalist preparation and    not just because you keep forgetting to go to Giant.

3. Religious nuts would have to admit they'd wasted their lives when God choose not to spare them and    instead hit them with the same asteroid that flattened your boozing neighbour's ox-coveting arse. Up yours,    organised religion.

4. The knowledge that all past, present and future reality TV stars would be destroyed.

5. With a bit of forward planning, the chances of Hannah Tan sleeping with you could greatly increase, because you are literally the last man on Earth.

Image from Google: Hannah Tan

Science Facts

Source : www.dailymail.co.uk

Massive asteroid could hit Earth in 2182, warn scientists

 

A massive asteroid might crash into Earth in the year 2182, scientists have warned. The asteroid, called 1999 RQ36, has a 1-in-1,000 chance of actually hitting the Earth at some point before the year 2200, but is most likely to hit us on 24th September 2182. It was first discovered in 1999 and is more than 1,800 feet across. If an asteroid of this size hit the Earth it would cause widespread devastation and possible mass extinction. And scientists say that any attempt to try and divert the asteroid will have to take place more than 100 years before it is due to hit to have any chance of success.

If the asteroid had not been spotted until after 2080 it would be impossible to divert it from its target, they warned in a new research paper. While the odds may seem long, they are far shorter than that of the asteroid Apophis, which currently has a 1 in 250,000 chance of striking Earth in 2036. A competition was launched in 2008 by the Planetary Society for designs for a space probe to land on Apophis and monitor its progress.

Maria Eugenia Sansaturio and scientists from the Universidad de Valladolid in Spain have used mathematical models to calculate the risk of the asteroid hitting the Earth anytime between now and the year 2200.
And they were shocked to discover that there are two potential opportunities for the asteroid to hit Earth in the year 2182. ‘The total impact probability of asteroid '(101955) 1999 RQ36' can be estimated in 0.00092 –approximately one-in-a-thousand chance-, but what is most surprising is that over half of this chance (0.00054) corresponds to 2182,’ Sansaturio said.

The asteroid is now behind the Sun and will next be observable only in the spring of 2011.
Scientists have estimated and monitored the potential impacts for this asteroid between now and 2200 using two different mathematical models. Between now and 2060, the chances of Earth impacts from 1999 RQ36 are remote. But the researchers discovered that the odds increase fourfold by 2080 as the asteroid's orbit brings it swinging back towards Earth. The odds then drop before rising again in 2162 and 2182.

Asteroid 1999 RQ36 is part of the Potentially Hazardous Asteroids (PHA) group, which all have the possibility of hitting the Earth due to their orbits and are all considered likely to cause damage.
Even though the asteroid’s orbit is well-known thanks to 290 different observations by telescopes and 13 radar measurements there is uncertainty about its path because of the so-called Yarkovsky effect.
This effect, first discovered in 2003 and named after a Russian engineer, is produced by the way an asteroid absorbs energy from the sun and re-radiates it into space as heat. This can subtly alter the asteroid’s flight path.

The research, which has been published in Icarus journal, predicts what could happen in the upcoming years considering this effect.

 An image of 1999 RQ36, the asteroid which has a 1/1000 chance of hitting Earth

Sansaturio said: ‘The consequence of this complex dynamic is not just the likelihood of a comparatively large impact, but also that a realistic deflection procedure (path deviation) could only be made before the impact in 2080, and more easily, before 2060.' She added: ‘If this object had been discovered after 2080, the deflection would require a technology that is not currently available.‘Therefore, this example suggests that impact monitoring, which up to date does not cover more than 80 or 100 years, may need to encompass more than one century.‘Thus, the efforts to deviate this type of objects could be conducted with moderate resources, from a technological and financial point of view.’

The impact from the asteroid that created the famous Chicxulub crater in Mexico would have caused 'mega-tsunamis' many thousands of feet high.It is believed that this asteroid led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Scientists around the world have long been discussing ways of deflecting potentially hazardous asteroids to prevent them hitting Earth. One of the more popular methods is to detonate a nuclear warhead on an approaching asteroid to deflect it from its orbital path. Last month physicist David Dearborn of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the US argued that nuclear weapons could be the best strategy for avoiding an asteroid impact - especially for large asteroids and with little warning time.

Crude Oil Forecast 2011

Source: Suite101

Will the price of crude oil per barrel rocket higher, stay the same, or drop? This is what some analysts are forecasting and predicting... 

Predicting or forecasting the price of crude oil in 2011 is more difficult than merely looking at an oil price chart. Huge economic forces need to be balanced out in order to even guess at future values. Here are what some analysts think.

Jeff Rubin’s 2011 Crude Oil Price Forecast

The former Chief Economist at CIBC and award winning author Jeff Rubin predicts that the price of oil in 2011 has a very good chance of being above 100 dollars a barrel. Why?

• BP Oil Spill. The damage of the 2010 oil spill will be talked about for many years to come. Accidents in underwater oil drilling might inspire governmental policy to further restrict this form of acquiring crude oil. Where will the new supply come from? While the tar sands are rich in oil the cost of extraction is also quite high. If oil companies shift their focus to the tar sands, prices will likely increase from 2010.

• Economic Recovery. 2008 was a year of global economic pain. People spent less during the recession to preserve capital. If the economy improves and demand for overseas products increase once again, global oil consumption from large ships carrying goods around the world will drive crude prices up.

Jeff Rubin further adds that in 2011 the economy might double dip which could lead to very cheap oil. But if the economy is to grow, demand for oil will go up as the supply falls thus creating inflated prices.

How Long Will Oil Reserve Last ?

Oil Reserves: Is the Planet’s Major Fossil Fuel Good to the Last Drop? 
 
Energy. Humans all over the globe use it every day. From the flipping of a light switch to the revving of an engine for the morning and evening commutes, energy is all around us. According to scientists, our energy sources are in danger. Oil is a prime example of a non-renewable resource. Meaning, once it is gone, it is not coming back; theoretically the earth can make more oil, but the process involves millions of years of fossil decomposition. Oil reserves are low, but how low are they and when should we be worried?

How Much Oil is Left?

According to the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security, there are trillions of barrels of oil available for the world’s use. The Institute suggests that 6 percent of oil reserves are found in North America, 9 percent in Latin and Central America, 2 percent in Europe, 4 percent in Asia, 7 percent in Africa and 6 percent in the nations that once comprised the Soviet Union. So what about the other sixty-six percent? This amount of oil is found in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia and Iraq being the two nations that have the most oil to offer. Most experts predict that if trends continue, eighty three percent of global oil will be controlled by the Middle East.

The Politics of Oil

The statistics alone are not enough to reveal just how significant a political bargaining chip oil has become. The United States has what is known as the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve. According to Cato Institute writer Alan Reynolds, the United States has begun adding 160,000 barrels of oil daily into the SPR, and has given no indication of selling, but only of collecting barrels of oil. The concern for OPEC is that the United States could sell or simply use the oil from its own growing stockpile. According to Reynolds, there are 700 million barrels in this stockpile. While this may be threatening to OPEC, the fact of the matter is that America uses nearly 20 million barrels of oil a day, leading one to question just how truly threatening the American SPR is to the oil bosses of OPEC.