Well, that makes me feel better.

 Apparently, we don't need to call out the Bruce Willis' type supermen if there is ever an asteroid heading toward the Earth to annihilate it.  All we have to do is shoot paintballs at the thing.

Really.  At least, according to the brains at the UN.

An MIT graduate student won the UN's space council competition this year by coming up with the idea.  It seems he has figured out that the paint, which would have to be white paint to work, would begin the nudge the asteroid out of the way.  The white paint would further facilitate the sun's photons bouncing off the surface.

Over the course of time, this would put the now solid white asteroid off its collision course with us.

Well.  That's one less thing to worry about.  The science types have the problem of Apophis, an asteroid expected to come very close sometime in 2029, licked.

If only they could solve the mysterious ailment that makes my teens forget to bring their cups back from their bedrooms without constant reminders, life would be perfect.


Today is:

Advocate's Day -- India

Alka-Seltzer Day -- marking its introduction in 1931

Day of Remembrance for Bogatir (Great hero) Svatogor -- Asatru/Pagan Slavic Calendar

Electric Light Parade -- Lovington, MN, US (over 60 entries, all decorated with Christmas lights)

Fairy and Goblin Taunt-and-Tease Saturnalia -- Fairy Calendar

Festival for Bona Dea -- Ancient Roman Calendar (goddess of chastity, fecundity, the earth, and fertility; a women's festival)

Festival for Serket/Selket -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (scorpion goddess, who healed from their sting; date approximate)

International Day of Persons with Disabilities -- UN

International Day of the Basque Language

King Tupou I Day -- Tonga

Make a Gift Day -- internet generated, and go ahead, 'tis the season

National Apple Pie Day

National Ice Cream Box Day -- internet generated, for those who love ice cream that comes in the rectangular box, and being the first to dig in

National Roof-Over-Your-Head Day -- be grateful you have one

Pompaia -- Ancient Greek Calendar (procession dedicated to Zeus; date approximate)

Reinvigorate Your Brain by Reading Something Day -- internet generated, and good to do every day, don't you think?

St. Francis Xavier's Day (Patron of African missions, foreign missions, missionaries, navigators, parish missions, Agartala, India; Ahmedabad, India; Alexandria, LA; ) related observance
     San Francisco Javier -- Navarre, Spain (special observances)

Takata no Inoko -- Sakurai, Japan (offerings for peace and good harvests)

Telescope Day -- marking its invention by Galileo in 1621


Anniversaries Today:

Illinios becomes the 21st US State, 1818


Birthdays Today:

Brendan Fraser, 1968
Daryl Hannah, 1960
Julianne Moore, 1960
Ozzy Osbourne, 1948
Jean-Luc Godard, 1930
Andy Williams, 1927
John Backus, 1924
Joseph Conrad, 1857
Charles Alfred Pillsbury, 1842


Today in History:

Sir Thomas Herriot introduces potatoes to England, 1586
In an uprising over mining licenses, which came to be called the rebellion at the Eureka Stockade, more than 20 goldminers at Ballarat, Victoria, Australia are killed by state troopers in what many claim to be the birth of Australian democracy, 1854
The trial of Jefferson Davis starts with the first blacks on a US trial jury, 1868
Settlers arrive at Petach Tikvah, Israel, 1878
The Jovian moon Himalia is discovered by Charles Dillon Perrine, 1904
Neon lights make their public debut at the Paris Auto Show, 1910
The Quebec Bridge, after almost 20 years of planning and construction, opens, 1917
The first successful Technicolor movie, "Tall of the Sea," premiers in NYC, 1922
Chinese refugee ship "Kiangya" explodes in E China Sea, killing 1,100, 1948
Paul Harvey begins his national radio broadcast, 1950
At Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, a transplant team headed by Christiaan Barnard carries out the first heart transplant on a human, 1967
Pioneer 10 sends back the first close-up images of Jupiter, 1973
In one of the worst industrial disasters ever, a methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, kills thousands and injures hundreds of thousands, 1984
In Ottawa, Canada, representatives from 121 countries, not including the US, Russia, or China, sign The Ottawa treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines, 1997
XCOR Aerospace makes first manned rocket aircraft delivery of US Mail in Mojave, California, 2005