Over the Edge

British scientists say they're tracking an asteroid that might strike Earth on March 21, 2014.

The odds of this happening about 900,000 to 1 against, the article says. The odds of my hitting NY Lotto are about 22.5 million to 1 against. I buy Lotto tickets every so often, but don't plan to worry about asteroids -- which I hope says more about human nature in general and less about me specifically.

(I also note that one of the Lottery's FAQs is "Can you give me the winning numbers for the next drawing?" The answer is, "No. Each drawing is a completely random live occurrence.")

Update on that asteroid:

A newly discovered asteroid has zero chance of colliding with Earth in 11 years, although preliminary data had suggested such a doomsday scenario was possible, astronomers said this week.

New data allowed a more refined projection of the orbit of the space rock, dubbed 2003 QQ47 -- ruling out more than a dozen possible strike dates, according to the Near Earth Objects Information Center.

Now, had this been from the White House, with its distinguished record of lying to the American People only when it moves its lips, I'd suggest that it would really be time to worry. But I do love this graf from the story:

Despite cautioning that the odds were almost 1 in a million and that further study would probably rule out any possibility, the center could not stem sensationalist stories from some media outlets worldwide.

My own point was that people routinely accept odds much greater than one in a million in their everyday lives -- and that people don't really thing that "one-in-a-million" is especially rare.

I'm just marveling at the part where the kid got the key into the ignition and turned it far enough to get the starter motor cranking:

TAMPA (AP) - Authorities said a [2-year-old] toddler slipped out of his mother's locked motel room, climbed into his family's car and accidentally drove it through the room's door and window....

[Hillsborough County sheriff's Lt. Rod] Reder said while Rex's mother was showering, the youngster managed to get the car keys, unlock the motel room door, and go outside and enter the unlocked car.

Once he started the manual-transmission vehicle, it lurched forward about eight feet, crashing through the door and window of Room 133, Reder said. Hopkins had left the car in first gear, Reder said.

Why, yes, I have 21-month-old twin boys. Why do you ask?