A meteorite struck Norway a couple days ago, releasing many kilotons of energy--equivalent to the Hiroshima bomb in explosive power.

Fortunately it was out in the boonies. If it had hit a major city it would have killed many thousands of people, and if it had struck in the ocean it could have generated a nasty tsunami. And we continue to do very little to defend ourselves from them.

We were lucky this time, but we shouldn't continue to count on luck. The sooner we become a truly spacefaring country and planet (and NASA's current plans do little to advance us in that direction), the sooner we'll be able to manage these things.

A Hiroshima-size explosion will not produce much of a tsunami, unless one is very close.

More here: http://www.nordlys.no/nyheter/article2140014.ece

Don't you know humans caused global warming is a bigger threat to man kind than any meteorite.
Too bad we don't have someone like Gore (but actually has some credentials on what he talking about) trying to pipe up awareness and push for more commitment to go to space. Oh well too bad Carl Sagan dead.

Since we're on the subject of "threats", a nuclear war seems a bigger threat to me than global warming does.

Hmm, Reisadalen area in northern Tromsö.
Something else peculiar happened there a few days later:
http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article1230093.ece

Anyway, on a more serious note, for those who haven't checked it out, here's an old toy play with if you have some spare time:
http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/impacteffects/

There is ongoing work to do very extensive NEO surveys, now it's easier with modern technology. Automatic telescopes with huge fields of view and processing the gargantuan amounts of data automatically.

Are we doomed?

Mayor: What do you mean, "biblical"?

Dr Ray Stantz: What he means is Old Testament, Mr. Mayor, real wrath-of-God type stuff.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Exactly.

Dr Ray Stantz: Fire and brimstone coming down from the skies. Rivers and seas boiling.

Dr. Egon Spengler: Forty years of darkness. Earthquakes, volcanoes...

Winston Zeddemore: The dead rising from the grave.

Dr. Peter Venkman: Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!

>>Something else peculiar happened there a few days later:

Hmmm, this sounds like the beginning of a real hare-raising horror movie.

Or at the very least, some low budget tale of cliched horror.

Sadly, comedy wise it's been all downhill for Ben Stiller since then.

Anybody read "Starfire" by Michael Flynn? It was written around 1995, but I just picked it up from a used book store. It's an interesting read about people pulling the human race back into space (via private enterprise no less). One of the main character has a fear of meteor impacts as her driving force to get humanity back in space, although she keeps that fear secret to avoid being branded a crazy alarmist.

Well we got this story http://apnews.myway.com/article/20060613/D8I7ADB81.html
about Hawkin warning to go to the stars. Though the disasters he cited were human made but nothing wrong with that.