it's in the stars

Big news - in August (11-12 peak) the Perseids meteor showers will be even more spectacular than usual because we will be passing through the tail of Comet Swift-Tuttle!

So let's analyze this, shall we? First, it isn't the first time Earth has passed through a comet's tail. It hasn't killed us before, so I like the odds of us surviving this one - though Gregg Easterbrook's article in a recent issue of The Atlantic - republished here - about how many scientists now believe the odds of being hit by Something Big Enough To Wipe Out Humanity, or At Least A Significant Chunk of It, are much much higher than believed before certainly made me contemplate the stars with a little more trepidation.

Anyway, I think we'll survive the Perseids and Comet Swift-Tuttle. So continuing the analysis, what will the effects be on the Presidential election, the Beijing Olympics, and the international oil markets?

I think it will give McCain a bump. It will make some superstitious religious types afraid of God's wrath just a bit more, and those types tend to flock to the party of superstition and religion, the Republican Party, which believes in divine providence, supply-side economics, and other baseless fallacies.

It will help the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and Liberia win more medals because all of those countries have stars on their flags.

And it will make Peak Oil come that little bit closer to reality because of all the gasoline people will waste driving out into the countryside to get a good look at the meteors, away from blinding city lights.