Oh, no, we're all going to die horribly!
A blue-ribbon panel of scientists is trying to determine the best way to detect and ward off any wandering space rocks that might be on a collision course with Earth.
[. . .]
Congress asked the academy to conduct the study after astronomers were unable to eliminate an extremely slight chance that an asteroid called Apophis will slam into Earth with devastating effect in 2036.
On second thought, maybe I'll put off worrying about this one. My new rule is, it ain't really a problem unless I hear it from Al Gore. And if anybody in government does start taking the possibility seriously, there'll go another $20 or $30 trillion. I've paid and paid already -- don't come to me to bail out the planet.
