Asteroid In The News

I was perusing Google News when I saw this headline:

“Massive asteroid speeding near Earth”

It was concerning, but I was somewhat relieved by the words “speeding near Earth”. If the headline had read “speeding toward Earth” I would have been worried.

Then I read this headline:

“Asteroid Possibly Longer Than Football Field Will Soon Have Near-Earth Encounter”

It’s “longer than a football field.” But what kind of football field? Is it a field for European football (a.k.a. soccer) or American football? Why can’t headline writers be less ambiguous?

Then I wondered, how wide is this asteroid? Measured in football fields, of course. It may sound silly, but it wasn’t me who decided to denote asteroid size in football fields. I didn’t even know a football field is a unit of length.

The bigger question is why does Google present us with headlines about things that are not going to happen? I think I know why. There is so much bad news in the headlines that Google probably thinks it’s a good idea to publish a “we-dodged-a-bullet” headline occasionally to cheer us up. Like, “Good News: The Earth Won’t End Tomorrow” so pick up a six-pack while you’re out today and celebrate.

I’ll drink to that.