Meteorite Wednesday
"Meteorites are nature's way of asking, 'How's that space program coming along?'"
Good luck finding the original source of that quote. Variations are attributed to Ed Lu and Neil Degrasse Tyson, but as with anything that's gone viral, finding the "real" original is bothersome, and possibly impossible.
Whoever said it first, it's a fair question. An meteorite impact caused a global climate change that wiped out the dinosaurs. And while it wasn't an extinction event, Russia had a close encounter with a meteorite on Friday that left over a thousand people injured. Thanks to Russia's pervasive culture of insurance fraud, there is a ridiculous amount of dashboard camera footage of atmospheric penetration and landfall. For the first time in history, we can see multiple amateur videos of such a rare and spectacular event almost immediately from anywhere in the world.
Except in Germany, where GEMA's copyright claims have blocked the dashcam videos because many of them contain radio songs. Like the U.S. MPAA and RIAA, the vast majority of copyright enforcement efforts (1) are about protecting distributors, not creators, and (2) do more harm to the public than good.
Luckily, meteorites themselves can't be copyrighted or trademarked or patented, so people are free to do cool things with meteorite metal like make wedding rings. I prefer women, but if that guy asked me, I'd be tempted.
Good luck finding the original source of that quote. Variations are attributed to Ed Lu and Neil Degrasse Tyson, but as with anything that's gone viral, finding the "real" original is bothersome, and possibly impossible.
Whoever said it first, it's a fair question. An meteorite impact caused a global climate change that wiped out the dinosaurs. And while it wasn't an extinction event, Russia had a close encounter with a meteorite on Friday that left over a thousand people injured. Thanks to Russia's pervasive culture of insurance fraud, there is a ridiculous amount of dashboard camera footage of atmospheric penetration and landfall. For the first time in history, we can see multiple amateur videos of such a rare and spectacular event almost immediately from anywhere in the world.
Except in Germany, where GEMA's copyright claims have blocked the dashcam videos because many of them contain radio songs. Like the U.S. MPAA and RIAA, the vast majority of copyright enforcement efforts (1) are about protecting distributors, not creators, and (2) do more harm to the public than good.
Luckily, meteorites themselves can't be copyrighted or trademarked or patented, so people are free to do cool things with meteorite metal like make wedding rings. I prefer women, but if that guy asked me, I'd be tempted.