Asteroid Lassos (The dumbest, most ridiculous idea ever)

Back in mid-October, I wrote about an asteroid that just missed Earth and, by extension, nearly wiped us from existence.  I still think I'm the only one who thought that was a big deal after reading the Air Force defense plan...

Simply put, we'll use a weighted lasso to alter the asteroid's path (by changing its center of mass and subsequently its trajectory), thus avoiding a potential Armageddon.  The "plan" involves about 60,000 miles of cord, a multi-billion pound weight, and anywhere between 10-50 years of preparation.

Awesome.  Considering there are about 7 million other monolithic objects in the near-Earth space, most of which could destroy our planet, we just don't have the luxury of a 50 year advance warning.  Or a way of sending anywhere near that much weight into space in the first place.  Or even an idea of how to tie a cord around an asteroid. 

Honestly, this is just stupid.  Like Ayn Rand stoopid.  We're better off having Bruce Willis and Steve Buscemi drill a giant hole and fill it with nukes. 

[Link: Gizmodo]