I got notified of a digital book loan yesterday that was a quick read: AUSTENLAND by Shannon Hale. Here is a description:
Jane is a young New York woman who can never seem to find the right man-perhaps because of her secret obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Predjudice. When a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-obsessed women, however, Jane's fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become more real than she ever could have imagined. Is this total immersion in a fake Austenland enough to make Jane kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?
Published in 2010 and has 208 pages. This was a Kindle library book. Finished it this morning. Amusing (and truly, who doesn't relate? I mean all I need to say is "the wet shirt scene" and you know what I'm talking about). There's a second book in the series.
Tonight: The Walking Dead new episodes return! So that's on at 7, then Downton Abbey is at 8. How's THAT for contrast in the space/time continuum? The mind is blown. 'Course, I did that on Friday night as well with Say Yes to the Dress and Spartacus, vice versa. The universe could implode.
Oh, speaking of which....
Though It Might Take Out a Couple Satellites, This Asteroid Will Not Destroy Earth Next Week
Good news, Earthlings! The day after Valentine's Day a 150-foot-wide asteroid will fly so close to our planet that it will pass through the orbit of several satellites, but experts said on Thursday that it will not hit us. In fact, the so-called DA14 asteroid will be such a close call that the force of Earth's gravity will actually cause the asteroid to ricochet off those orbits, creating more distance between the asteroid and our planet so that the next fly-by won't be so nerve-wracking. At 17,100 miles away, the DA14 will become the largest object ever (on record) to fly so close to Earth and not hit it. Which is really good news since it's traveling eight times faster than a speeding bullet. Scientists say that it could take out a satellite or two, however.
Although 17,100 miles is a lot of miles in terms of space distance, for an asteroid half the size of the International Space Station to zip by so closely is a little breath-taking. It also leads us to wonder: At what point do we start talking about sending Bruce Willis and his persnickety pack of oil drillers into space to stop the dang thing? DA14's projected path brings it just one-thirteenth the distance to the moon from Earth, less than seven roundtrip flights from New York to Los Angeles. If it hit us, the resultant explosion would have the force of a 2.5-megaton atomic bomb.
Rocket scientists did their best, however, to calm our fears with words this week. Donald Yeomans, manager of the near-Earth object office at California's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said, "This asteroid's orbit is so well known that we can say with confidence it can pass no closer than 17,100 miles from Earth's surface, so no Earth impact is possible." Orbital debris expert William Ailor made it sound even safer, "The fact is, we don't have collisions very often, even among the satellites that are there all the time," he said. "Space is very active, but there's a lot of it above us."
Now it's time for the bad news. This record breaking brush with cosmic inevitability is just a reminder that we're sometimes on the wrong end of the galaxy's shooting range and never completely safe from world-ending event. Don't get scared — the chances are slim. But as Yeomans put it, "There are lots of asteroids we are watching where we haven't yet ruled out an Earth impact." But, thankfully, the one that will zip by on February 15 is not one of them. Not this time around anyways.
Not much else going on today. Laundry, blog/emails, reading, make hashbrown casserole for dinner.
Much love,
PK the Bookeemonster
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