With Earth Day on Wednesday, look for much chatter on climate change/global warming, but overlooked by many (including U.S. media) is something else zooming in from beyond the atmosphere --- an asteroid which some claim is on a collision course headed for our planet, observed Grumpy Editor.
President Barack Obama on Earth Day will be on scene at southern Florida’s Everglades --- the tropical wetlands home of snapping alligators --- to amplify his Saturday radio address in which he warned, "there's no greater threat to our planet than climate change.”
Earlier this month he said climate change is a primary national threat.
Look for the president on Earth Day to again repeat those lines along with how global warming threatens the U.S. economy.
Obama, at a Washington event in early April, also linked climate change to health problems such as allergies and asthma.
Meanwhile, from outer pace, Asteroid 2012 TC4, as it was labeled, is heading our way.
The UK’s London Daily Mail carried the story late last week while U.S. print/broadcast newsrooms were focused on other matters.
Mail writer Alix Culbertson reported the asteroid is about the size of the Statue of Liberty, twice as big as the meteor that exploded over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in February 2013, injuring 1,500 people and damaging more than 7,000 buildings.
“The impact of the larger 2012 TC4 asteroid, predicted to near Earth on October 12, 2017, could be even more devastating,” Culbertson pointed out. “And, worryingly, experts cannot yet predict where in the world it will strike.”
FYI, IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE EDITORS MISSED THESE…
Columbia University today at 3 p.m. (Eastern) will announce 99th Pulitzer Prizes winners…Worst job of 2015? Newspaper reporter ranked at the bottom of a list of 200 jobs tallied by Carlsbad, Calif.-based CareerCast. That profession displaced lumberjack, now at the 199th spot. Meanwhile, broadcaster ranked 196th on the list while photojournalist was 195th. Top position: actuary…NewsBusters caught it, pointing out that "a blaring red headline" flashed across the TV screen that read "Breaking News; NBC News Exclusive Interview With Hillary Clinton." Length of last Tuesday’s “exclusive interview” was a brief eight seconds…Despite several days of heavy coverage of Doug Hughes, the postal worker who landed his gyrocopter on U.S. Capitol grounds, media failed to note that the attention-getting, putt-putt flying machine flew to Washington from Gettysburg, Pa. That’s 65 miles through protected air space.…Another example how taxpayer funds are spent: The U.S. Labor Department will target $13 million to promote employment among at-risk youth, ages 14 to 17 --- in El Salvador and Honduras…Through the end of fiscal year 2014, Social Security numbers were issued to 541,000 illegals authorized to work under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy…Cheers to Torrance, Calif.-based Daily Breeze reporters Rob Kuznia and Rebecca Kimitch plus project editor Frank Suraci in winning the prestigious National Headliner Award for Investigative Journalism for exposing a school district superintendent’s excessive salary with unusual perks along with other serious issues within the district…Good PR with readers: The Des Moines Register provides tours of its downtown offices, showing how staffers work.
Tough going in the field:
A reporting team from Seattle TV station KIRO, covering a massive bee spill from an overturned semi truck, were stung numerous times.
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