Sunday, November 30, 2008

Today In History: Less than your chances of...

On this date in 1954, Ann Elizabeth Hodges of Oak Grove, Alabama was napping on her sofa when, all of a sudden, an honest-to-God rock from outer space came through the roof of the house, smashed her big ol' Philco console radio, and slammed into her, leaving her rudely awakened, bruised all up and down one side of her body, and the only person in documented history to have been hit by a meteorite.

Since Powerball didn't exist at the time, she couldn't run out and buy a ticket.

7 comments:

  1. I thought it was a meteoroid. Shows you what I know.

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  2. I always think of Nessus from Larry Niven's Ringworld when I read a story like this: "This planet is dangerously close to the asteroid belt."

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  3. Og,
    Meteoroid whilst in space, meteor while streaking through the atmosphere, meteorite after reaching earth.

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  4. The difference is like Flotsam and Jetsam. It is only a meteorite after it has come to rest. You can be hit by a meteorite easily. Someone has to but throw it at you. If it falls from space, it is a meteoroid. The Meteor is the vapor trail. Until the moment it comes to rest, it's still a meteoroid. (thirty year astronomy geek, sorry. )

    Anyone wants to be hit by a meteorite, stop by, there's a couple in my dresser, I can toss them at you.

    hey, if i can postpone important home improvements by picking linguistic nits, why not?

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  5. You can clear up meteoroids with Preparation H.


    Thank you, I'll be here all week...

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  6. To quote Stephen King in one of his finer film roles, "Meteor shit!"

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  7. I thought you used Preparation M on meteoroids. But then I often confuse "anusol" and "Anbesol"

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