Notre Dame trails, 21-7 at halftime. :(

Less than three hours till the Insight Bowl at Bank One Ballpark in downtown Phoenix. Becky and I will be there, and it sounds like we may be in for a long night:

“I know one thing, this is going to be a long football game. It could break the record for the most time,” [Notre Dame interim coach] Baer said. “I think they’re going to put the ball up, you know, 60 times. If you watched us play pass defense the last two games, I would too.”

Notre Dame’s secondary gave up five touchdown passes and 41 points to both Pittsburgh and USC. Oregon State enters the Insight Bowl as the nation’s eighth-ranked passing offense, averaging 304.4 yards per game.

“They’re 114th or whatever against the pass,” Beavers wide receiver Mike Hass said. “We’re a pretty good passing team so hopefully we’ll be able to take advantage of that.”

The prospect of a looong night at the ballpark won’t make Becky happy, but hey, a high-scoring game would be a fun. A repeat of 2001? Not so fun.

GO IRISH!

P.S. Once the game starts, the score will be here.

The Great Tsunami of 2004 is now blamed for 59,000 deaths, making the 9.0 earthquake that spawned it the deadliest quake since 1976, when an estimated 655,000 perished in Tangshan, China.

P.S. It’s the deadliest tsunami since an estimated 60,000 died in Lisbon in 1755 — and this death toll will almost certainly surpass that one, making it the deadliest tsunami on record, according to this list.

Although it feels odd at this time to post about anything other than the catastrophe in Asia — about which, what really is there to Say, besides prayers? — still a little encouragement (in addition to word that the damn Asteroid has Relented :) — may be welcome.

Accordingly, here’s an item about a bit of progress concerning a potential, un-Natural, preventable Asian disaster.

Dec 28, 1:07 PM EST
Pakistan, India Hold Landmark Dialogue

By SADAQAT JAN
Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Top Foreign Ministry officials from Pakistan and India held a landmark dialogue on their dispute over the Himalayan region of Kashmir during peace talks Tuesday aimed at resolving five decades of enmity.

The foreign secretaries of the two South Asian nuclear-armed rivals concluded two days of meetings in Islamabad and agreed to carry forward a wide-ranging peace process with more talks on Kashmir and other issues in the months ahead.

Both sides sounded upbeat, even though they remain poles apart on Kashmir - over which they have fought two of their three wars since independence from Britain in 1947 - and have made little substantive progress in the past year.

“I go back with a sense of optimism that there’s sincerity and commitment on both sides to take this process forward,” Indian Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran told reporters afterward.

His Pakistani counterpart Riaz Khokhar conceded the two countries have “diametrically opposite” positions over Kashmir but that a solution was not beyond reach.

“I don’t think we should give up. It’s just the beginning,” he told a separate press conference. “It’s still too early (to say) that the gaps cannot be narrowed.”

…The rhetoric of cooperation demonstrated how relations have improved since a dangerous military confrontation between them in Kashmir in 2002.

Over the past year, Pakistan and India have restored diplomatic ties and travel links. They have also maintained a cease-fire at the disputed border of Kashmir, known as the Line of Control, where they used to shell each other on an almost-daily basis.

…Hundreds of Indian and Pakistani fishermen are languishing in jail in the other’s country after crossing their disputed maritime border.

Free the Fishermen, dammit. :) Then, beat your Nukes into Fishhooks & study War no more.

The risk of an impact by Asteroid 2004 MN4 has abruptly dropped to 1 in 26,000, or 0.003800000%. I guess they found that new data they were looking for!

Here’s a map of the asteroid’s projected path; the thick white line shows the “set of possible positions” with relation to the Earth and Moon. None of those positions involve an impact; appparently the 1 in 26,000 risk relates to 2037, not 2029.

So, that’s good news. But, er, let’s still prepare, shall we? Because, as my dad said, a large oceanic asteroid impact would produce a tidal wave that would dwarf this past weekend’s Southeast Asian catastrophe.

Speaking of which, Belmont Club has some excellent thoughts on the tsunami, the asteroid, and preparations for rare or unprecedented disasters generally.