The unforgiving minute

Scenario #1: You open the newspaper over your morning coffee and discover that, although no was aware of it at the time, an asteroid several times larger than the one that triggered the extinction of the dinosaurs 70 million years ago narrowly missed colliding with the Earth last month.

Or, Scenario #2: You turn on ABC's "Good Morning America" and hear this:

Illinois' beleaguered Gov. Rod Blagojevich said today that when he was deciding who would take President Obama's Senate seat he considered appointing talk show queen Oprah Winfrey.

It's not a very appetizing choice, is it?

Minute's up.