Forget the economy, your job, or your computer. Space is the place where the real scary stuff happens. Time to pay attention to what's going on overhead. The global economy is swirling into the toilet. Those bankers and brokers on Wall Street? Turns out they’re no different than those guys down the sidewalk running a three-card monte game, only they’re wearing $2,000 suits. Despite the change in our nation’s political climate, the ice caps are still melting faster than you can say “Hand me my hip boots and waders, Margaret, it’s gonna get wet.” Looking for the Highway to Hell? Here, take my handbasket.And yet, those problems are minuscule compared to what almost happened earlier this week, when a 100-foot-wide hunk of rock whizzed past Earth, coming within 48,000 miles (or roughly 1/5th of the way to the moon) before passing on. It’s like God threw a snowball at us and missed, but just barely. If Asteroid 2009 DD45 had landed, it would not have ended life on the planet. Scientists estimate if God’s aim were just a little better and the asteroid made contact, it would have caused as much damage as a nuclear warhead. That could certainly screw up your commute. A blogger for the India Planetary Society created an animation showing the near miss, which looks not unlike an ’80s-style arcade game. In the intergalatic game of asteroids, we almost ran out of quarters. Next time, it could be Game Over. And though we have scientists scanning the heavens for Near-Earth Objects With Our Names on Them, that particular snowball escaped attention until just last week. There wasn’t even time to shoot Bruce Willis into space to blow the damned thing up.Meanwhile, the story of what might have been the worst natural disaster since Paris Hilton took up singing was just not sexy enough for the mass media. The Little Asteroid That Could generated about 1,100 stories, per a search of Google News. Singer Chris Brown going medieval on his girlfriend Rihanna? 30,000 stories. There seems to be a lot going on over our heads these days most people are barely aware of: the thermospheric fender-bender last month between Russian and American satellites 500 miles above earth (imagine the insurance claims on that one) or the carbon-sensing satellite that took a swan dive into Antarctica two weeks later. Things are falling out of the sky. To me that seems more important than the drooping Dow, felonious funksters, or buggy browsers. It’s time to look up – and, if necessary, duck. Are your asteroids covered? What frightens you? Post your thoughts below or e-mail me direct: cringe (at) infoworld (dot) com. Think you’ve got the right stuff to pass our tech quizzes? They’re not as easy as they look: • The InfoWorld News Quiz • Test Your Geek IQ • Test Your Knowledge of Geek Celebrities Software DevelopmentSmall and Medium Business