6/1     Question on home ownership. Let's say you buy flood, fire,
        earthquake, and land-slide insurance. Then a foreign unidentified
        object enters the atmosphere and creates a big crater in your home
        making it worthless. Are you covered by anyone, like the government?
        Secondly, suppose you decide not to get one of the insurance, since
        it costs too much to buy everything, and that particular disaster
        strikes making your land totally worthless. Are you covered? Or are
        you completely screwed? How about the case where they suddenly
        find carcinogeous, radio-active material in your backyard? Who/what
        covers these things?
        \_ Are you in a swing state in an election year?  If so, notify the
           federal government at once, and they will buy you a new house, and
           give you a gold-plated flying saucer for your trouble.
        \_ I seem to recall a Warner Bros cartoon about just this sort of
           thing. The policy fine print didn't cover, for instance, injury
           from guided missiles. -- ulysses
           \_ Do they still broadcast American cartoons, or is it pretty much
              Japanized? Last time I watched cartoon a year ago it was mostly
              Japanese anime. I'm not sure if I learned anything useful
              from Pokemon and Digimon. PIKA! PIKA! PIKACHU!
              \_ I learned that it's better for pokemon to be friends, and that
                 Team Rocket blasted off again.
        \_ If you ever get into a situation involving strange temporal
           rifts (ala Donnie Darko) then you're covered.
        \_ #1 and #2: your insurance company won't pay you, but you may be able
           to get some kind of disaster aid.  #3: your insurance company won't
           pay you, but you can probably sue the govt. or some company to get
           compensated.
        \_ You can sue God and get compensated in your next life.
        \_ Ebay the "foreign object".  Substances from "foreign objects"
           that enter the atmosphere are in pretty high demand from shadowy
           groups seeking to create nefarious objects of evil from them.  Such
           as Happy Fun Ball.  Warning: do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.  -John