Bad Italian Astronomy...

This article (in Italian) contains passim an amusing fact about the near Earth asteroid Apophis ; according to the journalist there is a 2.9% probability of a collision of Apophis with Earth in just 20 years. 2.9%. It's one chance in almost thirty-five. It's in the same order of magnitude of russian roulette. Luckily, the real probability seems to be much lower. Yet, some funny Usenet posters think otherwise, probably just because it's me telling them. Well, I can't really (being a former conscientious objector) challenge them to a real game of russian roulette, but...