Infosphere:Featured article for fortnight 12 of 2012

The giant ball of garbage was a ball of garbage created in the 20th century by the people of Old New York. In the year 2000, they put the garbage ball on the world's largest barge. This barge circled the ocean for 50 years, but no country would accept it. Eventually, in the year 2052, Old New York used its mob connections to obtain a rocket and launch the garbage into outer space. At the time, many scientists worried that the ball would return to Earth someday, but their concerns were written off. In the year 3000, the ball did return to Earth, and it was discovered by Fry using Farnsworth's Smell-O-Scope. When it was found, Farnsworth discovered that it would directly hit New New York in less than 72 hours. Fry, Bender, and Leela attempted to destroy the ball of garbage, but failed. Ultimately, the people of New New York made a second ball of garbage of the exact size and density of the original ball. They knocked the second ball into the original, and the original was blasted into the sun.