It Might Hurt

As you may know.. if you pay any attention to this blog... that I pay attention to threats from outer space. No, I do not worry about space alien invasions. I worry about rocks falling on the planet. Big rocks. Rocks of extinction. Life-as-we-know-it enders or worse.

The theory is that a giant asteroid crashed into the planet around 65 million years ago which led to the end of the dinosaurs. I have my doubts about this. But not serious ones. The evidence now suggests there were more than just the one big rock that hit the earth around that time. And, if that is so, there would have been many events (tidal waves, massive fires, swift climate change, and so on) that would threaten life.

But let's suppose there is one on its way now. That somewhere out there is the Big One on a collision course with our little hunk of rock and water. Do you and I really need to know? I cannot answer for you but I would rather it be a really big surprise. I would like to wake up dead than to dread it for weeks or months in advance.

So, what headline do I find when perusing Google News?

Nasa sets Grand Challenge to public: find earth-destroying asteroids

Let's just suppose that some telescope wielding geek finds Mr. Armageddon out there. It is not going to be a secret for long. It will be all over the news within days, if not hours. The entire scientific community will be tasked to find a way to deflect it. That is the good part. But the entire bad guy community might just see it as an opportunity to liven up what little time they have left. Heck, they might get a huge influx of former good guys, making the chaos even worse.