The End of the World as We Know It?

The asteroid 2002 NT7, predicted to swing by the Earth on February 1, 2019, seems to be a major topic everywhere. They say that as we learn more about it, chances will get slimmer that it will get too close to us, but that hasn't really stopped the chattering about it. And I've got to say, some of the comments the higher ups are making, aren't all that comforting.

Dr Benny Peiser, of Liverpool John Moores University, told BBC News Online: "This asteroid has now become the most threatening object in the short history of asteroid detection."

But he added: "This unique event should not diminish the fact that additional observations in coming weeks will almost certainly - we hope - eliminate the current threat."

Thanks Benny. I feel better.

Now, I know chances of getting hit are slim. I mean, we're actually far more due for a reversal in magnetic polarity than for being hit by an asteroid. Magnetic switch would cause far more damage too - mass extinctions and all that. Plus it'd be more sudden. But the chances of that happening in my life time is very slim. Wonder if we have a defense program for that though.

Anyway, I'm thinking here. . . what if we knew we only had 17 years before most of the world got blown away? What would that do to the economy? Would people save up for retirement or save anything for the future? How would governments decide who lives or dies? What if we're all primed to die and the damn thing missed us? Or what if we got hit, would our world turn all Mad Max like? Would Kevin Costner be the postman?

Or if nothing much comes of this, do you think we'll see more cult activity like Heaven's Gate?

Just thinking. . .

Original Fic vs Fanfic - is one really tougher than the other?

I heard this debate come up yet again today and I have to wonder why. There are those that claim that fanfic writers just aren't talented enough to write their own stuff, so they steal someone elses material.

Now, on the surface, I guess I can see part of the point (I'm going to look past the part about stealing, since fanfic writers are just out to have fun and share their hobby, not make money). Here's a group of people that take established characters with histories and traits and all those things already built into them. I can see where some would think that the hard work has already been done for them. But it's not quite so easy as just sitting down and making the characters move now. The author has to nail the characterization of something that's been pre-established. That's not an easy task. They can't make just anything up as they go, they have to make sure that the dialogue and plot of the fic fit the characters they're writing about. They need to stay in the margins on characterization, setting, plausability, et cetera. They have more restrictions, and that's not always easy to write around.

In fanfic, the writer is simply faced with different challenges than someone writing original fiction. I really don't think it's easier or more difficult, per se. Whether the author has more or less trouble with it really depends on the type of writer they are. If they need more freedom when they write, then fanfic can actually be much harder than original stuff. If a writer has trouble working with a blank slate, original fiction can be a bitch.

Think of it in terms of television - you watch shows where people are being paid to write pre-established characters. Most shows have a slew of writers that alternate on episodes - their entire job is to make the characters look consistant, even though seven different people might be writing them. It's not so easy to do, as most of us come into things with our own interpretations. Hell, sometimes it's hard to keep a character consistant with the same writer (Anne Rice and Mercedes Lackey, I'm talking to YOU!).

Anyway - that's my view on the original fics vs fanfic debate.