Yes, it’s official! This might be the end of the world (of Warcraft), as we know it. It’s been a ghost and a fear that has chased humanity and mother earth for all eternity. As you all know, we are but a small planet in the galaxy known as the Milky way. This is just our little corner in space, which is infinitely large and ever expanding. In the grand scheme of things, our planet is nothing but an extremely small dot in space. But in space, there are many things moving about. There are other planets, stars, moons and miscellaneous other items including what we should fear, asteroids. These lose cannons drift around in space, seemingly without cause nor purpose. But as chance has it, they do from time to time bump into other objects in space. And when this happens, it might have tremendous impact on the object it hits. As some of you may now think, NASA has calculated that one of these asteroids might hit a large server park near you, meaning that you won’t be able to play World of Warcraft, and thus making it the end of the World of Warcraft, but fear not. Even though you might be sitting at home playing World of Warcraft, and ending up like the poor chums in South Park, you should not fear this. As this is minor to what might happen.

It has been well known for some time now that both asteroids and meteors has hit earth before, and according to popular science caused the extinction of the dinosaurs and 90% of all life on earth roughly 65 million years ago. Asteroids and meteors are constantly in the near vicinity of earth, but most of them are far enough away that they never hit. And those that eventually get near enough, are usually so small that they burn up during their decent through the earth’s atmosphere that they just disintegrate. There are proof that we’ve been hit by large asteroids before. Under the Arctic ice there has been found traces of a major asteroid hit, and in modern history you have the Tunguska event where a meteorite detonated with brute force about five to ten kilometers above ground resulting in severe damages to the earth directly beneath it.

Scientist has now confirmed that there is an asteroid heading our way, called Apophis (or 99942 Apophis to be exact). This asteroid is roughly 250 meters in diameter, and would if it hits earth cause severe damage. It is not big enough to be defined as a planet killer, but would cause catastrophic regional damages. Chances are obviously high that it will hit the ocean, seeing as the earth is 70% covered by water. In that event it would cause a major tsunami which would effect the coastline thousand of kilometers away from point of impact. If it is to hit solid earth, the crater is believed to be as big as 2500 meters deep and 8 kilometers wide. An explosion with the force of 880,000,000 tons of TNT, or the equivalent of 60,000 Hiroshima bombs. In other words, more than the fire cracker that exploded in your hand when you were little, or was that only me?

So when is this asteroid due for earth? Well, this should come as no surprise to most, but it is calculated to approach earth for the first time on Friday the 13th 2029. If it comes close enough, the earth’s gravitation will be strong enough to bend its existing course enough that it will hit earth on its next run past us, which is approximately seven years later. So what can we do to avoid this believed disaster? We’ve all seen the major blockbuster movies where a skilled team of professionals are sent into out space to save the day with atom bombs and what not, showing of extreme courage or idiocy depending on your view point. This time around though, we’re based in the real world where things might not be as glamorous as sending Bruce Willis out into outer space to rescue us. Though, we will have to send out a vessel of some sort to help remedy the situation. It is believed that if we build a space vessel big enough in terms of mass, the mass of that vessel will be enough to cause a big enough gravitational pull to help the asteroid on a new course. No fancy lasers, no atom bombs, no Bruce Willis! It’s simply physics in play. Only time will tell if you we will succeed on this mission, but time is short. Financing such a project and making it a reality isn’t done by itself, and needs international cooperation. We still don’t know if it will hit us, and if it does, where it will hit. But it is the responsibility of the entire human race to help one another on this project. And even if it doesn’t hit us, the lessons we learn from doing this will be something that we can use for the future. There are far more asteroids out there lurking, and who knows if we will ever be put in the same position again. It’s better to be prepared for what might happen, than not to be prepared at all.

We only have one earth, let’s make sure we keep the one we have for as long as possible.

According to new science, it would seem that there are a few factors in life that makes us happier than others. Recently, a US psychology professor by the name of Martin Seligman published a paper on what makes us as human beings happy. He’s constructed a list that very much resembles the bible, as the list contains ten items which leads us to happiness. Items are ranked by level of importance, and a score to show how important it is. Score range is 0 to 5 with a .5 level accuracy.

• Good genes
  If you are born in to a happy family, chances are high that you are genetically disposed to be happy. (5 points)
• Marriage
  Marriage gives you more happiness than just living together with someone on a common-law spouse basis. (3 points)
• Friends and family
  Having good friends and connections to your family increases your happiness. (2.5 points)
• Being realistic
  Setting realistic goals for yourself and keeping your expectations down makes life easier. (2 points)
• Faith and religion
  Having faith in a god gives life a purpose and a higher meaning. (1.5 points)
• Selfless deeds
  Doing good deeds for others without any self interest makes you forget about yourself and your own problems. (1.5 points)
• Self appearance
  Ignore your own worries about appearances and just believe that you are pretty. (1 point)
• Wealth
  Give up your quest for money, material goods is not the way to happiness. (0.5 points)
• Age
  Do not fear age, elder people are just as happy as the younger ones. (0.5 points)
• Intelligence
  Be happy with your intelligence. It has little or no relevance to being happy. (0.5 points)

One thing that may come as a surprise to many, is that the lesser fortunate people in life tends to be more happy about life than those with good fortune. Poor people, homeless people and drug addicts were in many cases more content than people in middle class and upwards. Which kinda goes to prove what I’ve been saying for ages, is that materialistic wealth only leads to depression in the long run if it is to be considered a vital part of your view on your self happiness. If you believe that riches make you happy, the items you own end up owning you. Instead, what these people obviously do is cherish what they have. As should we all, if we ourselves can’t cherish what we have well then who can?

Life is all about what you make it yourself. I live by the motto ‘Carpe Diem’, also known as ’seize the day’. The day you are living today, might be your last. And you are always more fortunate than you think you are, you just need to take a few steps back and try looking at the bigger picture. If you just pause for a few seconds, and look at all the things you have in your life I’m sure that you will end up surprised. And if you’re thinking about the things you own, you’ve still not understood what this article about. Be grateful, live life to the fullest and keep smiling. The ones that keep on smiling are the ones that spreads joy and happiness around, and as they say what goes around comes around.