History is Exhausting

At the end of the stakeholder climate change discussions in Sudbury on March 5 2015, one of the participants said, "I feel like we've just done something historic. We need a picture."

I'm the tired-looking one in the front row, third from the right.

*****

The consultations have worn me out and cracked at least one rib (I slipped and fell in an icy alleyway in Sudbury). 

Please enjoy this golden oldie from January 29, 2012.

Every once in a while I throw discretion to the wind and check out the UFO nonsense on You Tube.

I did this last night because, not long ago, I read an op-ed piece by someone bewailing the lack of spaceships from distant galaxies in our skies (he really ought to check out You Tube).

The oped author recalled the back-of-the-envelope math of some astronomer and said that even the remotest chance of life (like one to the negative one-billionth) elsewhere should bring nice-looking and English-speaking aliens to our door practically every day. Oddly the oped author used the absence of credible proof of extraterrestrial life as overwhelming proof of something else: that advanced societies destroy themselves before figuring out how to travel light years. 

Well, I can think of a few other reasons there are no spaceships. 

One: traveling light years is not possible, no matter what Carl Sagan or Stephen Hawking have to say. 

Two: even if travelling light years were possible, there are so many places in the universe for those travellers to go that they haven't gotten here yet - and won't for another half billion years - by which time we will have checked out. 

Three: those beings who figured out how to travel in space did so, found it not to their liking (think giant space spiders) and decided to stay home after that.

Photo credit: BBC - Dr. Who

Four: (and you saw this one coming) they came to Earth, they saw, they said "what the hell?" and beat it for Betelgeuse, leaving for any others who might pass by a "do not engage" mark on the dark side of the moon. 

As silly as is the UFO "evidence" on You Tube, even more far fetched are the parallel assertions that these crazy flying triangles, whirling vortexes and odd cloud formations are somehow understood by "the government." 

Ha ha ha ha.

Thanks for reading!

Have a great week!

Karen