I have a few questions and perhaps one of the more enlightened slashdotters can help me out.

If the Earth was really hit with a Mars sized object that eventually became our moon, does that put the earth "behind" other earth like planets in the amount of time it would have taken the earth to restabilize and have the right conditions for life? In other words, if the Earth was never hit by the Mars sized object and conditions for life were still present, would the Earth have developed life millions if not billions of years sooner? So there is a chance could be millions of years behind other extraterrestrial civilizations.

My other question: If we assume the earth was hit by a Mars sized object, giving our oceans tides and our mantel stability, and if we also assume that the these factors speed up the evolutionary process, is it possible that we could be much more advanced than other alien civilizations?(assuming we all started at the same time). They could still be working on crawling out of the water.

Scary thought either way.

I am going to second his story. I didn't take high school seriously, joined the military and learned the electronics. I also do six figures in the Houston area after leaving the LA area. My life is 100% improved with much more disposable income since moving. I wonder about my old classmates some are still paying on their college loans . I wonder how common mine and the parent poster's story are..

My son has autism and I agree with you whole heartedly. After I got custody I cut of my cable. No TV, no Movies, no DVDs. The improvemt in my son in a six month period was dramatic. He literally knew nothing and the only activity he would do was fold up paper to make Blue Cluesn notebooks. No ABCs, No colors, No numbers no interactions with others.
After 6 months he knew all of that. After a year he could read and now he is acedemically at grade level. His communication is still poor and he barely speaks in complete sentences at age 7. He does interact more with kids and he will play with other kids rather than parallel play. I have given the TV back but it is limited. I do my best to engage him in activities that force him to interact with others. We started Cub scouts this year and I I bring him out in public to teach him how to behave(many parents do not bring out there autistic children because its to stressful.) But how else are they going to learn appropriate behavior unless they experience it? So please if you see a parent with a screaming kid have some patience with us, we want our kids to be productive members of society rather than another SSI check.

I had a glimpse of a new Republican party , Old John McCain, Arnold, Romney when he was Governor of Mass. All Guys who worked for common ground. But the idealoges are in control now.