Don't underestimate ideology or the lengths to which a being might go for a tasty treat.

I'm afraid that unless we meet the intergalactic equivalent of Vegans, we are in trouble. Your examples all deal with humans and other humans. Our ethics are different with other species. Let's supposed that the aliens are as far in advance of us intellectually as we are of the dolphins. SOME of us feel it is unethical to kill dolphins. Others of us do NOT.

Of course it is possible they will show up in the equivalent of a VW Microbus and host a big love-in (which has it's own brand of creepy potential), but the fact is unless they do show up, we won't know what they want. We very likely won't understand their motives in any event.

Even more likely is that their are hosts of species out there and it depends on which one finds us how it goes for us...

If they can get here from other stars I think it's a safe bet they have weapons of MASSIVE destruction. They would have to be far enough more advanced than us that we probably can't even imagine their capabilities (or understand them if we see them). Of course all they really need to do is tug a few astroids along and drop rocks on us, right?

A more insidious possibility is that they have weapons of mass control. Enslavement or genocide? There is also the "tasty treat" possiblility. Most likely is the "we don't really understand what they are doing" option.

The only way for them to be even close to our level of technology would be if they travel at speeds we could potentially travel at, right? In other words waaaay below lightspeed (discounting naturally occurring wormholes that happen to be conveniently placed - or the whole "ancients" idea of an earlier higher level civilization that left behind a transit system). In that case they would have ships we could see coming, possibly for years. Either they would have life-spans far, far longer than ours, they would be traveling in generation ships, or even possibly be cyborgs. If we don't see them coming, I'd say we can assume a level of technology we have zero chance of defending against. If we see them coming we might have a fighting chance.

@LWATCDR *

  I make no judgements on your logic or argument. In fact I haven't decided exactly with which side of this argument I agree.

But...

Having said that...

I have to give you +5 Funny for this one line:

"Frankly it sounds like something Col Hogan would talk Col Clink into doing!"

All I can say is, "Hooogggggaaaaaaaan!!!!"

* I know this isn't Twitter, but the construct is handy.

I use that reference occassionally. I find it hysterically funny, but people rarely get it. Bravo!

One of the best running gags in a movie ever. Should have caught on like "Show me the money" or "You can't HANDLE the truth"...

What if the internet is caused by depression?

I agree.

I could only manage to read about half the story before I was so overcome with dispair that I... I can't even finish this

I agree with what you are saying, but I think what Amazon fears is the marketing ability of Apple to convince a large number of people to adopt a form factor that has been around for years, but never really caught on in a mass market way.

A really sharp, clear LCD screen that has color and a fast refresh rate *could* make the eInk eReaders look quaint. Kindle and company will have the lock on battery life, but the various slates/tablets/netbooks will have the lock on versatility. I see Amazon trying to combat that perception.

My favorite part is the statement in the NYT about MS releasing a "Me-Too" device.

A "Me-Too" device that is one of a long line of such devices that have run their OS.

A "Me-Too" device that is announced before the Apple device.

A "Me-Too" device that is announced before the SUPPOSED Apple device that has not been confirmed by Apple.

Enough of the silly repetition. It is getting repetitive.

I can't say whether the MS device will be worth a spit. I can't say whether the Apple device will be worth a spit. I just like saying spit.

Can't really say if suddenly tablets are going to be cool and people will start buying them. Bill Gates thought so back in the early '90s. Hasn't happened yet. Steve Jobs killed tablet projects like he was playing whack-a-mole for years. Who knows?

I don't know if it is a cute joke or not, but I hope most folks recognize it as a joke...

I find it funny that the stated pronunication will forever make it sound to listeners like something it isn't (but something very closely related). Pronouncing the asterisk as "star" wouldn't be funny in any other context. Throwing "A" in there fairly guarantees that the speaker will have to explain, as in "Sagittarius A-Star which is not a star."

So whether or not you think it is cute is up to you since that is a subjective decision.

Now that I have dissected and explained it, we can all agree that it is a DEAD joke.

>"Sagittarius A* (pronounced 'Sagittarius A-Star')"

So... it isn't a star but they call it A-Star?

Perhaps "The Saggitarius Object Formerly Known As A-Star"...

Found a link to the opening video for MechWarrior 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X3GD0UnBCk that I mentioned in the previous post.

GREAT POST.

The MW2 of which you speak is one of my favorites of all time.

I loved the opening video for that one with the Timberwolves on patrol on an airless moon.

"He's got a lock on me! He's got a lock on me!"

The two games I miss most from DOS are MW2 and X-Wing. Yes I could probably get them working, but I don't want to spoil my memories...

If I want to jump out of a second story window and break my leg, I can do that in the real world.

I don't want a perfect simulation of the real world. I want a simulation of the FUN world.

This is where games like Team Fortress and Left4Dead excel. They KNOW they are games and try to be fun games. If you simulate the real world too accurately, then I don't have any zombies to fight. And I have a broken leg anyway.

You could make the same argument for books or movies. You don't expect a novel to be 100% true and accurate. You expect it to be a work of fiction. There is a place for realism. There is a place for fantasy.

I would say that C# and Java are more alike that either is like Javascript.