While it is technically possible, it seems astronomically unlikely considering the size and age of this galaxy. Our sun is not even a first generation star. First life in the galaxy should have occurred billions of years before our solar system even formed.

It most certainly is from lack of looking. So far in all of human history, all we have done is a decent (not perfect) job of looking on the moon, and made a half-assed attempt at checking a few square feet of mars (if it was teeming with life we wouldn't have missed it, but we hardly checked exhaustively). 99.99999.... % of the galaxy is still left completely unexplored. We don't have enough data to even think about making conclusions about the prevalence of life in our own solar system, let alone the rest of the galaxy.

Yes, they are good candidates for carbon-based "life like us". Given the spectroscopy results of Titan's atmosphere, I would actually be surprised if we didn't find at least simple bacteria-like life there.

However, I am certain there is more than one basic path to "life" in this universe (even in this galaxy). We arrogantly assume that other life must function in a similar manner to us, so we only bother to even consider looking in environments vaguely similar to ours for life vaguely similar to us. There may well be life on Venus, or even Mercury, or the surface of the sun, or hanging out in the Oort cloud (just not anything remotely similar to Earth life). Even our science fiction does a piss-poor job of exploring this concept.

Reading this article, I was puzzled by two things.

First: Why is this just starting to happen now? Masked vigilante heroes are older than dirt (at least in story and song). They have been portrayed in mainstream popular media since at least the 30s. By the 50s/60s, you have adults that have grown up in a world where comic book superheros have always existed. Why does it take another 50 years for people to start imitating?

Second: Why have none of these fools gotten themselves killed yet?

Are the answers to these questions related? If they are, does that mean that people are just getting stupider?

A totally contrived lack of swearing in oh-shit life-or-death situations would have been worse. The writers used "frack" instead of "fuck" so that the actors could swear with realistic emotion without pissing off the FCC. Would you rather they said things like "oh fudge" and "gosh darn it"? Or worse, not express emotion with expletives at all?

Now, I would prefer if they had just went with "fuck", because I think censorship of "naughty" words is one of the stupidest things our society does. But given the real-world puritanical limitations, I though "frack" was actually a pretty clever idea.

P.S. I agree with your point about too much technobabble on TNG. I have said before that since so many problems are solved by rigging the main deflector dish to fire an inverse tachyon pulse that there should just be a button for it on the captain's chair.

Dude, calling people out for using "gay" as a pejorative is pretty gay.

You, sir, owe me a new chair! :)

(OK, not really, but I did actually fall out of it laughing!)

"Soul Food" is the politically correct label for African-American food. Think fried chicken & waffles, collard greens, okra, grits, chitluns... Basically southern food that was traditionally popular with the less economically-advantaged people in the south.

...because it was only a week or two ago. Depending on the day, they are worth between $1.55 to $1.85 a pound at my local scrap recycling company. They pay for plastic & glass too (even non-redemption glass is worth half a cent per pound). It was my understanding that this was the norm (at least in the U.S.). Where is it that you have to pay to recycle? What gave you the impression that you could no longer recycle aluminum cans by the pound for money?

...and that's what the twinks are for...

There's nothing logical or reasonable about making your toaster run linux either, but it's considered a mark of true geekdom. Not all geeks have to be Vulcans. I think getting a tattoo of physics equations or a perl script or whatever to be incredibly geeky.

You can pass down your tattoo to your descendants... Just leave instructions in your will to be skinned and have your hide turned into a nice human-leather wall-hanging. (There's also photos & memories if you're squeamish).

I know you're an old-timer, but tattoos aren't just for felons and soldiers anymore. They have actually achieved pretty wide mainstream acceptance. Kind of like how computers aren't just for geeks anymore.

Now, personally, I know I'm too fickle to commit to something that permanent on my body. But if other geeks want to decorate their skin with some geek-tribe symbols, I totally approve.

P.S. Discrimination for employment (or anything else) based on the existence of a tattoo should be punished as harshly as discrimination based on race, hair color, or sexual orientation. (However, an employer should be free to set a policy that tattoos must be covered while in uniform, as long as that policy is applied equally).

From what I've heard, The Netherlands seems like one of the sanest countries around. How necessary is it to speak Dutch to live there? Could an english-speaking american ex-pat get by ok?

I don't want to leave my home country but if it keeps marching toward Christian Police State I would like a backup plan.

I dislike the Fisher Price look of default XP, so I disable all the visual effects ("set to best performance") so it ends up looking a lot like '95, but I do use the XP start menu. I also enable the quick launch but take everything out of it except for the "show desktop" button.

And my favorite screensaver is still "Mystify", which dates back to Windows 3.x or possibly even further...

Hi there. I know you're probably a troll, but I'm going to respond to you as if you were serious.

Please note I am a professionally trained chef.

The practice of "resting" meat is important. If you cut into a steak that's hot off the grill, you will see a whole bunch of liquid run out and make a pool on your plate. Think of this as a pool of flavor that you just drained out of your steak. If you give it a few minutes to cool down a little and let the fat congeal, it won't go running out, and you will experience all the intended fatty goodness in every bite.

P.S. If your steak is actually *cold*, then yes somebody is doing something wrong.