And according to GR, the length of your ruler is also different at the top of Mount Everest compared to at sea level!

"What caused the life to form way out there?"

As far as we can tell life didn't form way out there. Just an amino acid fundamental to life. Life as we know it requires liquid water, a certain atmosphere, gravity, and a bunch of other requirements.

"It's fine and dandy to push the building blocks of life off-planet, but how can those blocks then be explained?"

The building blocks for life have to come from somewhere, they don't just appear out of nowhere (or do they?). After all, isn't life really just the combination of left over heavier elements created through exploded stars and other space junk that just happened to end up on earth through meteorites, comets, and the accretion process...

I've actually found that if I cut out all significant sources of caffeine, I am actually more alert throughout the day and don't feel nearly as burnt out compared to when I've been pounding back 2-5 cups of coffee a day. Caffeine creates a bit of a roller coaster ride for me. Tired when I wake up, have a coffee or two. Moderately tired, and sometimes completely burnt out in the afternoon and evening once that morning hit of caffeine wears off.

This reminds me of a stereo audio trick of playing two slightly differing frequencies in stereo. It's called Binaural Beats.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binaural_beats

One frequency, say 100 Hz in one ear, and the other frequency, 105 Hz into the other ear. The brain actually hears a third 5 Hz frequency in the form of a beat and starts to synchronize it's operational frequency with this beat. Actual experimentation with this and effects on sleeping could lead to inducing increased Theta or Delta brain waves possibly resulting in a deeper, more refreshing sleep in less time compared to one who falls asleep to the TV, or radio.

At some point the cost for on site expertise and hiring an employee will cross, making hiring someone the more logical choice.

Are you sure they aren't laughing because they found some more "edible" gunk between their toes?

I'd be curious what result giving bees caffeinated beverages would have on hive construction. Judging from what the stimulant does to spiders, it'd definitely be an interesting experiment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caffeinated_spiderwebs.jpg

I'd also wonder if it'd give new meaning to the phrase "making a bee line" for something.

Why not just put the sensitive data on an encrypted USB drive. These devices are far from rare these days, so common that I'd venture to guess that Grandma down the street probably has her raspberry jam recipe encrypted, just because that's how the damned thing is set up when you plug it in.

And who would survey the surveyor's surveyor?

I know the time span of two billion years sounds like a very very long time, and considering the total span that homo-sapiens have been on this earth is just a small fraction of this two billion years, but I imagine I am not the only one who feels a slight twinge of anxiety knowing that our time as a species on this planet is finite, and there may be nothing we are able to do about it. However two billion years is a long time, and alot will change before then.

With the distances involved in viewing a star going through the construction process, I'm not sure if our current technology has sufficient resolution to view this level of detail. The observable feature during construction, would probably appear to us as a star slowly (or quickly depending on construction time) reducing in magnitude until basically fading to black from a viewpoint external to the sphere.

Maybe we just can't see them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere

Another great example as to how Tesla has shaped our future. Truly ahead of his time by leaps and bounds.

My parents basement has enough climate and scenic diversity from one end to the other to make leaving my parents basement unnecessary unless there's a specific thing I want to see outside of its borders.