I assumed intelligent life found in my back yard would have the tech required to get here. So really it's the proximity that determines my immediate reaction. However, my original point is that there are too many factors left out of this question to make a decision about how the majority humanity will respond. At a distance beyond our solar system that answer is guessable. A large portion would be in denial and another large portion would be curious.

Was it discovered on Alpha Centauri, Mars, or in my back yard at around 3am?

My 2013 Fusion has been in the shop for 3 weeks in this last round of fights over the failed software. My temperature setting went to 'upside down question mark' which turns out to be extreme cold (extra cold in a Michigan winter). Finally, somewhere between 00 degrees and 2^1 degrees I found a the only heat setting... 'magma plastic burn smell hot'. So I took it in, they reloaded the software and I lost all center console controls (physical buttons) and no heat at all... and lost heated seats too. I can't blame the dealership, they connect the car to Ford servers and pray for a perfect connection to a shitty update process they have little control over. Not having my new car for nearly a month over a bad update makes me feel like software warranty should come standard with a new vehicle. This glitch was supposed to cost me $1100. Cost me about $100 in the end after the dealership and Ford ate the majority of it.

"We're gonna shoot you in the knee... but now you get to chose which one."

Obligatory http://xkcd.com/859/

He did it on the 25th with liquid Nitrogen right before I planned to. It wasn't dangerous. I've worked and played with it plenty without incident thanks to the Leidenfrost effect. Where you do run into problems is where the copper lines are cooled with Liquid Nitrogen or Helium. You're not going to want to touch your tongue to that even on a triple dog dare.

I was looking for a more intellectual discussion on the topic I presented from fellow slashdotters. It seems I lose this round...

I'm a backer. I'm a backer because LeVar made my childhood awesome and I'd like to pay it forward. I also trust LeVar more than I trust where my current tax dollars are going. However, I'd like to see more details concerning the grit of how he's going to do what he's trying do to. Where is all of this money going? Is the majority paying for licensing of books? Is a third going to software development? Is $750,000 going to researching best methods of teaching kids?

http://xkcd.com/1204/ "Google defends the swiveling roof-mounted scanning electron microscopes on its Street View cars, saying they 'don't reveal anything that couldn't be seen by any pedestrian scanning your house with an electron microscope.'"

Not only is it painless, but it happens on accident and the person can be completely unaware that they need to do something about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I... tl;dr version: "Accidental nitrogen asphyxiation causes about eight deaths per year in the United States... After a number of accidents in which humans suffocated in nitrogen without any warning, the suggestion was made in 1995 that hypoxic atmospheres be used for the humane killing of humans."

Nitrogen hypoxia. Cheap. 100% effective. Readily available. Doesn't torture the inmate. Why don't we use it? Apparently it's not satisfying our need for justice to equal revenge.

Simply place this weighted cube on the button and open the door to your expanded bathroom! Your house will record your progress... for science. Mind the gap.

The title reads like it's from the Onion News

"Our taxis have always been on the cutting edge of technological innovation, from GPS systems to credit card readers." The cutting edge is what that used to be... If you were to be always on the cutting edge you'd have at least one example from the last decade perhaps?

I remember reading Pop Sci back in the day and it said we'd have a man on Mars by now... 2005 to be exact. That's when I lost all hope to become the first man on Mars because I'd have just graduated high school and wouldn't have nearly enough tome for training...