Are We First or Screwed?

HAPPY  NEW YEAR!

I read an interesting article about our universe and beyond. More stars float through space than grains of sand resting on our beaches; and, many of those stars have planets circulating with atmospheres like ours--at least 100,000 earth like worlds. Keeping that in mind, life must exist on other planets. So, the big question is, why have they not made

their presence known? The article went on 
with multiple theories to answer that question.

Perhaps we could be first, in that we're the most advanced in technology. Ha! I doubt that one. The earth is a relatively young planet. Intelligent life somewhere else would have had billions more years to advance further than us. 

One thought is the existence of an advancement filter that sets things up so that the other beings would not bother us when we're so primitive. For example, would you go introduce yourself to ants on an anthill. Why waste your time? However, as we get further advanced, we get closer to the filter. Once we reach it, others in the universe will wipe us out so that we are no longer a threat to them . . .  that is if we don't do that to ourselves first.

If alien beings exist, why do we send out signals to try to find them? Is this what we want? Is there value in meeting aliens who might want to kill us? We should bring these silly space recordings home and let sleeping dogs lie. 

Perhaps aliens have already found us. Have you ever thought that God could be an alien who has been keeping us safe from the others as if we are his pets?

So happy new year. We've made it through another twelve months without drawing attention to the aliens beyond our planet. Maybe one day we'll get too advanced and they'll kill us, but until that time:

HAPPY  NEW YEAR!

#GBE2: Ownership

This week's GBE2 topic is ownership which is perfect for me because I just got my Mother's Day gift last week. I dumped my dumb phone for a smart one.

Not Your Grandma's Phone

Here's the screen of my phone. Aren't my fall background leaves pretty? Notice the 41 unread email messages? I can't fix that problem because as soon as I delete them fifty more old emails pop up as unread. I had over 5,000 messages on my computer. Now I'm down to, 3,289. That's progress!

As I'm learning, there's a lot involved in working a smart phone. In fact, last Saturday I attended a "How to Use Your iPhone 4" class at the Verizon store. Sorry but, no S in my phone. The S dials numbers through voice commands; so in other words, when one says to a friend, "I call my boss Butterball when he's not around," suddenly Mr. Butterball is on your cell listening to you trash him because you said, "call my boss."

Pretty Duct Tape

Anyway, when I drove up for class, "Smart Phones for Dummies,"us old ladies waited in the parking lot for the kids to teach us how to use the almost latest technology. One woman shared her experiences with her first phone. She did everything she was told to do, but the phone still wouldn't work. Finally she learned she had to push a button called "Send."

I'm a step ahead of her because I know how to hit the send button. Not only that, but I can turn my phone on, off, mute it, answer incoming calls, and even take pictures. After my class, I took a picture of duct tape at Target and sent it to my daughter to see if she wanted any. She never responded, so her loss. Unless of course she reads her mom's blog.

Cool Camera

I took a photo of my husband at The Olive Garden the other night. It was one of those last minute dinners empty nesters do after the kids move out. Not sure that he knew this one was coming. The photos are much clearer than the ones I used to take on my dumb phone.

I can pull up the internet but can't see anything on the small screen without my reading glasses. As for Facebook, it won't accept my password when I try to sign on. I guess I won't be wasting time away from home.

I even used the cool technology to "face time" with my daughter in Maryland. For those of you who are technologically challenged (like I was last week), that means we spoke through picture phones. How cool is that? You want to be impressed? If it works, I'll be shocked too.  Listen to this! 

Next I know, I'll be telling the phone to beam me up! Isn't ownership of cool technology grand?

Writer's Post: Atmosphere

This week's Writer's Post topic is "Atmosphere." 

Well, okay.

Do you know where this is?

I remember the first time I heard the words, "Information Super Highway." I tried to picture a road of electricity zipping through a black void. As the eighties buzzed with talk of a future with information instantly flashing across the globe, my double-fisted-sized brain couldn't comprehend exactly what this invention meant. After all, who knew our
technological world would mean sending a laugh to folks on the other side of the planet? How could I have ever met a person from England, Germany, or keep up with my friend in New Zealand on a teacher's salary? Oh, I forgot. Our being over paid has caused the world's economic problems.

I always loved a good sci-fi movie or flipping on Lost in Space--the best choice out of our five TV stations. Looking back, Will Robinson's robot was as sophisticated as a box of Tinker Toys; on a scale of one to ten, Captain Kirk's uniform is right up their with the coolness of the Village People; and the scenes from Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959) look fake. Don't laugh, it wasn't a comedy.

Future generations will look back and think how primitive we were back in 2011… or maybe not, since the world is gonna end in 2012…unless…of course, the cartoon below is true.