Dinner and a Movie [Today's News Poem (Sonnet), May 5, 2010]
Amok in orbit, chatter bounces back
From whence it came. A galaxy of trash
On television—spewing meme attack—
Receives the signal-nonsense: systems crash,
Reflecting tins of din for dogs and cats...
A mother's giving birth behind a drape...
A starving baby needs your cash—you're fat
Besides... the first ten callers may escape
To Maui... Save yourself to save the world
They say. Who needs the bother? Save your cash
Instead and pray that Ancient Ones unfurled
Their solar sails to take you under lash,
Instead of glass on plate—or worse, just raw—
While teevee shows display. They'll watch with awe.
“Galaxy 15 could threaten nearby satellites because its communications package is stuck on and it may start interfering with its neighbors by siphoning off their signals. It's the first time such an event has ever occurred, and it sent Orbital Sciences, the satellite's builder, on a dash to figure out how to stop the satellite-run-amok.”
– Clara Moskowitz, 6:05 p.m. PT, Tues., May 4, 2010
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36919374/ns/technology_and_science-space/
“Hawking’s logic on aliens is, for him, unusually simple. The universe, he points out, has 100 billion galaxies, each containing hundreds of millions of stars. In such a big place, Earth is unlikely to be the only planet where life has evolved... “We only have to look at ourselves to see how intelligent life might develop into something we wouldn’t want to meet. I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.””
– Jonathan Leake, The Times Online, April 25, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/space/article7107207.ece
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