We Are (Probably) Not Alone

A recent study by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has concluded that there are two billion, that's billion, Earth-like planets just in our own galaxy that could be capable of sustaining life. Two billion planets in the neighborhood and this woman had to appear on ours?

Alien from Alaska arrives on Planet Earth

pretending to be a Jew. Note the necklace.

Crankyjewishguy (CJG) doesn't like to pick nits, but what does a laboratory devoted to "jet propulsion" know about this subject? Maybe the NASA Laboratory for Finding Life Forms in the Universe, but the Jet Propulsion Laboratory?

Regardless, CJG thinks this is pretty stunning information because it would seem, on the face of it, to mean that the chances are very high that we are not alone in the Universe. After all, there are billions of galaxies out there, too, and if they have billions of Earth-like planets that means there are, oh, a gazillion planets where there could be intelligent life, unlike Earth where signs of intelligent life can be hard to find. All his life CJG has been dying to know if there is life on other planets and he is now creeping toward 60, so he'd appreciate it if any aliens out there would make themselves known to us relatively soon. But before they get here, we really should straighten the place up a bit. Between the oil and sludge fouling the Gulf of Mexico, radiation leaking from reactors in Japan, and New Jersey, that's right, just New Jersey, the place looks like a dump.

You think they could have at least vacuumed the carpets?

On a somewhat related note, you may have seen that while visiting Israel yesterday for what must have been a very important meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,  Half Baked Alaska was wearing a Star of David necklace (see photo above). Now, can you imagine New York Senator Chuck Schumer wearing a cross to The Vatican? Or CJG wearing one to Doyle's Pub in Boston? It's one thing for non-Jewish men to wear a yarmuckle inside a Temple, that's required of all men in many synagogues and is a sign of respect for custom. But jewelry to a meeting? Please. CJG sure hopes she takes it off next time she's field dressing a moose because even though moose are kosher it just wouldn't look right. We'd go straight to the meat counter and buy it pre-wrapped.

Save the Planet? Americans Say "No"

Sorry, crankyjewishguy (CJG) was missing in action there yesterday, a victim of March Madness. There sure were a lot of close games yesterday, enough to drive CJG's younger son, who has $10 in a school pool, crazy because he's already, mentally anyway, spent the $700 he stands to win if his "bracket" tops those of 69 other kids. CJG isn't sure of this type of gambling is sanctioned by the school so he is declaring an area that comprises the high school campus an Indian reservation.

Now, what's chapping CJG's ass today is that a recent poll shows that by the widest margin in three decades, Americans say economic growth should take priority over protecting the environment. The spread is 54% to 36%.

What troubles CJG is that in the long-term we ain't gonna have much of an economy if we let the environment go to hell. Just take a look at the price, human and economic, Japan is paying for building six nuclear reactors in one of the worst earthquake zones on Earth. Even more to the point, clean energy technology offers one of the greatest economic opportunities of our lifetime, and we're still sitting here, lagging way behind the Chinese, weighing the fossil fuel/nuclear options. Long-term thinking in Washington is defined as two years, or the greatest distance between now and the next election. Even college basketball coaches building a program have a longer frame of reference than that. Yup, we're in March Madness alright.

Yikes!

As readers of crankyjewishguy (CJG) know, last week he and his older son took a Great American Road Trip down Highway 1 along the California coast. It's a harrowing drive at times; the road hugs the great cliffs of Big Sur and there's often not even a guardrail between you and the pounding surf hundreds of feet below. Not that you should do it anywhere, you absolutely shouldn't, but this is about the last place to text and drive. This road demands your full attention. But this morning, CJG is thinking about fate because yesterday a 100 foot stretch of Highway 1 near Big Sur looked like this:

Now, this is a tiny, miniscule calamity considering what the poor people of Japan are enduring; their nightmare is going to be a long one and their suffering is, quite literally, beyond comprehension. And, incredibly, no one was driving this stretch of Highway 1 when the road collapsed, or was speeding along unaware until they hit what has to be the world's largest pothole. So, no one as hurt and no one died, so it really isn't a calamity at all so much as a massive inconvenience for nearby residents because there's no viable alternative to Route 1 and it's going to take months to fix. But it does give you pause when you realize that a few days here or there and you could have been very much in the wrong place at the wrong time.