What everyone misses is that the sheer scale of the universe almost certainly prevents visitors (whether or not they exist).

Suppose life is rare but not unique, that there are a thousand civilizations in the Milky Way Galaxy (aka "home) - then the average distance between civilizations will be thousands of light years, and the chances of a given star supporting life are one in a hundred million.

If a civilization managed to grow beyond the turbulent, adolescent point we're at now, you'd see "people" living longer, having few kids, and probably less likely to risk their long, comfortable lives to go out exploring the universe.

Speaking to Electro Robot's point, there have been a lot of really good UFO incidents recently: the Mexican airforce was buzzed by invisible objects that showed up in radar but were invisible visually (many people like myself believe that this was the US gov't demonstrating some toy to either trick radar units into believing there's something there, or a different trick to make visual observation of craft diffcult), and this was hugely documented; there was also the sighting at O'Hare Airport, witnessed by many aviation professionals.

However, there's not one trace of evidence that "UFO's" are aliens from another planet flying around in spaceships.

The Black Corridor (Michael Moorcock)

Space is infinite.

It is dark.

Space is neutral.

It is cold.

Stars occupy minute areas of space. They are clustered a few billion here, a few billion there, as if seeking consolation in numbers.

Space does not care.

Space does not threaten.

Space does not comfort.

It does not sleep; it does not wake; it does not dream; it does not hope; it does not fear; it does not love; it does not hate; it does not encourage any of these qualities.

Space cannot be measured. It cannot be angered, it cannot be placated. It cannot be summed up. Space is there.

Space is not large and it is not small. It does not live and it does not die. It does not offer truth and neither does it lie.

Space is a remorseless, senseless, impersonal fact.

Space is the absence of time and of matter.

I didn't buy into any lie. I knew from the beginning this was all a sham.

But you did it anyway, and now hundreds of thousands of innocents are dead and millions seriously injured or rendered homeless.

But the war will go on if I'm here or not.

"Someone else would commit this crime" is not any sort of permission to commit crimes. Suppose you saw 20 people beating someone to death, say because they were gay or African-American. Would you figure it was OK to get into the act "because it would go on whether you were there or not"?

Imagine that they gave a war and no one came. Imagine that the US Army couldn't raise enough soldiers to fight the endless foreign wars.

You and your fellow soldiers bear some of the responsibility for the hundreds of thousands dead, the millions in chaos, the trillions of dollars wasted. You cannot slough off responsibility for crimes by saying, "Everyone was doing it."

They are agents of the state providing a vital function to American society (national defense).

Since when? The last time the military attempted to "defend" our country, on 9/11, they got 0 for 4. If they were serious about "defense", that would surely have prompted at least some changes in the "defense" system. Instead, we started yet another war, with a country that had nothing to do with the attack on the US.

For fifty years, the US military has almost entirely been focused towards foreign wars of aggression. Defense is no sort of priority at all; if it were, we'd be spending money on inspecting container ships and real airport security (chemical sniffers instead of the infantile "take off your shoes" security that's an insult to our intelligence).

I suppose I was "lucky" that both of my parents were themselves until very close to the end but it's been ten years and I still miss them every day.

Very best of luck to you.

What the heck was supposed to be innovative about REM?!

I was there then and even from the very start it sounded like regular washy pop songs to me; bland, normal, inoffensive.

We'd just had bands like DEVO; I was now listening to the Butthole Surfers (and that classic material from both bands is still as "alternative" as it ever was); pray tell, what was alternative about REM? Is there some reason it couldn't have appeared on radio in 1971?

I have this theory that writers at Salon get rewarded based on how many comments they get - but unfortunately, people post comments based on how controversial the article is.

I've always wondered about the termite/vermin issue, how destructive these critters are compared to the poisons we use to kill them. Just because I am informed by your article but have nothing to say doesn't mean that I don't value it and use these articles as a basis to decide when I (hint, hint) renew....

We can ignore her entirely.

And now they're finally realizing that there isn't going to be some shining light in the future either... you have to feel slightly sorry for the airlines...