Are we alone? Leave Tom alone!

While Tom Cruise was recently taken to task in the blog, media and talk show circuits for his expressed belief that alien life exists in the universe, look beyond the tone of his remarks and his outspoken support of the controversial philosophy of Scientology and evaluate his assertion on its merit. You might be surprised.
When a German newspaper reporter asked Cruise, the star of Steven Speilberg’s remake of the H.G. Wells classic, “War of the Worlds”, if he believed in alien life, he replied, "Are you really so arrogant as to believe we are alone in this universe?
"Millions of stars, and we're supposed to be the only living creatures? No. There are many things out there, we just don't know."
While Cruise’s abrasive, borderline narcisstic, manner might be offensive to many and convenient fodder for the easily offended, at least, as a society, we’ve moved beyond the stage where such views earn a death sentence. In 1600, Italian philosopher Giordano Bruno publicly expressed the then-heretical notion that there were countless other worlds out there containing life. He was burned at the stake.

Then, in the 18th century, conventional wisdom swung markedly in the other direction. Many astronomers confidently speculated that every star—200 billion alone are estimated to exist in the Earth’s galaxy, the Milky Way--had planets with life. Will Herschel, who discovered Uranus, boldly cogitated that the sun was populated with life.

While we know our sun does not possess life, with an estimated 80 billion to 120 billion galaxies in the universe, more than 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (pronounced 20 sextillion) stars—or suns—likely are present.

The statistical probability that even a few of these stars (when you’re dealing in sextillions, a few could be millions!) might possess planets that can harbor life as we do or do not know it is highly likely.

But, as Enrico Fermi supposedly mused one memorable day in the 1940’s while talking with a group of atomic scientists, “So? Where is everybody?”

His simple allusion to the absence of contact from other life forms morphed into Fermi’s Paradox. To conclude that life must not exist simply because contact has not been made in a form that we understand, in scientific terms, is a radical inference.

While we can see stars in the universe because their light is bright enough to travel across galaxies to be visible in our sky, planets do not emit but merely reflect illumination. We cannot see planets outside our solar system. Thus, the presence of planets must be inferred based on aberrations in the fluidity of rays.

Our telescopes, while progressing at an incredible pace, are still very limited when viewing the universe. At one point, scientists thought five moons circled Uranus. When Voyager sailed past in 1986, ten more moons were discovered.

Uranus is only 1.7 million miles away. The nearest star is 24.7 trillion miles away. So, the nearest star is nearly 10,000,000 times further away than a planet that we thought, at one time, with our most powerful telescopes, only had five moons. Even at our astounding technological pace with telescope development, we have so far to go.

The Greenbank Equation—developed by Frank Drake in the 1960’s-- attempts to quantify the probability of extraterrestrial intelligent species (ETIS) in the universe. While assumptions factor into the complex equation, optimistically, 25,000 ETIS exist in the universe. Conservatively, two are present. Carl Sagan conjectured that millions of technologically advanced civilizations may be present in the universe.

Take Cruise to task for his tenor. But, don’t burn Hollywood’s most bankable star at the veritable public opinion stake for expressing a thought that just might have signficant merit.

After all, 20,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars might not be mere stars. Who knows how many might be suns.

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Jessica Simpson...please!

Only in the United States could a clueless doorstop such as Jessica Simpson enjoy the ability to live the life of affluence.

Why do we give this No Child Left Behind poster child the time of day?

Simpson ("I don't even know who Lance Armstrong is.") is singular proof that intelligent design is merely the desperate rantings of the scientificly-challenged.
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Tonya Harding limericks

In a creative spurt inspired by St. Patrick's Day, a few choice limericks celebrating one of Oregon's favorite citizens, the always exciting, unpredictable, daughter of the trailer park, Tonya Harding!

Limerick 1
From triple axel to three ring circus
Tonya’s life—what is today’s new purpose?
Whacked Kerrigan in the knee
Defeated Paula Jones in three
Wrestling a transvestite? Saints preserve us!

Limerick 2
Duck! The spinning hubcap is flying at this writer!
Unlike Paula Jones, this reporter doesn’t want to fight her
Now it’s TVs in the squared circle
Your were so hoping it was Urkel
Isn’t she Piper Laurie? Oh, no, he’s Rowdy Piper!

Limerick 3
Your skating life was once the province of so much jewelry
Then, for some reason, your existence devolved into tomfoolery
Your wedding tape may rot
Paris Hilton you're not
But that's what happens when you marry a guy named Gillooly

Limerick 4
Tonya, you had a fight in a barSupposedly saved someone in a carYour life is a messBut this we must confessSuch perverse pleasure we get from afar!

Limerick 5
Tonya, your life is oh so surreal these days
Wrestling, boxing, spinning hubcaps-all such a daze
What happened to the skate?
Where you were first rate
Or was that just a teenage, hormonal phase?

Michael Jackson

What a sad state of affairs for Michael Jackson.

One of the truly amazing performers of our generation, a singer, dancer and composer of virtually unparalleled combined excellence has been reduced to a mere caricature of himself.

Although I watch little television, I remember a scene a few years ago on an MTV special that seems to sum up the challenge facing the gloved one. He was featured on an awards show where many young artists shared how much he influenced their careers. They effused about his great 1980's albums--Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad--about his dancing, about his breakthrough videos, about the young Michael fronting the Jackson 5. And, here was Michael in the background, furiously executing his signature popping moves.

While the young performers were acknowledging him as a legacy artist, he was actively trying to say with his increasingly, passionate dancing that he is here, now, current, hip.

Unfortunately, as an artist, he is not. Party guests never request songs beyond the three aforementioned albums or the J5 megahits in the early 1970's. As an artist, he has not recorded anything relevant for at least 15 years. And, his legal problems, grotesque surgeries, fading skin color and bizarre public behavior are quickly pushing aside his artistic achievements.

Admittedly, his popularity at such a young age and ability to surround himself with an entourage devoted to his every wish seriously skewed his view of life. Reality checks are few and far between for Jackson. Whatever advise he is receiving appears to fall on deaf ears.

Sad. One of the most incredible, scintillating performers in pop music history will likely be remembered more for this off-the-field antics than the achievements in entertainment. Sad.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

Dr. King, thank you for providing a spotlight on one of the greatest injustices in American history--the treatment of a group of people as a separate class. Maybe, we will someday learn that lesson when we approach foreign affairs, when we deal with each other, when we interact with our family and friends.

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Ashlee Simpson and the Orange Bowl

With utter incredulity, I viewed the last minute or two of Ashlee Simpson's performance at the Orange Bowl on January 4. After hearing what passed for primal utterings of a prehistoric banshee, is there any doubt why she lip synced her effort on Santurday Night Live?