Paradise Preoccupied

News of the discovery of a possibly habitable planet outside our solar system, the oh-so-lyrically named 581c, had me writing about … cue music … Adopting From Outer Space … fade music … on one of my pro blogs today.

When trawling for blog fodder, as I do every morning, it’s the adoption-related I glom on to first … they pay me for that blog … but certain items of interest resonate throughout the day no matter how done with the concept I may be after cranking out a thousand words or so around the info.

To nab a line from “The Big Chill“: This is one of those times. (Or something like that … Mary Kay Place, sitting in a church at the funeral of a college friend? Minister as M/C warming up the crowd? Ring any bells? Whatever.)

Apparently Planet 581c is the right size, shape and distance from it’s Red Dwarf of a sun to look likely, from 120 trillion miles away, to accommodate a version of life that we might even be able to recognize as living.

Sure, the science guys probably have themselves worked into a frenzy thinking about slime lichens or midgazoas when they talk about the place possibly supporting life forms, but you know darned well most folks are picturing ET or Klingons, at least.

I suppose we have to assume that any 581c-ains are a bit slower than we are, as it appears they haven’t yet discovered us. If they had, they would certainly have put up a billboard or something to let us know that they know that we’re advanced enough to be looking at them. That’s what we’d do, right?

Too bad they’re not light years ahead of us, as ever since I moved to this island I’ve been hoping someone would come across folks who’ve perfected that beamy-uppy thing Scottie manned in Star Trek forty-something years ago.

I hate flying, and when the nearest shopping mall is a four hour trip on a Boeing … that would be Dubai, thankyouverymuch … and my mom and daughter and granddaughter, son, brothers and friends can’t be within hugging range without at least 36 hours of cramped, recycled air torture, I’d give a lot to meet a 581c-ian with a portable transporter.

Maybe the next planet discovered?