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Aliens vs. Alien Life
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By Barry Evans fieldnotes@northcoastjournal.com
Aliens: Intelligent creatures from a distant star who have traveled to Earth.
Alien Life: A necessary precursor to those aliens, simple self-replicating molecules, such as cyanobacteria (blue-green algae).
for more salsa
43. Give the cold shoulder
44. Palindromic sib
47. Sorkin of “Days of Our Lives”
49. Dangerous place for a leak
52. Steakhouse order
55. Band’s hired hand
56. Canonized people: Abbr.
57. “Despacito” singer Fonsi
59. Mike of “Shrek”
60. Mr., Mrs. or Mx.
63. Well-informed ... and a description of 17-, 26-, 37- and 52-Across’ central letters
65. Approximately 71% of the Earth’s surface
66. Boo
67. ____ occasion (never)
68. DEA figures
69. Navy VIPs
70. What’s left to cartographers?
DOWN
1. “If I may ...”
2. Placates
3. Bills are found in it
4. Kicks off
5. Is in the past?
6. Have the ____ for
7. How some popcorn is popped
8. Youngest of the Marx Brothers
9. Its airports include TPA and JAX
10. Practically forever
11. In online gaming, games with large numbers of players
12. Fared
13. Lets off the hook
18. 10% of DXXX
22. 35mm camera type
25. Rapper with a clock necklace, familiarly
27. WNBA All-Star Rebecca
28. Words after break or shake
30. French name pronounced “eve”
34. Charged particle
35. Cozy
37. Bank holding
38. Crude-shipping grp.
39. Way up the slope
40. Purina partner replaced by Nestlé
41. Spicy fare?
42. Celebrity ... but just barely
44. Where to find “Yellow Submarine” on the album “Yellow Submarine”
45. Like some dungeon denizens
46. Iconic phrase in old “Dick and Jane” stories
48. Org. for Penguins and Ducks
50. A handful of
51. Keep out of sight
53. Mystic’s board
54. Ached (for)
58. Originate (from)
61. Fond du ____, Wisconsin
62. Low-ranking naval officer: Abbr.
64. “48 ____” (1982 Eddie Murphy film)
© Puzzles by Pappocom
Earth is one of eight planets with an assortment of smaller bodies in thrall to our star, the Sun. The Sun is one of about a third of a trillion stars bound by their mutual gravitation (and that of so-called dark matter) into a huge spiral galaxy that takes light 100,000 years to cross from one edge to another: the Milky Way. Which, in turn, is one of maybe 2 trillion galaxies in the observable universe …. My point being, if there’s intelligent life here, there must be intelligent life somewhere out there. Right? Let’s just stick to our own galaxy, given the vast distances — millions of light years — to the closest neighboring galaxies of any size. With 300 billion stars (that’s about 100 times the number of your lifetime heartbeats, if you’re lucky), each star being host to maybe 10 planets (some of which we already know are in the liquid-water “habitable zone,” you’d think the Milky Way would be teeming with aliens.
Well, it likely is teeming with alien life — simple molecules that replicate — but not with aliens in the usual sense of the word, as defined above. We know, of course, what aliens look like because we’ve seen the movies: a lot like us! Head on top, two eyes, weirdly shaped skulls, limbs, spines, probably bipedal — we’d know one when we saw one. Vulcan, Romulan, Xenomorph (for Sigourney Weaver to battle): They’re bad guys. The good aliens are the outlines seen at the end of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., or the blue Navi on Avatar’s Pandora — same basic idea. We’ve come a long way from Michael Rennie in The Day the Earth Stood Still (and his 8-foot-tall bodyguard, Gort) thanks to CGI, but I think it’s fair to say aliens — malevolent or benevolent — are immediately recognizable as intelligent life.
But to get from alien life like algae to intelligent life that can zip around the galaxy (supposedly crash landing here about as often as self-driving cars) takes time. Much time. On Earth, it took nearly a third of the age of the Universe, about 4 billion years. Much is made of the fact that life started almost as soon as there was liquid water. We have “biotic” fossils possibly as old as 4.1 billion years in rocks found in Western Australia. But it took eons, nearly 4 billion years, to get from microbes to intelligent life, life with the capacity to build radio telescopes and interplanetary spacecraft.
Our Sun is exceptionally stable, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t. The vast majority of exoplanets don’t have the luxury of 4 billion or 5 billion years of relative stability for intelligent life to evolve. And Earth — unlike other planets and moons in the solar system — is exceptional in that we have a moon (from when a Mars-sized body slammed into our young planet) to keep us in a balanced, non-oscillating orbit. In addition, mass extinctions — each one of which made way for novel species to evolve — may be essential to progress from microbial to intelligent. The most recent major extinction resulted from the not-toobig, not-too-small asteroid that collided with Earth 66 million years ago, wiping out non-avian dinosaurs and clearing the decks for our mammalian ancestors. “Lucky” doesn’t even begin to describe it.
There’s probably tons of microbial life out there, maybe even in our own solar system: My money’s on Saturn’s moon Titan and Jupiter’s moon Europa. But aliens? The good-guy or bad-guy aliens we want to believe are Out There? Given the astronomical unlikeliness of us being here, I’d say we’re SOL. l default and families with an available room in their home to help support an adult with special needs. Work from the comfort of your own home while making a difference in our community and changing someone’s life for the better. Receive ongoing support and a dependable monthly payment.
Barry Evans (he/him, barryevans9@ yahoo.com) would love to be wrong about aliens. His Humbook Two, which deals with topics somewhat closer to home, is at local bookstores.
K’ima:w Medical Center an entity of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, is seeking applicants for the following positions:
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PATIENT BENEFITS-REGISTRATION CLERK – FT Regular ($18.62 - $23.13 per hour DOE) and On-call Temporary available ($17.00 per hour)
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COALITION COORDINATOR – FT Regular ($17.14 - $20.01 per hour)
Would you like to apply your skills in an established organization helping local children and families? Our exciting workplace has full- and part-time time openings. We offer excellent benefits for full-time positions and provide additional compensation for qualified bilingual candidates (English/Spanish)
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Benefits include paid vacation and sick leave, 14 paid holidays, 100% agency-paid, platinum level health insurance, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as a retirement plan with matching contributions and profit-sharing. COVID-19 Vaccine required. Please go to www.changingtidesfs.org for complete job descriptions and application requirements. Positions open until filled. Submit complete application packets to Nanda Prato at Changing Tides Family Services, 2259 Myrtle Ave., Eureka, CA 95501 or via email to nprato@changingtidesfs.org www.changingtidesfs.org Hablamos español @changingtidesfamilyservices
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All positions above are Open Until Filled, unless otherwise stated. For an application, job description, and additional information, contact: K’ima:w Medical Center, Human Resources, PO Box 1288, Hoopa, CA, 95546 OR call 530-625-4261 OR apply on our website: https://www.kimaw.org/ for a copy of the job description and to complete an electronic application. Resume/CV are not accepted without a signed application.
Would you like to apply your skills in an established organization helping local children and families? Our exciting workplace has full- and part-time time openings. We offer excellent benefits for full-time positions and provide additional compensation for qualified bilingual candidates (English/Spanish)
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Starts @ $17.60
Child Care Specialist Starts@ $18.38
Benefits include paid vacation and sick leave, 14 paid holidays, 100% agency-paid, platinum level health insurance, dental, vision, and life insurance, as well as a retirement plan with matching contributions and profit-sharing. COVID-19 Vaccine required. Please go to www.changingtidesfs.org for complete job descriptions and application requirements. Positions open until filled. Submit complete application packets to Nanda Prato at Changing Tides Family Services, 2259 Myrtle Ave., Eureka, CA 95501 or via email to nprato@changingtidesfs.org
TCIL is launching a new program in Del Norte- Wild Rivers Veteran Directed Care Program. We are seeking a dynamic individual with a desire to work with veterans empowering them to live independently to facilitate this new program.
Veteran Coach
The Veteran Coach will assist veterans that are referred to the Wild Rivers Veteran Directed Care Program to manage a budget, decide what services best meet their needs, hire personal care workers, and purchase items or services in order to live independently in the community.
Requirements:
with the goal of empowering them to promote their independence
and Southern Oregon
preferred
****PLEASE NOTE THIS JOB IS BASED IN CRESCENT CITY**** default Ferndale Children’s Center (FCC) has exciting opportunities!
Up to 30 hours per week, competitive compensation Visit www.tilinet.org an application, resume and cover letter.
Tri-County Independent Living (TCIL) is a multicultural organization providing services to persons with disabilities to enhance independence.
Director
Salary DOE. Full Time.
Under the administrative direction of the Board of Directors, the Director is responsible for the efficient and effective implementation of Board goals and policies; maintaining an effective relationship with and is responsive to the Board, serves as the administrative manager for the Ferndale Children’s Center. S/he is responsible for recruiting, leading, supervising and evaluating staff and programs; serves as liaison between teachers and staff and the Board of Directors and manages the day-to-day operations of the Center. Benefit package available including medical, dental and vision as well as optional 401K. Must be 18 and have valid CDL.
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