Java Glossary : stardatecard

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A stardatecard is a message sent into space on a laser beam. The beam will keep going until the end of time, or until it hits something.

The world is in such a sorry mess right now, I wish there were some way of sending a message to some intelligent civilisation somewhere else the universe to send in the cavalry to deal with the lunatics who have taken over control of our dear planet.

I discovered you can, in a way.

The H.R. Macmillan Planetarium in Vancouver BC Canada lets you send any message you want into any point in space on a laser light beam.

You get to pick the co-ordinates and the message.

The catches are:

the laser only travels at the speed of light, so unless the cavalry are very nearby they won't hear you in time.
You have no idea which directions intelligent, compassionate life willing to violate the prime directive might be. You need some dumb luck. This is probably no more effective than prayer.
You might just send it to a place run by bastards even worse than here.

It costs $25.00 CAD to send one message and $10.00 CAD for each additional message.

If I had the spare change for this longshot, I might say something like this:

Dear truly intelligent species:
By the time you read this, my species has probably long gone extinct, a casualty of the standard too much technological power and too little restraint. For a quick introduction to planet earth's problems, please see http://mindprod.com on the Earth Planetary Internet and chase the links. If you can and are willing to offer any help, I would be most grateful. We are not really that nice a species, but I find the males terribly sexy. Bioprogramming is funny that way. I promise you gales of laughter if you come. We are strange, and I mean strange.
Love, Roedy
Victoria, BC, Canada, North America, Earth, Milky Way
Definitions of Planet Earth

a spherical park floating in space

Mandelbrot's blue green period

fur feather fin phloem forming field

P.S. If you manage to come incredibly soon, and I am personally still alive, we have a spare bedroom.

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