Congratulations, you’ve read Part the First and Second you’re in the final lap! If I were to offer any excuses for the length of this tirade, it would be that the last four years have been a horror show and this is my catharsis. I recommend everyone do it, frankly! In any case, here’s the last of it:

After his first disastrous year, Trump continued to give living meaning to the term “dumpster fire.” Like a train wreck, you were appalled but what you saw, yet you couldn’t look away! As if that weren’t bad enough, the smell was so disgusting you wanted to vomit repeatedly. Somehow, you just hoped it would burn itself out.

Welcome back. If you’re reading this, I assume you got through Part the First. If you’re not offended or sufficiently angered/disgusted yet, feel free to keep reading!

To recap, since 2008, the GOP had been following the policy of reaching out to the fringe in order to stay relevant. But maintaining support from these elements meant constantly having to appear sufficiently right-wing. But the far-right wasn’t convinced and created their own movement and media, which came to be called the “alt-right.” To any informed observer, it was a thinly-veiled white supremacist movement.

Wow. It came (and went) at last! The 2020 Presidential Election and the ouster of Donald Trump. Like most people in United States, here in Canada, and everywhere else in the world, I was pretty much in a state of full-body tension waiting to see how it all turned out. The polls were favorable going in, but we all knew from experience to take that with a grain of salt.

Naturally, I was happy and relieved by the outcome. After four years of wondering when the madness and sheer chaos of the Trump administration would end, the people spoke and the results were crushing to Trump and his cadre. And while this is far from over (they still have lawsuits to file and votes they’re trying to suppress), it’s good to know that people all over the world can enjoy some peace and calm for a little while at least.

In recent weeks, I’ve been writing a lot about Fermi’s Paradox (“Where is everybody?” aka. where are all the aliens?) As you can imagine, this has involved a lot of research! So much has been said and so much ink has been spilled on the potential reasons why humanity has not found evidence of cosmic counterparts, despite seventy years of looking and the sheer vastness of the Universe.

A few weeks ago at Universe Today, I started a series that takes a look at the Fermi Paradox. For those who are not familiar, this refers to the contradiction that was observed by famed Italian-American physicist Enrico Fermi. This contradiction can be summarized as “if life is statistically so likely in the Universe, why haven’t we found any evidence of it yet?”

Or, if you prefer the short version, it can be summarized as:

“Where the hell are all the aliens?”

Hey all! As I mentioned in a previous post, I recent joined the good folks at Explore Mars and began making regular contributions to their affiliated website – Stardom! In addition to doing a series on the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), I also completed a series on the colonization of Mars.

It’s called “Making the First Martians,” and deals with the different aspects and challenges of creating a permanent human presence on the Red Planet. Here’s the full list:

• Part I: Could We Colonize the Red Planet?
• Part II: Getting to the Red Planet
• Part III: Living on the Red Planet
• Part IV: Building an Economy on Mars
• Part V: Making a Garden on Mars (Terraforming)

Coming soon, a series on colonizing the entire Solar System!

Hey folks! Recently, I joined the Explore Mars organization, which is dedicated to advocacy, science education, and promoting the exploration of Mars by the 2030s. And as a perk, I also get to write for Stardom, a space news site that is an affiliate.

Recently, I completed a series on the subject of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) that I wanted to share. It comes in seven parts, which starts with the conceptual stuff, moves into the speculative realm, and then takes a look at the history of our efforts and what we’ve been found.

If you’re interested, head over to Stardomspace.com and have a gander:

• Part I: The Fermi Paradox & Drake Equation
• Part II: The Great Filter
• Part III: The Kardashev Scale
• Part IV: Megastructures!
• Part V: SETI Efforts Through the Ages
• Part VI: Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence (METI)
• Part VII: What Have We Found So Far?

This series is one of many that I’ve done or am in the process of doing. More on that soon!

Recently, some friends and I were talking about books that made a significant impact on our lives. These included all the books that changed the way we saw the world, taught us something about ourselves, and/or inspired us to action! I really liked this exercise because it made me think of the literature that has stuck with me over the years.