https://www.buzzfeed.com/christopherhudspeth/11-fermis-paradox-solutions-that-will-make-you-have-an-exist?utm_term=4ldqpia

Where the heck are the aliens?

Fermi's paradox is the contradiction between the high probability that alien civilizations exist and the lack of contact we've had with aliens. Here are 11 potential answers to Fermi’s paradox, some of which sound feasible, while others resemble big-budget sci-fi movie plots.

Narathip12 / Getty Images

All advanced civilizations are listening for signals, not sending them.

Imagine 10 people scattered across Earth several miles from one another. Each of them has a cell phone, but instead of dialing different combinations in the hopes of contacting one another, they just keep an eye on their respective phones, waiting for an incoming call.

Read more on this theory here.

Marioguti / Getty Images

Aliens are observing us like zoo animals.

Advanced beings are studying us from afar instead of interacting. There are many reasons why they might choose only to observe, whether it’s because they’re waiting for us to meet particular criteria as a civilization or they simply want to observe us in our natural habitat without knowledge of their existence.

Read more on this theory here.

Universal Pictures

Humans aren't searching correctly for signals from alien civilizations.

Imagine trying to contact someone by making a phone call to a fax machine or sending a text to a landline. Aliens could be sending out signals right this very moment and we’re just not listening for them the right way.

Read more on this theory here.

Paramount Pictures

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http://nerdist.com/the-bbc-dad-interrupted-by-his-kids-gets-a-star-wars-spoof/

In a video that’s been going viral for a week now, British South Korea expert Robert Kelly was being interviewed on a BBC news broadcast when his children, excited to see him on the TV, came rushing into his office mid-interview, followed closely by a frantic mother who wrangled them quickly out of the scene. Kelly handled the whole thing with an admirably straight face, and parents everywhere laughed knowingly at the inevitably unexpected nature of having a family.

So of course there is now a Star Wars version (courtesy of Jack of All Genius), because the Internet. It’s only a matter of time before there’s a version starring tiny hamsters (if there is one by the time this article goes up, please post it in comments).

Now, sticklers for accuracy are bound to note that it should be Padme coming in to corral li’l Luke and Leia, rather than Leia coming in to get two rowdy droids (let’s not even think about all the familial implications there. Oops, too late). And the Darth Vader voice is obviously not a James Earl Jones parody–it’s a voice done as if Robert Kelly, rather than Anakin Skywalker, had become Darth Vader. Or is perhaps cosplaying as him.

And while, say, Wicket and Paploo are more obvious for kid roles in the Star Wars universe, you can’t really cast them here because some people still hate Ewoks irrationally. R2-D2 and BB-8, though, are impossible to dislike, even though they often interfere at inopportune times.

Just wait till  Vader gets interrupted by his grandkid someday. That won’t be pretty.

Have you seen any other “BBC Dad” parodies we should check out? Let us know below, or post them to our Facebook page!

Image: Jack of All Genius

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When you think about it, Snoke’s the one who always does TV interviews…

http://www.themarysue.com/tim-allen-hollywood-conservatives/

On Jimmy Kimmel Live, actor Tim Allen admitted to attending Trump’s inauguration and then complained, “You gotta be real careful around here. You get beat up if you don’t believe what everybody [else] believes. This is like ’30s Germany.”

Ah, here we go again.

“Silencing” and “censorship” are common refrains among Hollywood conservatives, who are repeatedly shocked and wounded to find that people don’t like you when you advocate for the oppression of others. And if simple conservatism was actually costing them work, one might have some sympathy. Art should be able to represent the diversity of human experience, and in the U.S. that includes NRA-loving hunters, libertarians, and Republicans.

However, no one is oppressing conservatives. They’re even free to make conservative-leaning shows on major networks…a privilege that Allen himself has celebrated.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, he spoke about playing the conservative main character on his ABC sitcom, Last Man Standing, and how the character provides an outlet for a lot of his own political views. “We’re getting away with a lot of stuff,” he said, “I’m really shocked. This is a meaner, sharper comedy than I’m used to. There’s a lot of times our very liberal writing staff will come up with stuff that even my character would say, ‘I don’t know if I can say that.’…These guys know me so well that they’re writing stuff that is exactly what I would’ve said.”

We’re getting away with a lot.

They’re writing stuff that is exactly what I would’ve said.

Sounds oppressive!

Allen’s conservative sitcom is now in its sixth season, and he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: two well-established signs of…censorship and ostracizing? Oh, wait. Clint Eastwood makes A-list films every year. Mel Gibson directed an Oscar-nominated movie this past year. Conservatives, even violent ones like Gibson, can find plenty of work in Hollywood.

Do these men still get flack for their comments? Undeniably, yes. No one is obligated to pretend your opinions are welcome or well-reasoned when they’re not. No one is even obligated to keep working with you despite those opinions–and yet, plenty of liberals in Hollywood do work with Allen, Eastwood and other right-wingers.

Allen seems to fall into a familiar trap for conservatives. They don’t want the ability to voice their opinions. (They have that already.) They want the ability to voice their opinions and be praised for them. Unlike progressives, who tend to aggrandize by imagining that they speak for the marginalized and the future, conservatives aggrandize themselves as the voice of the silent majority–saying what most people are too afraid to say, speaking up for the everyman. They like to think everyone secretly agrees with them, and when that illusion is crushed by the public response to their comments, they feel attacked.

However, the Constitution only guarantees you the right to speak. It does not give you any rights over the response to that speech. If people consistently respond poorly to what you’re saying, maybe it’s your words that are problem.

Lastly, when attending the inauguration of a man who has multiple white supremacists and reportedly card-carrying Nazis in his cabinet, maybe don’t make comparisons to ’30s Germany.

(Via The Washington Post and The Hollywood Reporter; image via Shutterstock)

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