.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,††$§£@##                                          ##@£§$††,.
.,-†††††$£                                          £$†††††-,.
.,-†$§£@##                                          ##@£§$†-,.
..,--†$$££             #...--------...#             ££$$†--,..
.,-††$$§§£     ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.####      £§§$$††-,.
.,-††$§£##             #...--------...#             ##£§$††-,.
.,-†††$§££                                          ££§$†††-,.
.,-††$§£@@ ON EARTH  (THE PLANET  WHERE  I  LIVE) A @@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@@ LOT  OF  US HAVE ANTENNAS ON  OUR HOUSES @@£§$††-,.
.,-††$$$§@ OR  BALCONIES,   WE  HAVE   BUILT  LARGE @§$$$††-,.
.,-††$§£@# ANTENNAS  FOR LARGER  BANDWITH,  WE HAVE #@£§$††-,.
....,,††§@      BUILD SPECIALIZED ANTENNAES FOR     @§††,,....
...,††$$§§   SPECIFIC WAVELENGTHS (AND SENT THEM    §§$$††,...
.,-††$§£@# INTO ORBIT),  WE'VE BUILT LARGE  AS FUCK #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#              ANTENNA ARRAYS              #@£§$††-,.
.,----†§§£ WE'VE VIRTUALLY  BUILT AN ANTENNA WITH A £§§†----,.
......-†$£         DISH AS LARGE AS EARTH.          £$†-......
.....-†$§@                                          @§$†-.....
.,----†$££ WE'VE LEARNED ABOUT OUR POSITION  IN THE ££$†----,.
....-†$§££      SOLAR SYSTEM, OUR SOLAR SYSTEMS     ££§$†-....
.,-†††††$§ PLACEMENT   IN   THE  GALAXY,   AND  OUR §$†††††-,.
.....,††§§ GALAXYS PLACEMENT IN THE LOCAL  CLUSTER, §§††,.....
.,-††$§£@# AND -OUR- LOCAL  CLUSTERS  PLACE IN  THE #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§§£@          GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS          @£§§$††-,.
...--†††§§                                          §§†††--...
.,-†††$§§@ AND  WE'RE  MOVING  AROUND  THE  SUN  AT @§§$†††-,.
.,-††$§£@# VELOCITY AND THE SUNS MOVING  AROUND THE #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@# CENTER  OF  THE GALAXY  AT  VELOCITY AND #@£§$††-,.
.....-†$£@ THE  GALAXY IS MOVING  TOWARD  ANDROMEDA @£$†-.....
...,††††$£    AND WE'RE BOTH MOVING ANTICLOCKWISE   £$††††,...
.,-††$§£## AROUND THE GALAXY.  AND  WE AS A SPECIES ##£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@# HAVE LEARNED TO TAKE ALL THAT IN ACCOUNT #@£§$††-,.
.,-††§£@##                                          ##@£§††-,.
.,-††$§£@@ AND DESPITE  ALL  THIS, DESPITE ALL  OUR @@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§££@    (CLICHE) BEAMING OF FUCKING STELLAR   @££§$††-,.
...,††$§£@ RADIO PROGRAMMES  OUT IN  FUCKING  SPACE @£§$††,...
.,-††$$§£@ AT THE SPEED  OF  LIGHT  (LIGHT  IS  OUR @£§$$††-,.
.,-††$£@##  MEDIUM! GOODSPEED YOU, BLACK EMPEROR!), ##@£$††-,.
.,-††$§£##      DESPITE GHOSTS HELPING AND THE      ##£§$††-,.
.,-†††$§§§     COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS LOWPASS     §§§$†††-,.
.,----††§§   FILTERING, DESPITE OUR VERY OBVIOUS    §§††----,.
....--††$£ BEAMING  OF  ALL  OUR  SECRETS IN  EVERY £$††--....
.,-††$§£££          DIRECTION KNOWN TO US,          £££§$††-,.
.,-††$§§££                                          ££§§$††-,.
......,†$£ NO    .   ONE    .   HAS   .    ANSWERED £$†,......
.....,-††§                                          §††-,.....
..,,†††$£@             #...--------...#             @£$†††,,..
.,-††$§£@#     ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.####      #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#             #...--------...#             #@£§$††-,.
.....,†$§£                                          £§$†,.....
.,---†††§£              SO WHY IS THAT?             £§†††---,.
.,-††$§§§§                                          §§§§$††-,.
...-††$$$§ MOST  OPPONENTS  TO INTELLIGENT  LIFE IN §$$$††-...
.,-††††$§@ THE UNIVERSE  SAY  IT'S BECAUSE YOU NEED @§$††††-,.
.,-††$§£## A CLASS ONE-OR-THE-OTHER  STAR  AND  THE ##£§$††-,.
......-†§@ PLANET  NEEDS  TO  BE  AT  A  SEE-AND-SO @§†-......
.,-††$§£@# DISTANCE AWAY  FROM THE STAR (LIKE THERE #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§@##           HAS TO BE A PLANET!)           ##@§$††-,.
.....,††§§                                          §§††,.....
.,-††§£@## BUT   REALLY   ISN'T  THAT  KEEPING  THE ##@£§††-,.
.,-††$§£##      DEFINITION OF LIFE REALLY LAX?      ##£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.....-††$£ I THINK EVERYONE AGREES THAT WE HAVE  NO £$††-.....
.....-††§@ IDEA WHAT WE'RE DOING  (AND  IT PROBABLY @§††-.....
.,-†$§£@##                  SHOWS)                  ##@£§$†-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,---††$££             #...--------...#             ££$††---,.
..,,††††§£      ####.-- FERMI'S PARADOX --.####     £§††††,,..
...----††§             #...--------...#             §††----...
.....,††§§                                          §§††,.....
.,-††$§£@@ I'M  GONNA GO SMOKE  MY THIRD  CIGARETTE @@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§§£@ THIS YEAR AND TRY TO  SNATCH  SOME BEERS @£§§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@@        FROM THE LOCAL BEER THING         @@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@#                                          #@£§$††-,.
.,-††$§£@@                                          @@£§$††-,.