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.:~††£&###     ####.~~ FERMI'S PARADOX ~~.####      ###&£††~:.
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.....~~†&@ 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 @&££†††~:.
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.:~††£&#@# 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,          @##&£††~:.
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.:~††£&### NO    .   ONE    .   HAS   .    ANSWERED ###&£††~:.
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.:~††£&@##      ####.~~ FERMI'S PARADOX ~~.####     ##@&£††~:.
.:~††£&#@#             #...~~~~~~~~...#             #@#&£††~:.
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.:~††£&#@#             SO WHY IS THAT?              #@#&£††~:.
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.:~††££££& 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 @#£†~~....
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.:~††††££#     ####.~~ FERMI'S PARADOX ~~.####      #££††††~:.
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.....:~†&@ I'M  GONNA  GO  SMOKE MY THIRD CIGARETTE @&†~:.....
.:~††£&#@@ THIS YEAR AND TRY  TO SNATCH SOME  BEERS @@#&£††~:.
.:::~††£&&         FROM THE LOCAL BEER THING        &&£††~:::.
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