Word: planetful
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During those 32 years, however, something has changed. None of the handful of satellites orbiting the globe in 1966 was hit by a Leonid. But today the planet is circled by a bewildering variety of spacecraft--about 600 in all--that have become indispensable to modern society: relaying phone calls, e-mail and faxes; monitoring hurricanes, terrorist activities and crop yields. A collision with a meteor could damage or disable any one of them. That is why NASA, the Air Force and the Russian space agency are directing a wholesale reorientation of their fleets of orbiting spacecraft...
...fact that there are more total minutes in the long intervals than there are in the short intervals. The problem comes when Aczel extends this argument to the discussion of life in the universe. He says that if "God creates you and randomly sends you...to live on some planet...a longer-living civilization has a higher chance of receiving you than one that has existed for a short time," and uses this observation, in concert with the fact that we all happen to have been "received" by Earth, to conclude that, "It is very likely that, as galactic civilizations...
...equation, a description of the factors involved in calculating the number of civilizations in the galaxy capable of communicating with each other, is useful in concept. But the equation is not a very practical tool for performing actual calculations because its factors include numbers like the percentage of planets in their stars' habitable zones that contain all of the environmental conditions necessary to life. Any estimates of these numbers that we make range from extremely rough approximations to wild guesses. Aczel, however, does not even attempt to give values for all of the variables in his calculation. Instead, he gives...
...Feminine is the energy that can save the planet," she said. "I have a great feeling that there's something from the other side. She's going to make herself known...
...movie focuses on more than the soldiers. The people who rescue Todd after his fall from the garbage carrier are unlucky colonists who crashed on the planet years ago. Stranded, they have managed to build a small community, using as raw materials only the things that others have discarded. So just as the settlers have found use in others' garbage, so also do viewers see that both Todd and the colonists have worth, despite being tossed aside by society. The film leaves little ambiguity regarding its interpretation, unless one is confused by Soldier's apparent attempt to paint the Darwinian...