by frog
Dang, I have to admit I missed the obvious disclaimers and was believing this Truthdig article until nearly the end! 
LONDON—Reversing his recent position on the dangers of an extraterrestrial invasion, eminent theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking said today that the planet is in no such peril anymore because aliens are “no longer interested” in invading Earth.
“Assuming that aliens have been monitoring Earth for the past month in preparation for an invasion, they’ve probably figured out it’s no longer worth the trip,” Dr. Hawking said.
Speaking at a conference of the International Society of Eminent Theoretical Physicists, Hawking added, “Most extraterrestrials would want to come to Earth to destroy it, and let’s face it, this planet has been pretty much pre-destroyed.” Even if aliens planned to travel to Earth to warn humans against destroying their own planet, Hawking said, “If they showed up now and took a look around, they’d be like, ‘Oops, too late.’ ”
The physicist said the rocket fuel that aliens would have to expend to launch an Earth invasion was significant, “and you don’t spend that kind of money to invade a shithole.”
In recognition of his role in deterring an alien invasion, Queen Elizabeth II of England today knighted Tony Hayward, the CEO of oil giant BP. In remarks to reporters after the knighting ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Sir Tony said he would be working tirelessly this week to study the impact of the Gulf oil spill on the beaches of the South of France.
Published in Environment & Resource Management by frog on Tue, July 6th, 2010
Tags: BP, stephen hawking
on the trolls and those who are unable to keep on topic
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I was wondering at “shithole”, and by the time I hit Sir Tony, I was like, “Hang on…”.
[frog: Had my first twinge at "International Society of Eminent Theoretical Physicists", but plowed ahead until Sir Tony as well!]
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Guess Tony got what is alluded to as the “wrong gong”. Yep, the put-up-and-shut-up version.
And why..? Await events folks..
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‘knighting ceremony’ -> ‘investiture’
Lol.
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The point here is; did Toney Hayward stop the oil leak?
Obviously not it is still gushing out, so what has he actually achieved to warrent a knighthood?
With institutions like the monarchies we don’t really need an alien invasion do we.
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“You can’t manage what you haven’t measured”
I hear this said, especially amongst environmentalists from both ends of the spectrum.
I’m interested in ‘measures’ that can be taken, usually to control.
I’m interested too, in rules and ‘rulers’, great measuring devices those.
It explains why certain people with particular ideologies dislike the sort of art that can’t be measured. They have no way of assessing its worth I guess.
Frustrating for them.
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That new Aussie PM looks suspiciously like…
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………..the snow witch off Narnia, yes I know.
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..beware Turkish Delight!
It tastes so gooooood…
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I laughed a little but doctor who seems to differ on the importance of earth to other species
aliens love our planet, or love to hate it it seems 
and I doubt Tony hayward is getting a knighthood or peerage anytime soon and even if he did it wouldn’t be the Queen’s fault but the governments…unless it was a VO or Garter
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hawking did say that though, excluding his awesome mind he’s had a pretty crap run in the human sense
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I’ve no doubt that life would excist on other planets elsewhere but that they are months away from invading, not invading…. don’t be silly Hawkins! 1. they would have had to set off traveling 10,000 years or more ago, at that time humans were barely human, so why would they have set off in the first place. 2. We have only be a technological race for the past 150 years or so. And 3. Just because we would go to other planet to probe aliens, its not to say others would do the same to us.
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