Update - Nope, it just hung a right down Chriss Terrace.

Believe the Street Sign, "Chriss Terrace", is one of those you can see Proudly Displayed underneath The City of London on The Famous Underground London Sewer Tour.

Many an ET Freaky Beast can be seen on The Tour.

Dragging20KnucklesDullnando

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

Well, 4 arms is getting a vote, but the jury is still out on 5 or 8 legs. 1 head seems acceptable, unless there are any Zaphod Beeblebrox fans out there ...

Note that for life here on earth, the successful organisms all appear to have:

• at least one axis or plane of symmetry;
  
• optionally an even number limbs;
  
• optionally one alimentary canal with a head and a tail.
  

(Or do Kangaroos on the crazy continent count as a "tripod" creature?!)

Any more "universal" traits?

Keep searchin',
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

Well, 4 arms is getting a vote, but the jury is still out on 5 or 8 legs. 1 head seems acceptable, unless there are any Zaphod Beeblebrox fans out there ...

Note that for life here on earth, the successful organisms all appear to have:

• at least one axis or plane of symmetry;
  
• optionally an even number limbs;
  
• optionally one alimentary canal with a head and a tail.
  

(Or do Kangaroos on the crazy continent count as a "tripod" creature?!)

Any more "universal" traits?

Keep searchin',
Martin

sucess being the key word. I assume that means evolved to me. simple animals like starfish, sea urchins, sponges, and other lower animals don't necessarily have bilateral symetry.
by alimentry canal I assume you mean a neural tube as the most evolved animals as we see it all have a spine and neural tube.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

It could be that our configuration did the best job of stimulating our ancestor's brains into becoming what we are today. Reptilians had millions of years to develope but after reaching their "comfort zone" rose no higher. The same can be said for other branches of the tree of life. Once a species reaches it's comfort zone further developement slows to a crawl or is arrested. We humans have still not reached our comfort zone and hopefully continue to evolve. Boy did this thread wander off the trail.

I like that phrase "comfort zone" as you apply it. An example of that would be alligators which have remained essentially the same for millions of years.

I think that humans, so long as we remain Earth-bound may have reached out comfort zone as well. There'll be subtle changes over time - I remember reading somewhere that people are taller now that we were a few hundred years ago. But I think that the two-arms, two-legs, a head on top pattern is fairly well established.

OTOH, if we move off-planet into low or micro-gravity environments, well, that could be interesting. A few million years of evolution lacking 9.8m/s/s of vertical acceleration would have a profound effect on how we could end up looking.

And don't be terribly concerned about how threads tend to wander. Sometimes the wandering brings up some interesting conversation and ideas. This thread, for example, started out as yet another tired old evil-government-conspiracy-theory thread and 'evolved' into a far more interesting discussion on what aliens might look like. :)

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Pure mathematics is, in its way, the poetry of logical ideas.

Albert Einstein

Everything that they have two of will be axially opposed, mirror-like. Everything that they have one of will be in the middle. Sort of like us you see; and true of most fauna here on earth. Four or most probably five digits, one of which will be opposed for grasping. The fibonacci numbers may appear as well as a good approximation of the Golden Ratio in proportionality considerations among the limbs, digits and facial features.

This thread, for example, started out as yet another tired old evil-government-conspiracy-theory thread and 'evolved' into a far more interesting discussion on what aliens might look like. :)

Since Evolutionary Biology is what I've read most of-tens of thousands of pages-I find The Evolution Of This Thread I Started, quite, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ Boring.

As you have heard it all before about 'tired old evil-government', I've heard it all before about, 'what aliens might look like'.

But, go ahead, continue The Interesting Wandering, I'll be Sleeping.ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.

DrowsyDullnando

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May we All have a METAMORPHOSIS. REASON. GOoD JUDGEMENT and LOVE and ORDER!!!!!

I was merely making an observation after my entry about evolution, as I had to think for a minute to remember what the original topic was about and then go back and reread all the posts to understand how the subject changed so drastically.

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Bob DeWoody

My motto: Never do today what you can put off until tomorrow as it may not be required. This no longer applies in light of current events.

Hi, E.T.!

Do I ever find msattler in the non-SETI thread?

No. He is too good (or clever) at doing things.

Does it ever show up?

And the rest are ... .

Oh! E.T. paying us a visit here (referring to the previous picture).

Steven Spielbergs perfect approximation when it comes to alien characters, definitely.

http://www.ismellsmut.com/wp-content/gallery/e-t/et2.jpg

Being an earthling myself I am looking for a celestial beauty.

Do I ever find here some place (she might be extraterrestrial although this may not readily show up).

I guess the answer is NO regardless.

How old do I really have to be?