Yahoo! says yoo-hoo to aliens

By Hayley Birch

Attempting to make contact with alien life is a ludicrous pursuit for a number of reasons. But there’s one reason no one seems to have yet considered: if there’s one sure fire way to piss off the galactic community, it’s got to be bombarding them with constant and consistently pointless messages about our miserable existence here on earth.

Last year extraterrestrials were hit with a deluge of meaningless twaddle when the Deep Space Communications Network began transmitting CraigsList.org, a classified adverts website. Now it’s time for aliens everywhere to brace themselves as earth begins another assault on their little green eyes and ears.

Yahoo! are planning to beam a plethora of earthling communications into space between October 25 and 27. Messages will take a range of forms – images, text, photos – and will come from contributors all over the world via the Yahoo! Time Capsule project. The entire collection will be digitalised and beamed via a laser from the Pyramid of the Sun near Mexico City.

Having had a brief sift through the early contributions, I’m pretty confident they’re going to do nothing to impress the interplanetary neighbours. It’s pretty much an opportunity for every proud mother to swap fridge magnets for a laser beam and showcase little Jonny’s artwork.

Still, that’s not going to stop me sending in a whole stack of photos. My, how pleased my brother will be when he realises his image is broadcasting as a target for all incoming invaders.

You can find out a bit more about Yahoo!'s Time Capsule project, and submit your own contributions, here. But don't forget to tell us what you'd want to send into the great unknown.

To read more about Hayley or to view more of her articles click here or keep on top of space with the Null:

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