Life in the Universe? Your views, please...

To help kick off the launch of "Kiss Me Like That" this Sunday, May 24th, I thought I'd do an informal poll to see what people think about life in the Universe. "Love in outer space", one of the songs I wrote on the album, alludes to the SETI programme - that's the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. So it seems like a good fit.

In the 70s, radio-astronomers beamed a message into space with information about Earth (our position from the sun, numbers from 1 to 10, basic DNA building blocks). That's some of what "Love in outer space" is about. You can find a picture of that message here on the kissmelikethat.com website.

Some researchers believe the building blocks of life are quite common in galaxies, but that the actual formation of life is a much rarer event.

Other scientists believe that primitive bacterial life may well be widespread. (There are theories that life may have formed on Mars and later been brought to Earth in meteorites. Sounds like sci-fi, eh?) But beyond that, many think that the further evolution to intelligent life is extremely rare, and highly unlikely.

Others say the Earth is completely unique, as are we. The recent discovery of a host of exotic planets orbiting stars in our not-so-distant neighbourhood is straining that theory. (It has to be said, though, that no Earthlike 'class M' planet has been found yet. But it may just be a matter of time).

What do you think? Take the poll, it only takes 30 seconds!

After you take the poll, please feel free to write a bit more about your feelings on this topic in the comments section. All opinions and points of view are welcome!

Spring at last!

I am overwhelmed by the wonderful e-mails and guestbook posts people have written in after I was Mary Ito's guest today on "Fresh Air." Thank you all for listening, and for your lovely comments. Mary is such a charming, interesting lady. We had a great discussion about all sorts of things, from music, to physics, and lots in between. They very kindly provided me with a recording of the interview, so I'll try to post that soon.

As for my garden, I'm delighted to report that my spinach got through that April frost and it's thriving! I've been picking huge bowls full of baby spinach for fresh salad every evening. And the arugula is coming along great, as are my bok choi seedlings. The beet seedlings are a bit delicate still, but the lettuce is getting big. Just a week or so more and I can finally put my tomatoes in the ground. They're getting too tall for their little pots.

We've made a special page with all the Hugh's Room gig details for Sunday, May 24th, so there's a map, a button for reserving, and a link for listening to songs. If you know people in the Greater Toronto Area who might like to come along, I'd be very grateful if you could forward this link to them:

http://www.kissmelikethat.com/hughsroom.html

Thanks so much everyone!

Diane

p.s. I have a dream of growing okra in a pot this summer. Has anyone ever tried okras in containers? The flowers are so pretty, they look like hibiscus...