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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>John Clark<br><br></span><span style='font-size:13.5pt'><o:p></o:p></span></p><div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>>…LIGO goes back online in September <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>(and will be joined by VIRGO) <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>so we should <o:p></o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>be able to straighten out what's going on<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt'> before the end of the year.</span><o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'>John K Clark <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Oh my evolution, is this a fun time to be alive or what? <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>I can’t quite get past this comment I heard at the SLAC lecture: we already detected one pair of colliding black holes, but we only listened for a few days. SETI has been all ears for years, decades, and we get a big goose egg, a NADA in all caps. LIGO, we turn it on, and BOOM there it is, Merry Christmas and Happy New Insight to everyone who knows what that little chirp means and why this lecture packed a huge hall to standing room only and why this result just toe-curling screaming-orgasm cool.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Reason: we don’t just get that lucky. I can’t imagine when we go back online it will take years to get the next hit. It must be we get something like this about every… month? Few weeks? Couple months? If so… we need to rethink our notions on why at least part of dark matter can’t be black holes. I haven’t been so delightfully uncertain in several years.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:14.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'></span><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-family:"Arial",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>