7 June 2009: Jurassic Park?

"The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program" - said Larry Niven. Well, I know dinosaurs who have a space program. I saw them in Vienna two weeks ago. Even more ... I am one of them.
I first met my fellow Sgacosaurs (Sgacosaurus Spatiogenerensis) sometime during the last millenium. Some say the weather was different at that time - I recall it being warmer, whereas at the beginning of June 2009 Vienna was quite cold. Some call this "Global Cooling". In any case, us Sgacosaurs are not cold-blooded reptiles; I was greeted with warmth by people I did not see in ages. We never lost contact, though - even if it took an aniversary conference to reunite some of us "in persona", we kept in touch through e-mail and we built a truly global network of starry-eyed youth. We may be dinosaurs, but we are still young - we were born after that beeping shiny ball called Sputnik was sent into the heavens.
The years have passed and - guess what - when we met, did we talk about the past? Yes, a little bit; but we mainly talked about the future. Were Michael Crichton there, he would have found inspiration for a sequel to the "Andromeda Strain" - as we discussed, inter alia, planetary protection - rather than for a new "Jurassic Park". Though, sequels will be - the story of the Space Generation does not stop here. Just like Jim and Lin Burke, us, Sgacosaurs, made a promise to remain young at heart and stick around, and inspire the new generation of starry-eyed earthlings.