To: Investor
From: K&P Securities Inc.
Re: Investments
I don't think I need to remind you of the importance of this decision. L-305 once brought 2 billion dollars a year into our company finances, and we cannot afford to miss another opportunity to be at the front-end of a lucrative re-colonization effort. Re-settlement must begin at once! The initial investment needed to rebuild this colony is incidental - all the infrastructure, buildings, roads and landscaping are intact. And let's not forget about that mining operation L&R Financing thought they'd kept secret from us years ago. Do the math and explain to the Judges how many trillions of dollars it would take to locate, study, and prepare a new planet. Given the inevitability of life throughout the universe, estimate the costs associated with preparing humans for life on any inhabitable planet where unfamiliar critters abound and compare that with investments already made for a quality life on L-305. As for the "alien critter problem," better check with our biologists to see if they're planning to mention Simon Conway Morris' ideas about convergent evolution as a counter-attack to the biologists against re-colonization. Rumors suggest they're planning to cite Gould's ideas about chance as an important process in evolution, using that as a scare tactic to conjure up visions of bizarre, truly frightening creatures appearing in the future. I have compiled a short list of resources you might find useful. I don't care what you argue so long as you convince those judges to re-colonize.
I'll be waiting for your report,
J.D Kaper, CEO K&P Securities
Leads and Sources
Magazines and Articles:
"When Life Exploded," J. Madeleine Nash. Cover Story Time Magazine December 4, 1995.
"On Embryos and Ancestors," Stephen Jay Gould. Natural History 7/98-8/98, p. 20.
"The Evolution of Life on the Earth," Stephen Jay Gould. Scientific American October 1994, p. 85.
"Breathing Room for Early Animals" (Oxygen), Andrew H. Knoll. Nature Vol. 382, July 11, 1996, p. 111.
"The Big Bang of Animal Evolution," Jeffrey Levinton. Scientific American November 1992.
"Hypersea Invasion," Carl Zimmer. Discover October 1995, p. 76.
"The Emergence of Animals," Mark McMenamin. Scientific American April 1987, p. 94.
"Life’s Grand Explosions." (theories on why the Cambrian explosion occurred), Lori Oliwenstein. Discover January 1996, p. 42.
"The Molecular Explosion," Henry Gee. Nature Vol. 373, February 16,1995, p. 558.
Internet Sites:
The Divisions of Precambrian Time
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/precambrian.htmlLife of the Vendian
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/vendianlife.htmlLearning About the Vendian Animals
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vendian/critters.htmlOxygen Pulse and the Evolutionary Expansion of the Metazoans
http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/8200/Oxygenation.htmlCambrian Explosion Website
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/library/03/4/l_034_02.html
Books:
The Emergence of Animals: The Cambrian Breakthrough. Mark and Dianna McMenamin, 1990, Columbia University Press.
The Crucible of Evolution: The Burgess Shale and the Rise of Animals. Simon Conway Morris, 1998, Oxford University Press.
Biology. N.A. Campbell, 1987, Benjamin-Cummings Publishing Co.