I don't think that Mars would make bail, either.

Regarding the missile shutdown incidents, my opinion, their opinion, is that whoever are aboard these craft are sending a signal, to both Washington and Moscow among others, that we are playing with fire - that the possession and use of nuclear weapons potentially threatens the human race and the integrity of the planetary environment.

Robert Hastings, UFO Researcher - press conference, Sept. 27, 2010

How do you know that we are not already living amongst monsters or aliens disguised as "normal" people? Whom would you call: Ghostbusters or Men In Black?

The Smith Machine, blog comment.

 Sigh...and here we go again.

In case you should decide to skip the video link above, it features retired US armed forces personnel reporting incidents involving UFOs that caused shutdowns and equipment failures at atomic/nuclear testing and missile storage sites.  Sadly, as per my previous comments regarding this sort of thing, there seems to be a dearth of hard evidence - in fact, at least a couple of the officers featured in the press conference seem to be relying on the reports of their subordinates rather than first hand experience.

Okay, fine.  Let's say, for the sake of argument, that aliens are visiting Earth on a regular basis.  And, again, sake of argument, let's say that in a display of intergalactic brotherhood, or sentient-being-hood or whatever, they decide that they should send a signal to Washington and whomever else that nuclear weapons are bad.  They do this by causing sporadic problems at US military bases - perhaps Russian military bases too, but we only have the American reports to work from in this case.

If alien visitors have both the desire and the ability to cause shutdowns of nuclear weapons, why bother restricting themselves to intermittent difficulties?  Perhaps I should be more grateful to Mr. Hastings for his role as Daniel in the interpretation of this extraterrestrial mene mene tekel upharsin, but why would the aliens not shut down all the nuclear weapons everywhere?  If they've become sufficiently interested in our world that they feel that a message should be sent to the various nuclear-capable powers, they should realize that sporadic interventions at random sites is not the most reliable way to send that message if they really want to get a serious response.

Expatriot Canadian S. M. Stirling is writing a series of books set in a world that has somehow been pushed back to a medieval equivalent by a sudden, mysterious Change that has altered the fundamental nature of physics:  gasoline won't burn, electricity can't be generated, even steam engines fail to operate.  So far in the series, the reason for the Change hasn't been explained, but it's certainly a complete solution to the potential of destroying "the integrity of the planetary environment" with nuclear weapons.  A similar approach by the aliens who have been haphazardly shutting down missiles in silos would make World War Three much less of a concern for us than making sure we didn't freeze or starve during the winter months.

The funny thing is that the Men In Black scenario almost makes sense.  It's a lot easier for me to believe that aliens who had integrated themselves into our society as individuals might take independent action in regards to the possibility of a thermonuclear holocaust.  It would be the alien version of, I don't know, impulsively turning the hose on those loudly inebriated neighbours who are trying to light the barbecue at 3:00 AM, instead of calling the fire department.  As such, it would have the same sort of spur-of-the-moment feel as a response to the problem - and it might well be just the thing to keep the neighbourhood from going up in flames.

And on that basis, things could have been a lot worse.  After all, these theoretical aliens-in-residence could have decided to just call the cops on us and let them sort it out - do we really want to find out what the planetary equivalent of a night in the drunk tank might be?

- Sid

P.S. Should you be interested in a more complete explanation of Mr. Hasting's position, you are welcome to visit his web site: http://www.ufohastings.com.

Monsters.

There have been times in recent years when I've felt that I've somehow slipped across the line into some kind of shadow world*, a world that crosses the border into the sort of fantasy existence that's dominated my reading habits for the last 40 years.

The result?  Zombies block the downtown streets, my niece is apparently a part-time vampire, a good friend tells me in apparent earnest that she's a space alien, coffee shops complain about extra-terrestrial influences,  the Internet attempts to communicate with me via broken English, and then there's things like this:

Yes, monsters.  A little research reveals that it's guerilla promo for a movie coming out in October that echoes District 9's concept of an unexpected alien incursion - and, in the same fashion that District 9 resonates off its South African location, the extraterrestrial presence of Monsters is in Mexico. However, in the case of the sign above, there's another layer of (perhaps) unplanned irony. 

I took that picture near my workplace in Vancouver, about a block from the center of the infamous East Hastings slums, where it's not uncommon to see people unconscious on the sidewalks or wandering in the middle of the street in a state of drug-induced dementia, screaming psychotically at the sky or weeping uncontrollably in the park.

Am I saying that these people are monsters?  Although it sounds lacking in compassion, in some ways perhaps they are - there's certainly a strong resemblance to the traditional portrayal of zombies, at least. The woman I saw last week with her pants around her knees and her rear end out in traffic as she urinated into the gutter is an unfortunate but ideal example - someone who has so abandoned any remnant of self-respect that they would no longer even find it necessary to seek out an alley or a corner out of sight to perform the more fundamental bodily functions.

Imagine a situation involving a drug that twisted and warped people's bodies to the same extent that crack seems to have destroyed the minds of some of these people. In that case, there would indeed be a necessity for warning signs for monsters.

Hmmm - perhaps the basis for a fantasy novel...

- Sid

* "Twilight zone" might be more apt, but obviously there are copyright issues.

"My name is Newt - nobody calls me Rebecca."

"They mostly come at night...mostly."

Newt, Aliens

"Acting just wasn't me."

Carrie Henn

To my mild disappointment, we do not have a winner in the Guess who this is! contest, but I'd like to thank everyone for playing.

The identity of the lady in question?  It's Carrie Henn, who played the part of Rebecca "Newt" Jorden in Aliens.  Apparently Ms. Henn's brush with fame left her unmoved, and she went on to become a schoolteacher in California.  (Remember, I said that she was an "amphibian" actress?  Newt, amphibian...boy, tough crowd tonight.)

- Sid