Author: Chris Barrus

Online version of Alternative 3 video

Alternative 3 was a documentary produced in 1977 by Anglia Television in the UK. Originally reporting on the “brain drain” of UK scientists, the documentary crew eventually discovered a secret joint US/USSR space program that had actually landed men on Mars in 1962 in advance of “alternative 3” – a plan to evacuate the Elite from Earth and colonize Mars before Earth succumbs to global warming and eventual environmental collapse (which was going to happen much quicker than folks thought). Some “ordinary folk” would be kidnapped, pacified via mind control, and used as slave labor on the new Martian colonies while the rest of us proles are left behind to wallow in our own filth.

Oh yeah, along the way evidence is discovered of extraterrestrial life.

The whole program was a sham of course – sort of a modern version of of Orson Welles’ War Of The Worlds broadcast but with current (for 1977) production values, “official sounding” presenters, and plenty of “documentation”. The documentary was supposed to air on April 1st 1977, but due to scheduling issues it didn’t air until June. A follow-up book tie-in was published and as they say… hilarity ensued.

Of course, quite a few folks took it seriously and still do. Fortean Times and Wikipedia both have a good rundown of the whole Alternative 3 mythology.

Circle Of Light: Looks like a cool movie but with stupid fscking RealPlayer requirements

Pamela Bone’s Circle Of Light looks like a cool movie (Delia Derbyshire is credited with sound) but I can’t watch the full length stream of it because RealOne Player generates a “There is no software update available from RealOne to support this content: CLV1”

Then why is it in Real format to begin with? Grrr… RealOne (or whatever your calling yourself now) go stream in Hell.

Global warming and mini Ice Ages

washingon_delawarecrossing.jpgJohn Robb points out some interesting reading over on the Woods Hole web site about global warming’s side effects of weather instability.

The mechanism for this is simple. The north pole’s ice cap is melting quickly due to global warming. This has created an extremely large pool of fresh water near the ice cap. That pool of water will eventually drift southward. When it does, it will disrupt the gulf stream due a change in the density of the water. Without the gulf stream, the northeast US and Europe will quickly experience a 10 degree drop in temperatures.

This mini Ice Age would be similar to the one we experienced between 1300 and 1850. Remember that picture of Washington crossing the Delaware River? See the ice? That doesn’t happen anymore. According to the Woods Hole scientists, it will again. There is also an outside chance that disruption of the gulf stream could disrupt the entire ocean conveyor system which would impact the rest of the world.

Better bundle in some cold weather gear in that canoe.

I have a recurring dream

John Robb posts…

I have a recurring dream. I am in college. A person that I have seen in a couple of my classes, comes up to me and asks me if I want the “everything” drive. I ask, what is the “everything” drive? He whispers that it has every book, song, newspaper, magazine, and movie that has ever been published. Everything is categorized and first quality. It even includes a clone of Google and some new search techniques that are even more powerful. Incredulous, I ask what the catch is. He says, nothing, just knowledge. I then ask how much it will cost. He says nothing, just the time it takes to transfer it and a promise to give it to two other people.

A British Guide to Pub Etiquette

It’s not just a guide to pub etiquette, but etiquette in general. Must read double-bag item.

Our first task in the preliminary research for this project was to find out how much tourists knew about pub etiquette. Not surprisingly, given the lack of information available, we found that what tourists didn’t know about pub etiquette would fill a book. This is the book.

Woody Allen’s “Bananas” comes to life in Turkmenistan

Turkmenistan’s President, Saparmurad Niyazov is number one with a bullet (pun possibly intended) on the “cuckoo regime hot 100”. I suppose if you had Having Iran and Afghanistan as neighbors, you would be feeling kinda edgy too.

He began by renaming the months of the year after himself, his mother, who died in an earthquake when Niyazov was eight, and a few of his favourite words (“Flag Month”, for example); and followed it up by decreeing that old age officially doesn’t begin until 85. This was possibly in relation to both his 62nd birthday – which he celebrated by dying his hair jet-black – and his rampant hypochondria. On Turkmenistan’s website, there is more about Niyazov’s recent doctor’s appointment than on melons and sulphur combined. “I cannot help but admire [the President’s] inexhaustible power of life!” his doctor, “famous surgeon” Hans Meisner, is quoted as saying. Apparently, millions of the poverty-stricken people of Turkmenistan “sighed with relief” at the news. “Let us remember it uninterruptedly!” the website urges. With little else but melons and sulphur to contemplate, this shouldn’t be hard.

Have to admit that I like the phrase “Let us remember it uninterruptedly!”. It reads like a fumbled English sub-title in a old HK movie. I’m waiting for the decree for underwear to be worn on the outside.

[via Psychoceramic Mailing List]