Alien Life: We Come In Peace?

“If aliens visit us, the outcome would be much as when Columbus landed in America, which didn’t turn out well for the Native Americans”.

British weapon, the Taranis and the sketch of sighted alien craft

Those are the wise words of Stephen Hawking commenting on how an alien discovery could bring more danger than good. And let’s face it, he has a point – after all, if we were to find an alien species with higher level of intelligence and understanding than us, how would parties on both sides react?

It seems like every other day there is another rover being sent to some distant planet on the edge of our solar system, looking for signs of life. More telescopes pointing towards the skies and everything from written messages to radio waves all in a desperate attempt to find life.

Add to that, more people looking to the skies with little more than the naked eye – claiming to have seen alien spaceships and UFO’s.

People today are obsessed with such a possibility and how it will change our understanding of science and the universe. More films are being released with various different scenarios revolving around the idea of discovering alien life and how us and them would react.

Ideas of invasion, death on a large scale and manipulation may all sound completely ludicrous and similar to that we may expect from a feature film. But nobody knows exactly what kind of danger lies within our universe and what we could potentially be dealing with.

On a more positive note we would come together as a race, as Ronald Reagan once stated: “I occasionally think how quickly we would set aside our difference if we faced some alien threat from the other side.”

Nick Pope, a former British Ministry of Defence UFO expert claims aliens have been around us for some time and can come in all shapes and sizes.

Possibly one of the most significant recorded alien sightings was in Rendlesham Forest in Suffolk, United Kingdom – not far from where I am currently based – where an alien space craft apparently landed between two defence bases.

Many people tried to cover up this case as much as they could, but what the people working at the defense base claimed to see is frightening to hear – especially when it seems Britain’s latest fighter craft – the Taranis – looks similar to that of the UFO claimed to have been seen near Rendlesham Forest.

It is also worth noting what some would call excessive defense systems in place during the London 2012 Olympic games, where missiles were placed on top of a number of blocks of flats across the city.

Is or was Britain preparing for an alien invasion? And if so, are they aware of certain alien activity across the planet that the rest of us are unaware of? Or is the Taranis just the latest unique addition to modern warfare?

As Nick Pope said in a recent interview regarding skeptics of the idea of alien contact: “The believers only have to be right once.”

Let’s just hope no one ever has to report on an alien takeover of planet earth.

Should we be taking a step back?

Sources:

The truth is out there… UFO expert Nick Pope talks about aliens; The Independent
Britain Has Alien-War Weapons, Says Former Government Adviser; Truth Alliance Network

Daniel Mayes Is A Recent Journalism Graduate With An Upper-Second. He Has Experience Working At BBC World Service, Sky News Online And Has Worked On Projects In Europe And Africa.  

You can read more articles from Daniel at: danmayes.wordpress.com

Are We Heading Towards A Big Brother World?

More and more CCTV cameras are popping up all around the world in any place from outside banking institutions to parks.

Photo from Anders Sandberg’s flickr

Everywhere you go, you seem to be watched at some point or another – in fact in the U.K you can be watched up to 300 times a day.

Is the Big Brother fantasy from the book “Nineteen Eighty Four” becoming a reality? Slowly but surely is probably the answer.

Especially so in the United Kingdom, which is the most watched nation on earth – with a reported one camera to every 14 people as of 2008 (a total of 4,2 million). Other nations around the world are extending their use of CCTV.

On the one hand – if anything does ever happen to you in the street, it will all be caught on camera and thus creates the idea of safety through a sense of security.

The argument is why do we need so many cameras in our cities and towns?

Just imagine, for one moment, we lived in a Big Brother world – where every action was watched and monitored. Would you be happy with this lifestyle?

Surely it’s an invasion of privacy to have so much CCTV surveillance following us wherever we go, as well as a violation of data protection.

It creates the feeling that we are being watched for no real reason other than so people higher up can keep an eye on us.

According to a YouGov poll, the majority of people are in full support of CCTV cameras – thinking they will keep us secure and safe. But would you trade an ounce of liberty for a lifetime of high level security?

The worrying factor is that more CCTV cameras will appear, as if there aren’t enough already. More so worrying is that the next step is for these cameras to feature high-powered microphones to monitor your conversations.

Whilst I can not deny that crime solving could be made a lot easier, I am in the majority when I say I have never broken the law and had no intention of doing so. I feel like my privacy is being severely invaded.

Do you think CCTV is a good thing or do you feel your privacy is being severely invaded?

What If.. The Internet had an “Off” Switch

More and more people around the world are allowing the forever-developing World Wide Web to make their lives that little bit easier.

Photo from modernmilkblog.blogspot.com

Business, social networking and communication are being advanced in what can only be described as the technological age that we are currently living in.

What would you do, however, if the internet as we know it was completely switched off via a single switch without any warning?

Fortunately, Sir Tim Berners-Lee has stated that there is no such thing as a single “Off” Switch because the world is decentralised and split up into hundreds of countries, there is no central “Off Switch”.

The only way it could be switched off is if the governments of the world come together and agree to change it from a decentralised system to a centralised one.

But what if everything were to revert to the way it was prior to 1990?

Photo from viralblog.com

A number of businesses relying entirely or partially on the internet would be severely damaged.

Also all people who make a living through pod-casting, hyperlocal news and those selling products on the internet would all consequently lose their jobs.

Photo from turbo.fortytwotimes.com

With nearly one billion users connecting with friends and family nearby or abroad, the death of Facebook would probably result in the majority of people just not trying to stay in touch any more.

If the internet has made people lazy enough to stay at home to communicate with friends rather than meet in person; will people really put in the extra effort?

Photo from mamamia.com.au

Yep, you would probably regain a large portion of your brain capacity to resolve difficult problems; which would previously have been looked up on the internet.

People would have to rely on books again and reading more has frequently been linked with increased intelligence.

Photo from thedrum.com

The newspaper industry has been taking a nosedive in sales ever since the introduction of the internet. With no more “instant” news through websites and social media such as Twitter; the flow of information will travel much slower.

Does this mean more people would revert to reading newspapers for information? As well as more traditional methods of news gathering? More than likely.

Photo from net-security.org

Without the internet, corporations and government will find it much more difficult to publish information to the public – therefore encouraging the emergence of more Quangos.

Quangos are not affiliated to the government, yet rely on government funding and have been heavily criticised for a true lack or transparency.

Photo from richardtimothy.com

As opposed to working from home or teleworking. More and more companies have turned to outsourcing, resulting in a lot of money being saved – but without the internet this could prove difficult.

This will result in many people hopping into their cars and driving to work before…

Photo from greenasathistle.com

Although GPS systems would still operate, but this would prove difficult without a constant flow of internet-based updates.

The loss of Google Maps and other map based technology on the internet would result in people being unable to print off a direct list of instructions and ultimately getting lost. And finally…

Photo from topdrawersoccer.com

And you wouldn’t be reading this post. Nor would you be reading any of my other posts or the posts of thousands of other bloggers across the globe.

Just a concept I know, our lives in many respects would probably benefit socially and personally but at the same time be ridden with economic decline in a world without internet.

Would the world be better without internet?

Daniel Mayes is a recent Journalism graduate with an upper-second. He has experience working at BBC World Service, Sky News Online and has worked on projects in Europe and Africa.

R.I.P Fresh Home Cooking

Gone are the days of heading to the supermarket to buy a vast array of vegetables, meat and other ingredients for tonight’s dinner.

Photo from denniswyman.com

Gone are the days when the mother would spend the best part of the day cooking a delicious meal for the whole family.

Gone are the days of fresh and in season produce being put together to create something truly delicious.

Instead today we are posed with a cardboard box, or a plastic pot or air tight package ready to get thrown into a box and ready to eat in two minutes. The lazy microwave age is upon us.

Everyday dishes such as spaghetti bolognese, shepherd’s pie, chicken curry and a wide selection of pastas, burgers and even pancakes can all now be cooked in the microwave. Who could resist? When the recommended retail price for a Birdseye Spaghetti Bolognese microwave meal costs as little as £1 (source: mysupermarket.co.uk).

However, since being at university, I’ve learnt the importance of fresh cooking and that buying in mass and cooking for everyone can actually work out rather cheap. Granted, it may cost slightly more than the Birdseye tat above, but you’ll know exactly what is going into it and is guaranteed to taste much better.

God knows what goes into a microwave meal, but it’s more than likely to consist of a variety of preservatives, colourings, artificial flavourings and badly sourced produce.

In a Birdseye Spaghetti Bolognese meal, the sauce consists of the following: Water, Beef 12%, Tomatoes, Onion, Tomato Purée, Mushrooms, Red Wine, Carrots, Celery, Maize Starch, Sugar, Reduced Sodium Salt (Potassium Chloride, Sodium Chloride), Garlic, Yeast Extract, Oregano, Parsley, Basil, Pepper.

Although the majority of ingredients are fresh here – which is certainly an exception – there is only 12% beef and a vast amount of water. In comparison, a packet of fresh beef mince, an onion, a carrot, tomato purée, Worcester sauce, a tin of chopped tomatoes and a packet of spaghetti spaghetti – when split four ways – provides a nutritious meal for four at a fair price.

Jamie Oliver, who forever emphasises healthy eating, has recently released the book 30 Minute Meals – proving how easy it is to cook and prepare a fresh three course meal for a family in very little time.

Photo from Jamie Oliver

Microwave meals don’t have to be the only option on a busy day; nor do they have to act as a cheaper alternative – as many students would prove.

Do you think the the culture of microwaves and TV dinners has gone too far? Or are fast meals built into our busy lifestyles?

Daniel Mayes is a recent Journalism graduate with an upper-second. He has experience working at BBC World Service, Sky News Online and has worked on projects in Europe and Africa.