When Sky Lights Scramble A Wired Brain

UFO? What I saw.

I am no fan of Star Trek and space capers so im not one quick to subscribe to stories of UFOs and alien abduction. Indeed much of it I look at as the crazy ramblings of drunkards and attention seekers, eager to find their way into those late night news slots after the important events have been covered and they're looking for light entertainment. Of course this doesn't necessarily mean I discard tales of "little green men" completely. In fact I honestly-to-my-bones don't believe we are alone in this universe, of course I don't, afterall the universe is a pretty vast place and there must be SOMETHING else out there, even its just different coloured grass. These has to be life elsewhere.
But I don't go around (like some do) believing that every strange light the the nighttime sky is down to E.T. Remember, the military have some pretty neat looking pieces of flying kit which can seem very alien to the civilian eye. Especially a civilian brought up on Star Wars and Dr Who. Imagination is a powerful thing, with no limit to the amount of weird images that can be conjured up. When the sun goes down, a science fiction fan can easily transform a Chinook helicopter into the Millenium Falcon. My minds eye is not as easily fooled.
However on the evening of November 17th, 2009 at around 11pm, I DID witness something strange in the sky. Admittedly one might put it down to the fact I had been at the scotch but I was not falling down drunk and seeing things. Also my wife was at my side and she rarely drinks. No this was something....different. If it convinced me it must have been because even when merry on whisky im not one to be persuaded by unicorns and yetis. As we both stood shocked, I couldn't quite orchestrate my thoughts. There was no fear (probably the booze helped there) and no instant panic. Just silence as we watched this craft hover for around two or three minutes. It was made all the more intense because we live on a hill in a very rural area so the only light came from this glassy looking beast, there are no other house lights, streetlights or traffic to catch and maybe confuse the eye.
Other people who have witnessed UFOs have reported hearing low humming sounds but there was no sound to this curious sight on a usually very uneventful Carmarthenshire hillside.
As for colours, I have always imagined UFOs to be neon green and red thanks to a spinning toy I had as a boy but as you can see in my shabbily drawn sketch (made on my computers painting programme) this one was mainly orange and yellow with streaks of light blue. The orange was most vivid and is most 'alive' im my mind when I picture it.
It disappeared as quickly as it arrived and left me, the cynic supreme, with a new appreciation of just how wild and wonderful this life, this universe is.

Not Race, Space

Space for rent?

On Twitter earlier I read a few posts where people are admitting they are genuinely frightened about the fact that next year up to 250,000 Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants could flood into Britain after access restrictions are lifted. Is the way we intend to go forward? Making our citizens fearful of the future that lies ahead?
I am not a racist, and 9/10 times you hear someone say this, you can almost guarantee that the next words to fall from their lips will be racist but not so today if you'll hear me out. In the 1990s I was part of the "End Racism: Live In A Colourful World" campaign, nd recently I stood up to racist bullies who were being horrid to my partners work colleague (her workmate is Filipino.)
Im as far from racist as the bottom of the ocean is to outer space but then immigration is not about race, its about space. Great Britain is a small island, an island that if we are not careful will have people spilling off the edge of our coasts. Where are all these homes going to go? Are we going to build skyscraper monstrosities and have them looming over the streets like giant bars casting depressing shadows? Our green and pleasant lands will have to make way for apartment blocks I suppose and wildlife be damned.
I fear we are reaching a sad chapter in British history, miserable time created not by people fearful of a foreign race (although one can't deny this is happening in some places) but more by the simple fact that islands have limits. It is impossible to try and stretch earth that it is not there. The only way to build would be up and then we will end up looking like 2000AD's Mega City One. (And without the swift, efficient law and order that exists in that fictional city.)
Im all for folk coming to the UK to seek a better life than the one that has been offered in their own homeland, and I applaud the ones who go on to find work here and contribute to society like the rest of us (shirkers aside of course.) But our lands can only offer so much, it is folly to believe we can provide for everyone. Common sense and a quick glance at Great Britain on a map ought to tell us this.

Felix's Space Jump

The whole world must have watched Felix Baumgartner skydive from the edge of space yesterday evening. You read that right: a skydive
FROM THE EDGE OF SPACE.
As around 10 million huddled around a groaning YouTube and millions more tuned in via the more traditional television, an extremely brave Austrian was using a parachute to fall FROM THE EDGE OF FLIPPING SPACE! (And yes only capital letters will do it justice.) It simply does not get more awesome than this and when the door of Felix's capsule opened to reveal the earth below, I felt as giddy as a widow. When he stood ready to plummet my heart fairly felt like it was about to burst from my chest. God only knows what Felix's heart must have been doing.
This was daredevil'ing and extreme sport done to the absolute ETREME (yup there's those capitals again.)
Of course certain parts of the Internet were quiet but their silence spoke volumes, mainly about their envy but let's not dwell on those fools.
Well done Felix and congrats on having nerves forged from the finest steel. I usually find anything to do with space, dreadfully dull (oceans interest me more I'm afraid) but this plucky Austrian even managed to get me on the edge of my seat while he was on the (yes it's coming again) EDGE IF RUDDY SPACE! Amazing. Chalk another one for the history books. Da iawn.