Stephen Hawking Thinks Aliens Pose Threat to Humanity!

Physicist Stephen Hawking says in his new TV series “Into the Universe” that he believes humanity’s first contact with intelligent alien life will be a violent one:

If aliens ever visit us, I think the outcome would be much as when Christopher Columbus first landed in America, which didn’t turn out very well for the American Indians.

He also thinks it’s very likely that intelligent alien life is out there.   This is one idea for what he thinks they may be like:

I imagine they might exist in massive ships, having used up all the resources from their home planet. Such advanced aliens would perhaps become nomads, looking to conquer and colonise whatever planets they can reach.

Hawking’s series airs on The Discovery Channel.

UK Ghost and Demon Sightings at 25 Year High!

The Telegraph reports on a study by that found:

that despite being in time of accelerating technology, 21st century Britons have not turned their back on ghouls, boggarts, hell-hounds, witches, wizards, banshees and black magic curses, with a whopping 968 reports of demonic activity in the past 25 years.

The study also named Yorkshire as the center of demon and ghost sightings in the UK:

Yorkshire [is] the centre of ghostly goings-on demonic activity with 74 reports of demons, including Uncabus and Succubus (male and female demons that make sexual attacks on sleeping victims), instances of demonic possession and sightings of hell hounds, water demons and demons with repulsive forms such as ghouls and werewolves.

Sightings of demons in Yorkshire have included a hideous shadow-like hell-hound with no discernible facial features which collided with a car between Northallerton and Leeming Bar on the A684. A sea-going water demon has also been reported off Filey Bay in Yorkshire. Witnesses claimed to have seen a ghostly creature with a long neck, a vast serpentine body and glowing eyes.

Wonder if this will increase or decrease tourist interest in Yorkshire?

Paramount Still Wants to Make WORLD WAR Z!

Max Brooks  told Fearnet that Hollywood still wants to turn his best seller World War Z into a movie:

Paramount just renewed the option for World War Z, for half the time and twice the money, so that might signal interest. We still got our director, Marc Forster, who’s raring to go. Were all waiting on Matt Carnahan’s new draft, which should come in a month or so. Once that comes in then I think it probably will have to be tweaked and brought to the studio but we’re sort of zeroing in on that moment where Paramount has to say yes or no.

Brooks notes that the scale of the novel remains one of the stumbling blocks:

I think the size of the book, the scope of the book, makes it hard to produce, in that this thing’s gotta be done right or it just can’t be done. You can’t do a cheap and dirty World War Z. It’s a world war, and I think that makes studio executives nervous. I think it limits its options, so that’s running against it.

If you haven’t read World War Z, run, don’t walk to nearest book store and grab a copy.  Truly one of the best horror novels of the decade.