Ufo

The X-47B, the Navy's new experimental drone, caused a stir in the Washington area when residents mistook the sleek, bat-winged robotic jet for a UFO. The drone was strapped to the back of a big rig en route this week to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. Along the way motorists snapped photos and took to Twitter to describe their astonishment. Others, according to a Fox station affiliate in Washington, were so perplexed they called police.

A screaming comes across the sky. Is it Superman? Thomas Pynchon ? Or just a meteor en route to Chelyabinsk, Russia, that somehow made a wrong turn and got lost over New Jersey? Well, if you really want to know, here's a tip: Don't ask the FBI. Whenever there is an upsurge of activity in the heavens, like last week when flashing lights were reported across the skies of the Northeast United States. Keen-eyed observers rush to the obvious conclusion: No, not that it is the logical result of a galaxy full of falling objects.

If you believe the government, 65 years ago today a UFO totally didn't crash at Roswell, N.M., and spawn a massive cover-up, because aliens totally aren't real. Maybe not. But a tantalizing controversy dates from way back then. On July 8, 1947,  the Dallas field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a teletype message saying that the Air Force had recovered “an object purporting to be a flying disc ... near Roswell, N.M. The disc is hexagonal in shape and was suspended from a ballon [sic]

NEW DELHI - Adding to the litany of issues besetting neighboring nuclear rivals China and India, ranging from border disputes to the Dalai Lama to trade deficits, is a new one: UFOs. "Over 100 UFOs seen along China border," said a headline in Tuesday's Times of India. Indian troops guarding the often-tense 2,100-mile border between the two Asian giants say the objects seen in recent months are yellow spheres that appear to lift off from the Chinese side, slowly traversing the sky for three to five hours before disappearing.

Jack Smith's column over the years has been a shining ray of reason in a country where most people seem incapable of recognizing superstitious or supernatural baloney when they see it. Jack should consider UFO lover John Norkin's letter, ("Jack Should Stick to Earthly Matters," Sept. 4) a badge of honor. I'm sure Jack will continue to show the UFO silliness for the garbage that it is--just as he has done for several decades. That's why we love him. JAMES R. GALLAGHER Huntington Beach

A poll has found that President Obama has a commanding lead over Mitt Romney on an issue that neither candidate has addressed with even a single policy speech: how they would handle an alien invasion. National Geographic Channel found that nearly 65% of Americans surveyed said they believed that Obama was better able to handle an alien onslaught than the Republican presidential candidate. And no, that's not the kind of alien from another country. It's the green kind, with fangs and tentacles and maybe some slime dripping from its beak-like jaws.

The Leonid meteor storm was a total bust! I was in the desert just outside the city of Palm Springs from 1:30 to 4 a.m. Tuesday expecting to see the light show of the century (up to 6,000 shooting stars in one hour). All I could see were a bright moon, three fluttering bats, one flying owl, a possible UFO and one wimpy shooting star. I am definitely canceling my star party in the year 2098, when the next Leonid meteor storm hits the Earth. Rick Schreiner Pasadena

Click here to download TV listings for the week of July 8 - 14 in PDF format TV listings for the week of July 8 - 14 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies     SERIES The Ricky Gervais Show: Appropriately enough for a season finale, Karl describes his most memorable moment from the past year. Also Stephen shares an embarrassing story about buying contraceptives and reads entries from Karl's diary (9 p.m. HBO)

I was nonplused and shocked at F. Kathleen Foley's mean-spirited, dismissive take on my play "Stolen Time" ("E.T.-Themed 'Time': Hilarity, Call Home," Oct. 8). Rarely is a play dismissed so cavalierly in The Times. Claiming the stage is set for "high hilarity," Foley apparently fails to recognize that "Stolen Time" is both a comedy and a drama, a fact that other reviewers were clear about. The play is not simply a "high-concept" romp at a UFO conference that appeals to "the lunatic fringe."

Like any sect of true believers, the promulgators of satanism paranoia deal in faith, not fact. Like the alternate universe of UFO buffs, the "defenders of the faith" feed not from truth but from tracts handed out by itinerate fundamentalist preachers and others who make a living reprinting baseless "facts" about this so-called widespread activity. It is obvious, in the wake of the McMartin debacle, that children can and do lie, particularly when prompted by well-meaning, wrong-headed adults.

LONDON - In a case that has dogged Anglo-American relations for a decade, Britain said Tuesday that it would not send a confessed computer hacker to the United States to face charges relating to a spectacular break-in of Pentagon databases and other sensitive networks around the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. Home Secretary Theresa May also said that the British government, Washington's closest ally, would reexamine its controversial fast-track extradition treaty with the U.S. to see how some suspects might be kept here in Britain for trial rather than shipped across the Atlantic.

Click here to download TV listings for the week of July 8 - 14 in PDF format TV listings for the week of July 8 - 14 in PDF format are also available here This week's TV Movies     SERIES The Ricky Gervais Show: Appropriately enough for a season finale, Karl describes his most memorable moment from the past year. Also Stephen shares an embarrassing story about buying contraceptives and reads entries from Karl's diary (9 p.m. HBO)

If you believe the government, 65 years ago today a UFO totally didn't crash at Roswell, N.M., and spawn a massive cover-up, because aliens totally aren't real. Maybe not. But a tantalizing controversy dates from way back then. On July 8, 1947,  the Dallas field office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a teletype message saying that the Air Force had recovered “an object purporting to be a flying disc ... near Roswell, N.M. The disc is hexagonal in shape and was suspended from a ballon [sic]

A poll has found that President Obama has a commanding lead over Mitt Romney on an issue that neither candidate has addressed with even a single policy speech: how they would handle an alien invasion. National Geographic Channel found that nearly 65% of Americans surveyed said they believed that Obama was better able to handle an alien onslaught than the Republican presidential candidate. And no, that's not the kind of alien from another country. It's the green kind, with fangs and tentacles and maybe some slime dripping from its beak-like jaws.

The X-47B, the Navy's new experimental drone, caused a stir in the Washington area when residents mistook the sleek, bat-winged robotic jet for a UFO. The drone was strapped to the back of a big rig en route this week to Naval Air Station Patuxent River in southern Maryland from Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert. Along the way motorists snapped photos and took to Twitter to describe their astonishment. Others, according to a Fox station affiliate in Washington, were so perplexed they called police.

Locals didn't find the ads, posted at the laundromat or running in the SuperSaver, to be strange at all. A number of people, in fact, reached out to Brian Wallenstein the "researcher looking to gather stories and information" for a book on Bigfoot and UFO sightings. A woman named Rudi emailed to report that she'd seen a bright disc hovering above Mt. Shasta. She attached a photo from a ski resort snow cam that showed a luminous speck. (Credible, Wallenstein thought.) A man named Larry recounted his own research — including telepathic communication with "them" — conducted in preparation for the day extraterrestrials would reveal themselves to earthlings.

You really ought to go see Rebecca's. It's at 2025 Pacific Ave. in Veni(213) 306-6266)--and it doesn't look like any restaurant you've ever seen before. Walk through the door and you enter a mad world where crocodiles crawl through the air, an octopus exercises his tentacles as he hangs from the ceiling and a private dining room (with walls made of onyx) hovers over the bar like a UFO coming in for a landing.

Susan Dewan's review of "Abduction" by John Mack accepts the notions that so-called "UFO abductees" bring back wisdom from kindly aliens, concerned for Earth's welfare. She says this near-universal message is "much more important than the endless debate over whether UFOs are real. . . ." Alas, no "abductee" has ever announced any news that was simultaneously true and unambiguous, and that Earthly science did not already know. Shouldn't helpful aliens tell us about dangers that aren't already subject to Angst in our own, human media?

It's the first rule of thumb for any aspiring UFO investigator: Keep an open mind. "We all want to believe, we all want to believe bad," said David MacDonald, a certified investigator with the Mutual UFO Network. "But you've got to look at the evidence. You've got to come at this like a scientific researcher. " On Friday, MacDonald and dozens of like-minded individuals filled an Irvine hotel conference room to discuss the finer points of investigating the inexplicable — or at least that which cannot be explained in terrestrial terms.

ROSWELL, N.M. UFO Festival When, where: Friday-July 4, various venues Highlights: Visit the alleged UFO crash site and take in alien-themed attractions, conspiracy-oriented lectures, a costume contest (including one for pets), a wine festival, a battle of the bands, a light parade and fireworks. Cost: Free Info: http://www.ufofestivalroswell.com SQUAW VALLEY, CALIF. Ultimate Independence Day Weekend When, where: Saturday-July 4, throughout the resort Highlights: Skiing in July?