News You Can Use to Take a Vacation Day: "Alien Spaceships to Attack Earth in November 2012"

Sometimes you just have to read the Weekly World News which reports ALIEN SPACESHIPS TO ATTACK EARTH IN NOVEMBER 2012!:

Beginning in August of 2012 the U.N. will begin preparing citizens of the world for the second attack of the three Gootan spaceships and a subsequent alien attack, which they predict will be “a large-scale assault.”

Thank goodness for the U.N., by golly.

I wonder, though, exactly how one prepares for the attack of the Gootan spaceships?

Do you think the U.N. will do its usual bang up job of preparation? Are the Security Council resolutions drafted forbidding the attack? Oh, I hope so.

Oh, perhaps, like me, you missed the first attack, I guess I was busy or something.

Apparently, according to WNN, there are Gootans already among us.

Shock and horrors.

I guess now you can say you have been warned.


Well, if not an alien attack, something else important is scheduled to happen in November 2012.

Practicing Retirement

First, let me thank all of you for visiting EagleSpeak!

Over on the "About EagleSpeak" section, I describe myself as being a "mostly retired."

The past few days I have been working more on the "retired" than the "mostly."

I'm already finding myself doing more reading and doing more research down those rabbit trails I never had time to explore before.

I am doing volunteer work for the Red Cross. You meet some nice people in the volunteer world with interesting life stories.

This blog will continue - perhaps with the long-promised return of "Sunday Ship History" and with some field research. After a couple of days off from blogging, my "need to blog" sense (akin to "Spidey-sense") still begins to ping.

There is this 1968 MGB sitting in my garage that belongs to my younger son. My work on it to date has been sporadic. It is time to work to get it ready for his college graduation next Spring. Maybe if it turns out well, I can get one of my own.

Our old house needs work. Lots of work. Time to get to it.

If the right hugely paying gig pops up, well, I might just, under the right conditions, go back to the "mostly." By the same token, if I win the great big lottery, there will be no "mostly" involved.

So, no great revelations here, just wanted to say thanks for dropping by.

Sea Mysteries: Something on the Ocean Floor . . .

Side scan sonar images show - what, exactly? From CNN Shipwreck hunters stumble across mysterious find:

Using side-scan sonar, the team found a 60-meter diameter cylinder-shaped object, with a rigid tail 400 meters long.

Looks like some sort of rock formation to me, but there are other theories.

Somali Pirates: Trained by Pakistan to fight India?

The Times of India has this odd report: India finds proof of Pakistan training Somali pirates:

The evidence was obtained from nine foreign nationals caught from a hijacked Iranian vessel - MV Nafis-1, by the Indian Navy off Mumbai on August 14.

The vessel was brought to Porbandar on August 15 and those arrested - five Yemenis, two Tanzanians, one Kenyan and one Somali national - were handed over to Porbandar police.

Gujarat customs officials had seized a large quantity of food items from the vessel and also found rice packets and juice pouches bearing names of Pakistani companies. Gujarat customs officials also recovered two AK-47s, a pistol and a cache of foreign currency including $86,000 and 1,500 Saudi Riyal.

Officials seized bags full of tea leaves, which customs officials believe, were chewed by the pirates to stay awake.

"The guns have no label but the food items are packed and manufactured in Pakistan. Smugglers are notgenerally found carrying such a large amount of foreign currency," said a senior customs official.

Hmm. Lots of questions here. Is this real? True "Somali pirates"? Or Pakistani contracted foreign agents using a cover of being "Somali pirates" to carry out some nefarious scheme against India? And, does Iran have a role in this or was the MV Nafis-1 really hijacked?

Or what?

Just to fill in a little background, read this report on the Indian Navy capture of the MV Nafis-1 back in mid-August:

The Indian Navy today foiled a piracy attack after it rescued merchant vessel MV Nafis-1, approximately 170 nautical miles west of Mumbai.

The Iranian-flagged vessel had been located by the Navy's Maritime Reconnaissance aircraft on August 12, which thereafter kept it under continuous surveillance.

INS Mysore, a guided missile destroyer, was dispatched to intercept the vessel with two helicopters as well as 24 of the Navy's elite Marine Commandos (MARCOS). The MARCOS carried out a thorough investigation and found two AK-47 rifles and a pistol concealed in an empty fuel tank.

MV Nafis-1 had reportedly sailed from Chah Bahar in Iran to an undisclosed location in July.

Intelligence received by the Indian Navy had indicated that the vessel could have been employed for smuggling or other nefarious activities. Inputs suggest that the vessel was likely to be carrying arms and ammunition, as well as other contraband.

I'm sure this all makes sense. Two AK-47s and a pistol makes for a lightly armed invasion force, though.