Thursday, January 18, 2007

Outer Limits is Real

We control the horizontal, the images you see…or something like that is the way the Outer Limits started, an annoying electronic assault on your ears prior to the first scene of the show. I thought it was all just Sci-fi entertainment until I read about “Franken-fungus” (linked via title bar) in a Houston Chronicle article written by John Otis this morning.

Some members of congress think the war on drugs isn’t working and they want to up the ante by spraying the illegal crops with “mycoherbicides, weed killers made from toxic, mold-like fungi that they believe could be used to eliminate illegal drug crops for good.” There is a chance that the toxic mycoherbicides could mutate and destroy the world’s food supply; but that is only a small possibility, something that only happens in a worst case scenario. ( Just a guess; but that probably should be micro herbicides )

The first thing I thought of after reading the article was a group of folks out in the middle of the ocean on a large cruise ship. One of the passengers is threatening to share his illegal drugs with all the other passengers from his cabin and locks himself in. Most of the passengers avoid going near that area of the ship; but a few are upset and demand that particular passenger be gotten rid of to make the ship safe for everyone.

These few narrow minded passengers devise a sinister plan which involves cutting a hole in the bottom of the ship directly beneath the locked cabin containing the threat. “If everything goes well that one cabin will flood and leave us in peace.” They ignore the protests of the other passengers, the ones who point out the dangers of cutting holes in the bottom of the ship and the idea is presented to the captain who wants to be rid of the threatening passenger as much as anyone. The captain gives his permission to sink that part of the ship; but only that part of the ship.

I suppose it would be too simple to leave the threat alone; just don’t buy illegal drugs. This isn’t much different than the advice of abstaining from sexual relations until marriage to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and the epidemic which is destroying lives in record numbers.

We now return control of your set until the next time…

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