We Are Not Alone

No!  I Don't Mean You And Your Neighbour
I refer, of course, to Humanity At Large.  Homo Sapiens (you lot) have for too long basked in the self-assurance that you were unique in the cosmos.  In a couple of earlier posts I pointed out that the Drake Equation strongly implies this is not so, and with the increasing number of extra-solar planets that resemble Earth in size and composition, you can bet your leather-foot-coverings that you are, indeed, not alone.

Not a very big wager, though.

     However, "alone" will for the most part mean sharing the universe with bacteria.
     "Oh noes!" I can hear you quail.  "They are such boring conversationalists!  Nor can they play bridge!"
     Er - quite.  On the other hand, might there not be other alien races out there, as intelligent as Hom. Sap. and either just as advanced or even more so?

Perhaps ...

     In which case I had a corker of a tag-line for a film poster.  At the top is the legend We are not alone", in the middle is a picture of a sinisterly-forboding alien/spaceship/weasel, and at the bottom is another tag-line: "But we'll wish we were."  If you think this has merit I can work out a treatment for $95,000 - let me know.
     Unusually, this does have something to do with what comes next.  I do like to wrong-foot people occasionally.

"Strange Signals From Outer Space"
Yes, back to that Horizon programme again.  Hey, if I took notes, you're going to hear about it!
     First of all, allow me to go off at a bit of a tangent.  Meet Nikolai Kardashev, a Sinister scientist who dreamed up a scale that categorises potential alien civilisations out there.  Art?

Look at him - thirsting to overthrow the West!

     Nick rated your aliens in one of three classes, thus:  I - able to utilise all the energy falling upon it's home planet from it's parent star.
     II - able to utilise all the energy emitted from it's parent star
     III - able to utilise all the energy of it's home galaxy
     If you were going to write an alien invasion story about one of the Type III alien civilisations picking on earth, it would be very short: "The aliens win".

"Nice planet.  We'll bake it!"

     Now, let us skip lightly onto another very strange signal from space, one concerning the star KIC 8462852, more mellifluously known as "Tabby's Star", after the astronomer Tabetha Boyajian.  The signals that the Kepler Space Telescope from this star are very peculiar indeed, having huge variations in brightness at irregular intervals.  The most recent of these was only last week, when astronomers across the globe were salivating and pointing telemetry at KIC.
     The thing is, nobody can come up with a convincing explanation of what is causing these variations, and there are at least half-a-dozen attempts to do so.
     Number Seven theorises that an intelligent alien culture present in the system is constructing a Dyson Sphere around the star -

Hmmm

     Well, they're safely 1,280 light years away, so don't expect them to come calling in the near future.  Unless ... nah, "Star Trek: First Contact" can't possibly happen in real life.

Cromwell!
No, not the English soldier and politician, the tank.  I am continuing to ramble on about "Troop Leader" by Bill Bellamy, whom we last read about commanding a section of trucks.  Due to casualties amongst tank commanders, he then took over "A" Troop, who were driving Cromwell tanks.  Art?

The 'Winged Hussar' emblem means that T190003 was used by a Polish formation

     Here an aside.  British tanks are frequently compared unfavourably with German ones of the same period, and the Cromwell was indeed designed for speed and manouvrability rather than being a mobile metal fort.  It had a very nippy turn of speed indeed, 40 miles per hour, not bad for a 28 ton tank, and it was reliable.
     Back to Bill.  For his unit, tank-on-tank engagements were rare, and he never writes about being bothered when facing enemy tanks; the squadron had heavier metal to deal with anything big and unpleasant, not to mention RAF Typhoons firing anti-tank rockets.  His main concerns were enemy anti-tank guns, and infantry armed with Panzerfausts.

Cromwell going airborne

     At one point he and his troop bumped a heavily dug-in German position, and had to make a hasty run for it; they couldn't go backward so they went forwards, driving at speed over a 20 foot wide canal - emulating the photo above.  All three tanks made it, although the second tank's driver didn't release the governor as he took off.  The tank consequently stalled when it hit the other side, rearing up and ninety degrees and catapulting all the loose kit mounted on it to the ground.

That red jerboa insignia means this is 7th Armoured Division

     Well there we go, astronomy and tanks, two of the descriptions that come up on Facebook by default.  I feel I have vindicated myself.