Above: 3D image of Martian rock formations, from Road to Endeavor blog. (via William Gibson, Paul McAuley)

Are UFOs nuts-and-bolts spacecraft flown by extraterrestrials who traveled a long way (very long) across space to observe us? Repeatedly? For millennia? Er, maybe. But probably not. (For more on that, see BB contributor and heretical UFO researcher Jacques Vallée's 1990 paper "Five Arguments Against the Extraterrestrial Origin of Unidentified Flying Objects," available as a PDF here.) Fortean Times does a quick survey of more than two dozen other theories of the origin of UFOs, some quite far out and others that even a die-hard skeptic could love. Here are a few:

AWAKENINGS
At a point close to sleep, visual and auditory hallucinations are common, according to psychological studies. False awakenings, where a dream that includes a UFO encounter is misperceived as a waking memory, are also known. Some cases involving alien contact and bright lights seen outside bedroom windows have been successfully proven to fit these vivid experiences to which everybody is prone.

IFOs
After investigation, analysts agree that between 90 and 95 per cent of all UFO sightings prove to be Identified Flying Objects. Over 300 different things have been misperceived as UFOs - including a bin bag, a shaggy dog and a telegraph pole. The Null Hypotheses proposes that all of the remaining unsolved cases would become IFOs given enough study and sufficient evidence. However, statistical analysis (like that conducted by the Battelle Institute and French aerospace researchers GEPAN) has indicated differences between solved and unsolved cases that challenge this proposal.

KOOKS
After eliminating other options, a die-hard sceptic might offer the premise that 'kooks' see UFOs because of an innate desire to promote the mystical within their lives. They do so by introducing magic to mundane events so as to elevate their status amongst peers. No significant evidence has been published that more than a few witnesses are so motivated and most psychological profiles of UFO witnesses suggest they are stable individuals who sincerely believe that they have seen something odd.

LENTICULAR CLOUDS
Unusual cloud formations have been proven to create some UFO sightings. Lenticular clouds with their disc or cigar structure can be especially impressive, and though rare in Britain they can form anywhere - one encounter occurred in Rochdale. Rarer cloud types such as noctilucent (which reflect the sun from below the horizon when the local area is in darkness) have also provided plenty of reports.

MULTIVERSE
Physicists have attempted to explain some of the latest problems of cosmology by developing a theory of multiple interlocking universes. This proposes a series of universes that can be linked via subspace but where our limited perception restricts awareness of all but our own. Some universes could be closely aligned to ours and others would have evolved very differently. Rather than aliens coming to Earth from another planet, more advanced humans from a parallel universe might have found a way to cross the divide, with their trans­ient presence in our own universe causing UFOs.

Eric Steuer, best known for his work with Creative Commons and for his music project Meanest Man Contest, made a guest mixtape for the awesome LA-based country music blog "When You Awake." The playlist is a blend of country and western classics covered in other languages. It is verifiably awesome.

Guest Mixtape: Other Countries [When You Awake]

Above, a YouTube smush-up of one of the tunes Eric selected: Inger Lise Rypdal belting out "Fru Johnsen" (1968), a Norwegian cover of "Harper Valley PTA." (Wikipedia, IMDB, DVD) YouTube uploader Anewargentina paired the song with film footage from the movie of the same name (which spawned a TV sitcom). How do you say yee-haw in Norwegian?

Justin Van Genderen designed a sharp series of minimalist posters representing various locations in the Star Wars galaxy. Terrific work! (via Laughing Squid)

In my latest Guardian column, "Why did Ofcom back down over DRM at the BBC?" I look at how lamentably credulous both the BBC and its UK regulator, Ofcom, have been in accepting US media' giants threats to boycott the Beeb if it doesn't add digital rights management to its broadcasts. The BBC is publicly funded, and it is supposed to be acting in the public interest: but crippling British TV sets in response for demands from offshore media barons is no way to do this -- and the threats the studios have made are wildly improbable. When the content companies lost their bid to add DRM to American TV, they made exactly the same threats, and then promptly caved and went on allowing their material to be broadcast without any technical restrictions.

How they rattled their sabers and promised a boycott of HD that would destroy America's chances for an analogue switchoff. For example, the MPAA's CTO, Fritz Attaway, said that "high-value content will migrate away" from telly without DRM.

Viacom added: "[i]f a broadcast flag is not implemented and enforced by Summer 2003, Viacom's CBS Television Network will not provide any programming in high definition for the 2003-2004 television season."

One by one, the big entertainment companies - and sporting giants like the baseball and American football leagues - promised that without the Broadcast Flag, they would take their balls and go home.

So what happened? Did they make good on their threats? Did they go to their shareholders and explain that the reason they weren't broadcasting anything this year is because the government wouldn't let them control TVs?

No. They broadcast. They continue to broadcast today, with no DRM.

They were full of it. They did not make good on their threats. They didn't boycott.

They caved.

This lovely gray Enter key-shaped doormat is made of recycled crumbed rubber.

Link

The US Trade Representative -- who has been negotiating the secret Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement without input from the American people or Congress -- is seeking public submissions on how to conduct US foreign copyright policy. This means that Americans can file comments with the USTR asking for ACTA to be made public

Under the Special 301 process the U.S.T.R. seeks input from U.S. copyright, trademark, and patent owners about whether policies and practices in foreign countries deny them adequate IP protection. The process has generally been used by IP holders to complain not only about lax enforcement in other countries, but also about limitations and exceptions in their laws that are beneficial to libraries, to education, to innovation, and to the public interest generally. The ability to comment in the Special 301 process is not limited to IP owners only. Any member of the public is free to file comments. If you believe in the importance of balanced copyright policies, file comments with the USTR and make your voice heard.

Comments can be filed electronically via http://www.regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2010-0003. You have to include the term "2010 Special 301 Review" in the "Type Comment and Upload File" field. More information about the Special 301 process is available here. Deadline for filing is February 16 by 5 p.m.

Given my nerd-love for all things literal, I am quite taken by this silver Anatomical Heart Locket spotted on Etsy.

It opens up to reveal the four chambers of the heart, and is held shut by the trunk of the aorta. And yes, the chain is attached via the superior vena cava and the left pulmonary vein.

No detail has gone ignored... (save actual blood).

Thanks Coolhunting!

A long-lost Penn and Teller special, "Penn & Teller's Invisible Thread," has resurfaced on YouTube in four parts. Get it while you can! P&T are hustling magicians who find themselves embroiled in a shadowy mystery when the men in black call them in for a consultation. There's magic Marx-Bros-esque shenanigans, grifter humor, and bad eighties hair. It's some vintage funny conspiracy theory stuff -- look for guest appearances from James Randi, Whodini, and Andy Warhol! Man, I want this on DVD.

Penn & Teller's Invisible Thread (Thanks, Tom!)

I know nothing about Bitter Sisters' cocktail mixes -- I don't drink hardly at all (puts me straight to sleep) and for all I know, this stuff tastes like gasoline. But the new packaging, designed by Shane Crawford, tickles my desiderata bone. Sure is purdy.

Bitter Sisters Cocktail Mixers

I didn't watch AMC's remake of The Prisoner when it aired last November, but I was delighted to see that all 17 episodes of the original 1967-1968 British series are still viewable in full for free on the AMC site. If JG Ballard wrote a TV series, I'd imagine it would have been something like The Prisoner. For those who aren't hip to it yet, the show is a trippy psychological drama about a former spy held captive in a mysterious resort-like prison. The Prisoner video player (AMC, apologies if non-US viewers are shut out)