Out Of This World

In October 1959, the television series, The Twilight Zone premiered. Produced and written by Rod Serling, the program featured well-written science fiction, paranormal, futuristic and Kafkaesque-like stories, which usually had a surprise ending with a moral attached.

I hadn’t thought of the show for a long time, until I read that American Airlines had to cancel 44 Boeing-757 flights, because seats on their planes came unbolted, and suddenly developed minds of their own. Passengers were treated to a wild ride---the only free activity on the airplane.

My favorite show on The Twilight Zone was “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet.” The actor, William Shatner was the only passenger on an airplane who saw a gremlin out of his window. The creature was slowly destroying the wing of the plane. Whenever Shatner tried to get others to see the gremlin, the dang thing ducked out of view. Shatner was finally taken off the plane in a straight jacket, but at the very end of the show, someone did notice the damaged wing.

People might question my sanity, if I told them that my seat arrived at my destination before I did. Often the truth is stranger than fiction. I have heard flight attendants say, “Be careful opening up overhead compartments, because luggage can shift in flight,” but I have never heard a flight attendant say, ”Be careful that your seat doesn’t run over somebody before we land.”

I recently read a book about the brilliant scientist, Galileo. Some credit him as “The Father of modern science.” He supported the Copernican theory that the earth revolves around the sun---not that the sun circles around the earth. For this and other scientific discoveries, the Roman Inquisition (1615) branded him a heretic.

One of the paragraphs in the U.S. Constitution begins with the words, “To promote the Progress of Science—.” However, once again, we seem to be entering the Twilight Zone. Some of the elected officials sitting on the Congressional Committee of Science, Space and Technology would have been very good at the Inquisition.

Paul Broun, a congressman from Georgia said that, “embryology, the big bang theory and evolution are lies straight from Hell.” I wonder if he can dial direct.

Representative Ralph Hall from Texas voted to cut funds for scientific research. He said, “I think we should listen to the scientists, but not do anything,” which he is very good at doing.

Dana Rohrabacher, a congressman from California said that, “Before the introduction of cattle, millions and millions of buffalo inhabited the Great Plains, and global warming came from buffalo flatulence.” He also said that before that, past swings in climate came from dinosaur flatulence. Mr. Rohrabacher is big on hot air and gave a really long speech about the subject.

The fourth member of note on the Science Committee is Representative Todd Aiken of the, “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body can shut the whole thing down,” branch of scientific thoughtlessness.

If Rod Serling were still around, he’d explain it this way:

“There is a fifth dimension, beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”

Oh, for the good old days when the earth was flat!

Esther Blumenfeld (“Infinity is still beyond me.” What’s So Funny About Science? by Sidney Harris)