Twilight Zone: To Serve Man
Tim Bruening
force fields) and hunger (with new fertilizers). A Canamite is hooked
to a lie detector (calibrated by having the Canamite tell lies and
truths) and says that when hunger and war are ended on Earth, that will
be the Canamites' reward. Indeed, within a year, there is no more war,
hunger, or poverty, and many people have gone to the Canamite homeworld
on their flying saucers.
Meanwhile, a Canamite leaves a book behind. The male lead translates
the title as "To Serve Man", which reassures him as to the aliens'
motives. However, he can't translate the contents of the book. The
Canamites' capital letters are very different from their lower case
letters. The male lead decides to apply to go to the Canamite
homeworld. Meanwhile, his secretary the female lead decides to have
another go at that book. Just before the male lead boards, the female
lead runs up and yells at him not to board because the book is a cook
book! The Canamites them force him onto their ship, which takes off. I
don't know what became of the female lead, or if she was able to tell
anyone else about the Canamite cook book.
While on the ship, the male lead starves himself and smokes lots of
cigarettes. I can understand him starving himself, but not the
cigarettes. Does he think that the Canamites won't want to eat people
whose lungs are full of tobacco tar?
If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
would you do?
rhino
"Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
still smoked. In fact, I believe the majority of adults smoked. There had
been few if any studies showing the dangers of smoking. The major sponsors
of many programs were tobacco companies. So, naturally, many characters
smoked and the sight of someone smoking was not particularly rare.
I think there were some regulations about depicting smoking though: I
vaguely remember that there was at least a voluntary agreement that
characters who were thought to be role models for kids should not smoke for
fear of inspiring the kids to smoke.
But, by and large, the idea of smoking being unhealthy had really not taken
hold. In fact, some tobacco companies were advertising their particular
cigarettes with remarks like "most doctors recommend XYZ brand as being the
healthiest". Hard to believe these days but that's how it was....
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
Fight the aliens, I certainly wouldn't line up to be slaughtered for their
dinner!
--
Rhino
John
"rhino" <No.offline.c...@anonymous.com> wrote in message
news:f6i1ud$jaf$1...@news.datemas.de...
With respect to the specific story, it was probably just to enable him to
help him lose weight.
Mike Stone
"Tim Bruening"
<tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in
message
news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us..
.
>
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that
they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
Offer them pigs or beef cattle instead.
As JWCJr noted, it takes about ten years to
grow a hundred pounds of human meat, even
using high quality feed. Pigs and cattle
grow much faster, so are more economical.
--
Mike Stone - Peterborough, England
My father rode a camel.
I drive a Rolls-Royce.
My son flies a jet aircraft.
My grandson will ride a camel.
Saudi Arabian proverb.
Tim Bruening
Mike Stone wrote:
> "Tim Bruening"
> <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in
> message
> news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us..
> .
> >
> > If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that
> they like to eat people, what
> > would you do?
>
> Offer them pigs or beef cattle instead.
>
> As JWCJr noted, it takes about ten years to
> grow a hundred pounds of human meat, even
> using high quality feed. Pigs and cattle
> grow much faster, so are more economical.
Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human race
can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite consumption of
humans.
Steven L.
> While on the ship, the male lead starves himself and smokes lots of
> cigarettes. I can understand him starving himself, but not the
> cigarettes. Does he think that the Canamites won't want to eat people
> whose lungs are full of tobacco tar?
Back then, smoking was not yet proven to cause lung cancer. The famous
Surgeon General's Report that finally established that smoking causes
lung cancer was published in 1964, when TZ was drawing to a close. So
showing a character smoking wasn't considered harmful yet. In fact, it
was often a sign of sophistication: Gentlemen with their silver
cigarette cases, women with their cigarette holders, were the height of
fashion for upscale professionals. (They still are, in Asia)
Back then, even doctors and nurses smoked, both in fiction (medical
shows on TV) and in real life. When I was a kid, my own family
physician smoked. He quit after 1964.
And Rod Serling is shown smoking in some TZ episodes.
If you're curious how smoking was pitched before we knew how dangerous
it was, YouTube has a collection of cigarette commercials.
>
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
Offer them Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell. That should give them
enough meat to last a nice few years. And I wouldn't miss those two anyway.
--
Steven D. Litvintchouk
Email: sdli...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me.
Eric Python
} If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like
} to eat people, what would you do?
If I was a dim-witted USA president, I would attack a _different_ alien planet
that had no connection to the cannibal aliens.
ravenlynne
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>
> } If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like
> } to eat people, what would you do?
>
> If I was a dim-witted USA president, I would attack a different alien
> planet that had no connection to the cannibal aliens.
Well, they were probably financing the cannibals. lol.
--
-Gina in Italy
Favorite phrase of the day: Messiah-envy
Tony Williams
I didn't see the programme but I've read the short story it was
presumably based on - it was a good one! I don't recall who wrote it,
though.
Tony Williams
Scales (2007), The Foresight War (2004)
Homepage: http://www.quarry.nildram.co.uk
Blog: http://sciencefictionfantasy.blogspot.com/
Kevin
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>> While on the ship, the male lead starves himself and smokes lots of
>> cigarettes. I can understand him starving himself, but not the
>> cigarettes. Does he think that the Canamites won't want to eat people
>> whose lungs are full of tobacco tar?
> Back then, smoking was not yet proven to cause lung cancer. The famous
> Surgeon General's Report that finally established that smoking causes
> lung cancer was published in 1964, when TZ was drawing to a close. So
> showing a character smoking wasn't considered harmful yet. In fact, it
> was often a sign of sophistication: Gentlemen with their silver
> cigarette cases, women with their cigarette holders, were the height of
> fashion for upscale professionals. (They still are, in Asia)
> Back then, even doctors and nurses smoked, both in fiction (medical
> shows on TV) and in real life. When I was a kid, my own family
> physician smoked. He quit after 1964.
> And Rod Serling is shown smoking in some TZ episodes.
This has actually been discussed in another recent thread in rasfw.
Well before 1960, several studies had already documented a strong
link between smoking and lung cancer. You are correct, however, in
that the link hadn't been heavily publicized yet.
When the Surgeon General's report came out in 1964, that was
important not so much because it presented new evidence as because
it was a high-profile public statement from a well-respected source.
I know that was the first time my grandmother, who had smoked for years,
heard that smoking caused cancer. She quit immediately. She wound up
living to a ripe old age, I have to give the Surgeon General himself
some of the credit for that.
Kevin
Steven L.
> I didn't see the programme but I've read the short story it was
> presumably based on - it was a good one! I don't recall who wrote it,
> though.
Damon Knight.
Edward McArdle
Tim Bruening <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
I am pretty certain the episode finished with him heading away. There
was no more. Nothing about smoking.
--
my URL,
http://members.ozemail.com.au/~mcardle
Ian Harvey
"Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
>
> would you do?
Shoot the Blonde biologist and her lizard looking TV cameraman. Put Michael
Ironside in charge of the defence forces and go hunting.
Or rejuvinate the Waffen SS and put them in reeeeeely big tanks.
Ian
ravenlynne
Powers Boothe should be there as well.
Mike Stone
> Tony Williams wrote:
> > I didn't see the programme but I've read the short story it was
> > presumably based on - it was a good one! I don't recall who wrote it,
> > though.
>
> Damon Knight.
>
Incidentally, in the book it is spelt "Kanamit" iirc. Don't know if
the written form of the name ever appeared in the TZ episode.
Jack Bohn
>Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
>drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human race
>can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite consumption of
>humans.
I did hear them say they had done their philanthropy on other
worlds. Either they're forming a large "farming" area, or its
depletion of resources and searching for a new world.
--
-Jack
Tux Wonder-Dog
> An alien race called the "Canamites" come to Earth to end war (with
> force fields) and hunger (with new fertilizers). A Canamite is hooked
> to a lie detector (calibrated by having the Canamite tell lies and
> truths) and says that when hunger and war are ended on Earth, that will
> be the Canamites' reward. Indeed, within a year, there is no more war,
> hunger, or poverty, and many people have gone to the Canamite homeworld
> on their flying saucers.
<snip>
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
Set Derek onto them, because, "One thing the aliens hadn't counted on was
Derek, and Dereks don't run!"
Of course, one needs the Alien Invasion Defense System properly set up for
that to take effect ... ;)
(Just don't think my remark in Bad Taste, will you? :)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Taste
Chris Thompson
Mike Stone <mws...@aol.com> wrote:
>On Jul 5, 10:40?am, "Steven L." <sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net> wrote:
>> Tony Williams wrote:
>> > I didn't see the programme but I've read the short story it was
>> > presumably based on - it was a good one! I don't recall who wrote it,
>> > though.
>>
>> Damon Knight.
>
>Incidentally, in the book it is spelt "Kanamit" iirc. Don't know if
>the written form of the name ever appeared in the TZ episode.
There were other differences as well, of course. The short story stops
before they get as far as being put on the "exchange" ship, and the person
who discovers the real meaning of the book is not the narrator's secretary,
but a fellow-translator (first at the UN, later at the Kanamit Embassy).
--
Chris Thompson
Email: cet1 [at] cam.ac.uk
Steven L.
It wasn't necessary: Remove war, starvation, crime, disease, etc., from
Earth and the human population would explode. In primitive times, moms
routinely had a dozen children each, just to ensure that at least a few
would survive to adulthood. Homo Sapiens is real good at breeding.
Steven L.
In the 1930's, there was the slogan "Reach for a Lucky Strike instead of
a sweet." Cigarette advertisements said "The authorities are
overwhelming that too many fattening sweets are harmful"--that
cigarettes were actually good for you because they could help you stay
on a diet. The candy manufacturers struck back with ads suggesting that
it's better to be fat than have lung disease: "Do not let anyone tell
you that a cigarette can take the place of a piece of candy." So you
actually had the cigarette industry at war with the junk food industry.
As worrisome news starting coming from the medical profession that
smoking just might be hazardous to your health, the cigarette companies
began marketing filtered cigarettes heavily, starting in 1954. The ads
implied that filtered cigarettes were safer: "L&M Cigarettes: Just
what the doctor ordered." "Camel Cigarettes: The brand most preferred
by doctors, 2 to 1."
But still, nobody knew yet just how hazardous cigarettes really were.
Consumer Reports (Consumers Union) told their subscribers it was better
to be safe than sorry, so "try to limit your smoking to no more than one
pack a day."
Steven L.
"We're fighting the Kanamits on Venus so we won't have to fight them
here on Earth"
pullo
"Jack Bohn" <jack...@bright.net> wrote in message
news:dhhp83hl8rqhikj8o...@4ax.com...
Maybe they prefer 'free range' meat.
Me? If at all possible within the bounds of authorial fiat I'd do whatever
to find the feed to ingest that made human meat the most unpalatable to the
aliens and spread that crop like it was Maui Wowie.
Peter Bruells
> rhino wrote:
....
> As worrisome news starting coming from the medical profession that
> smoking just might be hazardous to your health, the cigarette
> companies began marketing filtered cigarettes heavily, starting in
> 1954. The ads implied that filtered cigarettes were safer: "L&M
> Cigarettes: Just what the doctor ordered." "Camel Cigarettes: The
> brand most preferred by doctors, 2 to 1."
>
> But still, nobody knew yet just how hazardous cigarettes really
> were.
Well, according to Robert N. Proctor, lots of people knew since at
least 1943, if not 1939.
pullo
"Eric Python" <fa...@fake.fake> wrote in message
news:5nap839c4u7m1bj2o...@4ax.com...
Where do get the idea that the aliens are cannibals?
I dinna think the word means what you think it means.
Tony Williams
> Well before 1960, several studies had already documented a strong
> link between smoking and lung cancer. You are correct, however, in
> that the link hadn't been heavily publicized yet.
The New Scientist magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary this
year, and each week includes an article from 50 years ago. last week's
item (from 4 July 1957) was headed "Cancer Sticks" and starts: "Only
the most bigoted can possibly deny the weight of evidence against the
cigarette: heavy smoking increases the chance of developing lung
cancer." It refers to an original statistical analysis which
demonstrated this five years before, and to the subsequent 19
additional, independent studies in six different countries which "have
established the point with a greater degree of certainty than that of
almost any other correlation between any known disease and its cause."
Not a lot of doubt then, it would seem.
Jack Bohn
>On Jul 5, 10:40?am, "Steven L." <sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net> wrote:
>> Tony Williams wrote:
>> > I didn't see the programme but I've read the short story it was
>> > presumably based on - it was a good one! I don't recall who wrote it,
>> > though.
>>
>> Damon Knight.
>>
>
>Incidentally, in the book it is spelt "Kanamit" iirc. Don't know if
>the written form of the name ever appeared in the TZ episode.
Yes, newspaper headlines. It began with a K, although I can't
now vouch for the placement of M and N, or the vowels used.
--
-Jack
Walter Traprock
Smoking was known to be bad for a *long* time.
Here's an online book from 1868, Smoking and Drinking, by Parton,
a reprinting of three Atlantic Monthly articles:
http://books.google.com/books?q=parton+smoking&btnG=Search+Books
Might as well mention the "rebuttal", Tobacco and alcohol, by Fiske:
http://books.google.com/books?q=tobacco+fiske&btnG=Search+Books
Peter Bruells
> Peter Bruells <p...@ecce-terram.de> wrote:
>
> > "Steven L." <sdli...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net> writes:
> >
> > > rhino wrote:
> >
> > ....
> >
> > > As worrisome news starting coming from the medical profession that
> > > smoking just might be hazardous to your health, the cigarette
> > > companies began marketing filtered cigarettes heavily, starting in
> > > 1954. The ads implied that filtered cigarettes were safer: "L&M
> > > Cigarettes: Just what the doctor ordered." "Camel Cigarettes: The
> > > brand most preferred by doctors, 2 to 1."
> > >
> > > But still, nobody knew yet just how hazardous cigarettes really
> > > were.
> >
> > Well, according to Robert N. Proctor, lots of people knew since at
> > least 1943, if not 1939.
>
> Smoking was known to be bad for a *long* time.
Yeah, but during the Reich, scientists produced conclusive proof for
the lung cancer/tobacca relationship.
Lots of things have either declared unhealthy und hazardous, including
coffee, potatoes, and chocolate.
Walter Traprock
> In the 1930's, there was the slogan "Reach for a Lucky Strike instead of
> a sweet." Cigarette advertisements said "The authorities are
> overwhelming that too many fattening sweets are harmful"--that
> cigarettes were actually good for you because they could help you stay
> on a diet. The candy manufacturers struck back with ads suggesting that
> it's better to be fat than have lung disease: "Do not let anyone tell
> you that a cigarette can take the place of a piece of candy." So you
> actually had the cigarette industry at war with the junk food industry.
>
> As worrisome news starting coming from the medical profession that
> smoking just might be hazardous to your health, the cigarette companies
> began marketing filtered cigarettes heavily, starting in 1954. The ads
> implied that filtered cigarettes were safer: "L&M Cigarettes: Just
> what the doctor ordered." "Camel Cigarettes: The brand most preferred
> by doctors, 2 to 1."
The Patent Medicines rip-off may have been in recent enough memory
for the public to discount such advertising claims.
> But still, nobody knew yet just how hazardous cigarettes really were.
> Consumer Reports (Consumers Union) told their subscribers it was better
> to be safe than sorry, so "try to limit your smoking to no more than one
> pack a day."
Perhaps they were being cautious, Consumers Union didn't want to
be suspected of moralism.
Oh, as for the dude smoking on the To Serve Man episode, that only
seems natural, as Rod Serling himself smoked like 5 packs a day,
and perhaps couldn't perceive of a man not-smoking. OR, perhaps,
the smoker was trying to tenderize himself, as he gave in to the
monsters.
Walter Traprock
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
I'd ask them if we taste like chicken.
Skua
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>
>> Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
>> drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human race
>> can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite consumption of
>> humans.
Considering human population growth, I'm not sure they'd *need*
fertility drugs (unless there were hundreds of millions of them).
Skua
> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> would you do?
Depends on their technology level, and how many there were. If they
were theoretically beatable, join or start a resistance movement and try
to blow them up (guerrilla warfare). If they were absolutely too
powerful to defeat, I'd probably move with a group of survivors to the
Amazon rainforest or possibly the southern Siberian taiga (where it
would be very difficult and expensive to find us, especially under a
forest canopy.)(
cop...@yahoo.com
>
> > > > rhino wrote:
>
> > > ....
>
> > > > As worrisome news starting coming from the medical profession that
> > > > smoking just might be hazardous to your health, the cigarette
> > > > companies began marketing filtered cigarettes heavily, starting in
> > > > 1954. The ads implied that filtered cigarettes were safer: "L&M
> > > > Cigarettes: Just what the doctor ordered." "Camel Cigarettes: The
> > > > brand most preferred by doctors, 2 to 1."
>
> > > > But still, nobody knew yet just how hazardous cigarettes really
> > > > were.
>
> > > Well, according to Robert N. Proctor, lots of people knew since at
> > > least 1943, if not 1939.
>
> > Smoking was known to be bad for a *long* time.
>
> Yeah, but during the Reich, scientists produced conclusive proof for
> the lung cancer/tobacca relationship.
>
> Lots of things have either declared unhealthy und hazardous, including
> coffee, potatoes
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brandon
Richard Evans
>
>But, by and large, the idea of smoking being unhealthy had really not taken
>hold.
Indeed. In the early fifties my father suffered from hay fever and his
doctor actually prescribed Menthol Kools as a treatment. The only time
he ever smoked was during hay fever season.
Audie Murphy's Ghost
Walter Traprock <wetra...@hotmail.com> wrote:
I watched Twilight Zone in network first-run. The show was often
sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes. Rod did commercials for them,
and there were also ads featuring marching bands stomping through
tobacco fields to the tune of "21 great tobaccos make 20 wonderful
Kings -- Chesterfields! They satisfy!" With all that, there was every
reason to show non-sinister characters smoking. Cigarettes were paying
for everything.
It was sometime during the early run of Hogan's Heroes that CBS banned
smoking by characters in its shows, and withdrew all publicity shots
showing characters with cigarettes. I rememebr Hogan being given as an
example of the new policy, because every other publicity still from
that series showed Klink using a cigarette in a holder as a prop.
BTW, as I recall, the aliens were not called Kanamits in Damon Knight's
short story. Their race had a very long and basically unpronounceable
name.
Tra-Venn Du
> Where do get the idea that the aliens are cannibals?
> I dinna think the word means what you think it means.
Are aliens people? I have to think that once you posit the idea
of other intelligent species, "people" generalizes from simply
meaning "human" to meaning "thinking being". And that
cannibalism, as applied to a reality where there are multiple
species of sophonts, generalizes its most important meaning
to "eating people (of any type)" rather than simply "eating
members of one's own species."
Here's a thought: Robert J. Sawyer's _Neanderthal Parallax_
trilogy. An alternate timeline Earth is contacted, one where
Home neanderthalis is the top species, not Homo sapiens.
Different species. If a citizen of one Earth eats someone
from the other, does that fit your idea of cannibalism?
Steven L.
No.
What was NOT public knowledge (even if some epidemiologists understood
it) was that the only safe level of smoking was zero--that for every
cigarette you smoke, you lose N minutes of your life. As I said, even
Consumers' Union, which prided itself on objective unbiased consumer
information, advised their subscribers to limit their smoking to no more
than one pack a day per person. They really thought that was a
reasonably safe level of smoking.
Zero tolerance was a long way off.
Steven L.
> On Jul 5, 10:30 am, Kevin <ktn3...@linux12.ph.utexas.edu> wrote:
>
>> Well before 1960, several studies had already documented a strong
>> link between smoking and lung cancer. You are correct, however, in
>> that the link hadn't been heavily publicized yet.
>
> The New Scientist magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary this
> year, and each week includes an article from 50 years ago. last week's
> item (from 4 July 1957) was headed "Cancer Sticks" and starts: "Only
> the most bigoted can possibly deny the weight of evidence against the
> cigarette: heavy smoking increases the chance of developing lung
> cancer."
that's "heavy" smoking.
The question that had not yet been answered was whether it was also
unsafe to smoke even a little bit. As I have already posted elsewhere,
Consumers Union, the premier consumer protection lobby in the U.S.,
advised Americans to limit their smoking to one pack a day as a "safe"
level. And in fact, that's what your doctor would have told you at the
time too: Try to smoke less than a pack a day.
We now know that there is no "safe" level of smoking--the more you
smoke, the lower your life expectancy, simple as that. But that was not
known till 1964.
I sometimes wonder if some of today's environmental risks are going to
be viewed in the future the same way: Today, we try to cut down but not
eliminate air pollution--the same advice they gave us for cigarette
smoking in the 1950s. If we now know that the only safe level of
cigarette smoke is zero, then in 25 years will it also be common
practice that the only safe level of air pollution is zero and hence all
internal combustion engines should be banned?
pullo
"Tra-Venn Du" <up@noon.> wrote in message
news:0egq83551hbh6ml2d...@4ax.com...
> pullo <pull...@yahoo.com> ::
>> Where do get the idea that the aliens are cannibals?
>> I dinna think the word means what you think it means.
>
> Are aliens people? I have to think that once you posit the idea
> of other intelligent species, "people" generalizes from simply
> meaning "human" to meaning "thinking being". And that
> cannibalism, as applied to a reality where there are multiple
> species of sophonts, generalizes its most important meaning
> to "eating people (of any type)" rather than simply "eating
> members of one's own species."
You may define it that way. I would not.
A wolf who eats another wolf is a cannibal.
A wolf who eats another mammalian carnivorous, pack animal, say a hyena, is
not.
A wolf that eats an animal similar to a wolf that evolved on another
planet?
That's not cannibalism.
IMO.
> Here's a thought: Robert J. Sawyer's _Neanderthal Parallax_
> trilogy. An alternate timeline Earth is contacted, one where
> Home neanderthalis is the top species, not Homo sapiens.
> Different species. If a citizen of one Earth eats someone
> from the other, does that fit your idea of cannibalism?
If they aren't interfertile? No I would not. I wouldn't promote it or agree
with the practice, that's not the same thing.
If they are somewhat interfertile but classified as separate species,
similar to lions and tigers frex... well there the line starts getting
blurry.
William December Starr
Richard Evans <inf...@mindspring.com> said:
> Indeed. In the early fifties my father suffered from hay fever and
> his doctor actually prescribed Menthol Kools as a treatment. The
> only time he ever smoked was during hay fever season.
Did it help with his hay fever problems?
--
William December Starr <wds...@panix.com>
Tim Bruening
Tony Williams wrote:
> On Jul 5, 6:44 am, Tim Bruening <tsbru...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
> > An alien race called the "Canamites" come to Earth to end war (with
> > force fields) and hunger (with new fertilizers). A Canamite is hooked
> > to a lie detector (calibrated by having the Canamite tell lies and
> > truths) and says that when hunger and war are ended on Earth, that will
> > be the Canamites' reward. Indeed, within a year, there is no more war,
> > hunger, or poverty, and many people have gone to the Canamite homeworld
> > on their flying saucers.
> >
> > Meanwhile, a Canamite leaves a book behind. The male lead translates
> > the title as "To Serve Man", which reassures him as to the aliens'
> > motives. However, he can't translate the contents of the book. The
> > Canamites' capital letters are very different from their lower case
> > letters. The male lead decides to apply to go to the Canamite
> > homeworld. Meanwhile, his secretary the female lead decides to have
> > another go at that book. Just before the male lead boards, the female
> > lead runs up and yells at him not to board because the book is a cook
> > book! The Canamites them force him onto their ship, which takes off. I
> > don't know what became of the female lead, or if she was able to tell
> > anyone else about the Canamite cook book.
> >
> > While on the ship, the male lead starves himself and smokes lots of
> > cigarettes. I can understand him starving himself, but not the
> > cigarettes. Does he think that the Canamites won't want to eat people
> > whose lungs are full of tobacco tar?
> >
> > If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> > would you do?
>
Arthur Lipscomb
"Skua" <ban...@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
news:468d126d$0$14970$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
>
>> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
>> would you do?
>
> Depends on their technology level, and how many there were.
snip
That reminds me of an old SNL sketch where a few dumb aliens come to Earth
(in a stolen spaceship) and announce they are going to conquer the planet.
They then show their advance alien weapons which consist of a single shot
musket. The military then shows them a machine gun in action and the aliens
realize they've bit off more than they can chew.
Tim Bruening
Ian Harvey wrote:
> "Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
> news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
> >
> > If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> > would you do?
>
> Shoot the Blonde biologist and her lizard looking TV cameraman. Put Michael
> Ironside in charge of the defence forces and go hunting.
>
> Or rejuvinate the Waffen SS and put them in reeeeeely big tanks.
The Camanites (sp?) did not look like lizards.
Tim Bruening
Tux Wonder-Dog wrote:
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>
> > An alien race called the "Canamites" come to Earth to end war (with
> > force fields) and hunger (with new fertilizers). A Canamite is hooked
> > to a lie detector (calibrated by having the Canamite tell lies and
> > truths) and says that when hunger and war are ended on Earth, that will
> > be the Canamites' reward. Indeed, within a year, there is no more war,
> > hunger, or poverty, and many people have gone to the Canamite homeworld
> > on their flying saucers.
> <snip>
> > If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> > would you do?
>
> Set Derek onto them, because, "One thing the aliens hadn't counted on was
> Derek, and Dereks don't run!"
>
> Of course, one needs the Alien Invasion Defense System properly set up for
> that to take effect ... ;)
Infect the aliens with AIDS?
Tim Bruening
"Steven L." wrote:
How did the candy industry know that smoking causes lung cancer?
Tim Bruening
"Steven L." wrote:
> Eric Python wrote:
> > Tim Bruening wrote:
> >
> > } If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like
> > } to eat people, what would you do?
> >
> > If I was a dim-witted USA president, I would attack a _different_ alien planet
> > that had no connection to the cannibal aliens.
>
> "We're fighting the Kanamits on Venus so we won't have to fight them
> here on Earth"
Kanamit: Glove that eats people after promising to end war and hunger.
Tim Bruening
Peter Bruells wrote:
I shudder to imagine how they performed the experiments that proved the link!
I can imagine Dr. Mengele (sp?) forcing cigarettes down the throats of his
prisoners!
Tim Bruening
Walter Traprock wrote:
When the Kanamites come for him, I suggest that he try to poke lit cigarettes
in their eyes!
Tim Bruening
Skua wrote:
We now have over 6.5 billion. I expect that the Kanamites, being more
technologically advanced, would likely have more. I expect them to have
colonized many planets.
Tim Bruening
"Steven L." wrote:
What is the "safe" level for CO2 emissions?
James Gassaway
> Tim Bruening wrote:
>>
>> Mike Stone wrote:
>>
>>> "Tim Bruening"
>>> <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in
>>> message
>>> news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us..
>>> .
>>> they like to eat people, what
>>>> would you do?
>>>
>>> As JWCJr noted, it takes about ten years to
>>> grow a hundred pounds of human meat, even
>>> using high quality feed. Pigs and cattle
>>> grow much faster, so are more economical.
>>
>> Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
>> drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human
>> race can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite
>> consumption of humans.
>
> from Earth and the human population would explode. In primitive
> times, moms routinely had a dozen children each, just to ensure that
> at least a few would survive to adulthood. Homo Sapiens is real good
> at breeding.
Except that when things get that good, people start having fewer children.
As the drop in birth rate across the planet for the last twenty years shows.
--
"I reject your reality and substitute my own."
"Now, quack, damn you!"
James Gassaway
Which sounds like it was based on another classic SF short, "The Road Not
Taken".
James Gassaway
Depends, how extensive is the local vegetation?
Gene Ward Smith
>> Yeah, but during the Reich, scientists produced conclusive proof for
>> the lung cancer/tobacca relationship.
>
> I shudder to imagine how they performed the experiments that proved
> the link! I can imagine Dr. Mengele (sp?) forcing cigarettes down the
> throats of his prisoners!
>
That actually was later done with lab rats. They got lung cancer.
Steven L.
If you're talking about global warming caused by humans, scientists
believe the U.S. would have to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% over current
levels. Since it's impossible to develop a car that gets 300 miles to
the gallon (there just isn't enough chemical energy in gasoline), that
would mean that the internal combustion engine would need to be phased
out entirely.
Steven L.
No. That was in response to higher standards of living. We still have
war, we still have disease (e.g. AIDS, cancer), we still have crime,
etc. The one thing we have now is material wealth. A peaceful,
healthy, but primitive society of humans would still breed like hell.
Steven L.
They weren't referring to lung cancer specifically, but to sore throat,
"smoker's cough," and loss of taste sensation due to inactivated taste buds.
Steven L.
> In article <607q83td6s2rbppds...@4ax.com>,
> Richard Evans <inf...@mindspring.com> said:
>
>> Indeed. In the early fifties my father suffered from hay fever and
>> his doctor actually prescribed Menthol Kools as a treatment. The
>> only time he ever smoked was during hay fever season.
>
> Did it help with his hay fever problems?
It wouldn't surprise me if it did.
Menthol is an active ingredient in over-the-counter inhalants for sinus
and chest congestion, like Vicks Vap-O-Rub. It numbs the mucous membranes.
Today, hay fever sufferers can use a steroid nebulizer to put
anti-inflammatory medication right into the sinuses. But they didn't
have that in the 1950s yet.
Brian Thorn
<mca...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>I am pretty certain the episode finished with him heading away. There
>was no more. Nothing about smoking.
You must have seen a badly edited version. The episode ends in the
flying saucer, with a Canamite offering the protaganist food ("Please!
Eat!" he says pleasantly, trying to fatten him up) and the protaganist
finishing his narration. I don't remember him smoking, but he might
have been.
Brian
Ian Harvey
Don't remember saying they did. :-) (and I think it's catamites)
Ian
Merrick Baldelli
<tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
>If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
>would you do?
Offer up a couple of people I think would serve better on a
plate of greens or rice than homo sapiens in general.
--
-=-=-/ )=*=-='=-.-'-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
_( (_ , '_ * . Merrick Baldelli
(((\ \> /_1 `
(\\\\ \_/ /
-=-\ /-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
\ _/ Who are these folks and why have they
/ / stopped taking their medication?
- Captain Infinity
Richard Evans
>In article <607q83td6s2rbppds...@4ax.com>,
>Richard Evans <inf...@mindspring.com> said:
>
>> Indeed. In the early fifties my father suffered from hay fever and
>> his doctor actually prescribed Menthol Kools as a treatment. The
>> only time he ever smoked was during hay fever season.
>
>Did it help with his hay fever problems?
Not really, but then nothing else did either.
Default User
>
> "Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
> news:468DC710...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
> > The Camanites (sp?) did not look like lizards.
> >
>
> Don't remember saying they did. :-) (and I think it's catamites)
Well, that becomes a whole different problem.
Brian
--
If televison's a babysitter, the Internet is a drunk librarian who
won't shut up.
-- Dorothy Gambrell (http://catandgirl.com)
chrissi...@sbcglobal.net
"James Gassaway" <dtr...@sonic.net> wrote in message
news:468dceae$0$14108$742e...@news.sonic.net...
> Steven L. wrote:
>> Tim Bruening wrote:
>>>
>>> Mike Stone wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Tim Bruening"
>>>> <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in
>>>> message
>>>> news:468C853A...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us..
>>>> .
>>>>> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that
>>>> they like to eat people, what
>>>>> would you do?
See if they like dark meat
Captain Bob
<defaul...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Ian Harvey wrote:
>
> >
> > "Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
> > news:468DC710...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
>
> > > The Camanites (sp?) did not look like lizards.
> > >
> >
> > Don't remember saying they did. :-) (and I think it's catamites)
>
>
> Well, that becomes a whole different problem.
<snort>
bm2...@eve.albany.edu
> .
>
> > If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that
>
> they like to eat people, what
>
> > would you do?
>
>
> As JWCJr noted, it takes about ten years to
> grow a hundred pounds of human meat, even
> using high quality feed. Pigs and cattle
> grow much faster, so are more economical.
>
>
the meat. They may just really like eating other sapient beings
_because_ they are sapient beings, in which case pigs won't cut it.
Bruce
James Gassaway
I'm failing to understand how removing war, starvation, crime and disease
would cause our current civilization to fall back to a "primitive" state or
bring down living standards.
bm2...@eve.albany.edu
> > Except that when things get that good, people start having fewer children.
> > As the drop in birth rate across the planet for the last twenty years shows.
>
> No. That was in response to higher standards of living. We still have
> war, we still have disease (e.g. AIDS, cancer), we still have crime,
> etc. The one thing we have now is material wealth. A peaceful,
> healthy, but primitive society of humans would still breed like hell.
>
> --
> Steven D. Litvintchouk
> Email: sdlit...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net
> Remove the NOSPAM before replying to me
>
True, but the aliens weren't returing earth to the social and economic
conditions and gender relationships of the 18th century.
Bruce
Tim Bruening
James Gassaway wrote:
Maybe Steve is thinking that the Kanamites would reduce us to the primitive
technology level to keep us from rebelling successfully.
Logan Kearsley
It doesn't need to. It just needs to not raise the (rather large number of)
people who are still living in a comparatively primitive state out of it.
-l.
------------------------------------
My inbox is a sacred shrine, none shall enter that are not worthy.
Tim Bruening
Stan Brown wrote:
> Thu, 05 Jul 2007 21:54:05 -0700 from Tim Bruening
> <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us>:
>
> > We now have over 6.5 billion. I expect that the Kanamites, being more
> > technologically advanced, would likely have more. I expect them to have
> > colonized many planets.
>
> Just backward. The birth rate is lower today in the technologically
> advanced First World.
I figured that the Kanamites have had a civilization longer than Earth has,
since they are more technologically advance, so they have had more time to
grow their populations.
Tim Bruening
Brian Thorn wrote:
And then Richard ate.
Walter Bushell
The honorable Dr. Mengele would not have done that. Cigarettes were
_very_ expensive.
Walter Bushell
> Ian Harvey wrote:
>
> >
> > "Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
> > news:468DC710...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us...
>
> > > The Camanites (sp?) did not look like lizards.
> > >
> >
> > Don't remember saying they did. :-) (and I think it's catamites)
>
>
> Well, that becomes a whole different problem.
>
>
>
>
> Brian
I know what catamites are, but what are dogamites? A boy kept for
purposes of indoctrination?
Walter Bushell
"Steven L." <sdli...@earthlinkNOSPAM.net> wrote:
> They weren't referring to lung cancer specifically, but to sore throat,
> "smoker's cough," and loss of taste sensation due to inactivated taste buds.
Smell organs, smoking _kills_ your sense of smell, which is indeed, the
biggest part of what we think of as taste.
Walter Bushell
Tim Bruening <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
> "Steven L." wrote:
>
> > rhino wrote:
> > > "Tim Bruening" <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote in message
The junk food industry vs. the tobacco industry. Like Jesus vs. Godzilla
whoever wins we lose.
Walter Bushell
"Arthur Lipscomb" <art...@alum.calberkeley.org> wrote:
> "Skua" <ban...@houston.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:468d126d$0$14970$4c36...@roadrunner.com...
> >
> >> If aliens came to Earth, and you knew that they like to eat people, what
> >> would you do?
> >
> > Depends on their technology level, and how many there were.
>
> snip
>
> That reminds me of an old SNL sketch where a few dumb aliens come to Earth
> (in a stolen spaceship) and announce they are going to conquer the planet.
> They then show their advance alien weapons which consist of a single shot
> musket. The military then shows them a machine gun in action and the aliens
> realize they've bit off more than they can chew.
Turtledove "The Path Not Taken"
The aliens come and attack the earth with black powder weapons. They get
basically slaughtered. They have an interstellar drive, but otherwise
low tech. At the end one of the few survivors says to another "What have
we done."
Tim Bruening
Walter Bushell wrote:
How did they developed an interstellar drive without also developing weapons that
are more advanced than our weapons?
cloud dreamer
They didn't develop a drive. They stole the spaceship.
..
--
We must change the way we live,
or the climate will do it for us.
Tim Bruening
cloud dreamer wrote:
How was it that they had the technical expertise to operate the spaceship, yet have
guns less advanced than those of Earth?
pullo
It wasn't meant to be taken that seriously. The story was more a bit of
whimsy along the lines of: 'What if the technical kludge that permitted
space travel was so simple that even a musket era technology could manage
it.' It was just dumb luck that humans hadn't stumbled on it.
As for the general question from this and the Worldwar series [and others]
of interstellar species who can't seem to win the land war against those
pesky backward earthbound humans.. well.... can anyone else think of
historic parallels where the high tech favourite lost to the low tech
underdog?
Sure. I knew you could.
Tim Bruening
pullo wrote:
Right now in Iraq?
Derek Lyons
>In the days when those programs were made, a very large number of people
>still smoked. In fact, I believe the majority of adults smoked. There had
>been few if any studies showing the dangers of smoking.
There had been several such studies, and their results were clear.
What hadn't _quite_ emerged yet was a culture where such reports were
treated as Holy Writ. Like drinking and driving drunk - smoking was
simply what you did.
D.
--
Touch-twice life. Eat. Drink. Laugh.
-Resolved: To be more temperate in my postings.
Oct 5th, 2004 JDL
Derek Lyons
>What was NOT public knowledge (even if some epidemiologists understood
>it) was that the only safe level of smoking was zero--that for every
>cigarette you smoke, you lose N minutes of your life.
The key problem being that the value of 'N', even today, being
completely unknown.
Derek Lyons
>Tim Bruening wrote:
>
>>Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
>>drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human race
>>can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite consumption of
>>humans.
>
>I did hear them say they had done their philanthropy on other
>worlds. Either they're forming a large "farming" area, or its
>depletion of resources and searching for a new world.
Or they were simply seeking for a new 'brand' to feed the latest
foodie infatuation on the Canamite homeworld.
Gene Ward Smith
032-325-625.area1.spcsdns.net:
> The junk food industry vs. the tobacco industry. Like Jesus vs. Godzilla
> whoever wins we lose.
>
Nonsense. Both specialize in saving the human race.
Audie Murphy's Ghost
<fair...@gmail.com> wrote:
> "rhino" <No.offline.c...@anonymous.com> wrote:
>
> >In the days when those programs were made, a very large number of people
> >still smoked. In fact, I believe the majority of adults smoked. There had
> >been few if any studies showing the dangers of smoking.
>
> There had been several such studies, and their results were clear.
>
> What hadn't _quite_ emerged yet was a culture where such reports were
> treated as Holy Writ. Like drinking and driving drunk - smoking was
> simply what you did.
At least we know that the Kanamits liked their meat smoked.
David DeLaney
Reading a manual doesn't take either inventiveness or technical expertise.
(Though it's still a skill limited to a small percentage of the human
population.) You're making some severely limiting assumptions in your
thinking. [Plus, remember - they're _aliens_.]
Dave
--
\/David DeLaney posting from d...@vic.com "It's not the pot that grows the flower
It's not the clock that slows the hour The definition's plain for anyone to see
Love is all it takes to make a family" - R&P. VISUALIZE HAPPYNET VRbeable<BLINK>
http://www.vic.com/~dbd/ - net.legends FAQ & Magic / I WUV you in all CAPS! --K.
James Gassaway
conditions _is_ the removal of war, starvation, crime and disease.
Tim Bruening
David DeLaney wrote:
> Tim Bruening <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote:
> >cloud dreamer wrote:
> >> Tim Bruening wrote:
> >> > Walter Bushell wrote:
> >> > How did they developed an interstellar drive without also developing
> weapons that
> >> > are more advanced than our weapons?
> >>
> >> They didn't develop a drive. They stole the spaceship.
> >
> >How was it that they had the technical expertise to operate the spaceship, yet
> have
> >guns less advanced than those of Earth?
>
> Reading a manual doesn't take either inventiveness or technical expertise.
> (Though it's still a skill limited to a small percentage of the human
> population.) You're making some severely limiting assumptions in your
> thinking. [Plus, remember - they're _aliens_.]
The technical manual would likely be in a language alien to the aliens. How good
would low tech peoples be at language translation, especially translations of
scientific terms?
I defy those aliens to be able to repair their stolen spaceship!
Derek Lyons
> As for the general question from this and the Worldwar series [and others]
>of interstellar species who can't seem to win the land war against those
>pesky backward earthbound humans.. well.... can anyone else think of
>historic parallels where the high tech favourite lost to the low tech
>underdog?
Given the vanishingly small number of samples of cultures of wildly
different tech levels going to war...
Mark Nobles
> Jack Bohn <jack...@bright.net> wrote:
>
> >Tim Bruening wrote:
> >
> >>Another possible nit: I did not hear Canamites offer humans fertility
> >>drugs, even though they would need to make certain that the human race
> >>can produce enough babies to keep pace with the Canamite consumption of
> >>humans.
> >
> >I did hear them say they had done their philanthropy on other
> >worlds. Either they're forming a large "farming" area, or its
> >depletion of resources and searching for a new world.
>
> Or they were simply seeking for a new 'brand' to feed the latest
> foodie infatuation on the Canamite homeworld.
"Canamite does not live by Soylent Green alone."
- ancient Canamite proverb
Mark Nobles
> Logan Kearsley wrote:
> > James Gassaway wrote
> >> Steven L. wrote:
> >>> James Gassaway wrote:
> >>>> Steven L. wrote:
> >>>>> Tim Bruening wrote:
> >>>>>> Mike Stone wrote:
> >>>>>>> Tim Bruening <tsbr...@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> wrote
You could even say that the presence of poverty, starvation and disease
*define* primitive living.
The key factor in determining how many babies the average woman in a
society has is infant and child mortality. And the number of kids a
woman has in primitive conditions strongly affects her life expectancy.
Mark Nobles
> "pullo" <pull...@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> > As for the general question from this and the Worldwar series [and others]
> >of interstellar species who can't seem to win the land war against those
> >pesky backward earthbound humans.. well.... can anyone else think of
> >historic parallels where the high tech favourite lost to the low tech
> >underdog?
>
> Given the vanishingly small number of samples of cultures of wildly
> different tech levels going to war...
It's not called "war" when one side has very superior tech, it's called
"conquest". Be it matchlock rifles and steel swords and smallpox
against stone clubs and knives, or metal monocoque monoplanes against
wood and cloth biplanes, the advanced society simply rolls over the
primitive one.
Of course, if the primitive group is big enough to survive being
conquered quickly, or if the advanced group is not brutal enough to
press its advantage to complete the conquest, then the primitive group
will acquire advanced weapons from its attackers. Then you have a war.
Mark Nobles
> If you're talking about global warming caused by humans, scientists
> believe the U.S. would have to reduce CO2 emissions by 90% over current
> levels. Since it's impossible to develop a car that gets 300 miles to
> the gallon (there just isn't enough chemical energy in gasoline), that
> would mean that the internal combustion engine would need to be phased
> out entirely.
And suppose we switched to hydrogen fuel, so that the only exhaust from
vehicles is pure water vapor. Guess what gas produces most of the
greenhouse effect.
Bill Snyder
wrote:
I think stalagmites are the ones they keep in a POW camp.
--
Bill Snyder [This space unintentionally left blank.]
Joe Bednorz
<080720070114015183%cmn-n...@houston.rr.com>:
>You could even say that the presence of poverty, starvation and disease
>*define* primitive living.
>
Add mud and insects and I'm right with you.
--
Links to Gigabytes of free books on line, emphasis on SF:
<http://www.mindspring.com/~jbednorz/Free/>
All the Best,
Joe Bednorz
David DeLaney
>Mark Nobles wrote in <080720070114015183%cmn-n...@houston.rr.com>:
>>You could even say that the presence of poverty, starvation and disease
>>*define* primitive living.
>
> Add mud and insects and I'm right with you.
And/or it defines a health spa.
Dave "note that these need not all apply to the same person in the spa
at the same time" DeLaney
Glenn P.,
> ...with a Canamite offering the protaganist food...
Canamite? Uhm, isn't that the victim of a pederast???
(Sorry, I could NOT resist!) :)
Seriously, the name of the species is "Kanamit". This comes straight from
the horse's mouth: the collection titled "Far Out" by Damon Knight, Simon &
Schuster, (C) 1961, wherein "To Serve Man" is the very first story.
-- _____ %%%%%%%%%%% "Glenn P.," <C128UserD...@FVI.Net> %%%%%%%%%%%
{~._.~} -----------------------------------------------------------------
_( Y )_ "...Children by the dozen / In and out the bamboo hut;
(:_~*~_:) One for every palm tree / And co-ci-nut..."
(_)-(_) --Song "Marianne", circa 1960.
:: Take Note Of The Spam Block On My E-Mail Address! ::
Glenn P.,
> ...(and I think it's catamites)...
I say, a SF story involving catamites might actually be quite interesting,
at least to a certain mindset! :o
The actual name of the species is "Kanamit" (see my reply in an earlier
thread). But "catamite" is a real word; go look it up. (Look up the word
"pederast" too, as long as your nose is already buried in a dictionary.) :)