Show Notes for TWS097: Even Fake Bigfoots Leave Large Wakes
Show notes aren’t quite done. I ran out of brain — and then discovered hornets (!) in the studio. Will update soon.
On the show this week:
- Bigfool
- Health, Wealth and Long Wife
- Things That May Or May Not Be
- I Plead Insanity (EXTRA)
This week’s Challenge Question:
What’s the one place you’d like to visit, and why? And, why aren’t you going?
Leave your answer in the comments, send your email to weirdshow[[at]]gmail.com, record your message via the MobaTalk client on the right hand side of Encaffeinated!, leave an answer on Facebook or call in at 206-203-2292.
Comment on the web site (theweirdshow.com), send your email to weirdshow[[at]]gmail.com, record your message via the MobaTalk client on the right hand side of the web site, leave an answer on Facebook or call in at 206-203-2292.
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Full links to all stories covered and many more after the jump!
- Theme Song: Caffeine by Grubspoon from The Podsafe Music Network
- Promo: Christiana Ellis’ Shallow Thoughts — Once a day, Christiana Ellis showers us with her wisdom and humour and non sequitor comedy, like snowflakes of delicious cheesy goodness.
- Bigfool
- There’s a lot to be said about this whole thing, but that title pretty much sums it up. – Yahoo!/AP: Researcher says bigfoot just a rubber gorilla suit
- Either it fails, or the Bigfoot is a strange (and scary!) mix of human and opossum.. *shudder* – MSNBC/Reuters: ‘Bigfoot’ fails DNA test
- An alternative view: the whole thing was just to drive web traffic. Interesting, but I’m not convinced that this was anything but an ancillary motive. – CNet: The Bigfoot press conference and the art of selling a website
- The post which is quoted by just about everyone. From the point of view of Kull (the researcher), Biscardi appears to be just another dupe. – Blog Talk Radio: Bigfoot “Corpse” Had a Rubber Foot; Finders “Admitted It Was a Costume,” Says “Squatch Detective” Host
- This may be the most accurate story Fox has ever run. How sad. – Fox: Bigfoot Body Revealed to Be Halloween Costume
- Tom Biscardi’s own page (I think..). They have the hoax exposed, with additional photos in a video of the bits and piecs. To quote the video: “All the parts we saw were real — unfortunately, it was not a real creature.” So, the sum was greater than the whole, but all still worthless.. – SearchingForBigfoot: Searching For Bigfoot Uncovers The Truth
- Whitten and Dyer have apparently gone missing with a bunch of money. They also seem to be without jobs and now hunted by the police. Frankly I don’t think it was worth it for them. – Fox News: Bigfoot Hoaxers Still On the Lam
- The video consists of shots of Tom Biscardi’s very confident assertions that he’d touch the corpse and that it was real, overload with text indicating how it was Biscardi’s fault and that they were sorry over what was said to a number of initials. It was nearly as vague as the original photo.. And just as inconclusive! – Cryptomundo: Hoaxers? Video Confession & Apology to Loren Coleman & Matt Moneymaker
- Loren Coleman once again reminds us that this has happened to Biscardi before, and he got over it, being the veteran Las Vegas showman/promoter that he is.. – Cryptomundo: Biscardi Hoodwinked Again
- It was bizarre when I heard about it initially, an aspect of this puzzle I couldn’t reconcile. It was even stranger to see the video.. – Cryptomundo: Book Burning Revisited
- Inevitably following any sort of news like the Bigfoot (whether revealed as a hoax or not) there comes a lot of navel gazing and analysis of how anyone could possibly believe such things. Sometimes they make it all about fooling suckers. Those people never dare to dream. This story is one of the better, however, actually having some interesting ideas suggested, including the idea that maybe organized religion or strong spirituality makes you more immune to supernatural beliefs. – MSNBC/LiveScience: Supernatural science: Why we want to believe
- A collection of other hoaxes throughout time, including Milli Vanilli and the Cottingsly Faeries. – News.com.au: When the world gets sucked in
- The author wastes a lot of time praising the charletan-and-debunker James Randi but actually comes to a reasonable point: when the misdirection leads you left, always look right, just to see what they might be hiding. – The Australian: Read my lips
- EXTRA: Not only do cow farts add methane to the atmosphere and cause global warming, but those grass-munching bastards might also be keeping the natural world from healing the problem. – New Scientist: Herbivores eat away at climate-change predictions
- EXTRA: Damnit! Now the penguins are terrorists! – New Scientist: Penguins dumping arsenic in Antarctica
- EXTRA: Obviously it was not the smartest whale in the pod.. – Ananova: Whale docks with mother ship
- EXTRA: … and in the end, the whale’s only hope was to start over and respawn. Oh, wait.. NOT an MMORPG.. – BBC: Lone Sydney baby whale put down Confused sea turtles march into restaurant
- EXTRA: Next: the wheels will be waterproof (Doh!), powered and armed. – Ananova: A wheely good idea
- EXTRA: Dolphin see, dolphin do. Or (maybe): pollution is not only tossed garbage, but tossed culture and flippant training. – BBC: Wild dolphins tail-walk on water
- EXTRA: Fortunately, the bigfoot fiasco has not stemmed the normal flow of unusual sightings reportings, nor has it increased them with puff pieces and silly claims. – Phantoms and Monsters Blog: Sightings of ‘Wolf-Like’ Creatures and Rumors of Underground Cavemen in Staffordshire, UK
- EXTRA: Turns out, it might have been a gentle creature. Yeah, they thought that about unicorns, too… – Yahoo!/AFP: New Zealand’s colossal squid defies legends: scientists
- EXTRA: “They better to hear you with, mouse!” – The UK Sun: Cat Yoda has Four-ce ears
- EXTRA: Coral reefs are being invaded and overrun. I guess the natural world can’t be trusted to just “be right” when we try to be right by it. – New Scientist: Shipwreck fuels invasion of unwanted species
- EXTRA: Could this invasive technique be the way that life became so complicated? – New Scientist: New viral way of life discovered in deep-sea vents
- EXTRA: Just proof that the source does not dictate the veracity. – Ananova: New insect discovered – on eBay
- Health, Wealth and Long Wife
- Presumably, this isn’t another fake “Wilber can count” horse story. – New Scientist: Elephants master basic mathematics
- I wonder if we can examine democracy vs dictatorship in the animal kingdom. – New Scientist: Macaques make democratic decisions
- Being self-aware may be as minimal as wanting to get some cruft out of your feathers. – New Scientist: Mirror test shows magpies aren’t so bird-brained
- This is a mirror image from the last story. – BBC: Magpie ‘can recognise reflection’
- An article in which the authors basically suggest that numbers aren’t an invention of mankind, but exist in the real world. Well, Duh! – BBC: Brain’s counting skill ‘built-in’
- Apparently, it tastes “calcium-y”.. – LiveScience: Sixth ‘Taste’ Discovered – Calcium
- An eye for an eye, a hubcap for a hubcap. Or maybe it just wanted to eat them. – Ananova: Bear’s gift caps all
- The question is: where do the morals go? Do they become genetic traits? If so, what does this say for the manipulation of humans to breed in loyalty genes.. – The UK Daily Mail: Living with humans has taught dogs morals, say scientists
- The chemical transformation achieved by reheating food is best demonstrated by pizza, personally. – The UK Daily Mail: Reheated spaghetti bolognese ‘prevents cancer’
- We eat too much because we want too much. I can relate to this (sadly). – New Scientist: Gluttony – not laziness – to blame for obesity
- It’s said that each time a man takes a wife, an angel gets his wings. No, wait.. That’s bells.. – New Scientist: Polygamy is the key to a long life
- After a certain point, you have to admit you have a problem and should probably stop collecting. – BBC: Nigerian faces death for 86 wives
- Giving birth to your own grandchilden is not incest, but it still has an air of odd about it. – CBS News/AP: 61-year-old Woman Gives Birth In Japan
- China tries to break three more records during the Olympics, but succeed only on two they already had. (Technically.) – The Sydney Morning Herald: Taller, shorter, hairier
- That’s not just a nose, it’s a whole country. – Ananova: Don’t call me Big Nose!
- EXTRA: The world according to you. Now that’s ego. – New Scientist: Personalised maps show the view from the street
- EXTRA: I have personal experience with this, as my heart medicine is interfered with by grapefruit juice. Fortunately, I hate grapefruit juice.. – BBC: Fruit juice ‘could affect drugs’
- EXTRA: Is the fate of the Olympics written in the stars (by the Gods or science)? – Yahoo!/Reuters: Olympics-Pisces for the pool, Taurus for the pole vault
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: Fast waters run deep for Olympic swimmers
- EXTRA: – Yahoo!/AP: Corpse kept upright for 3-day wake in Puerto Rico
- EXTRA: – BBC: Mystery surrounds humming noise
- EXTRA: – Phantoms and Monsters Blog: Mozambican Woman Gives Birth to…Cups?
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: First red blood cells grown in the lab
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: Aggression written in the shape of a man’s face
- EXTRA: – Practical Fishkeeping: Boy in bizarre ‘fish in penis’ accident
- EXTRA: – The Register: Fart-lighting youth in petrol can mishap
- EXTRA: – The UK Telegraph: World’s ‘oldest man’ dies in India
- Things That May Or May Not Be
- – New Scientist: Realistic special effects coming soon for home videos
- – New Scientist: Colour-changing skin keeps tiny spacecraft cool
- – New Scientist: Atmospheric homes of elves and sprites revealed
- – Ananova: Churches set up own gas company
- – ScienceNews: Do subatomic particles have free will?
- – Ananova: Shine on
- – Ananova: Aussie plea for ‘ugly Sheilas’
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Bachelor, 60, gets turned on
- EXTRA: – MSNBC/Reuters: Portal to mythical Mayan underworld found
- EXTRA: – Amazing Nature Blog: (O) Ghost town – Hashima Island, Gunkanjima, Japan
- EXTRA: – ScienceDaily: Oetzi The Iceman Dressed Like A Herdsman
- EXTRA: – BBC: Black holes ‘dodge middle ground’
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: Some solar flares may be caused by dark matter
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: Planets without metal cores may be bad for life
- EXTRA: – The New Zealand Herald/AP: US military funds mind-reading technology
- EXTRA: – LA Times: Shroud of Turin stirs new controversy
- EXTRA: – ABC/AP: Canadians receive free dinner, 15 years later
- EXTRA: – BBC: Message bottle found 23 years on
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Olympic spoof drives Mankini sales
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Holiday man “declared dead”
- EXTRA: – BBC: ‘House’ discovered in cliff side
- I Plead Insanity (EXTRA)
- EXTRA: – New Scientist: Google buries $10m in underground power
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Smuggler pigeon locked up Handcuffed for overdue library books
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Monk arrested for giving away cash
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Naked hiker’s jail strip
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Man left naked and broke
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Traffic wardens to show charm
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Noise bust for nursery kids
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Two arrests over turbo chair Strict boot camp for snorers
- EXTRA: – RideLust: Red-Light Cameras Just Don’t Work
- EXTRA: – Yahoo!/Reuters: Satellites track Mexico kidnap victims with chips
- EXTRA: – Ananova: A nine-year-old Nepalese girl has been told that she must go to school – despite being a “living goddess”.
- EXTRA: – Ananova: New bins feature celebrity voices
- EXTRA: – Ananova: Snug as a bug in a…. snake
I must admit to not being a long time listener of your podcast. I just became aware of your show though your being awarded a Parsec (congratulations by the way) . So I decided to listen to your latest show. While there are several items that I am interested in discussing with you, I must completely disagree with your characterizations of James Randi.
Mr. Randi was never at anytime in his life a Shyster. He was a magician who performed as such and never pretended to be anything more at any time. Please provide any information to the contrary or retract your insinuation concerning his previous activities. Secondly I have followed fairly closely the JREF and it’s functions including the attempts to win the prize. In no case have I found that the JREF acted in any manner other than honorable. The bottom line is that people do not have the abilities that the believe they do or they think they can fool the JREF. When they fail at that attempt they take any straw they can to try and place the blame in any direction other than the obvious one. Again if I am mistake feel free to educate me in the error of my ways.
You are quite correct in suggesting that my language was too strong. It was a more personal attack than justified, and I should have chosen my words more carefully.
The word “shyster”, for example, probably has the wrong connotation. To me, it really just someone who bases their career on fooling others — something that, as a magician, Randi was most definitely doing.
And, while his subsequent career as a debunker is most likely honourable, I must insist that if personal background is taken into account when debunking claims, they should also be taken into account when judging the debunkers.
It is an amusing cycle of judgement, I suppose; one which, perhaps, cannot have an end. Also, by being a very good misdirector, speaker, amusement and other traits, a debunker can fall into the same category of charismatic leader as the people they debunk.
I will address this in the next feedback episode, both your legitimate complaint and my less-than-scientific disturbances toward Randi and skeptics in general.
I could make comments as to the mental state I was under while I do the show. It is done quickly and sometimes without a sufficient amount of forethought or editing.
My comments may have been emitted from a place of defensive anger, perhaps. I feel the ridicule and negative emotions often leveled at those with alternative theories is often out of proportion with the arguments being made. I strive to keep an open mind. I am not a skeptic. I am not a believer. I think that in all things we must constantly question, or we fall into the dangerous dogma (scientific, religious or wishful-thinking).
I will consider this matter further, and try to clarify my position and correctly characterize others with whom I have issues.
I hope that this experience will not completely dissuade you from entering my discussions. I welcome opposing opinions and contradictions of my statements. I never claim to be perfect — if anything, I claim to be deeply flawed, like (I suspect) most people.