TWS106: Confusing The iShoes

Show Notes for TWS106: Confusing The iShoes

On the show this week:

• The Number of the Beast is 8-8-8
• Maxed Missages
• Ruffled Fringes
• Dividends (EXTRA)

This week’s Challenge Question:
What is your plan or vision for a long-term plan for you, your country, the world or the human race?
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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: Cue The Film — A fun discussion of bunches of films.
• The Number of the Beast is 8-8-8
  • I suspect either Cthulhu-spawn or The Horror Writer’s Association. – National Geographic: “Spider God” Temple Found in Peru
  • Once, they ruled the seas! Then, they… died out. Whoops. – Discovery: Eight-Armed Animal Preceded Dinosaurs
  • Eight-legged freaks! Or, lesson learned: “Don’t let your octopus get bored.” Useful tip, Egon. – The UK Telegraph: Otto the octopus wreaks havoc
  • I can see a Hitchcockian movie: “The Foxen”.. Is she now going to be a were-fox? Is rabies to blame for the “transformation after animal bite” notion? – Brietbart/AP: Jogger runs mile with rabid fox locked on her arm
  • I always figured you were more likely to lose an eye to a pecking bird than a leg.. Makes Hitchcock’s film even more creepy in its long-term consequences.. – The UK Daily Mail: Sydney woman loses leg after peck from daughter’s pet magpie
  • Since we only seem to talk about this these days, is it a modern problem — or was it just not talked about before? – The UK Daily Mail: ‘I caught a deadly flesh-eating bug – just by touching my face as I did the gardening’
  • There should be nothing more terrifying than the idea that we will run out of *everything* eventually; however, claims such as this of massive and imminent danger are so hard to accept that they seem as laughable as doomsayers that come out every year. But are these just bone-rattling cranks — or do we need to do something, something big, painful and effective? – WWF: Two planets by 2030
  • More dire predictions. Again, “global warming” is an unfortunately confusing term, meant to indicate *average* temperature change, and the more general term “climate change” is too broad and wishy washy. How about “disaster” or “unprecedented fluctuations in weather” (in human timescales, anyway). When the house is burning down, do we really have to point fingers at who might have lit the fire, or do we need to band together and grab buckets? – New Scientist: Energy Agency warns of 6C rise in temperatures
  • To quote Susan Ivanova: “No boom today. Boom tommorrow. Always boom tomorrow.” – Religion News Blog/Albequerque Journal: Cult members disappointed that Judgement Day failed to arrive
  • The conference to end all conferences? A predator’s buffet, or a truth-seeker’s homecoming? – LA Times: Many gather to ponder end of Maya days
  • EXTRA: I don’t think anyone needs any visions other than that of Kennedy’s car-ride to suggest that a popular president needs protection.. – This is Kent: Vision of Obama’s assassin – the Lord asked me to protect the senator
  • EXTRA: The question still remains: was it all in her mind? – The UK Daily Mail: Teenager convinced her flat was haunted by previous tenant ‘hanged herself during a vivid nightmare’
  • EXTRA: Voodoo isn’t the only haven for curses.. – The UK Press and Journal: Man’s death in custody linked to ancient curse: bishop’s hex to anyone who damaged cathedral
  • EXTRA: The John Wayne of frogs: “Lungs? I don’t need no lungs! Get rid of ‘em!” – The Jakarta Post: Frog without lungs discovered in remote part of Indonesia
  • EXTRA: Yeah, but the ants aren’t a) made of metal, b) moving that relatively fast, c) drinking coffee, or d) late for work. – The UK Telegraph: Ants can teach us how to beat city congestion, claim scientists
  • EXTRA: At first, I thought “Why are the chickens in hot-air balloons?” and “Is this a height/pressure problem?” but I was disappointed that it was simple fear.. – The UK Telegraph: Hens eggs exploding because of hot-air balloons
  • EXTRA: I know, I know: I shouldn’t personify the robot (although NASA did it first!) but this still makes me feel for the thing. In the future, will we be wiling to sacrifice robots with greater intelligence because they are “just” machines? (This was almost the CQ this week..) – New Scientist: Dying Mars lander to enter ‘Groundhog Day’ state
  • EXTRA: A truly horrifying story, isn’t it? Or is it? Fundamentally, is there really anything wrong with cannibalism? – MSNBC/AP: Migrant: We ate flesh to survive
  • EXTRA: See? Vampires are perfectly natural. – New Scientist: How vampires evolved to live on blood alone
  • EXTRA: Really, it was just an excuse to build a graveside basement apartment, I think.. – The Wall Street Journal: A Man Called Freud Can’t Keep His Phobia Buried
  • EXTRA: You’re kinda screwed on both sides of that bet, aren’t you? – The UK Telegraph: Paddy Power offers odds of 4-1 that God exists
  • EXTRA: They are, after all, just empty calories. Tasty empty calories. – Ananova: Trucker loses eight stone by giving up Coke
• Maxed Missages
  • I never saw the ad myself, but it doesn’t sound *that* bad.. – BBC: ‘Grotesque’ NZ pizza ads dropped
  • Although I suspect it does so at least one second too late. – Science Daily: ‘Weapons Of Mass Production’, I Mean, ‘Mass Destruction!’ How The Brain Prevents Verbal Errors
  • In the future, statues will have labels such as “404 Not Found”. – BBC: E-mail error ends up on road sign
  • They are also more “sinister” (by definition). – BBC: Left-hand people ‘more inhibited’
  • Maybe women are just more interesting and complex.. – Science Daily: Women Have More Diverse Hand Bacteria Than Men
  • EXTRA: Everyone loves their own funk.. – Science Daily: Odorprints Like Fingerprints? Personal Odors Remain Distinguishable Regardless Of Diet
  • EXTRA: I can see a subcutaneous organ implant to indicate healthiness or show nearby wifi.. – ScienceDaily: Programmable Genetic Clock Made Of Blinking Florescent Proteins Inside Bacteria Cells
  • One species’ junk is another species critical nametag.. – Science Daily: ‘Junk’ DNA Proves Functional; Helps Explain Human Differences From Other Species
  • Some day, we will be able to build great brain add-on devices. Mental widgets! (By Google!) – Yahoo!/AFP: Japanese researchers make brain tissues from stem cells
  • EXTRA: Iceballs a microcosmic universes. (Universii?) – Science Daily: Could Life Have Started In Lump Of Ice? Very Cold Ice Films In Laboratory Reveal Mysteries Of Universe
  • Apparently, non-gamers playing for a day or two gain nothing. WEAK STUDY. – New Scientist: Video games don’t train your brain
  • Do they think what I do? – New Scientist: Is mirror neuron activity just a mirage?
  • While art should probably affront, should it also offend? Is this not just an idea which can be merely described, and never, ever built? – News24/SA/AP: Art can be a stinky business
  • Creeper part is getting the skin after. Including that of humans. – Ananova: Tattooed pigs banned from exhibition
  • Somehow, they managed to not include the entire name.. They must pay by the word. – The UK Telegraph: Teenager changes name to Captain Fantastic
  • Meanwhile, this story contains almost nothing *but* the name. – BBC: Teenager’s new name is fantastic
  • The town will have an identity crisis when everyone is named Barack.. – Ananova: Kenyan mums name babies after Obama
  • From the country that brought you the comedy troupe that brought you the sketch about people bringing killer jokes.. – Ananova: Britain’s most irritating expressions
  • EXTRA: Well, it had to happen eventually. I think I’m going to create my own holiday, and name it “Wheeee!”. – Ananova: Council renames Christmas
  • EXTRA: Stupidity comes in waves and o’erwhelms you, drowning you. – Ananova: Pools ban floats
  • EXTRA: Europe’s not that big; he could have walked home by then! – Ananova: Traveller lost in airport for a week
  • EXTRA: Every day, a word is born.. Also, a whole lot of words get butchered. – The Times-Standard: Birth of Bigfoot
  • EXTRA: She was probably the flower girl at her own wedding.. – MSNBC/Reuters: Police break up marriage of boy, 7, and girl, 4
  • EXTRA: Frankly, I fear that we will eventually no longer have the unknown… – USA Today: The Great Fear of the Unknown
  • EXTRA: Roses are blue, violets are red, if we keep this up, classic poetry’s dead! – The UK Daily Mail: Pictured: World’s first truly blue roses go on display in Japan
  • EXTRA: A walk to school that involves a cliff face should be more exciting.. But not having flush toilets? Now *that’s* roughing it! – Mumbai Mirror/Google Cache: Vertical limit (Link no longer available)
  • EXTRA: And by “cider” they mean “alcohol”. And by “orange” they mean “jaundiced”. – The UK Telegraph: Man’s skin turns orange from drinking too much cider
  • EXTRA: Ah, when religious delusion meets capitalism! – Underwater Times: Sacred Seashell: Virgin Mary Washes Ashore Along Virginia Coast; ‘I Have To Do Something With This’
  • EXTRA: Generally, I think the press wants to wait until this issue is dead, so that then they can “get right back to you”. – NewsMonster: Paranormal Unexplained Near Death Experiences are Real and We Have The Proof Say Scientstis
  • EXTRA: Is the repeated apparent suicides by dogs to blame on a stinky mink? – The UK Dumbarton Reporter: Dark forces at work?
  • EXTRA: I think this qualifies as discrimination against the tone-deaf.. – Ananova: Motorists told to sing for change
  • EXTRA: One head was eager, the other just said “bah”. – The UK Telegraph: Two-headed lamb born on West Bank
  • EXTRA: As long as you don’t pull today’s dinner out of the tank, there shouldn’t be a problem.. – The UK Telegraph: Fish tank toilet ‘will cut water use’
  • EXTRA: Wait.. they want the right to a private booth to vote so they can expose their privates? – Ananova: Nudists want their own polling booth
• Ruffled Fringes
  • EXTRA: Ironically, I don’t think they meant “if we are all in a giant, flawed simulation, that would explain Dark Matter”, although that’s what sprang to my mind.. – Science Daily: Giant Simulation Could Solve Mystery Of ‘Dark Matter’
  • EXTRA: Defining the terms carefully to make your point is a techique employed by all three groups, too.. Still, it’s nice to see critical thinking applied to the notion of critical thinking. – aboutSETI: Skeptics, Debunkers and Believers
  • EXTRA: … on the other hand, we can play the “he said, she said” game and pit the different groups against each other for fun and ink. – NewsOK/The Oklahoman: Paranormal phenomena and skeptics
  • EXTRA: Remarkably clear pictures of zaps from remarkably unclear bright dots to unseen targets. Video manipulation, video artifacts, heat lightning, or genuine article? – The UK Sun: What’s zap?
  • EXTRA: If you go through it, you’ll be transported millions of miles in an instant — and then die in a fiery way. Actually, it’s a particle highway IIRC, and apparently lends some credence to a fringe model of the universe called “The Electric Universe”, which I keep meaning to look into.. – Space.com: Strange Portal Connects Earth to Sun
  • EXTRA: More on the Decepticon Plot. (Or is this an original Transformer, before the split?) – New Scientist: Has new physics been found at the ageing Tevatron?
  • EXTRA: To some, this will seem like the ultimate invasion of privacy and they will call for banning all phones everywhere. To others, it is recognized as an example of how “total security” is a fairy tale. – ScienceDaily: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Locksmiths
  • EXTRA: Great.. so my car has to get fungus to get gas? – New Scientist: Fungal diesel could revolutionise fuel production
  • EXTRA: Isn’t Spring when you should do your cleaning? – The NY Times: Supernatural Cleaning Methods
  • EXTRA: It’s not like they are going to be able to sell it in today’s climate anyway.. – The Toledo Blade: Local family learns to live with haunting house stories
  • EXTRA: Which appeals more: the fact that it is haunted, that is a really nice house in N’Orleans, or that it is Nicholas Cage’s house? – WSDU: ‘Most Haunted’ French Quarter Home For Sale
  • EXTRA: Law enforcement all over the world takes advantage of psychics to help in difficult cases. Are there any actual studies to see if they are effective at all? (Not that they are overwhelmingly accurate — even the complex legal system puts innocent people in jail or lets guilty people go free once and a while…) – The Moscow Times: Tapping Into the Supernatural to Crack Crimes
  • EXTRA: How, exactly, do you build one of these at home? And why paint a beautiful car such a horrible colour? – Ananova: Man builds Lamborghini in cellar
  • EXTRA: He then flew away, shouting out: “I’m free! Never answering the damn phone again!” (No, not really.) – Ananova: Telecoms worker builds his own plane
• Dividends (EXTRA)
  • Do your pets plan the future and remember the past? If so, are they plotting against you? – New Scientist: Can animals escape the present?
  • EXTRA: More examples of science being progressed by military minds. I’d prefer entertainment-driven science over this. Or even whim-based scientific investigation.. – Military.com: Army Working on Science’s Outer Limits
  • EXTRA: Remember: it is easier to destroy than to build. But, ultimately, it is worth more to build. – Popular Science: Robots That Hunt in Packs
  • EXTRA: For those about to science, we salute you! – New Scientist: Rock guitarists’ amp becomes a trap for atoms
  • EXTRA: All you have to say is “inspired by Star Wars”. Oh, and: “Cool!” – Yahoo!/Reuters: Hover chair hopes to rise above economic woes
  • EXTRA: Does that mean my beard can also be used to navigate dark hallways? – New Scientist: Hairy subs could feel their way through turbulence
  • EXTRA: Imagine that: after all the scares that people have had about plastics reacting to foodstuffs, now someone thinks “hey, I wonder if it reacts to chemicals as well?”. – New Scientist: Plastic not so fantastic for lab experiments
  • EXTRA: I guess that means that there is no one left to make claims on his body or possessions. His time-ravaged loincloth must be worth millions today! – MSNBC: Iceman mummy leaves few relatives
  • EXTRA: Hey, if *I* was going to be made into a mummy, would *I* want to be straight and sober? I don’t think so! – MSNBC/Discovery: Traces of hallucinogens found in mummy hair
  • EXTRA: This takes blocks to pull it off. Tosus, any sightings? – Yahoo!/Reuters: Germany to air toy re-enactment of history on live TV
  • EXTRA: It’s a good thing that it remains found. I’d hate for them to lose it. (Language is fun!) – BBC: Ice-Age rhinoceros remains found
  • EXTRA: They make it sound like it’s just sleeping… I think the word you are looking for is “resurrect” or “re-create”… Oh, and “awesome”. – News24/SA/AFP: Japanese to revive mammoths?
  • EXTRA: The church mafia is on the march! – The UK Telegraph: Priest ‘smashes chair’ over Italian restaurant owner’s head as nuns kick him in the stomach
  • EXTRA: The only thing is, I don’t *want* advertising everywhere.. – New Scientist/Reuters: New ad technology could turn piracy into profits
  • EXTRA: Sometimes, making a movie in a realistic way can be a bit dangerous. – Ananova: Police arrest film-makers
  • EXTRA: Personally, I think it was more likely the Squirrel Terrorists or the Raccoon Mafia.. – The Lancashire Evening Post: Aliens blamed for power cut
  • EXTRA: So, spying and voodoo are relatively bad and good, but does it depend on who you do it for? – The UK Telegraph: ‘Spy’ used voodoo to shield general from Taliban, court hears
  • EXTRA: A drummer is finally beaten. (Bah-dum-bump!) – BBC: Man dies after inhaling anthrax