TWS192: Perception is Nine Tenths of the Flaw

CQ: Do you think the basic, specialized physical technologies we have and use today — pen and paper, chessboards, specialized push-buttons, light-switches, notepads — will ever entirely go away?

On the show this week:

• Front Page
• What Flesh Hell Is This?
• Wrecknology
• Extras

Full list of 49 articles after the jump!

• Front Page:
  • Don’t tell George; he’ll edit Star Wars again, and change the name of the planet to Kepler-16b..: CNN – ‘Tatooine’ gives first direct proof of 2-sun planet
  • I wonder how often they have to pay out on those claims, and whether the nose has to be missing.. I’m imagining a thumb-running scheme..: Metro – Coffee taster gets £2million nose insurance
  • Made for the world’s largest lunchbox.: Metro – World record five-tonne chocolate bar sends chocoholics into meltdown
  • What does it take to disgust you? And why?: New Scientist – Dining on dog food at Bestival
  • All universities should have weird courses — if only so they will stop taking themselves so damn seriously… (Why so serious?): The UK Independent – 10 weird and wonderful university courses
  • The latest Internet trend is like many of them, requiring no motion to be successful..: The UK Telegraph – Move over planking, ‘Batmanning’ is the latest internet craze
  • (EXTRA) … Well, you can *still* say that money doesn’t grow on trees, actually..: The UK Daily Mail – Who says money doesn’t grow on trees? Coins mysteriously appear in trunks up and down the country
  • The grass is always greener across the pond..: BBC – Rich Russians’ love affair with Britain
  • Really, when was the last time you consumed 100% of anything? Do people sue over loss due to peeling potatoes?: LA Weekly – Toothpaste Lawsuit: Encino Man Can’t Squeeze Out Last 20 Percent of Paste From Tube, Wants His Dollar Back
  • Pretty soon, all teenagers will also be made to glow in the dark.. and it will become a fashion trend!: BBC – Glowing cats shed light on Aids
  • Oh, and the names that they call each other! For shame!: New Scientist – Dolphins call each other by name
• What Flesh Hell Is This?:
  • (EXTRA) Nothing eases the pain of divorce like a vacation..: PRI – ‘Divorce hotel’ in the Netherlands eases painful process
  • If not fake, then bizarre.. If faked, then bizarre. Win-win.: GreenMuze – Edible Perfume Capsules
  • I kinda think its worth it..: Huffington Post – European Commission Offers $4.3 Million Prize To Encourage People To Eat Insects
  • The lesson: have the confidence to be who you are, and the rest will follow.: Orange – Hairiest man is face of dating agency
  • Are we decadent? Or does healthy living really not matter in the end?: The UK Mirror – My bum is the widest in the world.. and I want to make it bigger
  • It’s because his voice is the resonant frequency of Cool..: Orange – The Walrus of Love’s deep secret
  • Obviously, scientists are born with lab coats, dorky glasses and a humourless attitude..: New Scientist – Media presenter: Unshakeable stereotypes of science
  • Ah, that ol’ “man bites snake” routine..: The Telegraph – American man arrested for biting snake
  • The French take their sex very seriously.: The UK Telegraph – Frenchman ordered to pay wife damages for lack of sex
  • The German also take their sex seriously — but not as seriously as their taxes..: CNN – ‘Sex meter’ helps Bonn tax prostitutes
  • And yet, it will take 20 years to decipher the truth..: The Telegraph – Month a baby is born ‘suggests what career they will have’
  • (EXTRA) And yet, if he did it directly, he’d be considered a cad, or a felon!: The NY Times – One Sperm Donor, 150 Offspring
  • (EXTRA) Real change comes from within — not from the cash machine.: Yahoo!/Reuters – Arizona Walmart employees rob store to fund sex change
  • Surprisingly, she didn’t die from stupidity OR vanity..: The Chicago Sun-Times – Woman dies after injecting hot beef fat into her face
  • A follow up on the previous story, in which a reporter only experiences uncomfortableness, not fully hell.. And they’re disappointed!: AsiaOne/The Daily Chilli/Asia News Network – Rejected by Hell, again
  • (EXTRA) An account of some of the history of the ginger cryptid.: The UK Guardian – On the trail of the orang pendek, Sumatra’s mystery ape
  • (EXTRA) He figures he can empathize with them perhaps, see eye to eye..: Yahoo!/Eurosport – Valuev leads search for ‘Russian Yeti’
  • (EXTRA) At first, it sounds like a partnership, not merely a naming..: Huffington Post – Farm Dog, Yeti, Nurses Piglets In Cuba
  • So big, you could have ridden it to the mainland.. Hmm.. that may be how ancient travellers spread throughout the world, riding might crocodile steeds across the water..: Yahoo!/AP – Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines
  • You would think they’d go there for the constant darkness, not during the constant daytime.. ?: 7News/Reuters – Vampire fans to sail off Alaska coast next year
  • (EXTRA) Just goes to show that the world is weirder than we imagine.: ScienceDaily – Sea Urchins See With Their Whole Body
  • (EXTRA) I never thought of sheep as that tough, really.. Just.. padded..: ScienceDaily – Tasmanian Tiger’s Jaw Was Too Small to Attack Sheep, Study Shows
• Wrecknology:
  • How disappointing that one of the few man-made modern structures to be visible from space is one that divides us?: Universe Today – It Turns Out Some Borders *Are* Visible from Space
  • The most compelling chapter was the part about … No, wait: there will be _nothing_ compelling here. (Then again, I’ll publish my tweets in a couple of years..): Orange – Woman has kept every text for 12 years
  • Will this build better liars?: PhysOrg – British group unveils facial reading lie-detector
  • “Oh dear, sir! Your life is in Jeopardy!” “Elementary, my dear Watson…”: AFP – IBM supercomputer Watson to assist doctors
  • I guess the buildings, carparks and neon signs aren’t enough..: New Scientist – Scour Earth for traces of intelligent aliens
  • Combine this with computers and BAM! Instant human successor.: BBC – Glasgow University in bid to create ‘inorganic life’
  • All to make a better electric toothbrush, I’ll bet..: BBC – Electric motor made from a single molecule
  • Or, as the future technologically-based lifeforms might call it: “Mana from heaven!”: The UK Telegraph – Nasa warns of fresh risk from £468m satellite falling from space
  • … Some places sound a little too idyllic!: New Scientist – Coconuts and sunshine will power South Pacific islands
  • (EXTRA) That’s just showing off.. Although it would be intimidating to send your enemies a momentary QR code leading them to “www.yourgonnalose.army.gov”..: New Scientist – Stealth tank morphs to transmit QR codes
• Extras:
  • (EXTRA) I could make a crude comment about “Cashing in”, but this project is too cool for that..: CBS News – Google Chrome releases “The Johnny Cash Project”
  • (EXTRA) Turns out, there is much more “maybe” between “yes” and “no”. Is that useful?: Medical Xpress – Being in the ‘no’: questions influence what we remember
  • (EXTRA) Beaten *at rugby*, just to be clear. Not with bats.: Orange – Naked rugby team beaten by women
  • (EXTRA) Regardless of the spooky stuff, this is the best presenter ever: “Rev Lionel Fanthorpe, a judo black-belt, motorcycling, ex-headteacher”.: Wales Online – Cardiff ghost hunter lifts lid on spooky Wales
  • (EXTRA) Yep: life just isn’t fair sometimes.: The UK Daily Mail – Bizarre death of man who suffocated when he became tangled up in a clothes horse
  • (EXTRA) Some people see everything; others (like me) never see a thing. Live still isn’t fair.: The Huffington Post – Whitley Strieber, ‘Communion’ Author, Describes Bizarre Encounter With Mystery Man

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