Show Notes for TWS069: Neither Up Here Nor Down There
On the show this week:
- Death (but not always in a bad way)
- Everything a bigger story in Texas
- Stuff we made up
- Monkey business
- This show is longer on the inside
This week’s Challenge Question:
What is an essential skill that people should know — but they (generally) don’t?
Leave your answer in the comments, send your email to wierdshow[[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.
Full links to all stories covered and many more after the jump!
- Theme Song: Caffeine by Grubspoon from The Podsafe Music Network
- Death (but not always in a bad way)
- Death by gaslight? – Lancashire Evening Post: ‘I’m not dead’, says gas bill gran
- Keep an eye on this one.. Cthulhu might have done something to him.. – Ananova: Sailor back from the dead
- Who ya gonna call? Um… anyone else? – Ananova: Sailor’s SOS to local pub
- It’s like National Lampoon meets Weekend At Bernie’s.. – The Oregonian: Family finishes RV trip with grandmother’s body
- Better than a conventional alarm, DEADbolts! ensure that your home is protected tireless 24/7. – Metro: Corpse surprise for burglar
- Wow! That’s a big gym! – Inside Bay Area/Los Angeles Times: Remains of 12,000 American Indians stored under UC Berkeley gym
- Columbus sailed the ocean very blue indeed… – New Scientist: Columbus blamed for spread of syphilis
- EXTRA: The notions of “natural” and “history” are always subject to human intervention, both good and bad.. – New Scientist: Early settlers drained marshy US landscape
- Everything a bigger story in Texas
- First, give a basic, direct and reasonable account.. – msnbc/AP: Dozens in Texas town report seeing UFO
- … mix in a more eye-catching title… – nbc5i: UFO Frenzy Takes Hold In Stephenville
- … now, try to debunk it… – NBCI/Frank Warren Blog: Pilot Says He Can Explain Stephenville UFO Sightings
- … let’s start over again, with a remixed title… – USA Today: Dozens report seeing UFOs over Texas town
- … and now, let’s call it a disease… – Star-Telegram: UFO fervor has spread far beyond Stephenville
- … call into question people’s motivations… – Dallas News: Report of UFO thrusts Stephenville into limelight
- Putting the whole story together: in short, shoddy reporting being used to minimize the importance of the real story. Fascinating. – Bad Astronomy: No alien signal
- The final version of the story: shorter, more cautious and ultimately unsatisfying. – KTVU: ‘ET’ Signal May Have Natural Cause
- EXTRA: Imagine that, someone re-examining old evidence of some of the biggest mysteries of mankind; puts those silly “Kennedy assasination” investigations to shame. – Truman State University Index: Air Force officials re-evaluate past UFO sightings
- Stuff we made up
- Now, all those scifi stories about watching your DNA leftovers really don’t seem so silly, do they? – New Scientist: First cloned human embryo created from skin cell
- Local researchers figure out a way to screw coffee in orbit; I can now go into space. – New Scientist: Corkscrew cups could keep space drinks flowing
- Illuminating.. – BBC: ‘Darkest ever’ material created
- Maybe they could use this to find the dark substance. – Next Energy News: Scientists Invent Solar Cell Sheet That Collects Energy at Night
- I can see right through this idea: there is a bigger plan in mind.. – Ananova: Transparent toaster invented
- EXTRA: Igor, fetch the electrodes! – BBC: ‘Spare part heart’ beats in lab
- EXTRA: Once you come to understand the very large, the very small takes on a new perspective… Or: “Whoa.. cosmic, man! Yer blowin’ my mind!” – The New York Times: Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs?
- Monkey business
- I, for one, welcome our chimpazoid companions.. – InformationWeek: Monkey Brains In U.S. Make Robot Walk In Japan
- Which is to say: “We have culture?” – ScienceDaily: Chimpanzees May Build Their ‘Cultures’ In A Similar Way To Humans
- Neither are some humans.. – news24/SA: Chimps are not people – court
- The same reason kids should, really.. – Live Science: Why Chimps Eat Dirt
- This show is longer on the inside
- “What’s that Lassie? The existential nature of modern day living is a corrupting influence on the basic good nature of our soul? And Timmy is stuck down a well?” – New Scientist: Computer decodes dog communication
- EXTRA: So when your little sister starts copying everything you do, just think of it as a learning process: she wants to be you. – New Scientist: Learning language with the singalong neurons
- EXTRA: “Turn left, 100 metres, ahead. You missed the turn off. I see that you are an idiot. Perhaps I will sing to you: THIS IS THE SONG THAT NEVER ENDS, IT JUST …” – New Scientist: ‘Mind-reading’ car keeps drivers focused
- Coming soon to a frozen wastland near you: Jesus on ice! – Ananova: Ice church bans candles
- Normally, you’re supposed to get the cold shoulder *after* being married, aren’t you? – Ananova: Here comes the brrr-ide!
- The coolest instrument I’ve ever heard of. – Ananova: China unveils ice piano
- If you drink enough, you feel young again. No, wait.. – Wired: Red Wine Drug Shows Proof That It Combats Aging
- Turning wine snobs on their noses.. and making marketers feel justified. – CNET: Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10
- Morgellons, the disease which may or may not exist. – Yahoo!/AP: U.S. to study bizarre medical condition
- EXTRA: It took a study for this? Why can’t *I* do these studies? – New Scientist: Long legs really are more sexy
- EXTRA: “Nasty, brutish and short.” Wow, that’s harsh. – New Scientist: Men born short are more prone to violent suicide
- EXTRA: Finally finding a use for those magnetic bracelets? – New Scientist: Iron nanobeads can control immune system
- It’s a matter of timing, really. – Ananova: Young Brits can’t boil an egg
- Really Important Stuff I Didn’t Say
- EXTRA: Mighty Mouse is here to save the day! – BBC: Gigantic fossil rodent discovered
- EXTRA: It’s like all those pennies that are being stored in piggy banks.. Or.. maybe not at all. – Czech Radio: Archaeological collection discovered after relic hunter’s death
- EXTRA: As my media piles up unread, unwatched or unlistened to, I *know* that time is a finite and shrinking commodity. – The Telegraph: Time is running out – literally, says scientist
- EXTRA: Where the sun don’t shine… – New Scientist: Probe returns first image of Mercury’s unseen side
- EXTRA: The rain on the plains stains? – Silver City Sun-News: Environment Dept. probes strange precipitation in Grant County
- EXTRA: As the year draws nearer, people start to realize that people have been saying this for a while. – The Citizen of Laconia: Apocalypse 2012? Some say ancient records foretell end of the world
- EXTRA: MINE! MINE! CTHULHU SAY IT MINE! – BBC: Mr Potato Head makes octopus pal
- EXTRA: A similar incident happened last year, meaning that we should probably beware of sharks. – The Telegraph: Shark virgin birth celebrated in Hungary
- EXTRA: Cryptid resurfaces. – The Southland Times/NZPA: Moa hunting resumes after fresh ‘evidence’
- EXTRA: Sometimes, you only get one chance, so give it your all! – Yahoo!/AP: New tree species found in Madagascar
- EXTRA: Sounds fishy to me… – Cryptomundo: South Africa: New Mermaid Sighting!
- EXTRA: Oh, great.. I *told* you that no good can come of this.. Unless it also applies to humans born in space… – Novosti: Cosmic cockroaches faster developers, Russian scientists say
- EXTRA: Sometimes, it can be useful to have superstition, as it can civilize the primitive minds.. – The Chronicle Live: Bones find casts a spell on workers
- EXTRA: They saw the Light. – Yahoo!/IANS: A million Sabarimala pilgrims witness miracle light
- EXTRA: The best explanation: the TV is big enough that someone crawled inside, and has been living in there. – The News-Press: How to sell a haunted HDTV
- EXTRA: It only looks fun on TV. – Ananova: Man threw himself out with Xmas tree
- EXTRA: Wow.. having kids *can* be really expensive these days.. – Ananova: Teen’s party causes £10,000 damage
- EXTRA: Alas, poor GPS: it threw them, Horatio! – Ananova: Tanks invade hamlet
- EXTRA: Just a *little* one, sheesh! – Metro: Sorry, we just flew a missile into your house
- EXTRA: Apparently, the government is not only morally bankcrupt.. – Washington Post: Wiretaps Are Cut Over Unpaid Bills
- EXTRA: When choosing a life-partner, make sure that they aren’t *too* much like yourself.. – BBC: Parted-at-birth twins ‘married’
- EXTRA: … or is this just an urban myth, propogated for political ends? – The Guardian: Did a pair of twins really get married by mistake?
- EXTRA: I want to start a class-action lawsuit against both the drug dealers and drug users for society pain and suffering… – BBC: Canadian drug victim sues dealer
- EXTRA: “Does this uniform make my ego look fat?” – Ananova: Women PCs in ‘big bum’ protest
- EXTRA: Mobilizing the Chinese Olympic Army. – The Telegraph: No big bums: China prepares Olympic hostesses
- EXTRA: Ar! Granny’s gonna steal yer gold! – Ananova: Council crackdown on pirates
- EXTRA: If moustaches and beards are a sign of societal significance, many people should bow down to me.. and some of the hobos. – Novosti: Rival Egyptian families agree to end
- EXTRA: It takes balls to make this sort of statement. Lots and lots of balls. – Ananova: Great balls of protest
- EXTRA: Aw, nuts! No more low-hanging trucks! – Ananova: Testicles face snip
- EXTRA: Never shove a loaded gun into your pants, no matter what they do on TV. – Metro: Armed robber shoots himself in testicle
- EXTRA: It’s like Bill Cosby’s brother stories crossed with Mad Max. – Ananova: Oh brother!
- EXTRA: Apparently, clowns are scary to everyone. Not me, tho’. – Ananova: Stop clowning around
- EXTRA: Measure twice, embrace once. – Ananova: Dracula coach gaffe
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