Show Notes for TWS070: Good, Ugly, Bad: They’re all WEIRD

On the show this week:

• Rainbows and Kittens (Good)
• Madness and Phantoms (Ugly)
• Death and Destruction (Bad)
• Unclassifiable

This week’s Challenge Question:
Should we attempt to save all endangered species — or let “nature” take its course?
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.

Full links to all stories covered and many more after the jump!

• Theme Song: Caffeine by Grubspoon from The Podsafe Music Network
• Rainbows and Kittens (Good)
  • We won’t know if it worked for 799 more years. – io9: Geneticists Discover a Way to Extend Lifespans to 800 Years
  • Modern science starts to sound like ancient Egyptian magical invocation: Ras, Tor, Thoth.. – PLoS Genetics: Calorie restriction-induced life span extension depends on Rim15 and stress response transcription factors downstream of Ras/cAMP/PKA, Tor and Sch9
  • Basically, if you survive being an inbred child, you can survive anything. – New Scientist: Inbred humans live to a ripe old age
  • EXTRA: Why you should not always make passes at your maid. – Hong Kong Herald/IANS: Vietnam maid’s Taiwan boss is her long-lost father
  • I dunno.. I’ve see the wrinkles on trees. – Science Daily: How Some Plants And Animals Appear To Defy The Aging Process
  • Imaginary friends are just as good as real ones. We find that comforting, don’t we Gargoyle Buddy? – PhysOrg: People not always needed to alleviate loneliness
  • To bad all the short stuff is also the nasty stuff. – Scientific American: Longest Piece of Synthetic DNA Yet
  • Let’s hope this idea soaks more than investors. – New Scientist: Pitter-patter of raindrops could power devices
  • EXTRA: My computer hums too much as it is, although ultrasonics versus fan noise.. Hmm… – New Scientist: Bubble-busting sounds could keep chips cool
  • “Please state the nature of your diplomatic emergency.” – Ananova: Beam me up, Charlie!
  • EXTRA: Heck, if religion worked for so long, why not use modern iconography as a motivator for the people? It’s either little green men and sasquatch or the Hoff and Survivor – you decide. – LiveScience: How UFOs and Bigfoot Could Save Earth
• Madness and Phantoms (Ugly)
  • Nothing to see here, move along. – CBS11: Texas UFO Mystery Solved?
  • Oops! Apparently we *were* flying non-secret military training exercises conveniently where the sightings were — how silly of us to forget that! – The Dallas Morning News: Military’s report of planes flying in area of UFO reports is fueling debate
  • Homey Airport: appealing to the hip-hop generation? – AirForceTimes: Area 51 designated with a new name
  • Burying the truth under mountains of boredom and incompetence. – Yorkshire Post: The truth is out there… and it’s a bit of a letdown
  • EXTRA: Proof that good designs are kept on ice. – Ananova: Britain’s oldest fridge?
  • Unidentified Frozen Object. – Edmonton Sun: Visitor from space?
  • To dive into frozen water, balls would be involved. – 680 News/CP: Alta golf course neighbours dive into mystery hole, come up with balls
  • A cross between “The Thinker” and the skunk ape: “The Stinker”. – The Daily Mail: Life on Mars? Amazing photos from Nasa probe reveal mystery figure on Red Planet
  • For those about to have a sighting, we rock. – Local6: NASA: Mystery Creature On Mars Is Wind-Carved Rock
  • The second Virgin model is named Eve? What the hell?!? – New Scientist: Virgin Galactic unveils model of SpaceShipTwo
  • CO2 clouds, a tree’s dream. – FoxNews/Space.com: Strange Clouds Spotted in Martian Atmosphere
  • EXTRA: Hello -lo -lo -lo? Can you hear me -me -me -me? Or, Time Travel Is Done With Mirrors. – New Scientist: Supernova ‘echoes’ are a window to the galaxy’s past
  • EXTRA: A lot of effort just to bombard the earth with space darts; perhaps as an emergency escape route? “Quick, fold us a space plane – we gotta get outta here!” – Ananova: Paper space dart
  • Only certain vessels are allowed into the Cycling lane. – News.com.au/Reuters: No reincarnations without approval
  • The God Squad? I don’t remember this being added to the Olympic roster – I’d watch it if they did! – The Baltic Times/BNS: Exorcists form dream team
  • Come on in, sit down, take a spiritual load off. – Novosti: (O) Poland opens first exorcism center
  • EXTRA: A trick of the light, or does not one want to admit to harbouring a fugitive? – The Daily Mail: Mysterious ‘ghostly’ face of child appears in mobile phone photo of teen pals
  • This man is a prince or living god to some, I’m sure. – Ananova: Hairiest man seeks new love
  • EXTRA: Flour power? Or hair balls of doom? – The Sun Journal: Mysterious, doughy blob clogs sewer
  • EXTRA: Apparently, Martin Luther King Day is not a happy day. – Ananova: Blue Monday
  • Down with follicular terroristm! – Novosti: (O) Rival Egyptian families agree to end
  • Another example of hairorists. – Metro: Hair thieves have struck again
  • EXTRA: How did I forget about this story? *handwave* What story? – BBC: Force strong for new Jedi church
  • EXTRA: An annual mystery; very Poe-etic. – Yahoo!/AP: Mystery man’s annual visit to Poe grave
  • EXTRA: Well, they *do* call it a “wake”. – News24/SA: Man wakes up at his own wake
  • EXTRA: “Now, take that little metal pick and shove it directly into the fleshy part by the tooth. Twist it a bit for the full effect. Hold it like that, I have another call..” – Ananova: Dentist offers online check-ups
  • EXTRA: How likely administrative error turns into a miracle. – The Sydney Morning Herald: Transplant girl’s blood change a ‘miracle’
  • EXTRA: We are what we know. – New Scientist: Is information essential for life?
  • EXTRA: Augmented reality? Maybe cyberpunk really is real! – Science Daily: Contact Lenses With Circuits, Lights A Possible Platform For Superhuman Vision
  • EXTRA: Sounds like a leftover Christmas gift. – Physorg: Could the Universe be tied up with cosmic string?
  • EXTRA: Never be tempted to walk. – New Scientist: Lazy option is best when waiting for the bus
  • EXTRA: A primer for those who failed the previous story. – Ananova: How to catch a bus…
  • EXTRA: Dog spelled backward is god. Proof that there is no god. Or that dogs are the anto-christ. – Metro: Animal of pray
  • EXTRA: The fickle finger of fate found firmly for fish. – The Sunday Times: Scientists find missing link – and it’s a fish finger
  • EXTRA: Apparently, flight is achieved by just shrugging, with wings. – News24/SA: How birds took to flight…
• Death and Destruction (Bad)
  • Politically Correct 2.0? – Ananova: Three Little Pigs story “too offensive”
  • EXTRA: And this little pig went.. nowhere. Nothing to see here. Move along. – Wired/Danger Room: Big Brother’s Animal Farm; Gov’t Program to Track Every Beast – Except Pigs
  • EXTRA: Be afraid. No, really. – Wired/Danger Room: Pentagon Explores ‘Human Fear’ Chemicals; Scare-Sensors, ‘Contagious’ Stress in the Works?
  • The largest asteroid WE KNOW OF in 22 years.. – New Scientist: Largest asteroid to come near Earth in 22 years
  • “You say Hello. I say Goodbye.” – New Scientist: New monkey species is already endangered
  • “I’m out of ammunition!” “Here, quick! Sniff my handkerchief!” “ACHOO!” “That’s got ‘im!” – New Scientist: Human sniffles kill endangered chimps
  • At a certain point, are we just prolonging misery? – the Guardian: Drive to save weird and endangered amphibians
  • EXTRA: Not really any more comforting, really. – News24/SA: Ancient tribe sacrificed boys
  • EXTRA: Yeah, but are they boy skulls or girl skulls? – Reuters: China hails “greatest discovery since Peking Man”
  • EXTRA: This could be really bad. No more honey crullers. (Or fruit.) – The Telegraph: Honeybees may be wiped out in 10 years
• Unclassifiable
  • EXTRA: My solution is: stop answering the phone at 3am! – BBC: Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep
  • EXTRA: Now *that’s* “survivor”! – Ananova: Trapped paramedic ate rotten meat
  • EXTRA: So there *is* something worse than just having a song stuck in your head! – The Daily News: Sean Paul song gave her seizures
  • EXTRA: Forget bringing a gun to school, just build the place on a munitions dump and be done with it. – CBS: 400 Lbs. Of WW II Bombs Found At School
  • EXTRA: And I can’t even take my mini-thief on the plane without putting him or her in a plastic baggie.. – Der Speigel: Mini-Thief Packed in Luggage Robbing Swedish Buses
  • EXTRA: I’m trying to figure out how you think you could hide one bird on a *bicycle*, let alone several. – Ananova: Feathers fly at border patrol
  • EXTRA: Like the bus driver was likely the perfect picture of humanity.. – Ananova: Goth and ‘pet’ banned from bus
  • EXTRA: Sometimes, these stories are so inevitable.. – Ananova: ‘Theft-proof’ police car stolen
  • EXTRA: I have to ask: just why did they think this was warranted? Are they all that bored? Or just incompetent? – Metro: Man sparks world’s biggest police chase
  • EXTRA: It’s like a sadder version of the Arthur Dent story. – Metro: ‘Where’s my house gone?’ asks woman
  • EXTRA: Put another tale on the barbie.. – News.com.au/The Australian: Bizarre weather sends hay bales up in flames
  • EXTRA: Is that what keeps the Secret World warm? – New York Times: Scientists Find Active Volcano in Antarctica
  • EXTRA: Special delivery! Man, those really good hotels really can get you anything at 2am! – Metro: Hotel guest gets an eyeful in the night
  • EXTRA: Proving that it doesn’t take irrationality to be a UFO researcher, nor does it take rationality to be a debunker. – UFO Digest: Debunking the UFO Debunkers
  • EXTRA: Is it that time of the month again? Oh wait.. it is.. – Novosti: Man who claims to be ‘Redeemer of Islam’ arrested in Cairo
  • EXTRA: NOOOOO! Is there no human skill which is sacred? – New Scientist: Computer learns to out-munch humans at Pac-Man
  • EXTRA: Can they transplant this to *New* York? – ABC Australia: Rat-eating plant discovered in Cape York
  • EXTRA: Personally, I’ve cut back to one container a day. – The Boston Globe: Is plastic making us fat?
  • EXTRA: Faster pussycat, KILL! KILL! KILL! – LiveScience: Humans Crave Violence Just Like Sex
  • EXTRA: Apparently, culture is akin to every other experience and learning we have. Huh, go figure. – Yahoo!/LiveScience: Culture Fundamentally Alters the Brain

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