Show Notes for TWS073: Hi Tech/Lie Tech
This week’s episode dedicated, at least in spirit, to the late, great Ripley. Such cats are rare. She will be missed.
On the show this week:
- Tech-now-logy
- Big Brother-In-Law
- Secret Dreams of Organs and Animals
- Spare Parts (EXTRAS)
This week’s Challenge Question: (repeat)
What is a current technology or way of doing things that we should revert to an older way of doing?
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
- Tech-now-logy
- Warning: only wear your wash-and-wear clothing when going for a spin.. – The Telegraph: James Bond fanatic creates underwater car
- EXTRA: Ironically, I doubt this floats. – Ananova: Wooden supercar
- EXTRA: Don’t feel pride, Wisconsin; being like another planet’s moon is *not* a compliment. – ScienceDaily: Robot Plumbs Wisconsin Lake On Way To Antarctica, Jovian Moon
- Number 6: one of the predictions made by committee will actually be correct and on-time. – MSN/PC World: Five Sci-Fi Scenarios That Will Come True
- By “great” do you mean “hard” or “important”? Or are we talking ironically here, like “Greatest American Hero”? (The TV show, folks..) – New Scientist: World’s greatest engineering challenges
- “Man to run away by 2030.” followed by “Man accepts fate and marries robot.” – BBC: Machines ‘to match man by 2029’
- Now I *know* that I wasted my grad studies.. – PhysOrg: Grad student invents gravity lamp
- EXTRA: A sufficiently devised scientific premise is indistinguishable from a grad student’s wishful thinking.. – LiveScience: The Science of Fairy Tales
- Step 1: don’t share your water with anyone else. – New Scientist: Tweaking taps for a constantly warm shower
- “Are you eating something?” “Yeah, I need to recharge my phone to continue this call.” – PhysOrg: Electronic tattoo display runs on blood
- Hey! Why does my innoculation scar look like a “biological contamination” symbol? – BBC: Tattoos may help deliver vaccine
- Hmm.. now I’m thinking of those 3D faces coming out of Freddy Kreuger or that alien from Doctor Who as being the ultimate creepy bodymod.. Forget boobs on your leg — how *old school*! – Metro: Leg breast implants go tits up
- EXTRA: “… provides hours of fun for teeny nanobots!” – New Scientist: Paper cargo surfs chemical waves
- I wonder if the Roman Empire had rocket ships and microwave ovens, too.. – BBC: The Romans carried out cataract ops
- I think what they *actually* said was: “Johnson? Get him the hell out of my office! Send him as far as humanly possible away from me!” – New Scientist: NASA urged to focus on sending people to Mars
- EXTRA: Unfortunately “dark matter” does not scan the same as “Spider-man”, or I’d make that joke instead.. – Dose: Web of dark matter spans space
- EXTRA: Apparently, there are lots and lots and *lots* of planets out there. At least, that’s what they are saying this week… – BBC: Planet-hunters set for big bounty
- EXTRA: Mars once also had a Starbucks and a McDonald’s, too.. – New Scientist: Martian crater records aftermath of Amazon-like flood
- EXTRA: “I’m seeing something… It’s almost clear.. It looks like… ” *kachunk* “PLEASE INSERT $1BN TO CONTINUE.” – NewsMonster: Have Scientists Discovered a Way of Peering Into the Future?
- EXTRA: I think that they contacted Hollywood, not the nether world, although I can see where they can be confused.. – Pravda: Russian scientists contact nether world
- Big Brother-In-Law
- Oh, *really*…? Come on — we *all* know that it was *really* an alien artifact, not a spy satellite… Sheesh! – New Scientist/Reuters: Spysat’s fuel tank likely destroyed by US missile
- If I have nothing to hide — why are you watching me? – The Telegraph: Invisible dots left by printers ‘breach privacy’
- As if Nature wasn’t bad enough, mankind has to find ways to cause disasters.. It’s always easier to destroy than rebuild, you fools.. – Wired/Danger Room: Navy Research Paper: ‘Disrupt Economies’ with Man-Made ‘Floods,’ ‘Droughts’
- It’s like the “One Red Paperclip” or “Trading Nothing” folks.. Or for the technically minded: a real-life “escalating privelege attack”. – Sympaticon-MSN/CTV: Late DVDs lead to criminal charge for Que. couple
- For better or worse — I hate you. – New Scientist: On the origins of human spite
- It’s one thing to have unconscious reactions, and quite another to succumb to them without thought. – New Scientist: Racial stereotyping persists in ‘non-racists’
- EXTRA: At first, I thought: “is it any better than the TV?”, but then I realized that it boosts controlling things *with* your brain.. – New Scientist: Brain blanket boosts mind control
- EXTRA: Obviously, it isn’t going to be missed, if no one noticed it disappearing.. Also: this is far from the first case I’ve heard of. – Metro: Czech police wonder where bridge has gone
- EXTRA: Now, your taxes really *could* bleed you dry.. – Ananova: Taxmen demand blood
- EXTRA: It’s much more successful than the “angry musk” they were using before.. – Ananova: Oranges calm criminals!
- EXTRA: When you can’t stop ’em, sponsor ’em. – Ananova: Green light for boy racers
- Secret Dreams of Organs and Animals
- EXTRA: Now, who gets to be the copycat clone requestor? – News24/SA: Koreans get 1st dog clone order
- EXTRA: You just *know* they are going to make pets outta these. Hmm.. WANT! – National Geographic: Mini-Pterodactyl Found in China
- EXTRA: Does that make the bug a pusher or a dealer? – BBC: Gecko ‘begs’ insect for honeydew
- EXTRA: Yeah, well.. Really *small* dinos.. – ABC Australia/Reuters: ‘Devil’ frog ate dinos for breakfast
- EXTRA: I dunno.. some pets I’ve seen have pretty specialized skills such as begging for food or getting petted, but hardly seem interested in higher maths or housework.. And they can’t seem to hold a conversation worth anything.. – New Scientist: Animals are smart, but not savants
- EXTRA: A picture worth a thousand “OH GOD! GET IT AWAY FROM ME!”‘s. – Ananova: Baby ray’s alien smile
- EXTRA: Porcine primadonna paints pretty pictures, probably pretty popular. – Ananova: ‘Pigcasso’ stuns art world
- EXTRA: Guy goes nuts, in a tree? *groan* – The Telegraph: Man starves himself to death in treehouse
- EXTRA: Better “dead drunk” than “drunk dead”, I always say.. … What? – News24/SA: Driver ‘dead drunk’, says cop
- EXTRA: He wasn’t blind — he was just recovering from a Roman cataract surgery! – News24/SA: ‘Blind’ man caught driving
- EXTRA: Impatience is not a virtue; out patients’ is often full. – Ananova: Driver used IV while driving
- EXTRA: Hannibal Lector’s dream come true.. – The Guardian: Teenager with four kidneys wants to become organ donor
- EXTRA: Apparently, “just for storage” is not a good answer to “have you had any alcohol to drink tonight”.. – BBC: Driving ban for ‘human pelican’
- EXTRA: How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice… and go left at the lights. – New Scientist: Hard graft, not genes, creates musical genius
- EXTRA: Yeah.. but will it save you on car insurance? – New Scientist: ‘Gecko foot’ band-aids could promote healing
- EXTRA: This is kinda like saying: “more water means more wetness”… – New Scientist: More people mean more disease
- EXTRA: Speaking for all men who want to have sex with women *ever again*, I say: suppress this research! – New Scientist: Ultrasound nails location of the elusive G spot
- EXTRA: I’m sure they just need to be convinced to assimilate, and give up their original (bacteria, viral, genetic) culture.. – New Scientist: Organ transplants without lifelong immunosuppressants
- EXTRA: I dunno. Worked pretty well for the cat. *sniff* – New Scientist: Are catnaps as beneficial as actual sleep?
- EXTRA: Well, her childhood is over, but she’ll likely be well taken care of when she becomes a grandmother (at 30). – Ananova: Mother of seven at 16
- EXTRA: Just because acupuncture is older, doesn’t mean that there are scam artists — just like all medicine. Or, she really shouldn’t have slept on the “puncture-pedic” mattress! – Ananova: Woman had springs in her body
- EXTRA: I can hardly wait until we consider “120” to be “spring chicken”.. Of course, I’d have to wait 90 years to find out, myself.. – Ananova: World’s oldest person?
- EXTRA: I hope, at least, that the meal wasn’t terrible. – Ananova: F word bill upsets diners
- EXTRA: Now, little ol’ ladies can beat each other up virtually as well as verbally. – Ananova: WI ladies take up boxing (virtually)
- Spare Parts (EXTRAS)
- EXTRA: If it had been the US or Canada, I would have been more surprised.. – Discovery Channel: Druid Grave Unearthed in U.K.?
- EXTRA: This cache does *not* include the recently discovered relative, by the way.. – The Dallas Morning News: Exclusive: Dallas County DA’s office finds cache of JFK memorabilia
- EXTRA: The Russian Roswell? Is there a tour? – Ananova: Russia builds £3m UFO centre
- EXTRA: Of course, they just contract it out. Sheesh! Once, the leaders used to do this for themselves! – The UK Evening Chronicle: Who you gonna call for bumps in the night? … The council
- EXTRA: Sometimes, being a ghostbuster really stinks.. “He slimed me!” “Uh, that’s not *slime*, Ray!” Ewwww. – The Daily Mail: Ghostbuster called in after sewage workers stalked by ‘zombie’ in underground tunnels
- EXTRA: For bar mitsvahs, weddings, company meetings, CD launch parties.. – The Courier Mail/The Sunday Mail: Exorcisms in big demand
- EXTRA: It’s not what you are on the outside that counts.. it’s how you *paint* the outside that counts! – BBC: ‘Jesus’ cosmetic row in Singapore
- EXTRA: Maybe they shouldn’t have told them to act like cars on the road.. – Metro: Kids injured in 25-child pile-up
- EXTRA: It’s hard keeping up with current colour trends, ya know! – News24/SA: 120-year paint job set to end
- EXTRA: They fired 30 people because of 1 cockroach. I hope at least one of them was *actually* an exterminator, but I fear not… – Ananova: TV cockroach causes outrage
- EXTRA: I just use regular cookie cutters to make maple-leave and heart-shaped eggs! And then I eat them myself, all alone… 🙁 – Ananova: Start the day with a bang!
- EXTRA: Somehow, this feels like it *should* be the ultimate prize.. Then again, to live one’s life well just so you can have a proper burial seems a bit futile.. – Ananova: Win a burial plot
- EXTRA: Location, location, inflation! – Ananova: £150,000 for dilapidated shed
- EXTRA: Not to be confused with John Cage’s magnificent work — even dogs can’t appreciate *that*. – Ananova: Silent CD tops charts
- EXTRA: Dare I quote the movie? “Go Flock Yourselves!” – Ananova: Pastor tells flock to have sex – every day
- EXTRA: He would’ve succeeded too, but he kept hitting the “mute” button rather than the “off” button. – Ananova: Man threatened to blow up city with TV remote
- EXTRA: “Hey cabbie — can ya break a $1000 bill?” – Local6/IBS: Police: Robber Fled Bank In Taxi
- EXTRA: Such cons don’t cut it. (The cheese, that is.) – The Telegraph: Madame made millions in ‘magic cheese con’
- EXTRA: One hand: do we destroy history if we don’t let it age? Other hand: are we obligated to preserve history? – Yahoo!/Reuters: India’s ageing Taj Mahal gets a mud pack face-lift
- EXTRA: This is some magical ceremony I’m not aware of; what level priest do you need? – Ananova: Worker turned into a gargoyle
Podcast: Play in new window | Download