Show Notes for TWS081: On the Vinge of Speaking of Space Mistakes
On the show this week:
- NASA vs the 13 year old German
- Speak Your Mind/Mind Your Speak
- Oregon FTW (For The Water)
- Hellth
- Stuff I didn’t get to
- Last cup.
This week’s Challenge Question:
Do you believe there was a somewhat advanced ancient island civilization (e.g. Mu, Atlantis, Rly’eh) that was swept away into the sea?
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
- Responses
- Thanks to: Bruce, Bruce and more Bruce..
- NASA vs the 13 year old German
- Oh, no he didn’! SNAP! – PhysOrg: German schoolboy, 13, corrects NASA’s asteroid figures: paper
- No, *really*: he didn’t! – The Register: Schoolboy’s asteroid-strike sums are wrong
- I wonder how many people double-checked the press release.. – NASA: NASA Statement on Student Asteroid Calculations
- A longer explanation of the matter. Case closed. NASA never makes schoolboy errors. Leave that to the ESA. (Snap!) – New Scientist: No truth to claims that 13-year-old found NASA error
- See, no mistakes here.. It was that pesky “sun” thing.. – New Scientist: Pioneer spacecraft mystery may be laid to rest
- Didn’t I see something like that in The Great Yokai War? Or some Japanese anime? – New Scientist: Giant robots could carry lunar bases on their backs
- Apparently, this stuff that is so abundant and massive that it knocks off galactic calculations can’t really be seen or experienced except by top scientists in a lab.. Or: Where’s this mysterious Dark Matter? Oh! *There* it is, over there, beside the rutabaga.. Look! Right there! Follow my finger! I’m pointing *right* at it! – New Scientist: Dark matter may have been found on Earth
- Speak Your Mind/Mind Your Speak
- Ug ug ug. (Translated: Although my speech capabilities may have been limited, do not take this as a sign of a lack of intelligence, or that I might not have sophisticated ways of connecting together abstract symbols using a complex positional and tonal grammar, combined with a physical expression such as browridge flexing or beating upon the ground. Ug.) – Yahoo!/AFP: Grunt work: Scientists make Neanderthals speak again
- Unfortunately, *not* made from an actual fish. Probably also not going to make God disappear in a puff of logic, either. – New Scientist: ‘Babelfish’ to translate alien tongues could be built
- EXTRA: It’s not what you think. (Well, actually, it probably is.) – Ananova: Man ‘targeted by aliens’
- EXTRA: If we meet the aliens, are they going to be just like us? – Space.com: A Shadow of Ourselves
- EXTRA: “So remember, when you’re feeling very small and insecure, \ How amazingly unlikely is your birth, \ And pray that there’s intelligent life somewhere up in space, \ ‘Cause there’s bugger all down here on Earth.” — Monty Python, “The Galaxy Song” – MSNBC/Space.com: Study dampens hopes of finding E.T.
- EXTRA: Warning: the media ay be out to confuse you and misinform you. Particularly when they themselves are tricked. – Inexplicata Blog: Spain: Sightings Were a MEDIA HOAX
- EXTRA: They’re not out to get you — they’re out to get *us all*.. – Psych Central: Paranoid Thoughts Are Relatively Common
- Just watch Strange Days. Or read much scifi from the 70s. – New Scientist: Brainwave-reading headphones need no batteries
- Ok, now, let’s play it by the numbers.. – PhysOrg: The new shape of music: Music has its own geometry, researchers find
- EXTRA: Well, they ain’t a part of *my* family! – Yahoo!/AP: Crawling fish may be part of new family
- EXTRA: Smells fishy to me.. – BBC: Ancient serpent shows its leg
- I think of it more like the difference in time between seeing an explosion and hearing it. – Wired: Brain Scanners Can See Your Decisions Before You Make Them
- EXTRA: When you boil it down, it’s all about the pleasure/pain balance.. – BBC: Hormones ‘may fuel market crises’
- EXTRA: The punchline: they replaced it with Baywatch. (No joke.) So, don’t be skeptical, just follow the bouncing boobs. – Reuters: Venezuela axes “The Simpsons” as bad for kids
- EXTRA: Giving kids eggs to prevent rowdy behaviour? I can see a lot of places getting egged, courteousy of the state.. – Ananova: Eggs-tra care at playtime
- EXTRA: Jackassery is not limited to Wikipedia, and at least there it is easier to fix. – Ananova: Pennine village ‘devastated by tapeworm’
- Talk Nerdic to me, baby! – Ananova: Geek speak catches on
- Oregon FTW (For The Water)
- EXTRA: It is as the books have foretold: “And yea, make way for the return of the Great Oak Ones..” – MSNBC/Reuters: Scientists discover 8,000-year-old trees
- EXTRA: Unsurprisingly, they found stuff at Stonehenge. Kinda just as surprising as finding bricks at the Pyramids or a Darth Vader helmet in Cheney’s closet. – BBC: ‘Breakthrough’ at Stonehenge dig
- “And yea, from the sea shall they rise, the splinter cells foretelling of the coming of the older branches of their kind, whose roots go back in the community..” – KGW.com: Beachgoers find ‘ghost forest’ along Oregon Coast
- Holey ship! It’s a-boat time I found this wreck of a story! – KGW.com/AP: (O) Mystery ship revealed deep in sand on Ore. Coast
- Birth quake? Or some stirring of horrible demi-gods in forgotten depths? – Science Daily: Unusual Earthquake Swarm Off Oregon Coast Puzzles Scientists
- rumblerumblerumbleRUMBLE… splishsplishSPLASH… hisshissRAINSTORM! – New Scientist: Earthquake sensors track rise in ocean storms
- EXTRA: Cthulhu has also requested the 25-hour day.. – National Geographic: Electrified Deep Earth Changing Length of Day
- EXTRA: A small ray of hope in the murky depths of our future. Next lifeform after us better be coral-based. – New Scientist: Nuked coral reef bounces back
- EXTRA: It’s like saying “Do to your history of violence, you’re going to be able to deal with the warring future better.” Yeah, but… – Wired: (O) We’ve Been Changing the Climate for Eons, and That’s Reason for Hope
- EXTRA: Even the flowers won’t smell as good in the future.. 🙁 – ScienceDaily: Flowers’ Fragrance Diminished By Air Pollution, Study Indicates
- Ok, that’s enough, Chile! If you can’t hold on to your lakes, then it’s no lakes for you! – Inexplicata Blog: Chile: One of Our Lakes is Missing
- In 92 years, half of my province will likely be underwater. Until some smart-ass German schoolboy corrects my math, of course. – New Scientist: Sea levels ‘will rise 1.5 metres by 2100’
- Californian earthquakes are a surprising as Hollywood movies. Recycle, Rince, Reuse, Repeat. – New Scientist: Giant quake will trash Los Angeles, say forecasters
- Somehow I think they should have done more research on the name.. Make me thing of a toilet bowl plunger or a diaretic.. – MSNBC/LiveScience: Is it a bird? A plane? No, it’s a Flogo!
- Definitely *not* in the shape of a peace symbol.. – New Scientist: Curious cloud formations linked to quakes
- Hooray! Wait.. *why* do they want to do this again? Ah, nevermind: lazers and lightning! Hooray! – EurekAlert/OSA: Laser triggers electrical activity in thunderstorm for the first time
- EXTRA: Finally, the return of STEAM POWER? (Well, no… but perhaps the steampunk style can be apparent.) – New Scientist: Victorian pistons to cool space-age electronics
- EXTRA: I hate it when my subs drag my skin. Should use less mayo. Or: “Should the wing look like that? Yeah, it’s a real drag.” – New Scientist: Shape-shifting skin to reduce drag on planes and subs
- EXTRA: Get a grip on life (gently). – New Scientist: Tiny robotic hand has the gentlest touch
- EXTRA: Because love and roads already have too many songs. – Ananova: Internet song mocks T5 troubles
- EXTRA: Cheeky monument or the butt of the joke? – Ananova: Bum salute to Hitler’s home town
- EXTRA: Symbols fall victim to peer pressure. – Ananova: School’s witch ban
- EXTRA: Not the time you want to find bugs in your code… – Ananova: Ultimate nerd wedding proposal
- EXTRA: “Hooray! I won the prize! Thanks for the party and stuff. Can I invite my wife?” – Ananova: Lads’ mag offers free divorce
- EXTRA: He wanted a hand of a woman in marriage. Instead, he found a farmhand man. – Ananova: Lonely farmer’s wedding night letdown
- EXTRA: Hey! Don’t knock it! The goat produces milk, and never complains about your cooking. 😉 – Ananova: Man swaps wife for goat
- EXTRA: Um, Tai Chi is largely based off of repetitive farmer moves, so this is udderly appropriate. – The Exeter Express and Echo: TAI CHI FARMER KNOWS THE MOOVES
- EXTRA: Show off! (cool) – Ananova: Kung Fu king’s steel shoe challenge
- EXTRA: The all-bean diet blew it all out his colon. – Ananova: Beanz meanz lean
- EXTRA: Bang, bang, BOOM? – Ananova: Farmer used live missile as anvil
- EXTRA: Every time you hear someone mention a drinking game, take a drink. – Ananova: Binge-drinking PC game ‘irresponsible’
- Hellth
- EXTRA: Ok, so we *really* need to find an alternative now.. – Yahoo!/AP: Germs in soil find antibiotics tasty
- EXTRA: Well, other than satisfying your thirst and say, keeping alive. Other than that, nothing. – The Telegraph: No benefit in drinking eight glasses of water a day, scientists say
- EXTRA: Is there something about our bits and pieces that carries on beyond our life? Or is it just the stories that carry on and infest our present? – MSNBC/AP: Man with suicide victim’s heart takes own life
- EXTRA: More spiritual possession of spooky organs? – The Daily Mail: I was given a young man’s heart – and started craving beer and Kentucky Fried Chicken. My daughter said I even walked like a man
- EXTRA: I could make a tastless joke about being well-suited for politics, but I won’t. (Or did I just do so?) – The UK Times: Baby born in India with two faces is worshipped as goddess Durga
- EXTRA: Deadbeats always get booted first. – CBC: Body bumped from flight to make way for luggage: family
- EXTRA: I love the hypocracy that suggests that only modern science can validate such claims, despite folkloric examples.. – USA Today: Viper venom examined to save stroke sufferers Robert Davis
- EXTRA: Amazing! So synthetic chemicals are still no match for the natural world? Granted, vamping on alligators is unlikely to be a common practice. – Underwater Times: Scientists: Alligator Blood May Put The Bite On Antibiotic-resistant Infections
- EXTRA: Hooray! Are you panicked yet? Hooray! – BBC: Vitamins ‘may shorten your life’
- EXTRA, FOLLOWUP: His achievements include eating a banana. Kinda humbling. – The UK Telegraph: Tree man ‘who grew roots’ hopes to marry after 4lb of warts removed
- EXTRA: Flake or innovator? The real invention of the guy who made salt-water burn. – CBS News: The Kanzius Machine: A Cancer Cure?
- EXTRA: Losing your sense of smell would really stink. – New Scientist: Asthma drug can restore lost sense of smell
- EXTRA: Woman gets the shaft. Fortunately, so does some other guy. – Ananova: Fancy meeting you here!
- EXTRA: It’s like extreme ironing competitions for falling. – Ananova: Snowmobiler survives 1,500ft fall
- EXTRA: Even the corpsicles are thawing a bit. Hooray Spring! – The San Franscisco Chronicle/AP: Details Emerge on Calif. Frozen Body
- EXTRA: I hope they had proof that life was worse for the kids, and not just an unreasoning hatred of alternative lifestyles.. – The Salt Lake Tribune: Texas raid: 401 FLDS kids in custody
- Stuff I didn’t get to
- EXTRA: Is this more insulting to clowns or hobbits? And does this mean we can finally accept it as a new species? – New Scientist: Flores ‘hobbit’ walked more like a clown than Frodo
- EXTRA: I say, go for it; shake up the royalty a bit. – The UK Telegraph: Act repeal could make Franz Herzog von Bayern new King of England and Scotland
- EXTRA: Grad students: be careful if your prof studies interesting and controversial things, you’re likely to end up learning something about the stodginess of your university.. – The Sudbury Star: Students allowed to appeal Laurentian decision
- EXTRA: In short: yes, if others want to have a nuclear war, we are all involved.. – Wired: ‘Regional’ Nuclear War Would Cause Worldwide Destruction
- EXTRA: It won’t keep your house warm in the winter, but it may make your laptop not so warm. – ScienceDaily: Newly Discovered Fundamental State Of Matter, A Superinsulator, Has Been Created
- EXTRA: Further proof that the patent system really supports the little guy.. unfortunately. – Ananova: Inventor, 5, patents new broom
- EXTRA: That fowl-mouthed canard better get some protection, or he’s goin’ *down*! – Metro: Duck gets legal protection
- EXTRA: The tiny saddle industry is ecstatic. – BBC: Rare seahorses breeding in Thames
- EXTRA: Yay? I’m breathless with anticipation.. – ScienceDaily: First Lungless Frog Discovered
- EXTRA: Oh, wait.. this is the fowl-mouthed bird… Hey Charlie! Call off the hit on that duck! – The Daily Mail: Who’s a pretty naughty boy? Barney the foul-mouthed parrot teaches other birds how to swear at tourists
- EXTRA: Police are combing for suspects; they’re planning a sting. – Sign On San Diago/The Union-Tribune/AP: Africanized bees sting Mexican police, at least 70 hospitalized
- EXTRA: But no real-life John. Or lasagna. Mmm… lasagna.. – Ananova: Real life Garfield
- EXTRA: Hunter Ant class specialty at level 20: feign death. And who says life isn’t like WoW? – MSNBC/LiveScience: Young fire ants curl up and (pretend) die
- EXTRA: BACTERIAL ALLIANCE FORM SUPERBUG — SANJO! – MSNBC/LiveScience: Gut bacteria species becoming one
- EXTRA: The Lizardman is a genuine Sasquatch. WTF? – The North Carolina State: Bigfoot in S.C.? | Experts: “it’s the real deal”
- EXTRA: Um… Dumbo was a *cartoon*, folks. Elephants have *never* flown. (Much.) – New Scientist: Dumbo didn’t fly — he swam
- EXTRA: Well, it’s not like the dead could take it with them.. – The Telegraph: Priest ‘made £3m from fake exorcisms’
- EXTRA: Before, he was just in a mental chase from the hospital. – 11Alive/NBC: Man In Mental Hospital After Chase
- EXTRA: What?!? Doesn’t *everyone* have a skeleton (or, in this case, rotting corpse) in their closet? And didn’t I see this on Millenium or CSI? – CNN/AP: Decomposing body found in dead woman’s closet
- EXTRA: And not as in “batter is stirred” either. No baking involved. – The Malay Star: Pontianak in video causes a stir
- EXTRA: Jesus is really bored.. or a real prankster. Jerk. – Local6: Image In Hospital Brings Some To Tears, Prompts E-Mails
- EXTRA: Don’t worry — they saw it coming. – The Guardian/The Observer: Psychic crackdown on the cards
- EXTRA: Who’s more superstitious: the guy who buried it, or the guys who insisted on digging it up? – Yahoo!/AP: Yanks unearth Sox jersey at new stadium
- EXTRA: I wonder if they are going to have an exorcism, just in case? – News Day: Paranormal expert says ghosts won’t be moving to new Yankee Stadium Steven Marcus
- EXTRA: He’s living the dream: go from university straight to retirement. – Novsti: Tunisian patient admitted to hospital for 44 years
- EXTRA: Wow! People make *mistakes*? – New Scientist: Tennis line judges fluff one in ten close calls
- EXTRA: Diminished only in physical stature. – The Daily Mail: Giants of the North: The world’s first football team made up entirely of dwarfs
- EXTRA: He’s really a very bad 31. – The Irish Independent: 101-year-old runner’s age questioned by Guinness
- EXTRA: Whatever floats your boat. – Yahoo!/Reuters: Ice-cream stick ship sails for England
- EXTRA: But the real question (completely unaddressed): why was he digging? – BBC: ‘Mole man’s’ £300,000 repair bill
- EXTRA: They can, however, have sex. Or cookies. Probably just cookies. – Yahoo!/AP: Toddlers can no longer marry in Ark.
- EXTRA: That’s only appropriate if that was what she paid in the first place — and women don’t need to pay for sex. – Brisbane Times/AFP: Wife’s $1m loss – her virginity
- EXTRA: Oh no! A return to the bad old days of the Hedgehog Wars. *shudder* – The UK Daily Mail: Man faces five years in jail after hitting a boy with… a hedgehog
- EXTRA: He was his own wheelman. – Yahoo!/AP: Police say man in wheelchair robbed bank
- EXTRA: Did he also sue garbagecans for “insufficient storage”? – The Lancashire Evening Post: Judge sues city for ‘negligently using a mop’
- EXTRA: He prolly saw it in a movie somewhere.. – Ananova: Fireman ‘started blazes to earn overtime’
- EXTRA: I. AM. (NOT.) IRON. MAN. (ACTOR.) – Ananova: Tourist bluffs his way into Hollywood movie
- Last cup.
- EXTRA: I know, it sounds disgusting. But if you eat processed meat, eggs, head cheese or fish, shaddup! If you want to buy me some, I’ll drink it. – Ananova: Cat poo coffee £50 a cup
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