Show Notes for TWS094: “Apocalypse” Rhymes With “Cycle”
On the show this week:
- It Did Not Come From Uranus
- Sometimes, The End Of The World Seems Appropriate
- Big Shoes To Fill
- Shoe Filler (EXTRAS)
This week’s Challenge Question:
When you have died, what should happen your stuff — how much of you should be remembered and kept?
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
- Promo: The International Detective Dragons From Outer Space — A bi-weekly conversation about big pictures, small pictures and many, many out-of-focus pictures in our own mental cameras.
- It Did Not Come From Uranus
- Canadian UFO sightings are up in general in Canada, particularly in my neck of the woods. Still haven’t seen anything of my own, but I’m not staring at the sky enough. – CP: The truth is up there – UFO sightings up in 2007, ufologists find
- According to the “radar logs”, the craft near Stephenville, Texas was fast, big (-ish) and completely unlike human aircraft. I think everyone is describing this as “unbelievable”, despite the evidence. (Why do “radar log” make me think of a series of printouts of the circle sweeps?) – Star-Telegram: Radar tracked unidentified craft near Crawford, group’s report says
- More coverage of the MUFON report about Stephenville, Texas. I think that 2100 mph is nearly Mach 3, which is to say, really fast. – Houston Chronicle/AP: Radar shows large, fast, unexplained object
- Apparently, the Phoenix Lights either come from Washington or Moscow, according to this guy’s theory.. – ABC 15 KNXV-TV: Man claims to know source of ‘Phoenix Lights’ UFO sighting
- This still could be referring to Washington or Moscow, but at least there are aliens involved this time. – BBC: “There are alien bases on earth”
- Another mocking look at the Denver alien voyeur tape of Stan Romanek, this time with blow-up dolls. – Denver Post: “Alien” joins meeting about poking holes in video
- EXTRA: More Denver meetings: Romanek and Peckman show up to talk more about the weak tape evidence and building an intergalactic embassy, and MUFON is there to demonstrate the more believable side.. – CBS 4 Denver: UFO Briefing Held At Denver’s Auraria Campus
- Let’s see: 8% of the American people have see aliens. That works out to … a lot. – Scripps News: Who are the people who have seen a UFO?
- Unimpressive Canadian crop circles, made even less impressive by not being anywhere near me. – Clinton News Record: Crop circles appear at Holmesville
- EXTRA: People are starting to question the “party balloons” theory that was put forth early simply because there would be too many balloons travelling in too many directions — they don’t want to face the possibily of evil, intelligent, self-directed balloons, so aliens looks like a good temporary theory.. – Hounslow Chronicle: Police investigate Hounslow UFOs
- EXTRA: Topsy-turvy sightings down under. – Tenterfield Star: Something in the air
- EXTRA: According to scientists, this just isn’t right: too many stars being born too close together. I have to keep reminding myself that “this isn’t now” when it comes to seeing stellar phenomena… – ScienceDaily: Rare ‘Star-Making Machine’ Found In Distant Universe
- Soon: Mars actually has no landmass, it’s all water and unicorns. 🙂 – Yahoo!/Space.com: Early Mars Was All Wet
- Hopefully, it isn’t just some covert way of doing drug testing.. (Hnh.. never thought I’d want a story to be about collecting urine for “legitimate” reasons..) – Ananova: Leak at Nasa
- Pluto should be happy that it’s category, “plutoids”, is getting new members, but I think that it is now. – New Scientist: Distant solar system body named ‘Makemake’
- EXTRA: I wonder how often prizes are lost because someone thinks “it’ll never happen to me.” – Yahoo!/Reuters: Air hostess picks up chocolate bar, wins space trip
- Sometimes, The End Of The World Seems Appropriate
- The Earth is, apparently, just falling apart with old age. – Fox News/Live Science: Huge Volcanoes May Be Erupting Under Arctic Ice
- If we just *listen* to Gaia, she’ll tell us what we need to know.. – New Scientist: Earth’s hum predicts quake danger spots
- This is really in that “butterfly flaps its way in China” way. Or that “I spit on the sidewalk and cause the moon to crash” way. – Yahoo!/AFP: Global warming may increase kidney stones: researchers
- Forget ghosts and goblins, today’s kid is worry about hydrocarbons and ecological collapse. (And maybe the boogeyman under his bed. Or in politics.) – Discover Magazine: How Much Worry is too Much? Aussie Docs Diagnose “Climate Change Delusion”
- Wait — so light therapy *can* help? Hmm… maybe time to revisit the Arizona Moon Mirror.. – The UK Daily Mail: Dementia patient makes ‘amazing’ progress after using infra-red helmet
- The real cause of the apocalypse! (Just ask the likes of the RIAA..) – New Scientist: UK to get superfast broadband by 2012
- EXTRA: Um.. at the bottom of the sea? Duh! – Tetrapod Zoology Blog: Where are all the dead sea monsters?
- Sometimes, the ends justifies finding the means. – Ananova: Man claims funeral record
- What happens to all of their stuff? To their legacy? And more importantly, do they leave bones behind? – Cryptomundo: When Cryptozoologists Die
- It’s stuff like this which keeps me up at night.. – New Scientist: ‘Sleepless’ gene hints at the nature of slumber
- EXTRA: Poor ‘thal’s didn’t get no love from no one… And then, their show gets cancelled. – New Scientist: First Europeans shunned Neanderthal sex
- EXTRA: The title sounds exciting, but really it’s just a discovery of the mechanism by which that mental stress brought on by short deadlines slowly kills you… – ScienceDaily: Mechanism Behind Mind-body Connection Discovered
- EXTRA: Are the bees vacating the planet as said in Doctor Who, or are they just stumbling around with a cold? – Yahoo!/Reuters: Sick bees lose their buzz, study finds
- EXTRA: Maybe this is why they are getting sick, they’ve been drafted.. – National Geographic: Bees Enlisted to Attack Crows in Tokyo
- EXTRA: I’m sure someone will utter the phrase “bio-terrorism”, and then all the fun will be gone. – RIA Novosti: Protesters unleash cockroaches on local authorities in Madrid
- EXTRA: Evolution at work? Or are they somehow consciously changing their behaviour (Lamarkian evolution)? – New Scientist: Devils get pregnant early to avoid cancer
- EXTRA: Somehow, “hunky mormon calendar” just doesn’t sound plausible to me… – Ananova: Buff missionary calendar
- EXTRA: Or, properly entitled: “How I don’t believe in this stuff and will misquote or misrepresent anyone to prove my point”. – Firefox News: A Skeptical Examination of Psychic Phenomena
- EXTRA: I always thought that “Praise the Lord and pass the ammunition” was a joke. A cruel, horrifying joke. In a way, I was right.. – The Register: Baptist church in assault rifle giveaway
- EXTRA: 1-800-CAUSE-A-WRECK? – BBC: Mexico probes online ‘hitmen ads’
- It’s really scary when weapons meant to handle bears in close proximity makes it to the “street”. It’s mace and high-top sneakers all over again. – Birmingham Mail: Alert on new wasp knife
- This is, perhaps, the third idea, after “barber training” and “dog-walking”.. – The UK Exress: Convicts Hug A Tree To Go Free
- EXTRA: Apparently, she cooked it first, at least. – Yahoo!/AP: Wis. woman accused of placing dead rat in food
- EXTRA: Officials actually *can* prevent the moon from rising.. – Ananova: Mass bum rap
- EXTRA: Note to self: use weedkiller, not torches.. – The UK Daily Record: Pensioner accidentally torches neighbour’s garden while killing weeds with blowtorch
- EXTRA: The BBQ sauce disturbs me less than I find healthy; the salt content alone should bother me on its own. – WWMT: Man found in WI basement covered in BBQ sauce
- EXTRA: It’s like Evil Dead combined with some movie-of-the-week about saving a building.. – The UK Daily Mail: Man cuts off own head with chainsaw after flat is earmarked to be bulldozed by developers
- EXTRA: One Will No Longer Fly Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. – Time: Cuckoo’s Nest Hospital to be Torn Down
- EXTRA: It’s another year, another winner of the chessboxing tournament. – ABC 7News: New sport combines boxing and chess
- Let your kids get scrapes and bruises, or they will be forever wimps. – Ananova: Sack race too risky for kids
- EXTRA: Just because they wanted to change the channel? Change the scenery, ladies! – Ananova: Club bans woman over TV request
- What would you do for $100? – Ananova: Man trades son’s name for petrol
- Big Shoes To Fill
- Some hunters have claimed to have bagged a Yeti, snuffed out a Sasquatch, taken down a skunk ape. Trouble is, they aren’t showing anyone until the lawyers get there. Who knew that Bigfoot have lawyers. (Frozen Caveman lawyer?) – Cryptomundo: History In The Making: Bigfoot Body Taken?
- Describing himself as the world’s only full-time professional Bigfoot hunter, he apparently feels that the thing missing so far was someone who tracks people down in the urban jungle. Yeah.. good luck with that. – The Mercury News/Cupertino Courier: Tracking Bigfoot no small feat for local detective
- There ya go! Easy-peasy way to find proof of a Sasquatch: hire a pro animal killer semi-anonymously via eBay! – Cryptomundo: Hire Me To Find Bigfoot For $150,000!
- Loren Coleman of Cryptomundo and the International Cryptozoology Museum sleuthed out the real identity of the would-be eBay Sasquatch hunter. Turns out, he’s a taxidermist, so always check his kills for stiches and sawdust. – Cryptomundo: Bay’s $150K Bigfoot Hunter Id’ed
- EXTRA: An exit interview with a CFZ team member who just came back from Russia hunting their Yeti, the almasty. Best thought: what did the immigration police think of the dung and bones they brought back with them? – Nick Redfern’s There’s Something in the Woods…: Adam Davies on the Almasty
- Although not much hard evidence found, still interesting, no less than for the skepticism of hoaxers fueled by the fact that no one would likely be that silly or bored. – Cryptmundo: New BC Sasquatch Sighting
- EXTRA: Interestingly enough, they also mention that they might have been the male and female of the same species.. – ScienceDaily: Two Extinct Flying Reptiles Compared: One Was A Glider, The Other A Parachutist
- EXTRA: So, basically, we overfetishize rare things, which leads to high demand but specifically and crucially stagnant supply.. See? Economics *can* kill! – New Scientist: Sturgeon swimming towards ‘extinction vortex’
- EXTRA: Although this sheep has his own pad, he prefers kicking it back in Maa and Daa’s livingroom.. – BBC: Suburban comfort for massive ram
- EXTRA: We’re talking TIE fighter model from the movie, here. Practically worth a category of its own here.. – Ananova: Star Wars model set to fetch a packet
- EXTRA: See what happens when you domesticate some animals? They just get used to all the luxury and haven’t got the brains to have self-control.. – Ananova: Bull christens new pool
- EXTRA: Meet the world’s most prominent algae farmer, a profession long predicted by science fiction authors. – Los Angeles Times: The old man who farms with the sea
- EXTRA: Anything to make my beans heat in half the time! – New Scientist: Exotic ceramic could halve microwave cooking bills
- EXTRA: Apparently, bats are one of the most prolific and varied species on the planet. And yet, still scary. – ScienceDaily: Over 100 Species Of Bats Found Within Several Acres Of Rainforest In Ecuador
- EXTRA: Inspiration taken from nature again. Or: Patent suit #12929293948: Man Vs Nature over the order and priar art of ownership of inventions. – ScienceDaily: Marine Worm’s Jaws Say ‘Cutting-edge New Aerospace Materials’
- EXTRA: Politics should be so exciting here. – BBC: Chile pole dancer arrested
- EXTRA: Despite the weight I gain or lose, my particles are never fat or thin. – Space.com: Particles Retain Weight for Billions of Years
- EXTRA: If you want to convince people of the validity and right-to-exist of witchcraft, use a reality show about psychics judged (in part) by a hawsome witch.. – The West Australian: Bewitching the sceptics
- EXTRA: A little cramped, but hopefully watertight. – Ananova: Home-made submarine
- EXTRA: When computer systems go nuts. – Ananova: Bank customer receives 287 identical letters
- Shoe Filler (EXTRAS)
- EXTRA: Not exactly a “positive work environment”.. – BBC: Hospital puts clamp on ambulances
- EXTRA: Although old, is it really worth finding? I mean, fossilized horse dung? (Then again, I suppose that will tell us what they fed their horses..) – ScienceDaily: Horse Racecourse In Ancient Olympia Discovered After 1600 Years
- EXTRA: Wait.. did North America sink? – The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Search for first Americans to plunge underwater
- EXTRA: It’s like Indiana Jones, but without the danger — except funding danger, of course. – The UK Telegraph: Secret chamber may solve Mexican pyramid mystery
- EXTRA: I believe this is different from the “straw of life” filter, although just as good. – New Scientist: Dirt-repelling tube promises cheap, pure water
- EXTRA: It might also be a Gremlin, if people really are that blind. – ABC 7News: Lion On Loose May Be ‘Big Dog’
- EXTRA: Hey! No fair importing mysteries! – The UK Daily Mail: Natural History Museum experts baffled by new bug found in their own back garden
- EXTRA: Apparently, they believe that a diety is their travel agent. No — really! – The Citizen: Sect members hope for ‘miracle trip’ abroad
- EXTRA: It amazes me that people will see this kind of miracle — and get really excited about it — but the everyday miracles of beaty and knowledge and free thought and free speech are lost on most of them. – The Slough Observer: Miracle of the aubergine
- EXTRA: Can anyone explain this? Do we demand proof? Is this really just projection? – The UK Telegraph: Lorna Byrne: ‘To me, seeing angels is natural’
- EXTRA: Just like its good to let kids get dirty, it might be good for us to get bugged. Great — I just love it when my own espousals are turned against me. – New Scientist: When acquiring mosquito-borne disease is a good thing
- EXTRA: I don’t know about you, but I can feel the little buggers bite! – New Scientist: Painless needle mimics a mosquito’s bite
- EXTRA: They read really, *really* badly, like a high-school student’s failing essay on a test they failed to study for.. – New Scientist: ‘Ten Commandments’ of race and genetics issued
- EXTRA: Eventually, tracing your roots back just gets you related to *everyone*… – Ananova: World’s biggest family tree?
- EXTRA: Exploding fridges mean that Indiana Jones should have been in even more threat.. – The Register: South African survives exploding fridge attack
- EXTRA: According to the article, it costs $200+ for the city to replace them, but they are only worth $20 at the scrap yard. So why isn’t the city buying them from the scrap yard? – Yahoo!/AP: Mich. cities say hundreds of manhole covers stolen
- EXTRA: I’ve been surprised by bats and insects, but never immigrants living in my disused outbuildings.. – The Register: Woman finds Lithuanian living in shed
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