Show Notes for TWS102: The Eve of Distraction
On the show this week:
- Unlikely != Unpossible
- Re: Pocalypse
- Science, the most Nobel of the Asses
- Sidekicks (EXTRA)
This week’s Challenge Question:
Will we ever see actual superheroes?
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 9th Heroescast — One of the other projects I’m involved with is this fancast for the TV show Heroes. If you’re a fan, give it a listen!
- Unlikely != Unpossible
- Garage sales for family heirlooms. – The Yorkshire Evening Post: Wakefield rail fan’s car boot shock
- From the picture, he’s upped the ante and used recycled paper. Next, he’s flying to the Sun with wax and pillow feathers.. – Ananova: Sea trek – by paper boat
- Because if the goats manage to mate during the dry season, they’re screwed… – BBC: Goat ‘condoms’ save Kenyan herds
- All the world to choose from, and the best choices are still right in front of us. – Ananova: Neighbours find love online
- EXTRA: Do opposites still attract, or do we only realistically expect to find a life-mate we share our core substance with? – WebWire: On-line Social Community Launches for the “New Age”
- I would likely have named the kids Heisenberg, Quanta and Statistic… but maybe that’s just me.. – Ananova: Woman on pill has triplets
- I know that people in the UK consider 4 miles to be a lifetime away, but this is ridiculous! – Ananova: Long lost siblings lived four miles apart
- The only unbelievable part is “Alabama”… TO THE ALIENS: I don’t think that is the seat of the world governments or the center of the world; that farmer was lying. – American Chronicle: Large UFO will appear Oct. 14, says Aussie woman
- That kid has a lot to look up to.. – Ananova: World’s tallest dad
- I’m sure the children of the entire town were sick about losing their LEGO for a day, tho’.. – Metro: Vienna breaks Lego tower record
- Just because you *can* buy a museum doesn’t mean you *should*.. – Yahoo!/AP: Elvis is Alive Museum is apparently set to die
- These are on my “world tour” list, but not on my “must visit before I die” list. – Wierdy News: Top 10 Strangest Museums Ever
- There’s an ancient Kung Fu lesson in there, somewhere.. – Ananova: Mouse kills snake
- Do they throw in a bridge and some swampland, too? I’m surprised that Golden Palace hasn’t picked it up yet.. – Phantoms and Monsters blog: Press Release: Georgia Bigfoot Hoax Body on eBay
- Sometimes, you just gotta laugh, or you’ll weep for losses.. – Cryptomundo: Bene-Foot: A Comedy Benefit for Cryptozoology
- EXTRA: It’s a tale of animal friendship between an elephant and a sheep, like something out of Disney but probably more sinister. Aw, come on: you *know* they’re just banding together to take out mankind! – The Herald: No sheepish tastes for cream and ivory
- EXTRA: Beaming more messages into space; I’m sure someone paid for commercials, too. – BBC: Is anybody listening out there?
- EXTRA: What’s more likely: aliens with the hots for humans, or “terrestrial aliens” (with the hots for humans)? Somehow, I hadn’t realized how radical the SETI people are.. – About SETI: Human-Alien Hybrids?
- EXTRA: Here’s the essence: who started the term “flying saucer” rather than “flying disk”? – The UFO Reality blog: The Roswell clue that everyone overlooks
- EXTRA: New evidence of an old crash? Or just headline-getting wishful thinking? I want to know. – The UK Daily Star: The Truth Is Out There, Says Phil
- EXTRA: This is the first time I’ve noticed the term “intraterrestrials” – I like it! – Inexplicata: Chile: Intraterrestrials in the Chilean Desert?
- EXTRA: How much would you be willing to pay to hear kitty speak again? – Ananova: Moggy’s £10k miaow
- Re: Pocalypse
- Ok, at leaast one fear that has been put to rest. Or at least ridiculed to death. – Universe Today: 2012: No Geomagnetic Reversal
- Just when you thought country-folk were sweet and innocent.. Damn you! – New Scientist: Cities aren’t the only culprits in climate change
- Isn’t this how Planet of the Apes started? – BBC: Monkeys work in Japanese restaurant
- If you had to choose the people who would make the world work again after an apocalypse, would you remember the electricians and the plumbers? How about the truck drivers? And the civil servants? – Medical News Today: Rethinking Who Should Be Considered ‘Essential’ During A Pandemic Flu Outbreak
- The sun has been quiet, and that makes people nervous. What is it planning? Did we say something wrong? Was it the wrong tie? Did I not put out the trash on time? – The New York Times: Sunspots Are Fewest Since 1954, but Significance Is Unclear
- Congratulations! We won’t likely die off from being smacked around! Instead, we’ll all just get a bad cold. Hmm. Does that not sound better to anyone else? – PhysOrg: Extinction by asteroid a rarity: ‘Sick Earth’ extinctions more likely
- Follow the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy advice: ‘DON’T PANIC!” – New Scientist: Online bank customers create damaging ‘silent runs’
- “Ok, humans.. You’ve got this *one, last chance*: don’t screw it up!” – New Scientist: Still time to save the planet… just
- Did the LHC backfire — or did it work, just not as planned? – Louth Ledger: Conspiracy theorists on UFOs and Large Hadron Collider connection
- EXTRA: Good news: good DNA can survive bad matings! – ScienceDaily: Mysterious Snippets Of DNA Withstand Eons Of Evolution
- EXTRA: More tales of anti-smoking violence. See? Smoking kills! – Los Angeles Times/AP: Relatives beat Malaysian couple to death in stop-smoking ritual; niece hospitalized
- EXTRA: Smoking also breaks up relationships. And it will also attract asteroids. (Well, probably not.) – NOVOSTI: Egyptian court divorces couple to keep them healthy
- EXTRA: Obviously, the guy who was stabbed had the meaner dog; after all, they didn’t stab the dog. – Mass Live/The Republican: Springfield man stabbed after 2 men argue over whose dog is meaner
- EXTRA: The newest thing in cable: “Survivor: Animals”. (It will happen, just wait.) – New Scientist: World gets first live webcast of a lion hunt
- EXTRA: We’re killing the whales. The question for the military is: is it worth it? – ScienceDaily: U.S. Navy Sonar Linked To Whale Strandings, Environmental Scientists Argue
- They’re looking for a few good brains.. – Time/CNN: (O) The Army’s Totally Serious Mind-Control Project
- You’re not seeing things — you’re defective. What a convenient excuse to deny patterns.. – Discovery: Insecure Minds Wired for Pattern-Finding
- We are our worst political enemies, because we’re so gullible and weak. Don’t blame the politicians – they can’t help it! (Yeah.. right..) – New Scientist: Our psychology helps politicians bend the truth
- EXTRA: Killing trees to find aliens… I wonder, in an era when they shut off the website and email because they “can’t handle the load” from bail-out concerns, is a mass protest even going to be paid any attention? Or will the simple shut off the fax machine? – UFO Digest: MILLION FAX ON WASHINGTON – Earth’s Citizens Demand Disclosure
- EXTRA: I’m never quite sure how people reach this stage. All I can hope is to not do so myself.. – ABC News/AP: Half-Ton Mexican Man Dies After Pleading for Help
- EXTRA: While ginseng has demonstrable benefits to health, even they admit that ginseng injections are something definitely *not* from ancient traditional medicine.. – BBC: Ginseng jabs kill three in Yunnan
- EXTRA: Just don’t let Magneto get near you.. – New Scientist: Hiding magnets in blood brings scans into focus
- EXTRA: They’re asleep, not dead… Also gives creedance to the idea that having a companion nearby likely help. And don’t forget Mr. T, coma-buster. – New Scientist: Some coma patients ‘feel pain’
- EXTRA: Maybe this on a t-shirt will help me find a date.. Wait– what do you mean “probably not”? – New Scientist: Do intelligent men have better sperm?
- EXTRA: Although the brain had reclaimed the area, it could still return it later. It’s like wiping a disk, writing over it, and then recovering the original data.. – New Scientist: Hand transplant shows lost limbs are never forgotten
- Science, the most Nobel of the Asses
- Deperate times, slush budgets or worthwhile pursuits? – The UK Daily Record: Revealed: How the Government studied the paranormal for use in war on terror
- This *might* qualify as a “transitional form” fossil, right? Maybe someone is going to get that big prize offered last week.. – New Scientist: Fossil reveals how the turtle got its shell
- By the time it’s perfected, of course, we’ll stop using our eyes.. – CNN: Scientist: Holographic television to become reality
- See? This is what I’m talking about: make something for domestic use first, then we can adapt it to military (and superhero) needs.. – MSNBC/AP: Robot suit for rent in Japan to help people walk
- EXTRA: The Nobel prize NOT for peace.. – New Scientist: Comment: Was Robert Gallo robbed of the Nobel prize?
- EXTRA: Putting the “noble” in “Nobel” again… Basically: “I would like to thank the committee for awarding my colleague (and my entire field, but not me) this award. Let’s go make beautiful science together, man.” – New Scientist: Statement Of Dr. Robert C. Gallo
- EXTRA: Yet again, the prize committee seems to play “eeny, miny, moe” with the selections… Or is this make a mountain out of a molecule? – New Scientist: Physics Nobel snubs key researcher
- EXTRA: Now *this* deserves also the “mad scientist” award! They made frog eyes *glow*! WAHAHAHAHAHA! – New Scientist: Chemistry Nobel for green jellyfish protein
- EXTRA: Uh, it’s see *out*, not *in*, in case you’re concerned.. – New Scientist: ‘Transparent cockpit’ removes car blind spots
- EXTRA: Still no sign of a Canadian mission. At this rate, we’ll have to go to Mars instead. (Um.. ok!) – New Scientist: Indian moon mission due for launch
- EXTRA: Apparently, if they make computers any faster they’ll burst into flames. That is *not* a good reason why Windows takes so bloody much time to boot.. – Wired: Researchers Battle to Keep Moore’s Law Alive
- Sidekicks (EXTRA)
- EXTRA: They managed to Sprite slip this by Microsoft me; I wonder Apple what that Casio means? – The Australian: Ten guilty of subliminal advertising
- See? I *told* you they needed to invent new numbers.. – Ananova: Debt clock runs out of digits
- EXTRA: It sounds like he’s sad, until you read that he can cry up to 10 feet. – Ananova: Man writes with tears
- The tasty snack that’s only mildly bad for children! – Ananova: Marmite banned from schools
- EXTRA: Does eating gold do anything for your health? I suspect that it at least slims your bottom (line).. – Associated Content: Confessions of a Gold Eater
- EXTRA: UFOs *and* bigfoot, oh my! – Union Democrat: Foothills shadowed in paranormal phenomena
- EXTRA: Mutant HUMAN-EATING fish, that is.. This will likely be made into a horror-movie-of-the-week by next year. And I’ll own it. 🙂 – The Sun: Humans scoffed by mutant fish
- EXTRA: An ancient ballet, frozen in time, that tells us… what, exactly? – New Scientist: Fossils of dancing shrimp show earliest group behaviour
- EXTRA: Isn’t it the drug for most of us? – New Scientist: Love is the drug for male finches
- EXTRA: The biggest surprise, apparently, was that they were “cute”. – BBC: ‘Deepest ever’ living fish filmed
- EXTRA: Soon, we will discover that it was actually 20th century Alabamans who discovered America.. – National Georgraphic: Oldest Skeleton in Americas Found in Underwater Cave?
- EXTRA: Remember the x-ray specs from the ads in the back of comic books? (No? Well.. get lost, kid!) Now they are being used to find whole pyramids (of adventure!?!)! – MSNBC/Discovery: Ancient Peru pyramid spotted by satellite
- EXTRA: A typical UFO sighting these days. It was most likely an errant wedding party’s desire to POLLUTE THE COUNTRYSIDE with floating fire lanterns (and blame the Chinese?).. – dunferlinepress: VIDEO: A bright orange flying saucer with flashing lights…
- EXTRA: … like, say, these ones. Ok, so we’ve found another thing that can be mistaken for something else.. Can we stop letting these go? I mean, don’t they represent a flight hazard? – The Meath Chronicle: The Hoax Files: Source of mystery UFOs revealed!
- EXTRA: Has the saint ascended? Or merely rotted? – BBC: No body in exhumed Newman’s grave
- EXTRA: A big enough fuss to call in some ghost hunters. Someone needs to call *me*… – The Worthing Herald: Horsham teenager’s poltergeist fears
- EXTRA: Pfft! Holy water doesn’t work! You need cursed water for witches! (j/k) – Detroit Local 4/AP: Police: Teacher Attacked Over Witch Claim
- EXTRA: So.. people with an unhealthy obsession might just be nuts, eh? How many years did that take to discover? And at what point is it an obsession with obsession considered dangerous (or at least dangerously meta)? – New Scientist: VIP stalkers prone to serious mental illness
- EXTRA: You are allowed to protect your property, but not when it endangers thieves? – Ananova: Gardener told to take down barbed wire to protect thieves
- EXTRA: Yeah, but did he tip? – Ananova: Reveller pays £2k for cab to Munich
- EXTRA: Note to self: when becoming a criminal, don’t put my name on my sleeve. Or neck. – BBC: Tattoo clue led police to thief
- EXTRA: I’ve heard that joke before; apparently, they haven’t. – Ananova: Women arrested for wearing tight trousers
- EXTRA: A new source for that ice cream? – Ananova: Man sells wife’s breast milk online
- EXTRA: … but really it’s all about plumbing. Maybe plumbers *are* essential. – The UK Telegraph: Wine flowing from Italian taps is hailed as a ‘miracle’
- EXTRA: Friends don’t let friends email drunk…. unless they think it’s funny. – Ananova: Mail Goggles to save blushes
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