TWS133: Up Close ‘n’ Personal, from Far ‘n’ Wide

CQ: If you could — if money and employment were available — would you change cities you lived in every decade? Every 5 years? How often is ideal? How radical would your city change be — from one side of the world to the other? Across the country?

Promos:

• GeekCred – Steve Riekeberg’s podcast of interviews from all over the geek universe.

On the show this week:

• Blame The Animals
• (un)Life Or (un)Death Situation
• EXTRA: Woo Eff Ooohs
• EXTRA: Uncovered then reburied

Full list of 86 articles after the jump!

• Blame The Animals:
  • Was puppy just playing — or was it something *sinister*?: The Times Union – Dog’s jumpiness blamed for Castleton house fire
  • Why do seals want to prevent us from getting chocolate out on time? What do they know?: ABC Australia – Seal holds up chocolate factory workers
  • Was the mouse charged with “tiny theft larceny”?: ABC7 News/AP – Mouse builds nest in ATM with $20 bills
  • Diamonds are a pig’s best friends.. although probably not the best friend of their digestive tract..: BBC – Pig’s name is mud after gem theft
  • SQUIRREL!: The UK Telegraph – Squirrel is surprise star of holiday photo
  • Singing, “So long, and thanks from all the fish!”: ABC Australia/Reuters – Millions of salmon vanish from Canadian river
  • It’s a mean-looking one; it looks like it will wrestle you for that extra arm..: The Geelong Advertiser – Five-legged calf born in Curlewis
  • Must’ve been feeling a little horny..: The UK Telegraph – ‘Abseiling’ sheep gets stuck on live wire
  • There are so many bad puns here.. Let’s just say that he might be a catalogical liar, and be safe.: Yahoo!/aap – Man blames cat for child porn downloads
  • Turns out, you can only trust your inlaws.: The UK Telegraph – Ants ‘only help out their own family during rescues’
  • Maybe this is why they only help inlaws..: Live Science – Zombie Ants Controlled by Fungus
  • Yeah, “bombs”, in much the same way that “look over there, it’s Elvis!” is assault.: New Scientist – Deep-sea worms fire glowing bombs
  • Everyone wants a nest to smell good, right?: BBC – Blue tits embrace ‘aromatherapy’
  • They’ll have little chirps saying “I’m melting, I’m melting!” soon.: The UK Telegraph – Global warming causing birds to shrink
  • They’re teaming up and merging on us. As long as the squirrels and the lions don’t get together..: The Record/Toronto Star – Meet the coywolf: Hybrid animals plaguing area east of Toronto
  • Sounds fishy to me..: Sky News – Mermaid Fever Makes A Splash In Israel
  • No, they used a *plane*, they aren’t yogis, after all..: BBC – Flying rabbis fight swine flu
  • Nothing like having a pet that will eat the other dogs on the walk..: The UK Daily Mail – Crocodile crazy: The man who enjoys giving his dangerous ‘companion’ kisses and cuddles
  • Really, it’s the Bigfoot Virtual Museum, not some cyberspace relative of the skunk ape..: Cryptomundo – Virtual Bigfoot Museum
• (un)Life Or (un)Death Situation:
  • The dodecamom is getting a little crazy..: The UK Telegraph – Tunisian woman pregnant with 12 babies eclipses Nadia Suleman’s octuplets
  • A rose a day keeps you married; the kiss a day keeps you home.: Ananova – Britain’s most romantic husband?
  • We are now merging with plants and technology. Ain’t humanity truly grand?: Discovery News – New Artificial Bone Made of Wood
  • The seat of all art is apparently the same thing that produce pee… Hmm..: Ananova – Plumber’s kidney helps him get arty
  • They can be reused for art, maybe, or for a stew..: The Times of India – ‘Junk’ organs are not really useless
  • The fact that you need to pass means that a significant number must fail..: The UK Daily Mail – Boy, 15, gets an exam pass – just for using the bus
  • (EXTRA) Go ahead and celebrate the fact that you are left-handed; eventually, it will really not matter at all..: ABC Australia – Lefties urged to show their hand
  • … as long as you don’t drink enough to break bones in the first place..: BBC – Moderate drinking ‘boosts bones’
  • No, *really*: it *is* good for you to shed stress, find focus, think clearly, breathe deeply.. Obvious?: The Sydney Morning Herald/The Independent – Relax – it’s good for you
  • (EXTRA) It doesn’t know the words.: Wired – Scientists Track Down Source of Earth’s Hum
  • Stinks like 4am.: New Scientist – Smell of death can point to murder time
  • The other 5 don’t own a TV.: The UK Telegraph – One in six Britons ‘too lazy to get up to change TV channel’
  • (EXTRA) History may repeat itself; so do bad directions.: New Scientist – We can’t help walking in circles
  • They are dangerous, in much the way that drinking water can lead to drowning..: BBC – Candle use linked to cancer risk
  • (EXTRA) Be careful: it might just work!: SciDev.net – Caution urged over cloud seeding
  • (EXTRA) This has “movie of the week” written all over it..: ABC Australia/PM – TV host ‘ordered killings to boost ratings’
  • This might explain the teeth thing..: The UK Telegraph – Early Britons ‘were cannibals’
  • They joined the same party, but the halfling kept stealing the silver..: ABC Australia/AM – Humans, Flores ‘hobbits’ existed together: study
  • Nothing like symbolically giving it to a corpse… Wait, that can’t be right..: BBC – Monroe ‘burial plot’ up for sale
  • (EXTRA) Several ways in which people lost the Darwin award, apparently..: The UK Telegraph – Miracle escapes: list of most amazing brushes with death
  • The only conclusion is to keep fighting. Oh, and probably to find a mall..: BBC – Science ponders ‘zombie attack’
  • More importantly, so can all other evidence. And DNA can also be fabricated for good.: The New York Times – DNA Evidence Can Be Fabricated, Scientists Show
  • (EXTRA) This is the adult version of “the dog ate my homework”. Wait: did I say *adult*?: STV – Man beat himself with rock to get day off work
  • Stinks like 4pm.: Ananova – Theme park bans B.O.
  • I think I saw this movie; this was the part with the really bad CGI.: The UK Telegraph – Microscopic nanobees ‘sting cancer tumours to death’
  • There must have been a whole lot of cloudy days..: New Scientist – Where does white skin come from?
  • (EXTRA) .. at least, until the skeptics declare all natural remedies to be false.: BBC – Herbs ‘can be natural pesticides’
  • A bizarre case of the law being so backward as to require your own children to be born by you.: The Australian – Couple battle to adopt own son
  • (EXTRA) Don’t worry: we’ll all probably be dead by then.: New Scientist – Global warming could change Earth’s tilt
  • (EXTRA) Not expected to work on a segment of the population; that segment brings nachos.: Ananova – Chilli bombs to tackle insurgents
  • “There are those who believe that life, here, began.. out there!”: BBC – ‘Life chemical’ detected in comet
  • (EXTRA) Is it possible that a life could be recorded in such a way that a person could absorb that recording?: Ananova – Is boy reincarnation of dead fighter pilot?
  • (EXTRA) A deformed baby who the family just want to make a whole lot less godly, and more human..: BBC – Nepalis flock to see ‘baby god’
  • There goes my summer travel destination for next year.. *sigh*: BBC – Antarctic glacier ‘thinning fast’
  • (EXTRA) Is this popstar a truly evil representative or tool of the secret organization bent on world domination? I can’t tell you that. Instead, stare at this: *: The Vigilant Citizen – Lady Gaga, The Illuminati Puppet
  • (EXTRA) Turns out, being green might be generally healthier. Um.. isn’t that part of “being green”?: New Scientist – Green power safer for workers than fossil fuels
  • (EXTRA) Ok, so maybe James Bond isn’t exactly typical of the British spy agencies..: The UK Telegraph – David Shayler, transvestite MI5 spy-turned Jesus Christ, faces eviction from squat
  • (EXTRA) Given the above study on the TV viewers with broken remotes, I suspect we are ready to let the universe do everything for us..: New Scientist – Innovation: Are we ready for the Autonomous Age?
  • (EXTRA) It starts with saying to yourself, “Well, it could be worse!” 😉: New Scientist – How psychology can help the planet stay cool
  • (EXTRA) I’m not worried about the “why” right now as much as the “how”, or more specifically “how can I?”: New Scientist – Why geeks get the girls
  • (EXTRA) A disturbing tale of someone who should probably disappear..: Ananova – Magician provokes riot
  • (EXTRA) I’m a little surprised that some overzealous Child Welfare officer didn’t make him the “fastest boy taken away from his parents”..: Ananova – Boy, 8, smashes wing-walking record
  • (EXTRA) Well, that’s slightly better than “Family game sparks dog”..: Ananova – Family game sparks kidnap scare
  • (EXTRA) Well, there certainly isn’t any sign of “intelligent design” in most technoogies, so this might have merit..: New Scientist – Evolution 2.0: On the origin of technologies
  • (EXTRA) It’s the tragedy of the uncommons..: STV/Reuters – Cypriots seeking love potions wear away saints’ tomb
  • (EXTRA) Ah, but is a Shakespeare by any other identity not sound as sweet?: The UK Telegraph – Tomb search could end riddle of Shakespeare’s true identity
• EXTRA: Woo Eff Ooohs:
  • (EXTRA) The Rendlesham incident is one of the most famous UK UFO cases.: BBC – Minister warned over ‘UK Roswell’
  • (EXTRA) More revelations that we already knew: the infamous highly maneuvreable craft derived from alien tech..: The UK Telegraph – UFO files: secret US spy plane Aurora could be behind sightings
  • (EXTRA) More reporting on much the same information.: The UK Guardian – MoD’s latest UFO files reveal saucerful of secrets
  • (EXTRA) Really, it sounds like a large meteorite — one that, if really that large, should have hit with the impact of a large bomb, I suspect..: This is Hull and East Riding – UFO crashed through pensioner’s house
  • (EXTRA) The annual report from Chris Rutkowski of UFOROM.: The Calgary Herald/Canwest News Service – 2008 bumper year in Canada for UFO reports
  • (EXTRA) The psychological staging that science fiction creates can’t be overlooked; after all, it created the satellite, computers, robotics, AI, and many other real things..: BBC – Are UFO sightings linked to sci-fi films?
  • (EXTRA) Most likely, it’s a rock. But then again: that might rock!: DiscoveryOn/ANI – New Object Found in Saturn’s Rings
  • (EXTRA) Well, there goes those theories..: BBC – New exoplanet orbits ‘backwards’
• EXTRA: Uncovered then reburied:
  • (EXTRA) Apparently, it was covered by a “thin layer of dirt”. I get the impression it burned down, fell over, and a bunch of people stood around it, shrugging, saying “oh well” and started kicking dirt over it.. Probably not, though..: STV – Stone Age cathedral discovered in Orkney
  • (EXTRA) I wonder if they will find the spaceships?: MSNBC/Discovery News – Cave complex may lie beneath Giza Pyramids
  • (EXTRA) To call it a “structure” sounds generous. I might call it a “plank walkway”..: MSNBC/LifeScience – Timber structure older than Stonehenge found
  • (EXTRA) Given how many years it took to decipher, I’d say it was a pretty *crappy* map..: The UK Telegraph – World’s oldest map: Spanish cave has landscape from 14,000 years ago
  • (EXTRA) Turns out: Michael Jackson was an ancient Egyptian mummy.. Or something like that.. Maybe it’s a circular time thing..: NBC Chicago – Busted: Statue’s a Dead Ringer for Jacko
  • (EXTRA) Given how variable my writing style tends to be, I can’t see it proving that I’m me; all it really proves is that I have crappy handwriting..: New Scientist – Writing style fingerprint tool easily fooled
  • (EXTRA) Well, they *do* contain a lot of water..: The Sydney Morning Herald/AAP – Adelaide cops baffled by cucumber thefts
  • (EXTRA) I think I included this story just to prove that somewhere, they spell it “tyre”..: The Mercury of Australia – Tyre slashers strike
  • (EXTRA) To be fair, it covers a multitude of holidays.. And I haven’t taken my Christmas lights down yet.: Ananova – Town puts up Xmas lights – in August
  • (EXTRA) Every good deed must be billed for.: Ananova – Good Samaritan must pick up the tab
  • (EXTRA) A great example of “just because we can”, which is also followed up by “but they probably shouldn’t have”.: Ananova – Magazine with moving pictures
  • (EXTRA) Pantsfreesia exists!: LiveNews Australia/aap – Tiny Fijian island bans pants on Sundays
  • (EXTRA) Anything with “photonic crystals” catches my attention.. But wait: how can they see them stepping closer, if it’s invisible? 😛: The UK Telegraph – Invisible doorways or portals a step closer to reality, claim scientists

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