TWS136: The All-Too-Real Scary Edition

CQ: Which is more horrifying: a world in which irrational powers like telepathy and ghosts exist, or a meat-machine world in which they don’t?
Promos played:

• Halloween Haunt — one of my perennial treats for the Halloween season, a collection of stories, history tales, and other things related to Halloween and all things scary.
• The House of Grey podiobook — The final few chapters of this wonderful YA book are coming in, so if you wanted to wait until it was done before jumping in, you might as well start right away.
• Movie Mantras — As much as admire the written word, movies have a lot to do with the way we think about the season. Let’s celebrate the wisdom with a podcast that shaves as close as a blade, yet leaves you smelling as sweet as a horse. (Or, uh, something like that..)

On the show this week:

• Electronic Animaloids
• Mind is so over Matter
• Extremely Interesting

Full list of 62 articles after the jump!

• Electronic Animaloids:
  • An update on the orang-pedek expedition results.: CFZ Sumatra 2009 – EXPEDITION SPOTS MYSTERY APE IN SUMATRA
  • More orang pendek info.: Cryptomundo – Davies Orang Pendek Expedition Update
  • You may no longer be the Grand Dame, but you’ll always be special to us, Lucy..: The New York Times – Fossil Skeleton From Africa Predates Lucy
  • I don’t care if they were human, they’d still be cool to hang out with.: The Australian – Hobbit species may not have been human
  • It’s the fact that they look like play-doh crossed with oil that gets me the squick factor..: APP/Courier-Post – New species of leech discovered in South Jersey
  • No, it’s not the butterflies before they hatch, either..: BBC – Gut worms protect against allergy
  • (EXTRA) Note to camera-weilders: *NEVER* take only one picture of anything you find, and *ALWAYS* get more than one angle..: forgetomori – The Curious Case of the Snake with Foot
  • Have you seen their arms? If they’d been able to scratch, maybe they’d have lived..: LiveScience – Mighty T. rex Killed by Lowly Parasite, Study Suggests
  • It was done by the Tourist with the Crap on the Mountain.: ABC News Australia – Tourist poo ‘killed rare shrimp’ on Uluru
  • Yeah, but I bet it was caused by HUMANS.: WBBM Newsradio 780/AP – What’s ugly, smells, kills dogs? Blue-green algae
  • These stories sprout up with surprising regularity, and always make me itch for a while.: The Times of India/TNN – 40 maggots removed from woman’s nose
  • (EXTRA) After all, the cow didn’t seem to mind. (!?): Philidelphia Daily News – Lawyer: Judge was right on bestiality ruling
  • Soon, we’ll all have to put on our Cosmic Helmets and hop in our Terrestrial Movers to protect ourself from Space Radiation..: New Scientist – Space radiation hits record high
  • The yearly demonstration that some people can get paid to study anything..: New Scientist – Best of the Ig Nobel prizes 2009
  • First: watch all the zombie films you can. Second: plan for each kind.: LiveScience/Inside Science News Service – The Best Approach for Avoiding Zombies
  • I want this game in stores by Christmas.: New Scientist – Free-flying cyborg insects steered from a distance
  • (EXTRA) Give them to the monkeys.: New Scientist – Portable pain weapon may end up in police hands
  • I always find the notion of “war limits” to be generally looked upon as retroactive, because we *are* talking about killing eachother, right?: New Scientist – Campaign asks for international treaty to limit war robots
  • And this is why I envision the future to be a very interesting (and rather frightening) place! Whee!: Popular Science – The Age Of Telekinetic Cyborg Monkeys Is Upon Us
  • (EXTRA) This makes is harder for space monsters to grab a hold of them.: New Scientist – Slimy-skinned ships to slip smoothly through the seas
  • Next trick: to train the spiders to do it themselves..: The UK Daily Mail – British art historian creates world’s largest shawl woven from the silk of one million spiders
• Mind is so over Matter:
  • It’s not actually all done with mirrors.. It’s done with YOUR MIND.: BBC – Scientists lay bare magic secret
  • I know it’s Halloween Month, but can we at least get afraid about really cool stuff, rather than stupid stuff?: BBC – Urban legend reveals modern fears
  • This will make brainwashing *so* much easier! Yay!: New Scientist – Concepts are born in the hippocampus
  • NO, WE’RE NOT! LOL! WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT, NEWB?!?: New Scientist – Gamers are more aggressive to strangers
  • (No) they do(n’t).: BBC – Negative subliminal messages work
  • Is this quantum entanglement, mistaken measurements, or something much more interesting?: The Daily Galaxy – The DNA Mystery: Scientists Stumped By “Telepathic” Abilities
  • (EXTRA) As newborns, they are born without judgement. Later on, they figure out the traps.: New Scientist – Rats learn to be once bitten, twice shy
  • He’s going to see the sights (from above them).: The UK Telegraph – World’s tallest man goes on holiday
  • It’s not really a laughing matter — he’s really an acrobat (level 20!).: Ananova – First clown in space
  • This would definitely make the run less boring.: Ananova – Running a risk
  • (EXTRA) Well, that’s one urban rumour that will turn into an extreme sport..: DDP/DPA/The Local – Drunk woman run over by train survives tucked between tracks
  • (EXTRA) I thought you normally got your certification from a school..: DPA/The Local – Dieter Bohlen officially ruled an artist by Kassel court
  • For the sake of the next generation of dreamers (and this one, frankly), I want this to succeed. Please: let at least *one* of the futuristic visions of the present succeed!: New Scientist – Rocket racers lose their ‘launch pad’
  • (EXTRA) Hey: it’s tough being a kid, ok?: Ananova – Doctor’s shock at four-year-old smoker
  • (EXTRA) I don’t understand what everyone MARS NEEDS TUBAS is so upset about..: The Sun – Scary ‘ghost’ in tot home video
  • (EXTRA) Sounds like a place where I’d like to live!: The UK Telegraph – More ghosts appear in Kent than elsewhere in UK, finds research
  • (EXTRA) I’m sure it really had to do with some paper shuffling at head office..: BBC – ‘Haunted’ Indian station reopens
  • (EXTRA) The only one she wants haunting her establishment are the paying drinkers..: Ananova – Landlady to banish generous ghost
  • (EXTRA) Right after International Banned Book Week, but really: who gives a f***?: The UK Telegraph – International Blasphemy Day: from Danish cartoons to Jerry Springer – The Opera
  • At least it should be easy to spell!: Ananova – A boy named Q
  • Are they now the Regional Outward Tourism Federation League?: Ananova – WTF? Wisconsin Tourism Federation changes its name
  • Big cities have big cracks into which big strangeness can fall..: Ananova – London’s lost and found
  • (EXTRA) Excellent technology that will soon be able to do exactly what Bladerunner predicted..: New Scientist – Entire cities recreated from Flickr photos
  • (EXTRA) I’m still waiting for the under-40s sex guide..: Ananova – Council slammed for over-50s sex guide
  • (EXTRA) How low class.. They could have at least got a painted sign..: Ananova – Dumped by telegraph pole
  • (EXTRA) She’s just trying to apply modern tools to an ancient problem..: Ananova – Girl tries to sell gran on eBay
  • (EXTRA) If you have to ask where your country is on this list, maybe it’s not such a good thing..: The UK Telegraph – German men are ‘world’s worst lovers’ with English men in second place
  • It’s like a form of taxation, really..: Ananova – Mayor won’t stop begging
  • (EXTRA) It’s not what you eat, it’s how much you keep eating..: New Scientist – Population: Overconsumption is the real problem
  • (EXTRA) We should praise those who take the time to investigate and observe, rather than just dismiss anyone with the broad brush of disbelieving ignorance!: The UK Telegraph – Serving policeman Gary Heseltine moonlights as UFO investigator
• Extremely Interesting:
  • (EXTRA) That’s where the second spaceship landed, maybe..: ScienceDaily – Scandinavians Are Descended From Stone Age Immigrants, Ancient DNA Reveals
  • (EXTRA) I’m pretty sure that America is the ruler in burgers capable of killing with a single portion..: Ananova – Britain’s biggest burger
  • (EXTRA) I wonder if the slogan is “The beer that takes care of you, dear.”: Ananova – Brewer launches ‘Nanny State’ weak beer
  • (EXTRA) Yeah, but the shipping costs are going to be a real *pain*..: Ananova – Couple land dream wedding – on eBay
  • (EXTRA) Y’know, he blames it on the economy..: The UK Telegraph – South African man marries 4 women at same ceremony
  • (EXTRA) I’ve heard of religious transformations, but this is a much bigger scale..: BBC – Scottish island to become ashram
  • (EXTRA) In an age when so many people are living in physically disconnected tribes, it’s interesting to see such a localized, focussed and pretty scary one form.: Planet Magazine – Asgarda: Amazons of Ukraine
  • (EXTRA) Afterwards, I’m sure he was speechless.: The Times of India/TNN – Man chops off tongue, offers it to goddess
  • (EXTRA) I bring attention to this story not because I like it, but because this stuff should only happen if it really works. Where’s my scientific study?: The Times of India/TNN – 5-yr-old Chanda boy ‘sacrificed’in a ritual
  • (EXTRA) What does a person with a personalized BMW need with a bank robbery? There’s a movie in there somewhere..: The UK Telegraph – Bank robber caught out by personalised BMW number plate
  • (EXTRA) Ah, something to reinforce the “Hitler lives!” theorists..: The UK Telegraph – Adolf Hitler suicide story questioned after tests reveal skull is a woman’s

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