TWS144: It’s (Almost) The End Of The Year (as we know it)
Promo: Pseudopod – I have been enjoying the horror stories from Pseudopod for over a year. (Well, I would be, if I were caught up.) It’s a paying market, and its a great place to discover quality short horror fiction.
CQ: Is myth robbed of its power if you insist it isn’t true? In other words, do lies sometimes tell bigger truths?
On the show this week:
- Tis The Season (of some kind)
- Animals Not Gathered ’round The Manger
- Unopened Presents
Full list of 77 articles after the jump!
- Tis The Season (of some kind):
- They’ll be selling them at Sears soon.: New Scientist – Rainbow trapped for the first time
- Nothing quite says Christmas like a plastic, cursed member of the extended family.: CNN/O, The Oprah Magazine – The ‘evil zombie doll’ we adore
- Oh, good! Christmas is saved! The toys *will* get made!: Ananova – Council u-turn on gnome ban
- Somebody is getting a lump of non-flammable coal in their stocking this year..: Yahoo!/AP – ‘Elf’ jailed over dynamite hoax on Ga. mall Santa
- On the one hand, it seems like a collosal waste of effort. On the other: wave to Santa for me!: The UK Telegraph – Father Christmas hats placed on Cambridge college spires after student prank
- Look closer at the picture: the Charlie Brown tree is down below the tree of lights.: The UK Telegraph – Britain’s worst Christmas tree replaced with equally bad one
- On the one hand, it seems like a collosal waste of effort. On the other: cool! WANT!: The UK Telegraph – Scientists create the world’s smallest ‘snowman’
- And yet, it dwarfs the snowman.: The Daily Mail – Smallest orchid in the world found by accident (well it is only 2mm wide)
- The way the economy goes, he’ll have to change his name to Failed Product.: The UK Telegraph – Crisp lover changes name to Mr Monster Munch
- Sheesh! Tell me something I *don’t* know! (Or believe..): New Scientist – Dear God, please confirm what I already believe
- Now people will have to return all their golfmas presents..: IOL/SAPA-AFP – Church of Tiger disbands after furore
- It kinda looks like the pancake to me..: CBS/AP – Mass. Woman Sees Image Of Jesus On Her Iron
- Maybe she shouldn’t have come with the halo. A little distracting.: CBS/AP/The Birmingham News – Jesus Christ Dumped From Jury Pool For Disruption
- It kinda just looks like a burnt smudge to me… Maybe it would make the syrup glow?: The Daily Mail – Simply divine: ‘Face of Virgin Mary’ discovered on Thanksgiving pancake
- That’s a rael tongue twister! Although frankly I’m surprised that the Raelians are in Iran..: BBC – Turkey considers fate of detained Iran Raelian leader
- The Japanese practice of using blood types as personality indicators always seemed to me to be problematic: there aren’t enough blood types!: Ottawa Skeptics – Canadian Blood Services Promotes Pseudoscience
- Just in time for Christmas! This reminds me of the conundrum of the handcuff & the saw..: AP – Movement under way in California to ban divorce
- (EXTRA) I hope they give most of the money away to a few hundred thousand needy people.: Ananova – ‘Cavemen’ inherit billions
- It depends on how much you’ve had to drink at the Christmas party..: The UK Telegraph – Our feet can talk, says study
- There’s probably logic here, somewhere.. Then again, why *shouldn’t* we enhance our bodies in whatever way we feel like?: Ananova – Botox to cope with high heels
- True love is eternal… but may stink and get kind of rotty..: The UK Telegraph – Vietnamese man dug up wife’s corpse ‘so he could hug her’
- It’s the gift that slowly stops giving..: CBS – A Government Pension That’s Lasted 271 Years
- (EXTRA) Is there really such a thing as the stomach brain? Or do with think with our lower brain.: The Examiner – How does science support ‘gut hunches’?
- No! Nah! Not a change! … … Well, mabye…: The UK Telegraph – All men watch porn, scientists find
- Yet another example of how I’m studying the wrong field..: Ananova – Wanted: Expert to study lap dancers
- Great! Now I can feel guilty for feeling alone! #downwardspiral: MSNBC – Loneliness can be contagious, new study finds
- (EXTRA) Apparently, the Internet hasn’t reached *everywhere*..: BBC – Phone box has new life as library
- (EXTRA) Looks like it’ll be a green apocalypse this year.: Stuff/AAP – Antarctica turning green
- (EXTRA) Around here, we just call that “Winter”..: ScienceDaily – Big Freeze Plunged Europe Into Ice Age in Months
- (EXTRA) Also: he dresses funny.: Metro – Teacher named Twit of the town
- (EXTRA) You’re just jealous that he thought of it first. Everyone who follows him will be #losers.: Ananova – Groom updates Facebook status at altar
- (EXTRA) It’s now officially Twitter season. For the next year.: 3News/NZPA – Historic explorer tweets from beyond the grave
- (EXTRA) Ah, the Intergalactic Cold War.. Hey, that’s a great idea for a novel.. *writes*: The Register – ‘Alien spies live among us’ says Bulgarian gov space boffin
- (EXTRA) Now is the winter of our discontent… a perfect time for an invasion!: The UK Telegraph – MoD department that investigated UFO sightings ‘closed’
- (EXTRA) DId Merlin fix that? 😉: The UK Telegraph – Britain cut off from Europe by ‘super-river’ as little as 30,000 years ago
- (EXTRA) And yet, we are all still waiting for the other shoe to drop..: ABC Australia/AFP – Shoe thrown at shoe-thrower
- (EXTRA) A reminder to always screen your (Christmas) party guests..: The UK Telegraph – Couple who gatecrashed Obamas’ dinner ‘photographed at inauguration’
- (EXTRA) A large number of witnesses saw.. something.: Inexplicata – Peru: Astonishment Over Alleged UFOs
- (EXTRA) It’s obscured by trees, but definitely appears to be something… interesting.: The Examiner – Pennsylvania UFO at Greensburg: video stabilized
- (EXTRA) It’s hunting season, and this is not a joke. 🙁: Yahoo!/AP – 10,000 E. African albinos in hiding after killings
- Animals Not Gathered ’round The Manger:
- The obsession with simplicity is Occam’s double-sided legacy, and blinds us to all but the simplest of solutions.: ScienceDaily – First-Ever Blueprint of ‘Minimal Cell’ Is More Complex Than Expected
- (EXTRA) Cuz nothing makes fake stadium grass grow like blood. Just sayin’.: BBC – World Cup stadium ‘cow sacrifice’ plan sparks row
- We can probably fit them with facial gas masks.. Or enclose them in boxes..: BBC – Australian aims to breed ‘green’ sheep that burp less
- I’m sure they were escaping civil war or something cool like that..: The Daily Mail – Fossils of Martian bugs found on meteorite that landed on Earth 13,000 years ago
- (EXTRA) They see well behind them, likely cuz they’re fraidy-cats. I suggest finding their blind spot, ninja.: BBC – Hammerhead shark mystery solved
- (EXTRA) The end of germs! Well, except those with passports.: BBC – Device spells doom for superbugs
- (EXTRA) Cuz you want him to hug you, and squeeze you and call you Haggis.: STV – Nessie ‘rebranded as family-friendly monster’
- Odd that they even consider animal attacks when the skin was peeled away carefully.. Or does the skin peel away in the sun?: The Pueblo Chieftain – No answers yet for calf mutilations near San Luis
- (EXTRA) Are these birds involved in collective mimicry? Or are humans involved in selective pattern interpretation?: The Daily Mail – Safety in numbers: The starlings having a whale of a time
- (EXTRA) Language evolves, even somewhat esoteric language.: Cryptomundo – Revisiting “Cryptid”
- (EXTRA) Photographs taken by animals is the first step to Uplifting, methinks..: Ananova – Orangutan becomes hit snapper
- The power of free seeds! BWAH HA HA!: New Scientist – British bird-feeders may be splitting species
- (EXTRA) I bet only the pretty animals got tattoos.: New Scientist/CultureLab – ExtInked: Tattoos to save the world
- (EXTRA) Just because you’re not human, you ain’t above the law!: Newstrack India/ANI – Orissa villagers file case for female monkey!
- (EXTRA) “And I thought they smell bad on the outside!”: ABC Australia – Rotting camels pollute sacred waterholes
- (EXTRA) The circle is complete! Ouroborus is summoned!: The UK Telegraph – Snake chokes on its own tail
- Unopened Presents:
- (EXTRA) Home is where you hang your satellite dish.: Metro – Woman built home on roundabout
- (EXTRA) This year, he gave the gift of stupid.: The UK Telegraph – Hapless robber caught after robbing security guard in own street
- (EXTRA) Apparently, it was really only one person. This makes it somehow minor.. ?: ABC Australia/Reuters – Cop behind human fat killers probe suspended
- (EXTRA) Although mothers will still claim it’s children. I’m still voting for an alien ray controlled by Nessie..: BBC – Genes rather than stress ‘makes women’s hair go grey’
- (EXTRA) Can you really snub a dead man? Or a cult leader?: The UK Telegraph – How English Heritage snubbed the Scientologist founder L Ron Hubbard
- (EXTRA) “Where I come from, I’m someone important!”: The Daily Mail – Airport worker living in Derby returns home to Nigeria – to be crowned KING
- (EXTRA) It’s ok: after years of television, every place in the world is either LA, Vancouver or Toronto — including Paris, London and the Future.: The UK Telegraph – Nicolas Sarkozy’s ‘Life in France’ video shot in US
- And yet, they wouldn’t be all celebratory over a shorter-than-average guy playing a dwarf!: The UK Telegraph – Britain’s tallest man takes giant role in Jack and the Beanstalk
- (EXTRA) Ebert gives two thumbs down to strong believers.: Chicago Sun-Times – New Agers and Creationists should not be President
- (EXTRA) An entirely new level of “While You Were Out”.: This is Nottingham – Burglar hired removal firm to clear woman’s home
- (EXTRA) My solution: avoid jets!: BBC – Cell discovery clues to body clock and beating jet lag
- This bears a closer look; it doesn’t even begin to explain why someone would go to that much work. Hmm.. Do we have Fringe-like Observers operating on Earth?: Edith Sherwood – The Voynich Manuscript Decoded?
- (EXTRA) I actually want one of these in my next (first!) home..: The Huffington Post – The Secret Bowling Alley
- (EXTRA) I suspect Mole Men.: The Daily Mail – Couple wake to find mystery giant hole in their lawn has swallowed a skip
- (EXTRA) Look for the Signs.: The UK Guardian – Is your home about to be burgled?
- (EXTRA) The expression is: “Don’t sh*t where you eat, dumbass!”: STV – Thief applied for job then stole from same store
- (EXTRA) The giant algae farms will start soon, and we’ll all be eating Spoo..: Phenomenica/IANS – Oceans can feed the human race
- (EXTRA) Something tells me his obsession with being top of the SETI@HOME charts was more than UFOlogical interest.: CNET – Man loses job after searching too hard for aliens
- (EXTRA) If you stare long enough at the sun, you’ll see visions — only they’ll be visions of someone standing in the dark..: BBC – Eye fears over holy shrine ‘visions’
- It’s not exactly the sort of degree you add to your resume, except in certain circles..: Ananova – College education goes to pot
- (EXTRA) I’m not entirely sure why some are dismissing this as “just” a stunt..: Boing Boing – Music from a strange CD-r found in Joshua Tree, Calif.
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