On the show this week:

• Front Page
• Stupersticious
• Symbolicious
• Extras

CQ: Can you truly appreciate a work of art if you can’t understand it — such as watching a film in a language you don’t understand, or seeing a painting with symbolism you don’t get, or music which you don’t catch the subtleties? Is art like that wasted on those who do understand it, or should it be reachable by most people to be valuable?

Bumper: Scott Sigler

Promo: Technorama

Promo: How To Grow Your Geek

UPDATE: Amazing! After mentioning the memory of someone illustrating the sound of what our solar system might be like, I ran across this Flash animation of the sound of our solar system (link via io9). It’s not the sounds I remember – I think the one I remember had Haley’s comet as well – but it’s still a pretty cool sound and coincidence..

Full list of 68 articles after the jump!

• Front Page:
  • Is your computer smarter (or more observant) than a 7th Grader? (No.): Universe Today – Best Class Project Ever: 7th Graders Find a Cave on Mars
  • Some people just can let 7th Graders steal the spotlight..: BBC – Extreme DIY: Building a homemade nuclear reactor in NYC
  • And now the story is complete, with a Tom Biscardi sighting on hand.. Oh well..: WSOCTV – Big Foot Hunters Leave NC With Unanswered Questions
  • Much better than any SyFy (un)Original Movie..: BBC – ‘Sea monster’ whale fossil unearthed
  • As if they weren’t bad enough on their own.: National Geographic – Sharks Carrying Drug-Resistant “Bacterial Monsters”
  • Sadly, not undead animals..: New Scientist – Zoo plans to bring rare animals back from the dead
  • Somehow, I’m torn between this being a tragic or noble end..: Discovery News – Amelia Earhart May Have Survived Months As Castaway
• Stupersticious:
  • I’m a little confused.. Did they just charge him in “principle”, or were they able to test the water in question, and determine if it really wasn’t the same? If it was the same (or not provably different…), are the charges invalid?: BBC – South Korea professor charged over ‘holy water’ fraud
  • History is like predicting the future, only in reverse an with more people shouting..: The UK Telegraph – Jesus did not die on cross, says scholar
  • Presumably, they’ve seen his flight bookings.: The UK Telegraph – Jesus will return by 2050, say 40pc of Americans
  • Be careful when you wish for a four-leaf clover, you might just get it..: BBC – Four-leaf clover found on impaled crash survivor’s back
  • Is it a tradition or a superstition? And be wary of dismissing the power of symbols udderly..: Metro – Students: can we have our bum slapping lucky cow back, please?
  • No idea how well it worked, but I suspect that his odds are even.: AOL News – Psychic Octopus Has 8 Arms and a 6th Sense for Betting
  • It’s like some sort of backroom battle behind Quiddich.. In fact, I woudln’t be surprised if that’s the next Harry Potter series..: This is Plymouth/The Herald – Curse of African witch doctor lifted from England squad by Cornish druid
  • (EXTRA) No – well, yes.. But it depends on your definition of “ghost”.: NewsMonster – Have scientists found proof that ghosts exist?
  • (EXTRA) When I was a kid, this was just a backroom in the regular school library; it held all sorts of odd books.: AOL News – Paranormal Group Opens New Public Library
  • Should we be at all worried that we’re messing things up?: The Daily Mail – Attack of the vapours — how jet trails block out the sunshine
  • Just because everyone believes it might be so *doesn’t* make it unbelievable..: CNN – Study links bee decline to cell phones
  • (EXTRA) The superstition here is that we should somehow never come in contact with bad things — even though we’ll be stronger for it.: The UK Telegraph – Bags for life could have E.coli
  • (EXTRA) Maybe they also are responsible for killing the bees?: NZ Herald – Anti-gang ‘mosquito’ device should be banned – report
  • (EXTRA) I had originally mistakenly read this as “Seeking to Eliminate…”, and was prepared to rail about denegrating the rightful powers of the mind.. Nevermind!: The New York Times – Seeking to Illuminate the Mysterious Placebo Effect
• Symbolicious:
  • Next: if you say nice things and bring flowers, they may give you there number..: Astigan – Get a date by playing the right music
  • After all these studies on boosting cows production, I’m surprised that no one seems to suggest that cows just like to have the sounds of humans around.. They like us, it would seem: they really like us..: The UK Telegraph – Shakespeare plays ‘helps boost cows’ milk production’
  • Perhaps not surprisingly, I have music in my collection which sounds EXACTLY like this..: BBC – God particle signal is simulated as sound
  • I find it interesting how people are transforming data to use a different pattern-matching skill humans have.. I think I shall do this with my thesis: hum the hypotheses..: Space Daily – Experts Discover Heavenly Solar Music
  • I think it might be a bit more accurate to say: “God seems to be mathematics”..: Pasadena Star-News – Strange But True: God seems to be a mathematician
  • (EXTRA) Is it a symbolic class/age war, or a physical torture? Or a bad bandaid for social distances?: BBC – Calls to ban Mosquito ‘teen repellent’ device ruled out
  • Figures that it would be an egghead studying crystal vibrations who might discover the connections between the macro and micro cosmic world..: ScienceDaily – How Rules of Physics in Quantum World Change When Applied to Classical World
  • So simple, even a potted plant can get it.: LiveScience – Behavior Breakthrough: Like Animals, Plants Demonstrate Complex Ability to Integrate Information
  • (EXTRA) How much does the medium say about the message?: AOL News – Artist Makes Killing Off Dead Ant Painting
  • Apparently, money strained through dog poo might actually be worth *more* than feces value (but to whom?): AOL News – Cash Found in Dog Poo Up for Auction
  • This is a perfect example to hold up for the different between “intrinsic” and “apparent” value..: Metro – Napoleon’s hair sells for L8,700
  • (EXTRA) Which is a more of a symbol of mortality: the corpse-statues, or Lady Gaga?: The Sun – Lady Gaga’s aupopsy
  • If you look at it the right way, you can also see a UFO. And ball lightning..: CNN – Michelangelo hid brain image in chapel, scientists say
  • (EXTRA) How dangerous is a symbol? Aren’t insults just symbols – particularly when they aren’t true?: The UK Telegraph – Husbands can be jailed for insulting wives under new French law
  • We all seek deeper truth, many through philosophy; but what if it was already found, and then encoded?: ScienceDaily – Science Historian Cracks the ‘Plato Code’
  • This tune sounds familiar, like the interpretations of Nostradamus’ work..: The Guardian – Plato’s stave: academic cracks philosopher’s musical code
  • It says “If you can read this, then you are a very clever bugger after all! Way to go!”: io9 – Computer program deciphers a dead language that mystified linguists
  • (EXTRA) I may have read this wrong, because now I’m wondering how I will be able to fire mindbolts of electricity. Pew! Pew!: National Geographic – Ball Lightning May Be All in Your Head At least half of reported cases could be hallucinations, study says.
  • (EXTRA) Give a robot a face, and suddenly its failures look a lot more quaint and human..: Cosmos Magazine – Robot gets opening night jitters
  • (EXTRA) Right now, it’s a party trick; it will be interesting when it does this for it’s *own* reasons..: ScienceDaily – Researchers Create Self-Assembling Nanodevices That Move and Change Shape on Demand
  • (EXTRA) They’re more T-1000 than Optimus, however..: The UK Telegraph – Morphing cars and planes closer as Pentagon develops shape-shifting robot
  • (EXTRA) If we have a moral obligation to prevent harm, does that extend to forcibly stopping mothers from smoking and drinking?: New Scientist – Bumpology: Fed up of the booze and cigs police
  • (EXTRA) What is the true cost to the body of being sick? Anyone who’s ever felt robbed of energy from a cold should get this idea pretty quick..: New Scientist – Link found between infectious disease and IQ
  • (EXTRA) Science is not the be-all and end-all of all answers; it can tell you what is, but can it tell you what is “right”?: New Scientist – Europe’s science-free plan for gene-modified crops
  • (EXTRA) Why is he referred to as “eccentric” and not “generous”? Careful: your politics are showing..: The UK Telegraph – Libya’s Col Gaddafi saves Italian village
  • (EXTRA) What’s in a name? Can’t we all just get along? Oh, wait: they can. Nevermind!: BBC – Rival Loch Ness Monster centres resolve name row
• Extras:
  • (EXTRA) Getting under the bunyip legend.: The Age of Australia – Horror on home turf
  • (EXTRA) The international call for information continues. Good!: AOL News – EU Lawmaker Calls for End to UFO Secrecy
  • (EXTRA) The kind of record that’s to the point.: CBS13)/The CW31 – Man Going For World Piercing Record: 2,000 Needles
  • (EXTRA) Proof of concept over. Now, examine for the buried rooms at the pyramids. NOW.: The UK Telegraph – Buried ancient Egyptian city revealed by radar imaging
  • (EXTRA) It’s like a scene.. from a movie..: News Shopper – ELTHAM: Crow attacks leave blonde joggers in a flap
  • (EXTRA) It’s a sort of equilibrium.. Thankfully no snakes in sight.: The UK Telegraph – Pictured: shy badgers eat cornflakes at a hotel
  • (EXTRA) Remind me never to get put in a French prison. As if I wasn’t scared enough before!: The UK Telegraph – French prisoner ‘killed cellmate and ate his lung’
  • (EXTRA) Next: female officers refuse to take sperm count tests.: BBC – Bald man wins police hair drug test appeal
  • (EXTRA) If you do not stop such atrocities, I’ll eat *you*! — signed, A. Lion: Yahoo!/Eurosport/Reuters – World Cup 2010 – Lion burger restaurant receives death threats
  • (EXTRA) I’m as interested in the future symbology of crop circles as in their possible alien connections..: Metro – Mysterious new crop circles at UFO capital of Britain in Wiltshire
  • (EXTRA) Another deep think from Bruce Duensing, which asks: what price, truth?: Intangicle Materiality – The Circular Roswell of Divisonal Logic.
  • (EXTRA) A case of a name clash with a celebrity (and a sobriety).: AOL News – Cops Accuse Donald Duck of Driving Drunk
  • (EXTRA) Yes: a cat burglar.: 101 News – Police Looking for Robbery Suspect Disguised as Cat Woman
  • (EXTRA) They will be used to hunt down the cat burglars — in Hawaii.: The UK Telegraph – Surfing mice: Australian trains rodent troupe
  • (EXTRA) Well, they tend to do that..: KMGH Denver – Woman Says Vampire In Road Caused Crash
  • (EXTRA) Quick! Fill it! The plaster on the fake moon is falling off! 😉: Space.com – Rare Hole In the Moon Photographed
  • (EXTRA) Proof that, were it not for interaction with others, we would all be primitives.: Discovery On/Reuters – New tribe discovered in Papua New Guinea
  • (EXTRA) The real reason that students are doing so badly on tests might be that the tests are bad?: AOL News – Mass. school district tests rife with errors
  • (EXTRA) I’ve had mornings like that.: The UK Telegraph – ‘Dead’ man spends four years fighting to prove he is alive
  • (EXTRA) I bet *he* could get a passport…: Herald Sun/AFP – ‘Do not disturb’ Dutch man lay dead for four years
  • (EXTRA) To me, most sports events seem interminably long already.. : The UK Telegraph – Wimbledon’s longest match: Isner v Mahut continues as Queen visits SW19

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