TWS167: LeakyWicks

CQ: Is reason the enemy of imagination? Is rationality the death of dreaming?

Bumper: Mainframe

Promo: Wiener Blut (“Viennese Blood”) podnovel

Promo: Every World News

On the show this week:

• Front Page
• WackyLeaks
• Call It Like You Sees It
• Slyentific
• Extras

Full list of 65 articles after the jump!

• Front Page:
  • WANT.: The UK Telegraph – Doctor Who sonic screwdriver could become real device
  • Naturally, I imagine that they were called “chocobos” in the native language, and they were trained riding beasts.: BBC – Giant fossil bird found on ‘hobbit’ island of Flores
  • Isn’t litter when you give away stuff that people *don’t* want?: Orange – Santa faces littering rap
  • It’s more “Miracle on 34th Street” than “Bad Santa”..: The San Francisco Chronicle – ‘Naughty’ joke gets Santa Claus fired from Macy’s
  • Did someone suspect when the tree lights started to heat up?: News.com.au/AAP – Marijuana Xmas tree seized from ‘hippie’ by German police
  • The Really Secret Service is busy protecting Santa. (Would that be the Really Secret Santa Service?): CBS/AP – GPS Technology Protecting Baby Jesus
  • Redefining the classics for the RPG generation..: AOL News – Hamlet, Romeo and Othello Battle in ‘Kill Shakespeare’
• WackyLeaks:
  • I hate to tell him, but I think his wife is a real bitch.: The Chronicle – Puppy love: man marries a real dog
  • A crossover of strange reactions: why were both cases pursued so vigourously?: AOL News – British UFO Hacker Fights Extradition to US
  • Perhaps this is the real reason that the leaks are being so over-reacted to..: The UK Daily Mail – Now my life is at risk, says WikiLeaks chief … and he promises to publish files on UFOs and aliens
  • More on the StarWhackerLeaks..: Vanity Fair – The Quaid Conspiracy
  • I went to an apartment viewing, and a party broke out..: AOL News – Berlin Protesters Strip Naked to Fight High Rents
  • Paranoia is alive and well, despite dangerous rumours of it’s death.: The Denver Post – Toy robot detours traffic near Coors Field
  • Like nature, art will grow in strange places..: The Web Urbanist – The Underbelly Project: Illegal Secret Subway Art in NYC
  • A gallery showing just how cool obscure urban art can be.: The Gothamist – Update: Insane Underground Art Project Revealed
  • They probably need to update the printer drivers. I hate that.: Yahoo! – Government can’t print money properly
  • Perhaps leaked by the digital money front?: The San Francisco Chronicle – Controversial chemical BPA found on paper money
  • The only thing people see is the paper trail.: The Sun – Taxpayers’ Cash Spent On Invisible Art
  • Because everyone knows that book crime is worth hard time!: WSAV/NBC – Overdue Books Land Texas Woman In Jail
  • I think the book qualifies as an antique now..: Metro – Library book that should have been returned 74 years ago had £1,700 fee
  • (EXTRA) A different type of wacky leak altogether..: Metro – Family covered in 25 litres of white paint after crashing car
  • (EXTRA) Seems like they both suffered a moving violation.: The UK Telegraph – Briton booked for speeding in London and New Zealand by same policeman
  • (EXTRA) They probably don’t work at night: BBC – Oriental hornets powered by ‘solar energy’
• Call It Like You Sees It:
  • WIN!: Gizmodo – Is A Prosthetic Tentacle Better Than A Prosthetic Arm?
  • Cape and medical degree not included.: AZ Central/AP – Man changes name to Captain Awesome
  • And yet, they still come up roses.: Metro – Willy Wonka and Miss Jelly St Tots among deed poll name changes
  • You too might have a costumed hero on your block! Keen!: Dateline Zero – Real-Life Superheroes Could Be Defending Your City While You Sleep
  • Not all (super-)heroes are appreciated..: The Florida Times-Union – Jacksonville store clerk fired after helping police catch robber
  • (EXTRA) Chicken See, Chicken Fight.: Orange – Cool shades help keep the peace
  • Not so much a “traffic calming device” as a “traffic exciting prospect”..: Orange – Long legs of the law fail to slow traffic
  • In much the same way that a shredder creates a new book, I imagine..: io9 – Brain damage might actually create fake memories
  • Becoming a child again might be considered a *form* of brain damage..: New Scientist – To erase a bad memory, first become a child
  • (EXTRA) Unfortunately, they hypnotise you at the end into forgetting it all.: LiveScience – Now You See It: Neuroscientists Reveal Magicians’ Secrets
  • If your eyes are bigger than your stomach, stuff your eyes first..: New Scientist – Stuffing yourself in imagination curbs stomach pangs
  • (EXTRA) They just don’t understand the implied weight of the world.: The UK Telegraph – Babies and young children are immune from ‘catching’ yawns
  • They just over-understand the implied weight of the world.: AOL News – Filmmaker Produces First Film Designed to Put You to Sleep
  • (EXTRA) “Tomorrow will be cloudy with a chance of invasion. Expect pressure and concern to be on the rise, as well as a drifting front line across parts of the world..”: Orange – BBC shows Nazi rally instead of weather
  • (EXTRA) Survival of the sinister..: BBC – ‘Left-handed’ coiling snails survive more snake attacks
• Slyentific:
  • Here comes the old lace?: CBC – NASA’s arsenic microbe science slammed
  • The name gives me a chaffing feeling, for some reason..: BBC – New species of bacteria found in Titanic ‘rusticles’
  • (EXTRA) If it is, the Ark was rather crowded. And didn’t fly through space. Bummer.: WND – Is all that wood on Mount Ararat really from Noah’s Ark?
  • (EXTRA) Some claim that he is actually Noah.: Metro – ‘Mr Freeze’ survives in block of ice for 24 hours
  • This works along the same principle as speed bumps, and will also result in much property damage by unsuspecting participants..: New Scientist – File, save — the planet: Hello green computing
  • Pretty soon, we’ll base our entire civilization on Lego. And then, my childhood dreams will be complete.: New Scientist – World’s oldest computer recreated in Lego
  • (EXTRA) Now, if they could recreate *this* in Lego, we’d have a complete circle.: ScienceDaily – ‘Logic Gates’ Made to Program Bacteria as Computers
  • (EXTRA) Not worth betting on, I suspect..: AOL News – Family Shares Birthday: What Are the Odds?
  • I bet NASA feels a little silly now..: Croatian Times – Moonlanding for Croatia in 2012
  • (EXTRA) Ah, so *that’s* the ultimate destination of Dr. Evil’s Spaceship Big Boy..: The UK Daily Mail – Massive dark object ‘lurking on edge of solar system hurling comets at Earth’
  • (EXTRA) Yup. Manned spaceflight wouldn’t suffer from that problem..: Phenomenica/ANI – Japanese space probe misses Venus completely
  • (EXTRA) I dub thee “the Bling system”.: DiscoveryOn/ANI – New star found with diamond glitter
  • (EXTRA) I hope this one contains the time machine plans..: Discovery Online/ANI – Rare Da Vinci Manuscript Discovered
  • (EXTRA) It was so ugly, we un-discovered it.: BBC – Bizarre hairy fly is rediscovered
  • (EXTRA) Well, at least there are still sharks.: BBC – Crocs dispel ‘living fossil’ myth
• Extras:
  • (EXTRA) I guess you could say it’s Crist-mas for Morrison..: AOL News – Charlie Crist to Get His Long-Awaited Pardon of Jim Morrison
  • (EXTRA) Ah, a good, ol’-fashioned UFO photo. How quaint!: The Daily Telegraph – Hills alive with UFOs
  • (EXTRA) How many of them arrived “slightly damaged”?: AOL News – ‘Operation Spiderman’ Busts Man Accused of Mailing Tarantulas
  • (EXTRA) Not nearly as sexy as the unicorn, but probably tastes better.: AOL New – Chinese ‘Unicorn Cow’ Horns In on Fame
  • (EXTRA) An ol’-fashioned ghost story.: WIGAN Today – Mum’s poltergeist fears
  • (EXTRA) More thoughts on the pre-saging experiment. Did you know that I was going to say that, based on the fact that you will have read the article?: The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry – Back from the future: Comments on Bem
  • (EXTRA) It sounds like it would be an interesting story, but it was probably just about some locals getting stoned and surprised..: Inexplicata – Puerto Rico: Guánica Mayor Concerned Over Gargoyle Hunt
  • (EXTRA) Strange, as I’ve never read anything suggesting that gargoyles were ever anything but *depictions* of outlandish fictional creatures. Sadly.: Inexplicata – Puerto Rico: A Skeptical Look at Gargoyles
  • (EXTRA) Well, at least the 3D is probably better..: Metro – Avatar weddings in Pandora ‘really pathetic’
  • (EXTRA) Proving that the rest of us really could shape up a bit.: Orange – Great gran’s a kung fu master at 82
  • (EXTRA) The James Bond and Christopher Reeve connections are also bizarre..: Crunch Gear – Rolex Owner Gets A Christmas Surprise: Posted His Watch On eBay For $9.95, Final Bid Was $60,000
  • (EXTRA) Too soon?: BBC – Japan retail chain to withdraw Nazi costume from sale

Podcast: Play in new window | Download