TWS196: Self-Determination By Others

CQ: Forget nature *or* nurture: how much do you have the ability — or even the right! — to determine who you are going to be in the world?

It’s all about the books this week!

Bumper: V & A Shipping by JR Murdock; space adventure with a real heart

Promo: Down From 10 by JD Sawyer; listening to this book now.. very intriguing.

Promo: FETIDUS: The Damned Heir by James Durhum; a lush sound for a hard-boiled detective/political intrique story — set with a backdrop of zombies, werewolves and vampires that not only makes some sense, but means something to the story! Awesome!

On the show this week:

• Feedback
• Front Page
• Be Who You Want To Be
• Look Up.. Waaay Up…
• Cryptid Corner
• Extras

Full list of 52 articles after the jump!

• Feedback:
• Front Page:
  • Frankly, I rather wish we offered more condiments in North America.. Such as Dijon..: Metro – Tomato ketchup banned in primary schools in France
  • Time to stand up for sitting down!: The Vancouver Sun – Vancouver restaurant’s ‘ban’ on men peeing standing up creates a stir
  • Ultimately, the entire world will be run on Steam Power. Much like it is now… (Either that or explosives.. Like it is now..): Wired – Cold fusion rears its head as ‘E-Cat’ research promises to change the world
  • Is this a trick question? Or do I win a prize if I get it right?: New Scientist – When will the 7 billionth human be born?
  • (EXTRA) No. (Maybe.) (Will Require More Evidence.) (Maybe.): CFZ-Canada – Can You Satiate The Pseudo Sceptics?
  • (EXTRA) “I believe ‘Canada’ refers to those buildings over there..” “Hmm.. and those fancy buildings?” “Well, they’re either for average people, or–” “Average people!?!” “Um, yeah.. Or maybe they’re temples…” “Temples it is, then! And no one wou: PhysOrg – Archaeologist argues world’s oldest temples were not temples at all
  • Realism, pessimism or capitalism?: The Huffington Post – Occupy Wall Street Condoms Unveiled
  • It’s not a laughing matter. Not even a silently laughing matter..: The UK Daily Mail – You’re having a laugh! Dangerous drivers get the silent treatment as Venezuela employs mime artists to be traffic police
• Be Who You Want To Be:
  • Dispelling forever the notion that “gang warfare” is restricted to inner city folks..: Huffington Post – ‘Bergholz Clan’ Busts: Arrests In Amish Beard-Cutting Attacks In Ohio (VIDEO)
  • When not even the masked vigilantes are safe in this world, what have we come to?: Orange – Police arrest masked superhero
  • It’s a different form of Occupy movement, really..: BBC – ‘Superhero’ Phoenix Jones: ‘I’ll keep Seattle safe’
  • Who do you want to be? And how hard will *you* work to become that person?: The UK Sun – Superfan: Superman fanatic has surgery to look like his hero
  • Maybe he was really there, but disguised as a sofa cushion..: Huffington Post/AP – Gregory Liascos, Portland’s Alleged ‘Moss Man,’ Fails To Show Up For Trial
  • The old advice still works: “Stop making that face, or you’ll stay that way!”: BBC – Zombies hurt in Resident Evil film set accident
  • (EXTRA) Of course, he could also be an elf, an alien or otherwise a cuckoo’s egg..: Yahoo!/SkyNews – Swiss Couple Claim ‘Forest Boy’ Is Grandson
  • (EXTRA) There are all sorts of superheroic (and erotic!) possibilities with this muscular adaptation, if applied to human evolution..: BBC – Salamander’s elastic tongue powered by ‘coiled spring’
  • I can imagine how that would make life uncomfortable, as ugly words are more plentiful than yummy ones..: io9 – Lexical-Gustatory Synesthesia: When People Taste Words
  • (EXTRA) The best get better, and the rest get beaten..: io9 – New study supports the existence of the “hot hands” phenomenon in basketball
  • (EXTRA) And yet: no uplifted chimps, reborn woolly mammoths or sabertooth riding cats..: BBC – Black Death genetic code ‘built’
  • Of course, in Japan it should properly be a droid with an extremely focussed purpose..: Reuters – With 24 high-tech fingers, Japan robot washes hair
  • It’s a modern version of a classic desire to be sloshed in style..: Orange – Designer invents breathalyser jacket
  • (EXTRA) Fiction will likely always lead technology; fact will rarely do so, just inform the process.: BBC – Real-life Jedi: Pushing the limits of mind control
• Look Up.. Waaay Up…:
  • (EXTRA) That’s a pretty apt aptonym.. Victim-onym?: The UK Guardian – Comette family home damaged by egg-sized meteorite
  • (EXTRA) Define “dangerous”… And then talk to the Comettes..: Discoveryon/PTI – Fewer dangerous asteroids surrounded the Earth
  • (EXTRA) As above, so below..: Yahoo! – Pre-earthquake ionosphere disturbance could lead to early warning system
  • (EXTRA) Great place to visit, with an awesome view, but the commute is a real pain..: DiscoveryOn/ANI – Saturn’s moon Enceladus ‘best ski resort’ in space
  • (EXTRA) Yup.. There’s more stars out there than are dreamt in your philosophy, Galileo.. Horatio told me so..: The Register – Billion dollar telescope snaps galactic head-on
  • (EXTRA) The original video has been taken down.. Too accurate, or too valueable?: The Examiner – Kansas City sightings: First UFO raw video released
  • (EXTRA) Eye witness accounts like these never “prove” anything.. But can they really be dismissed as *all* fake or *all* confused?: The Examiner – Kansas City UFO round-up: Witness reports continue as MUFON investigates
  • (EXTRA) … Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the comedians from the sincere. Other times: not so much.: The Huffington Post – ‘UFO Phil’ Plans To Build UFO Gas Station On Alcatraz Island
  • (EXTRA) Because mass media has simply run out of creative ways to either deal with issues or mock them. In other words: the most rare element on the earth is *imagination*.: The Examiner – Strange Facts: Mainstream media and UFO reporting
  • (EXTRA) Yes: there’s an app for that. But as one of the commentors points out: it’s just as likely to be abused..: De Void/Herald Tribune – New tool in the hunt for UFOs
  • (EXTRA) With this sort of attitude, when we venture into space, we’ll be the toughest, meanest, take-no-crap-from-nobody spacers — which is exactly what the predictions say the aliens are likely to be!: The New York Times/The Stone – Will the Aliens Be Nice? Don’t Bet On It
  • (EXTRA) Sometimes we hope that aliens will be just like *us*.. But that might be most dangerous thing of all!: UFO Digest – Advanced Technologies and Spiritual Advancement
• Cryptid Corner:
  • (EXTRA) Looking for the biggest of the small things in the places where no one looks..: BBC – Ocean trawl reveals ‘megavirus’
  • (EXTRA) Celebrating the action hero that Charles Fort would have particularly and amusingly unfamiliar..: Silver Screen Saucers – Charles Fort: the movie!
  • (EXTRA) To me, it just sounds like the ‘elephant graveyard’ for icthyosaurs..: Fox/LiveScience – Lair of Ancient ‘Kraken’ Sea Monster Possibly Discovered
  • (EXTRA) It’s too bad these never catch on.. I really want to see a race of cyclopean monsters in the deep waters..: National Geographic – Pictures: Rare “Cyclops” Shark Found
  • (EXTRA) When we go out on a limb with a theory, do we always remember to make sure the tree exists?: Wired/LAELAPS – The Giant, Prehistoric Squid That Ate Common Sense
  • (EXTRA) Knick-knack, fossil-backed, gave the dog a bone!: Discoveryon/PTI – Dog fossils show early relationship with humans
  • (EXTRA) Well, maybe.. You know, for something so hairy, they’re apparently really tidy..: The UK Guardian – Have we found evidence of the elusive orang pendek?
  • (EXTRA) Skeptic response: “Bring me a living one or a perfect corpse, or it didn’t happen!” Researcher response: “Looks like you have some evidence; let’s examine it carefully.” My response: “I wonder what Yeti tastes like..”: AFP – Siberian region ‘confirms Yeti exists’
  • (EXTRA) Musing about the “certain” claims of the Yeti’s existence — and how valuable the possibility is to some people.: RT – A genuine Yeti-mania
  • (EXTRA) Extraordinary headlines demand extraordinary evidence.. But in the world where EVERYTHING depends on hyperbole, how is ANYONE to survive without having the MOST BOLD headlines EVAR?: Crytomundo – Exaggerated Snowmen Claims Not Good For Cryptozoology
  • (EXTRA) Once again, the evidence is Photoshopped – but this might actually be a *good* thing..: Cryptomundo – The End of Blobsquatchery?
  • (EXTRA) From slaves of alien masters to the new political/socio-collective ideal of “contributionism”.. Does it matter if the evidence is flawed, if the hypothesis might still prove valueable?: UFO Digest – The Missing Links of Human Origins
  • (EXTRA) No doubt, things like this inspired the world and caused poets and writers to dream.. Unfortunately now, we have television.. … We’re doomed, I think..: The UK Daily Mail – The crooked forest: Fantasy woodland that could have come straight from a fairytale
• Extras:
  • (EXTRA) The latest in the series of reports about collectively failing to visit cosmic dimensions..: AsiaOne/The Star/Asia News Network – After hell tours, medium sets up ‘heavenly trips’
  • (EXTRA) There really needs to be more very random prizes for very rare events.. More random lotteries. “You’ve just farted a perfect C sharp! Here’s a case of beans!”: ESPN Golf – Elliot Saltman wins body weight in ham
  • (EXTRA) The claim rings kinda hollow, really..: BBC – First UK-built bamboo bike unveiled
  • (EXTRA) Ah, back when “Nikes” were really blessed by Nike..: National Geographic – 120 Roman Shoes Found in U.K.; “Substantial” Fort Find
  • (EXTRA) He’d do better in Hollywood in comedies and faking historic military propoganda..: Huffington Post – Mohamed Bishr, Saddam Hussein Look-alike, Says Iraqi Gang Tried To Kidnap Him For Porn Films (VIDEO)

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