TWS126: I Brained That You Incorrectly Mind

Show Notes for TWS126: I Brained That You Incorrectly Mind

On the show this week:

• You Might Think That
• And You Might Be Wrong
• Broken Record are Music
• Broken Notes are Recorded (EXTRAS)

This week’s Challenge Question:
Are countries forever to be necessary? For a while, it was “think globally, act locally” — is it now “think locally, act globally”?
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Full links to all stories covered and many more after the jump!

• Theme Song: Caffeine by Grubspoon from The Podsafe Music Network
• Promo: The House Of Grey — A story of a typical teenaged life: going to high school (albeit the most exclusive high school in the world), living life (albeit with scars both physical and emotional), dealing with growing up (albeit with no memory of who you are except frightening visions of a power you don’t understand), meeting girls (albeit some of the most beautiful and mysterious girls on the planet) and doing homework (albeit some of it is magical training). A story revealing layers both mundane and supernatural in the life of Monson Grey, sole survivor of the attack on Barity Bridge.
• Promo: Technorama — Very happy to see the weekly show return from Chuck and Kreg. They’ve filled the feed with intervies and walkabouts, but the weekly show still holds a special place in my geeky heart.
• You Might Think That
  • Finding more frivilous ways to garner attention for important research. – CNN: Brain-Twitter project offers hope to paralyzed patients
  • A more practical use of telepathy, although maybe they should have jazzed it up with a video game or go-cart racing.. – Ananova: Thought-controlled wheelchair
  • I sing the mind electric. – BBC: World premiere of brain orchestra
  • I sing the mind electric 2: eclectic boohoo. – Newswise: Brain Music
  • Another case of leprechaun magic? Or how most accents are similar to brain damage? – The Register: Yorkshire man wakes up Irish after brain surgery
  • What is something I’d like to work on, Alex? – New Scientist: IBM computer aims to beat Jeopardy! quiz
  • Turns out, faith is a lot like shopping. I wonder if they’ve hit a credit crunch of their own.. – MSNBC/AP: Survey: Americans switch faiths often
  • EXTRA: I think this church might get lots of switchers.. Or would they be called swingers in this case? – The Sweden Local: Court climax premature for Madonna of Orgasm Church
  • Are we genetically disposed to seek out each other? – ScienceDaily: Neurons That Control Sociability In Worms Defined
  • Can we think ourselves worse? How about better? – Yahoo!/LiveScience: Worrying Over Fading Memory Makes it Worse
  • EXTRA: I want to know whether they grow out of this smartness. I have a sad, sinking feeling that peer pressure takes it away.. – Ananova: Girl, 2, brighter than Vorderman
  • EXTRA: Our distant ancestors were soooo trendy.. – New Scientist: Ancestors may have used bone tools to make smoothies
  • EXTRA: Hey, I’d probably want a calm sit-down, too! – The Australian Age/AP: Woman has cuppa after being shot in the head
  • EXTRA: Really, this is all about the idea that we are “too clean”. – NewsDaily: Could lice prevent asthma?
  • Another reminder that perception is far from pure, but is an interpreted reaction to our environment.. – ScienceDaily: Wimps Hear Dangerous Noises Differently
  • EXTRA: One day, we’ll look back on these petty naming problems and wonder why we fixated on such a small part of the problem.. – Yahoo!/Reuters: Swine flu not kosher in Israel
  • EXTRA: We may also look back and cry at how petty we foolish beasts can be.. – Yahoo!/Reuters: Watch thieves hide behind flu masks
• And You Might Be Wrong
  • There are mistakes, and then there are major blunders. – Ananova: Canadian province uses British beach in tourism ad
  • Sometimes, the DIY spirit leads to some rather disturbing results.. – Ananova: Home-made massage chair
  • “Approaching snack isle; drive straight past it. I said: drive past. You are entering the snack isle. Calling your dietician.” – Ananova: Sat nav for supermarkets
  • EXTRA: First, swine flu, then bovine polka? – Ananova: Moo-sical treat
  • I guess the UK constitution doesn’t grant the “right to bare gnomes”? – Metro: Naked gnomes ordered to cover up
  • My own strange reaction to these exhibits is that I suddenly want barbeque.. – ABC News: France Shuts Down Popular Bodies Show
  • No good deed goes unpunished. – Ananova: Good Samaritan gets parking ticket
  • Personally, I’m waiting for Iron Man. – WLWT/NBC: Cincinnati Superhero Patrols Streets Fighting Crime
  • And 1! And 2! And Punch! And Kick! – Yahoo!/AP: Girl beats off muggers with marching band baton
  • You stink — of crime! – Yahoo!/AP: Foul-smelling man accused of money laundering
  • Sad clown — he’s just gotta be himself! – Metro: Clown banned from wearing giant shoes
  • Sometimes, some things are just way too pedantic.. – Channel4/PA News: Fatwa on mobile phone usage
  • An interesting (if possibly flawed) mathematical approach to understanding the effect of mandatory regulation on a healthy activity.. – New Scientist: Bicycle helmet laws could do more harm than good
  • EXTRA: Somewhere out there, someone declared a “war on teens” as a wrongheaded approach to handling teenagers.. – Der Speigel: Dutch Debate Use of ‘Teen Repellent’
  • EXTRA: Did he at least cook it before eating it? – Yahoo!/Reuters: Man cut off finger to protest overdue wages
  • EXTRA: Apparently, everyone there is a monk for a while, which is why they are having problems, because not everyone is really fit to be a monk.. – BBC: ‘Etiquette guide’ for Thai monks
  • EXTRA: Guy wants to be made into a bone exhibit with his dog. Just hope the dog was already dead, or this is something very Egyptian.. – Salisbury Post/The Washington Post: Professor’s dying wish granted at Natural History Museum exhibit
  • EXTRA: There is a transition point in humanity, where we start to grow younger mentally all over again.. – Ananova: Cinema warns ‘juvenile’ pensioners
  • EXTRA: Recycling can turn you into a millionaire — if you already happen to be rich.. – The Local of Sweden: Eccentric Swede turned empty cans into gold
  • EXTRA: Many colourful words came from the Vikings — doesn’t everyone know that? – ScienceDaily: Viking Legacy On English: What Language Tells Us About Immigration And Integration
  • EXTRA: Maybe this will also prove the half-Yeti theory.. – ABC/AP: Test of Lincoln DNA Sought to Prove Cancer Theory
  • EXTRA: Plant the seeds of doubt deeply, oh mocking press, and see what you reap.. – The UK Daily Mail: It must be spring! The first of this year’s crop circles has been spotted
  • EXTRA: Hard to confirm this, but it seems unlikely, unless “alien embassy” is mis-represented here.. – SOTT/All News Web/Express-K: Kazakhstan: Government to build UFO base and alien embassy
  • EXTRA: It seems more like a casual conversation. Basically: “if we were invaded by aliens, you’d have my back, right?” “Yep.” – The Christian Science Monitor: Reagan and Gorbachev agreed to fight UFOs
  • EXTRA: I think that evolution is an overused word, unless it really does refer to all “positive change to adapt to the environment”… – ScienceDaily: Evolution In A Test Tube: Scientists Make Molecules That Evolve And Compete, Mimicking Behavior Of Darwin’s Finches
  • EXTRA: Another example of why life is far more vast and nearly incomprehensible to our generally limited point of view. – ScienceDaily: Newly Discovered Iron-breathing Species Have Lived In Cold Isolation For Millions Of Years
  • EXTRA: Never judge a book by its cover, it might just be a fake. – ScienceDaily: Animals That Seem Identical May Be Completely Different Species
  • EXTRA: Detecting the possibility of life by detecting the left- or right-handedness of the molecules consumed as viewed by telescope seems a lot like reading a matchbook which is on fire by detecting the different infrared signature of the ink as it is consumed — while 1000 km away.. – ScienceDaily: Scientists Give A Hand(edness) To The Search For Alien Life
  • EXTRA: And boy, are they *pissed*. (No, not really. But it might teach us something about cryogenics..) – MSNBC/Discovery: Drowned spiders come back from the dead
  • EXTRA: It evolved to support instant messaging in the animal world. (That will be in a cartoon within a year.) – The UK Telegraph: British scientists study Hawaiian happy face spider
  • EXTRA: Initial reports of this freaky creature seemed dubious.. – The Gulf Times: Mysterious figure “spotted”>
  • EXTRA: … And the skepticism seems warranted. Easy to mistake, however, as the toy is really freaky.. – Cryptomundo: New Qatari Mystery Photo {Updated}
  • EXTRA: The bearded lady must have had real health problems, apparently.. – BBC: Female hairiness health warning
  • EXTRA: A case where a witch’s cure might work? Or is it just disgusting people into going normal? – BBC: ‘She ran around like a maniac’
• Broken Record are Music
  • Beware when you change your name to something silly; not everyone respects you. – Ananova: Pudsey Bear refused a passport
  • I’m most impressed that he follows ancient Norse gods.. – Yahoo!/AP: Judge won’t let inmate change name to ‘Sinner’
  • I’m sensing a bit of pent-up frustration here.. – RIA Novosti: Russian Volga city holds keyboard throwing competition
  • “Because its there” is still one of the strongest motivators for relatively under-employed, overly-smart, slightly-wealthy people.. – Yahoo!/Reuters: Cricket scales new heights with Everest match
  • Is this like the classical music used to deter teenagers? – The Wall Street Journal: Against Insect Plague, Nevadans Wield Ultimate Weapon: Hard Rock
  • I knew a Dutch guy once who actually wore wooden shoes. I figured the misalignment of feng shui here was more likely in the spine than in the name.. – Yahoo!/AFP: Clog show given boot in Hong Kong over feng shui
  • I’m sure it was also winter, and he will tell his grandkids all about it. – Ananova: Uphill tightrope walker
  • Another example of people wanting to get a real challenge.. – Ananova: Male runners show clean pair of (high) heels
  • I have a feeling that the groom didn’t carry the bridge all the way over the threshold.. – Ananova: Marathon wedding
  • Nothing like going for a run in nature “au natural”. – Ananova: Swiss voters ban naked ramblers
  • At least they didn’t get royally screwed. – Ananova: Couple’s Royal lawn romp
  • EXTRA: A controversion doctor reasserts that he’s actively cloning people. Still takes just as long as the original method, but we’ll need it when all the men die off.. – Yahoo!/AFP: Doctor has ‘cloned humans’
  • EXTRA: I saw a scene in a movie where a person splashed acid on their face to avoid identification. This seems cooler. – ScienceDaily: Parasite Breaks Its Own DNA To Avoid Detection
  • EXTRA: An interest suggestion that it may not be the content, but the medium, which is responsible. Maybe Marshall McLuhan should be revisited with respect to DNA? – ScienceDaily: Secret To Night Vision Found In DNA’s Unconventional ‘Architecture’
  • EXTRA: Been a long time since the last bad omen. I think that delay is a bad omen.. – BBC: Rare albino buffalo seen in Kenya
  • EXTRA: Not only is quantum entanglement beyond just a theory, it is pretty useful, too.. – ScienceDaily: Quantum Ghosts Are Helpful
  • EXTRA: Wacky scientists decide that physics is so very much a suggestion.. – New Scientist: Curved laser beams could help tame thunderclouds
  • EXTRA: This should be the most important story EVER, if it is true and reproduceable. And yet, I barely heard about it (and didn’t cover it).. – Reuters: Singapore scientists say can turn CO2 into biofuel
  • EXTRA: I think I want to change my name to The Rules, just to go somewhere and have the headline read “They Threw Out The Rules”.. – The UK Telegraph: ‘King Arthur’ evicted from Stonehenge
  • EXTRA: You’d think, given how much pride and recognition there is internationally in the Great Wall, that they would have figured this out by now.. – Yahoo!/AFP: China’s Great Wall far longer than thought: survey
  • EXTRA: It’s kinda like discovering that you had forgotten to name your kids, once they get to university. – Metro: New Zealand forgets to name islands for 200 years
  • EXTRA: I’ll avoid the obvious “piece of junk” comments and go straight to pointing out that they almost made it, but were RAMMED by another ship. – BBC: Ming Dynasty replica junk sinks
  • EXTRA: Ok, fine.. Can we stop this now? I mean, this is getting ridiculous.. – ScienceDaily: Major Boost In Atomic Clock Accuracy: Loses Or Gains Less Than A Second Every 300 Million Years
  • EXTRA: Next: super-strong spiders. – Yahoo!/Reuters: Scientists make super-strong metallic spider silk
  • EXTRA: Everything you need to know about a wacky, desperate idea for power grabbing.. – The Discovery Channel: Orbital Power Plant Dummies’ Guide
  • EXTRA: An interesting example of how what seems trivial (changing lightbulbs) gets to be a full-time, 6-person job via scale.. – NY Times: Grand Central Terminal Lighting Goes Green
  • EXTRA: Soon: they’ll lose the first successful model, or claim that they have, as no one can see it.. – BBC: Invisibility cloak edges closer
  • EXTRA: I would guess that it’s head was found in the sand (along with the rest of it). – MSNBC/Discovery: Hefty, ostrich-like dino found in China
  • EXTRA: Soon, they’ll be fighting on the front lines, like those bomb-sniffing robots.. – ScienceDaily: Medical Micro-robots Made As Small As Bacteria
• Broken Notes are Recorded (EXTRAS)
  • EXTRA: The past still holds mystery, but I really wonder what it must have been like in the late 1800s, when so many of these discoveries were being made, and so little was known. – ScienceDaily: Indus Script Encodes Language, Reveals New Study Of Ancient Symbols
  • EXTRA: I want a cat. And a library. – BBC: Literary cat makes library visits
  • EXTRA: All universities are haunted by the failures of students past.. – The Malaysia Star: Things that go bump in the night at Singapore varsity
  • EXTRA: No word yet on whether he’s contacted anyone, but at least he might finally get some answers.. – NY Times: Hans Holzer, Ghost Hunter, Dies at 89