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The WEIRD Show
By the Encaffeinated ONEComedy
The WEIRD Show episodes
- TWS401: K is for Kilometer, not Savings
On the show this week:
- A Different View
- Tech We Didn’t Know You Needed
- Sec3
CQ: Have we fundamentally changed as a civilization in the last two hundred years — and will we change again in another 200? Or are all the changes really superficial and circumstantial?
Full list of 10 articles after the jump!
- A Different View:
- For the last time: phones are not demons, they are perfectly normal technology. DOOM.: Newsweek – The Vatican Is Training More Exorcists, With Reports of Demonic Possession Soaring
- Will the sasquatch get it’s day in court?: WSDU – Woman suing California agencies for not recognizing existence of Bigfoot
- Don’t tell the animals; it will hurt their feelings…: Vox – The surprisingly weak scientific case for emotional support animals
- Are rockets ships more metaphor than they should be?: NBC/THINK – The patriarchal race to colonize Mars is just another example of male entitlement
- Tech We Didn’t Know You Needed:
- (EXTRA) Actually, one could see this as a lesson in persistence against obstacles more than violence.: LiveScience – The Day Humans Taught Robots to Fight Back
- (EXTRA) Any sufficiently developed biology is indistinguishable from magic. And probably smells.: LiveScience – These Bacteria Eat Toxic Metal, ‘Poop’ Gold Nuggets
- (EXTRA) It’s the beginning of our underground future.: LiveScience – Whoosh! Virgin Unveils Hyperloop that Will Travel 760 Mph
- (EXTRA) But… it’s right there. In the mountain. And it needs to be wound.: LiveScience – This Giant Clock Will Tick for 10,000 Years, But You’ll Never Find It
- (EXTRA) Bonkers? Or the only way we’ll know the passage of time in the year 9 thousand, 2 hundred and five, after the ‘planetary mobility’ accident of 9 thousand 2 hundred and one..: Gizmodo – Jeff Bezos Begins Installation of His Bonkers 10,000 Year Clock
- (EXTRA) Watch out for the roaming charges!: Metro – Vodafone and Nokia to install 4G on the moon in 2019
1 hr - TWS400: Lookin’ Good At A Distance
On the show this week:
- Space Enough For Anyone
- Slyborg
- Making It Up As We Get Along
CQ: If you won the big lottery tomorrow, would you have 100% leisure time, or would you choose to work for a salary still?
Full list of 16 articles after the jump!
- Space Enough For Anyone:
- And we all know that the universe conforms to simple math, just look at rocket science.: NBC/MACH – Simple math shows how many space aliens may be out there
- Personally, I’m in favour of Star Watch: Exterrestrial Alien Recon.: LiveScience – ‘Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence’ Needs a New Name, SETI Pioneer Says
- So far, my RPG scenario from 1994 has not held up.: Reuters – Chemical sunshade to slow warming may not be feasible: U.N. draft
- Suddenly space doesn’t seem so sexy..: NY Daily News – Human waste turned into astronaut food
- Our 1000-year plan for future space habitation depends upon that car surviving.: Gizmodo – So Like, If You Could Bring Elon Musk’s Tesla Back From Space, Would it Still Work?
- Well, *someone* had to!: Unknown source: – Yup, Flat-Earthers Think the Falcon Heavy Launch Was a Conspiracy
- Maybe he should have put a car on top.: Unknown source: – Flat-Earth Rocketeer Fails to Launch (Again)
- Slyborg:
- Good bye, glassholes! Welcome intelligeeks?: The Verge – Intel Made Smart Glasses That Look Normal
- (EXTRA) Considering that we’re still a bit baffled by our own intelligence, this is pretty much a definite thing.: Ideas.ted.com – Why we need to create AI that thinks in ways that we can’t even imagine
- (EXTRA) Along the lines of Douglas Adams, I expect the revelation of the meaning of the manuscript to immediately cause the book to transform into something even stranger..: Science Alert/CP – AI May Have Finally Decoded The Bizarre, Mysterious ‘Voynich Manuscript’
- (EXTRA) Just don’t get on to her bad side.: LiveScience – Meet Erica, Japan’s Next Robot News Anchor
- Making It Up As We Get Along:
- (EXTRA) Well, that’s clearly the way that language works.: Detroit Metro Times – Michigan Court of Appeals officially ruled emoticon denotes sarcasm
- (EXTRA) Maybe they’re just sarcastic?: LiveScience – Why Are So Many People So Unhappy?
- (EXTRA) Maybe they just aren’t trustworthy..: LiveScience – This Is Why You Trust Some Strangers and Not Others
- (EXTRA) No? Wait.. what do you know?: The Aeon – Are you sleepwalking now?
- (EXTRA) What, no one chose back tentacles?: NBC/MACH – 10 top science minds tell what strange new body part they’d like to have
1 hr 8 min - TWS399: As Smart As You Wanna Be
On the show this week:
- From Here To Beyond
CQ: Isn’t gravy just really thick soup?
Full list of 9 articles after the jump!
- From Here To Beyond:
- Not sure how you land something going straight up.: LiveScience – Flat Earth Rocketeer Says He Will Launch in Two Weeks
- It’s really just taking drones to the next level..: The UK Daily Mail – The ‘Segway of the sky’ that ANYONE can fly: French Flyboard inventor Franky Zapata reveals new Ezfly hoverboard that uses jet thrusters to zoom you through the air at 80mph
- I do not really want to hear a dog speak.: NBC/MACH – Dogs can’t speak human. Here’s the tech that could change that.
- Why would we make animals dumber?: SingrularityHub – If We Could Engineer Animals to Be as Smart as Humans-Should We?
- Isn’t the Internet changing *everything*?: LiveScience – Is the Internet Changing the Way People Feel About Religion?
- What even exists? (And how did the X-Files know?): Metro – Jim Carrey believes he doesn’t exist and is just an ‘idea’
- Are any of us really here?: Boston Review – Philip K. Dick and the Fake Humans
- (EXTRA) I hope they have a department and aren’t working alone..: LiveScience – Why the UK Just Appointed a Minister of Loneliness
- (EXTRA) Survival of the social media fittest?: boingboing – Crowdfunding for medical costs is turning health-care into a reality-TV competition
1 hr 1 min - 1 hr 1 min
- TWS394: Second Pass At First Things
This episode is a second-half of articles collected in episode 393.
59 min - TWS395: Let’s Get Off This Rock (and Roll)
On the show this week:
- To The Moon, Alice
- Post-End of the World
- Disruptive
CQ: What song would you send to greet our alien cousins?
Full list of 19 articles after the jump!
- To The Moon, Alice:
- Probably not a bad idea to start making more baskets..: New Scientist – Should we seed life through the cosmos using laser-driven ships?
- Seeding the near earth orbit is a start, right?: New Scientist – The ‘space nation’ Asgardia just launched its first satellite
- C’ing the universe, one chord at a time..: Mysterious Universe – Scientists Transmit Songs to Planet With Potential Alien Life
- Because who says science can’t be cool looking.: Youtube – Sónar Calling GJ273b
- I’m pretty sure he can’t fire it in a curve, because curves don’t exist.: AP – Self-taught rocket scientist plans to launch over ghost town
- How do I want him to fail at succeeding, rather than fail to try?: Gizmodo – Flat Earth Researcher Told He Can’t Blast Himself Into the Sky at 500 MPH on Public Lands
- : AP/ABC Australia – ‘Mad’ Mike Hughes eyes Monday for new launch date of homemade steam-powered rocket
- Yeah, but aside from all the evidence, what more proof do you have?: Forbes – Five Impossible Facts That Would Have To Be True If The Earth Were Flat
- Therefore: science is *all* wrong.: The LA Times – Mars may not have the water we thought it did, study shows
- Post-End of the World:
- Seems like we should burn it or something..: Phys.org – ‘Trash islands’ off Central America indicate ocean pollution problem
- On the burning edge of fashion.: Bloomberg – A Power Plant Is Burning H&M Clothes Instead of Coal
- Seems like it would smell better than burning t-shirts.: Engadget – London buses to be powered by coffee grounds
- (EXTRA) Are we wasting a precious resource — again?: LiveScience – Here Come the Macy’s Balloons, There Goes Our Helium?
- (EXTRA) Evil or just amoral?: The New York Times – How Evil Is Tech?
- Disruptive:
- (EXTRA) OHMYGODIWILLLIVEFOREVERGIMMEMOREESPRESSO: The UK Telegraph – Even seven cups of coffee a day cuts risk of early death, study suggests
- (EXTRA) They should probably drink more coffee (and have a burger).: ACSH – Vegetarian Men are More Depressed – Are Steaks a Treatment?
- (EXTRA) Don’t be alone until it’s good to be alone.: StudyFinds – Study: Being Alone Can Be Good For Your Mental Health, Sparks Creativity
- (EXTRA) A new feat for high level Ranger characters!: Sploid – This Mind-Bending Archer Fires Arrows That Change Direction in Mid-Air
- (EXTRA) It’s the end of the term, as you know it, but I feel fine..: TwinCities Pioneer Press – ‘Zombie apocalypse’ writing assignment leads to controversy at Minnesota high school
1 hr 2 min - TWS393: Things In The Way of Food
On the show this week:
- Someone Made This Real
- Unusual Science
- Missing Things Found
- Unreal Intelligence
CQ: When we bring dinosaurs back from extinction, will we use them on the moon, on Mars or on Earth first?
Full list of 18 articles after the jump!
- Someone Made This Real:
- ‘They were so busy wondering if they could, they never stopped to think whether they should.’: The UK Independent – Cheese tea is a thing – and it’s coming to the UK
- And yet, we still hear people fart in the public bathroom..: The Daily Dot – You can now buy a $130 ramen fork that cancels out slurping noises
- There’s a certain segment that is probably really interested.: The UK Daily Mail – Love the scent of fried chicken? KFC releases BATH BOMBS that will leave you smelling like the 11 secret herbs and spices
- I’ve heard of bar deodorant, but that’s ridiculous!: KDVR/FOX – Pit Liquor: Colorado inventors make whiskey-based deodorant
- It’s not what you think, but it could have been done a hundred years ago..: The UK Telegraph – Farmers urged to bury their underpants to improve quality of their beef
- Most of the world already seems ludicrous to me right now..: News.com.au – 12 things that’ll seem ludicrous in our lifetime
- Unusual Science:
- In what ways do we cross science over with art?: LiveScience – This Video of ‘Dancing Braids’ Will Change How You Think About Mathematics
- Shouldn’t we all?: Fox43 – U.S. Army in Maryland using urine to generate power
- The first stage of the replicator?: New Scientist – Kitchen counter bio-lab lets you make edible gloop from cells
- Oh yeah? See you in a hundred years, pal!: Inverse Science – Immortality Is Impossible, Say Scientists Studying the Mathematics of Aging
- Missing Things Found:
- They found it by looking everywhere else first. Whatever remains, must be nothing.: The Daily Grail – Scientists Find Suspected Hidden Chamber Within the Great Pyramid
- So now you’re telling me that there’s nothing there — but isn’t that the same as the other guy?: Phys.org – Egypt archaeologist criticises pyramid void ‘discovery’
- Let’s remember that games are still art, and art is for representation..: Ancient Origins – New Assassin’s Creed Has the Most Realistic Reconstruction of Ancient Egypt Ever Produced
- (EXTRA) You might say this work is transformative..: Quanta Magazine – The Atomic Theory of Origami
- Unreal Intelligence:
- (EXTRA) Why not? Corporations are people, so why not machines?: LiveScience – Lifelike ‘Sophia’ Robot Granted Citizenship to Saudi Arabia
- (EXTRA) Let’s hope the stories weren’t aspirational..: New Scientist – ‘I Wake Up in a Pool of Blood’: These Horror Stories Were Written by an AI
- (EXTRA) Inevitability or pipe dream?: Scientific American – Falling Walls: The Past, Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence
- (EXTRA) That’s what the debate over AI sometimes feels like..: The Verge – I spent seven months living inside a conspiracy thriller and it’s not over yet
58 min - TWS392: There Are Worlds Without Us
On the show this week:
- Revisible
- Off-planet Casual
- By the Numbers
CQ: With the age of the Internet, we can experience things from all over the world in an instant, and integrate them into our personal culture — but does that mean that the notion of “regional” or “national” culture are doomed to fade?
Full list of 13 articles after the jump!
- Revisible:
- Finally, offal news which is good!: CTV – Scottish haggis coming to Canada for first time in 46 years
- I’m pretty sure this is the anti-gravity of the heat world..: New Scientist – Light-filtering paint cools your home when exposed to hot sun
- Can we hide the Earth from the Sun when it’s being finnicky?: LiveScience – ‘Beam of Invisibility’ Could Hide Objects Using Light
- It’s probably the story of a divorce caused by unfair trade in sheep..: Vice – Settlers of Catan Is Getting Turned into a Movie for Some Reason
- Off-planet Casual:
- (EXTRA) Not only does the drive continue to make news, it continues to make new science..: Big Think – Is This The Secret Behind the Mysterious Em Drive?
- (EXTRA) Real estate with one hell of a view, but the insurance is not comprehensive.: The UK Daily Mail – The MOON set to get its own space station made of inflatable modules in 2022
- (EXTRA) A bit of a fixer-upper, and the view isn’t as good, but it’s got character..: The Guardian UK – Discovery of 50km cave raises hopes for human colonisation of moon
- (EXTRA) I feel like we’re scaling down the space program a bit much..: Discover Magazine – The Wearable Reentry Spacecraft of Yesteryear
- (EXTRA) Ah, but will it hit the moon?: New Scientist – A tech-destroying solar flare could hit Earth within 100 years
- By the Numbers:
- (EXTRA) How Dundgeons and Dragons paved the way for (obsessive?) self-examination.: Slate – My Quantified Monster and Me
- (EXTRA) Do you have the right stuff?: New Scientist – Online game will spot if you have hidden cybersecurity talents
- (EXTRA) Aside from all the technical problems, there’s the fact that they were creepy.: LiveScience – Why You Shouldn’t Expect to See ‘Blade Runner’ Replicants Anytime Soon
- (EXTRA) Like most fears, it isn’t real — but still has real consquences.: NY Post – ‘Slender Man’ sighting leaves small-town residents on edge
1 hr 6 min - TWS391: AI, Eh? Uh-Oh
On the show this week:
- Think Different. Pray Same.
- Space For Filling
- Non-Traditional
CQ: Which industry will be disrupted first: the clothing industry, when robotic tailors can custom-make clothing locally rather than ship them, or the travel industry, when we can VR remote into robotic surrogates?
Full list of 11 articles after the jump!
- Think Different. Pray Same.:
- First, they took chess from me, now this?: BBC – The computers being trained to beat you in an argument
- Replace the “return” button with “pray”.: New Scientist – Build an AI god? Beware the downsides of this weird tech plan
- Make your own Sistine Chapel.: LiveScience – This AI Helps You Paint Like Van Gogh
- And the good Lordbot said, ‘let there be food’.: Live Science – Robotic Farm Completes 1st Fully Autonomous Harvest
- Asking for a friend. With a cyber brain plan..: Aeon – When you split the brain, do you split the person?
- But what if it wants to eat the table?: LiveScience – To Keep AI from ‘Eating a Table,’ Scientists Make It Read Wikipedia
- Space For Filling:
- (EXTRA) This will not help.: Fast Company – “If I Were An Alien, I Wouldn’t Feel All That Welcome Here”: Designing An Invite For Extraterrestrials
- (EXTRA) I suppose he’s going to tunnel there..: New Scientist – Elon Musk’s new plans for a moon base and a Mars mission by 2022
- (EXTRA) Probably trying to get away from.. everything.: Ars Technica – Why octopuses are building small “cities” off the coast of Australia
- Non-Traditional:
- (EXTRA) It’s all about millenials, and had nothing to do with millenials.: Eater – Applebee’s Deserves to Die
- (EXTRA) Not necessarily a bad idea — especially for pointing out other bad ideas.: Slate – Hello, Men! Welcome to Your Mandatory Year of Customer Service!
1 hr 2 min - TWS390: Hal-Con 2017 Chat
My friends (Nax, Marie and Pat) join me to chat about what we enjoyed from Hal-Con, what we’d like to see, and what makes a con something we want to attend.
0 min
About The WEIRD Show
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A weekly roundup of weird news, strange views and odd ideas.