Tower of Technobabble

We conclude our talk with JR Southall on apocalyptic films that grabbed our attention, and then, at the end of all things, we discuss the future of the Tower of Technobabble.

Show Notes

• White Mountains/Tripods - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086818/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The White Mountains comics from Boys Life Magazine:

“The White Mountains”

http://the-haunted-closet.blogspot.com/2010/03/white-mountains-boys-life-mar-1981-july.html

“The City of Gold and Lead”

http://the-haunted-closet.blogspot.com/2010/04/city-of-gold-and-lead-boys-life-aug-82.html

“The Pool of Fire”

http://the-haunted-closet.blogspot.com/2010/04/pool-of-fire-boys-life-mar-84-aug-86.html

• The Terminator

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/?ref_=nv_sr_1

•The Quiet Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/?ref_=nv_sr_4

• (It has a beautiful soundtrack, BTW: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbuDh75IIxM)

• 28 Days Later

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0289043/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Also mentioned:

• - 28 weeks later: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463854/?ref_=nv_sr_2
• - The Road: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0898367/?ref_=nv_sr_1
• - The Walking Dead- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1520211/?ref_=nv_sr_1

- The Miracle Mile: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjQdmT9yFCA

It’s doomsday all day at the Tower as we begin a two-part series with our friend from across from what used to be the Atlantic Ocean JD Southall. We take a look at cinematic apocalypses (apocalypi?) and examine why we probably would envy the dead, because we hate camping.

Show Notes:

War of the Worlds

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046534/?ref_=nv_sr_2

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0407304/?ref_=nv_sr_1

http://www.space.com/13197-mars-canals-water-history-lowell.html

Logan’s Run

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074812/?ref_=nv_sr_1

The Day of the Triffids

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055894/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids_(film)

Survivors

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(2008_TV_series)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1258189/?ref_=nv_sr_1

I Am Legend

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0480249/?ref_=nv_sr_1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(novel)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Am_Legend_(film)

Omega Man 

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067525/?ref_=nv_sr_2

Last Man on Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0058700/?ref_=nv_sr_2

We’re giving you our presentation of the Sam Spade radio classic “The Blood Money Caper,” performed by our trio of scratchy throated players from their world record attempt at Wonderfest last month.  All apologies to the hard workin’, hard drinkin’, hard lovin’ writers and actors from 1946 who originally brought this to the airwaves. For maximum effect, I’d recommend staying awake for 27 hours before listening - at that point, it’s gold.

Show Notes:

Some background on our play:

http://www.digitaldeliftp.com/DigitalDeliToo/dd2jb-Advs-Sam-Spade.html

The actual script, if you’d like to play along:

http://www.genericradio.com/show.php?id=3Y2HTBMCK

Another take on it by others who have had sleep and have actual girls for the girl roles:

http://amerad.libsyn.com/sam_spade_the_blood_money_caper

We continue our two-parter with Science Advisor Rich, where we talk World War II, including deadly nazi submarine toilets, unsinkable cats, a Starfleet engineer’s missing digit and a host of other stuff.

Show Notes:

70th Anniversary of the longest day

http://patriotpost.us/commentary/26463

Lockheed Burbank Airplane factory camouflaged to look like a town

http://www.seenandshared.com/air-factory.htm

Toilet malfunction sinks a Nazi U-Boat

http://www.wired.com/2011/04/0414toilet-malfunction-sinks-u-boat/

Unsinkable Sam the cat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsinkable_Sam

Surplus Purple Hearts

http://www.americanheritage.com/content/half-million-purple-hearts?page=show

Tracer bullets

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/brainstuff/how-tracer-bullets-work-or-the-closest-thing-we-have-right-now-to-laser-blasters/

New way to clean a clogged toilet

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw9abgNDF4Q&sns=em

Science advisor Rich joins us as we discuss the amount of ass our childhood heroes kicked, the strange case of a man with epic insomnia, the approaching artificial intelligence apocalypse that Towerbot’s warned them about for years and the sad fate of computer pioneer Alan Turing.

Show Notes:

• Something for the Repeater from Sean Vale via Facebook:

http://middleofbeyond.com/products/sasquatchcardigan

• The Bloodshot Tale of Paul Kern, or why a well-placed bullet through the frontal lobe might keep you up for 40 years:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Kern

• A computer passed the Turing Test for the first time!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/06/09/a-computer-just-passed-the-turing-test-in-landmark-trial/

• Actually, it didn’t, and the idea is stupid anyway:

 https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140609/07284327524/no-computer-did-not-pass-turing-test-first-time-everyone-should-know-better.shtml

• The Shameful Tale of A.I. Pioneer Alan Turing, or Chemically Castrating Your WWII Heroes is Wrong and Can’t Be Made Up for 60 Years After the Fact:   

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/24/world/europe/alan-turing-royal-pardon/

This week, on the tower of technobabble, we have two interviews conducted at their recent world record attempt at Wonderfest 2014. The first interview is with academy award winning special effect master Phil Tippett, on how he got into the business, how he’s preserving effects from his past films, and how he’s currently using special effects to tell a new story. Then, we speak with an honest-to-gosh stormtrooper about what goes in to a kick-ass stormtrooper’s uniform, how the imperial ranks are simply misunderstood, and how his group, the 501st legion, is working to do some good on our planet. We also get into some real-world issues from a different perspective than we usually see.

Show Notes

Interview with Phil TIppett

IMDB Info: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0864138/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Help Phil Make Mad God, Part 2!:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/madgod/phil-tippetts-mad-god-part-2

Tippett Studio: http://www.tippett.com/

Chronicle Collectibles: http://www.chroniclecollectibles.com/

Interview with Alex Brown (TK-3855) - 

Name, Rank Serial Number: http://www.501st.com/members/displaymember.php?userID=12431&costumeID=124

The Story Behind R2-KT and the people behind it:

http://www.r2kt.com/ and http://www.astromech.net/

The 501st Legion (Vader’s Fist, yo!): http://www.501st.com/

Ultra Pop! 

https://www.facebook.com/UltraPopShop

Wonderfest

http://wonderfest.com/

Allllllll the 40 hours worth of material we got at Wonderfest:

http://toweroftechnobabble.com/WorldRecord.html

After their recent breaking of the Guinness Book of World Record for Longest Uninterrupted Webcast this past weekend (Pending), the Tower's meat bags are very, very sleepy.

We interview Dave Conover, the man who is going to let us set a world record at WonderFest this weekend, and Towerbot divulges the details of one of his many hobbies. Then, we bow to the inevitable and have a debate on various and sundry developments in the Star Wars universe. Daggor joins the fray, so c’mon in, take your shoes off and sit a spell, won’t you?

Show Notes:

World Record Attempt

WonderFest: 

http://wonderfest.com/

Info on our attempt:

http://toweroftechnobabble.com/?page_id=4451

EVPs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_voice_phenomenon

Star Wars - The photo that launched a bazillion geek debate, including this one:

https://starwars.com/news/star-wars-episode-7-cast-announced.html

The Repeater regales us with tales of Chattanooga, then we look at ancient tools of a popular author, surprising things the Pope says, and Kentucky Slim flies off the handle about UFO disinformation from the government. Oh, yeah, and the Repeater has breaking news about the Sugar Flat Road Creature Head, which sounds like a bunch of words jammed together but he swears it's a real thing.

Show Notes:

• We still need witnesses for our World Record attempt at Wonderfest on May 30 - June 1:

http://toweroftechnobabble.com/?page_id=4451

http://www.wonderfest.com

• George R.R. Martin and the DOShraki (Ha! Geek humor!): http://www.cinemablend.com/pop/Game-Thrones-Author-George-R-R-Martin-Writes-His-Books-Using-Dos-Program-64090.html

• UFO disinformation - Who the hell can we trust? 

USAFOSI!: 

http://www.openminds.tv/open-letter-u-s-air-force-allegations-ufo-disinformation/27071

Law Enforcement Hoaxes and muddying the waters:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alejandro-rojas/exair-force-law-enforceme_b_5312650.html

Where do we go from here?

http://disinfo.com/2012/11/what-is-the-future-of-ufology/

• Pope Francis says he would totally baptize aliens (the outer space kind - we checked):

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/pope-francis-says-he-would-baptise-aliens-9360632.html

• The Sugar Flat Road Creature Head:

http://chattanoogaghosttour.com/thelittlecuriosityshoppe.html

Daggor joins us to discuss the obligatory Star Wars news, then we look at voluntary invasive technology, and terrible, awful animals that should not exist. We then end with another installment of Chick Tract Theater, where Towerbot does a bitchin’ imitation of the Repeater.

Show Notes:

Star Wars Episode VII looking to cast ugly people:

http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Wars-Episode-VII-Looking-Cast-Really-Ugly-People-42878.html

Headline: Crazy Implant Girl!

http://kotaku.com/woman-puts-deus-ex-on-computer-chip-in-her-hand-1573033542

The Wasp that creates zombie cockroaches and yuck yuck YUCK!

http://www.sciencespacerobots.com/new-wasp-species-named-after-dementors-from-harry-potter-42620142

Headline! Octogoat!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/07/octogoat-photos-goat-with-8-legs_n_5282642.html

Chick Tract Theater: Evil Eyes!

http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/1030/1030_01.asp