The howl of the true believer

kw: tv shows, cryptozoology

Last evening, once we got tired of all the Weather Channel stuff, we watched an episode of Finding Bigfoot on the Discovery Channel. We've watched a few of these, curious to see if there is any scientific content. I suppose there is a little. At least, one of the four on the team is an actual biologist (Ranae).

The three men, Bobo, Cliff and Matt, are clearly true believers in the Sasquatch, or "Squatch", or Bigfoot, so-named for its large footprints. As an episode goes along, they pass along a large fund of lore about Bigfoot behavior, particularly the sounds they are supposed to make. They hoot or howl, they knock on trees with sticks, and throw stones, so it is said. The truest of the true is Bobo, who seems to end every episode by declaring whatever piece of forest they have visited, "Squatchy as hell."

A crucial bit of footage ran in this most recent episode. Cliff was spending the night trying to get some kind of response from the local Sasquatches in western Rhode Island, when there arose a sporadic series of hoots, howls and screams. He took the chance to inform us that these sounds were made by the Saw-Whet Owl, which is the most vocally versatile owl. This owl's repertory clearly includes every sound supposedly made by a Bigfoot. How did Cliff know the difference? I suppose it was because the owl made a few calls that are not considered Bigfoot noises.

I looked up a map of the distribution of the Northern Saw-Whet Owl. Guess what? It coincides almost exactly with the distribution of "sound" encounters with Bigfoot. The burden of proof is on the team to determine which encounter is not of someone hearing an owl.

By the bye, we live between Philadelphia and Wilmington, closer to Wilmington. The eye of hurricane Sandy passed just to the south of Wilmington about an hour ago. It is big enough that we are included, and have had an hour or so of calm, which is just now coming to an end as rain and wind are getting going again (Mark: 10:30 PM EDT). I am very relieved and thankful that we still have power and none of our trees fell. It isn't over yet, but I think the worst is over, in this area at least.

Fun in the sun and maybe in traction

kw: tv shows

I am not in a serious mood today. I've watched about half of the showings of ABC's Wipeout since it began airing just before July 2008. It is just the right mix of slapstick and, well, slapstick to help me while away an hour when I need some mindless entertainment. I got curious about where it is produced, and found a link with an address (25975 Sand Canyon Road, Canyon Country, CA 91351). Plopping this into Google Earth I find this:

The actual production site is about half set and half logistical space. At the time this image was taken, July 15, 2011, they were clearly remodeling the set for the next season, which was probably recorded in the fall months. In this area west of Magic Mountain (not the amusement park, which was moved to Ventura years ago, but the actual mountain), summer gets pretty hot.

The three linked pools at the right make up the initial qualifier. There are three pools, a circle and two rectangles, in which the second- and third-level qualifiers can be constructed (they don't use all three at once, typically). The unfinished bone-shaped pool at the left is the Wipeout Zone, clearly undergoing a major overhaul at the time.

As much as I like water sports, I have no desire to try out for the show. I'm a bit older than their to-date-oldest competitor, and more easily bruised than when I was half this age. On the short list of "things I might do for $50,000", Wipeout is not included!

Can these properties be saved?

kw: tv shows, real estate

It seems whenever I am at the YMCA in the fitness room, one of the TV's is showing Property Brothers on HGTV. In the past I haven't paid much attention, but today, while crunching on the abs machine, and later creaking with the back machine, I did pay attention. The hosts show a couple house after house with the aim of finding one they can buy and fix within a budget they have stated at the outset. The show's web site states the aim is to reclaim "extreme fixer-uppers", apparently in a less comprehensive way than the ABC show.

This morning's couple was two men whose budget was $450,000. That is about $150,000 more than I've seen in most past shows. They were shown a few homes that I would not take money to take possession of, all priced "as is" in the $400,000 range. You could not fix any of these for $50,000, so they were all out of budget. When the men asked to see a house that would not need so much repair, they were shown one priced at $850,000. At that point, I'd have fired the "brothers" in favor of a more honest realtor.

I began to think, "Where is this? Palo Alto?" That is about the only place such crummy homes are priced so high. Even in the current real estate market, median asking price is about a half million (Median asking price in my Zip code is $300,000).

I didn't find out where the show was taped, but it doesn't really matter. The houses I've seen being flogged on the show are mostly better replaced than repaired.

The latest tear-jerker

kw: popular culture, tv shows, game shows

Last evening my wife and I watched ABC's new game show You Deserve It, mainly out of curiosity. My friends know I need three hankies at a two-hanky movie, so I kept a box of tissues handy in anticipation: the trailers showed plenty of tearful moments, and I figured I'd follow suit. I did. (My wife, on the other hand, is puzzled why I cry when I am happy or touched.)

A young woman won more than $110,000 on behalf of a friend, a young widow who has fallen on hard times. She had her own family there to support her, though they were not allowed to help her with the clues. It works like this: at each level you start with an amount of potential winnings, such as $50,000. You have to buy clues, and the amounts are random. You hope for low cost clues. If you buy every clue, you wind up with nothing. This contestant did pretty well. If you were to buy no clues, you could win more than $450,000. She did well to win about a quarter of that.

Because of the surprise factor involved, I reckon that all the episodes for this season have been taped already. ABC is trolling for more contestants, and I expect they'll get enough ratings for this show to continue for a few more seasons. Its first episode was warm-hearted enough, as we enter the holiday season, to keep plenty of viewers tearfully happy through the end of the year at least.