quote:

In fairness, however, you or I might also appear to be in thrall to some supernatural force when confronted with a lift, appliance or other man-made machinery that was uncooperative, and it’s not entirely implausible that someone who filmed us without sound, reacting to slow internet or a freezing computer, might conclude that we were on drugs or having a psychotic episode.

Wildeyes posted:

There's a nice article on Elisa Lam with this insight:


The article also mentions she has a blog...that has apparently been updated since her death by some unknown person.

quote:

The Cecil Hotel, as most reports hasten to mention, was at one time home to serial killer Richard Ramirez, a.k.a. The Nightstalker, and at another to fellow serial killer Jack Unterweger. It was also allegedly the last place butchered actress Elizabeth Short, a.k.a. The Black Dahlia, was seen before her grisly – and still unsolved – murder in 1947.

[...] And then there is the deadly recent tuberculosis outbreak just a few blocks from the site of [Elisa] Lam’s death, where, in a bizarre coincidence, the test kit used was called the LAM-ELISA.

Turfahurf posted:

One of my exes was bipolar and the type of behavior in that video is pretty much what I would expect from someone off their meds.

Wildeyes posted:

There's a nice article on Elisa Lam with this insight:


The article also mentions she has a blog...that has apparently been updated since her death by some unknown person.

Wildeyes posted:

There's a nice article on Elisa Lam with this insight:

quote:

In fairness, however, you or I might also appear to be in thrall to some supernatural force when confronted with a lift, appliance or other man-made machinery that was uncooperative, and it’s not entirely implausible that someone who filmed us without sound, reacting to slow internet or a freezing computer, might conclude that we were on drugs or having a psychotic episode.

Junius posted:

Chococat posted:

Her blog was a tumblr (http://nouvelle-nouveau.tumblr.com/) and from what I remember seeing it just seems like she had a post queued and it was auto-posted on the schedule she'd set.

Wildeyes posted:

(I basically write obituaries as part of my job, and it's always disturbing when the deceased was active on Twitter or something. You can read someone's final thoughts and learn way more about them than their surviving family would ever reveal...the miracles of modern technology)

quote:

You can read about her last trip under the tags "Caliblah," including the fact that she a.) was planning to go to LA, despite the early reports that LA was not on her itinerary, and b.) missed a flight and had to spend the night in an airport not long before she died, which could possibly have triggered an episode.

Helena Handbasket posted:

I'm glad somebody else is intrigued by this case. I agree that it's hard to sort important from unimportant with Maura Murray. E.g. when I was writing that post, I saw some references to the potential significance of her "clearing out her bank account," which seems to refer to the fact that she took $280 out of an ATM and left almost nothing in her account, but she had some paychecks incoming. If I had disappeared during any random weekend in college, and payday was soon, they would have noticed that I had also "cleared out" my bank account. College kids, not usually maintaining a healthy cushion of savings.

Wikipedia posted:

The following year, Spear and a handful of followers retreated to a wooden shed at the top of High Rock hill in Lynn, Massachusetts, where they set to work creating the ‘‘New Motive Power’’, a mechanical Messiah which was intended to herald a new era of Utopia. The New Motive Power was constructed of copper, zinc and magnets, all carefully machined, as well as a dining room table. At the end of nine months, Spear and ‘‘Nathanael Santoso’’, an unnamed woman, ritualistically birthed the contraption in an attempt to give it life.[citation needed] Unfortunately for Spear, this failed to have the desired effect, and the machine was later dismantled.

Wikipedia posted:

On February 26, the searchers found the group's abandoned and badly damaged tent on Kholat Syakhl. Mikhail Sharavin, the student who found the tent, said "the tent was half torn down and covered with snow. It was empty, and all the group's belongings and shoes had been left behind."[2] Investigators said the tent had been cut open from inside. Eight or nine sets of footprints, left by people who were wearing only socks, a single shoe or were even barefoot, could be followed, leading down toward the edge of a nearby woods, on the opposite side of the pass, 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) to the north-east. However, after 500 metres (1,600 ft) these tracks were covered with snow. At the forest's edge, under a large cedar, the searchers found the remains of a fire, along with the first two bodies, those of Krivonischenko and Doroshenko, shoeless and dressed only in their underwear. The branches on the tree were broken up to five meters high, suggesting that one of the skiers had climbed up to look for something, perhaps the camp. Between the cedar and the camp the searchers found three more corpses, Dyatlov, Kolmogorova and Slobodin, who seemed to have died in poses suggesting that they were attempting to return to the tent.[2] They were found separately at distances of 300, 480 and 630 meters from the tree.

Searching for the remaining four travelers took more than two months. They were finally found on May 4 under four meters of snow in a ravine 75 meters farther into the woods from the cedar tree. These four were better dressed than the others, and there were signs that those who had died first had apparently relinquished their clothes to the others. Zolotaryov was wearing Dubinina's faux fur coat and hat, while Dubinina's foot was wrapped in a piece of Krivonishenko's wool pants.

Wikipedia posted:

Midgley died three decades before the ozone-depleting effects of CFCs in the atmosphere became widely known. Another adverse effect of Midgley's work was the release of large quantities of lead into the atmosphere as a result of the large-scale combustion of leaded gasoline all over the world.

High atmospheric lead levels have been associated with serious long-term health problems, including neurological impairment,[18][19][20] and with violence and criminality in cities.[21][22][23] J. R. McNeill, an environmental historian, has remarked that Midgley "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history."[24] Bill Bryson wrote that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny."[25]

Ague Proof posted:

Her twitter is heartbreaking.

quote:

Shortly before sunset on May 25, 2003, Ben Charles Padilla boarded the plane with a hired mechanic from the Republic of the Congo. Neither man was certified to fly the Boeing 727, which normally requires a three person aircrew. Both men were working with Angolan mechanics to get the plane flight-ready.

The aircraft began taxiing with no communication between the tower and its crew. The plane was maneuvering erratically, and, without clearance, entered a runway. When the aircraft started taxiing down the runway, the control tower tried to make contact, but there was no response, and the tracking transponder was turned off. With its lights off, the aircraft took off, heading southwest over the Atlantic Ocean. Neither the airplane nor the two men have been seen since.[9]

RevSyd posted:

While we're on the topic of Chernobyl, I simply can't resist quoting this passage from the excellent and highly unnerving Atomic Accidents: A History of Nuclear Meltdowns and Disasters by James Mahaffey, because it is just so

It also contains this great quote regarding nuclear power:

Nckdictator posted:

Also, we just passed September 8th, the anniversary (1642, New England) of one of the first executions in what is now the US.

quote:

A very sade spectakle it was; for first the mare, and then the cowe, and the rest of the lesser catle, were kild before his face, according to the law, Levit: 20.15 and then he him selfe was executed.* The catle were all cast into a great and large pitte that was digged of purposs for them, and no use made of any part of them.

bulletsponge13 posted:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombing

TL; DR version is crazy dude who blew up a Gulag to escape comes to America, starts a new life, then gets into gambling debt. Plants a bomb in a casino for ransom.
Bomb is unable to be disarmed, like at all. He desifned a bomb that could only end one way- by detonating 1000lbs of stolen TNT
There are some better sites that I can't seem to find, but having spoke to EOD techs while in the Army, they say that even today, there is no way to disarm his bomb. His bomb design is still studied to this day Dude was like a bomb genius and it is unnerving that a guy with a bit of intelligence and a lot of balls could build something so devasting.

Strongylocentrotus posted:

... but what happened to the turkey?

Nckdictator posted:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Boeing_727-223_disappearance

Everything about this is just weird.


Edit: Just read this and now i'm depressed as gently caress.

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

tower time posted:

For anyone interested in the dyatlov pass incident, I'd recommend "Dead Mountain: the untold true story of the dyatlov pass incident." Its fairly recent and written by an American who traveled to Russia and went on the same path the hikers took. It's a mix of modern interviews, the travel, and translated journals of the hikers who died as they took the trip. He comes to a pretty convincing conclusion of what likely happened that doesn't involve the usual explanations of conspiracies, murder, or aliens. Was a really good read and a great summary of the incident.

Imagined posted:

Fortunately he got the kind of end he deserved -- as an invalid, choked to death by his own invention.

bulletsponge13 posted:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey%27s_Resort_Hotel_bombing

TL; DR version is crazy dude who blew up a Gulag to escape comes to America, starts a new life, then gets into gambling debt. Plants a bomb in a casino for ransom.
Bomb is unable to be disarmed, like at all. He desifned a bomb that could only end one way- by detonating 1000lbs of stolen TNT
There are some better sites that I can't seem to find, but having spoke to EOD techs while in the Army, they say that even today, there is no way to disarm his bomb. His bomb design is still studied to this day Dude was like a bomb genius and it is unnerving that a guy with a bit of intelligence and a lot of balls could build something so devasting.

peter gabriel posted:

Imagined posted:

I present this overachiever, Thomas Midgley, Jr. He was perhaps the closest thing we'll ever have to a literal Captain Planet villain. This one person invented not one but two products whose environmental effects your great grandchildren will still be dealing with: leaded gasoline and chlorofluorocarbons. It's pretty easy to definitively state that the world would literally be better if he'd never been born.

Fortunately he got the kind of end he deserved -- as an invalid, choked to death by his own invention.

Phobophilia posted:

I could forgive him a little for his invention of CFCs. Their problem is not they they were reactive and toxic, but that they are so unreactive that they could float up into the stratosphere completely intact before they start breaking down ozone into oxygen. He solved a big problem, as preceding refrigerant gases were toxic enough to kill people who worked around them.

On the other hand, he really should have known better with leaded gasoline. poo poo, he even gave himself lead poisoning working with it, and he was working to pump it out of cars.

WaywardWoodwose posted:

Was this the guy who washed his face with leaded gasoline at a press conference to show how safe it was? Or did iI make that up in my head, because it sounds insane to say it out loud.

quote:

On October 30, 1924, Midgley participated in a press conference to demonstrate the apparent safety of TEL. In this demonstration, he poured TEL over his hands, then placed a bottle of the chemical under his nose and inhaled its vapor for sixty seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems whatsoever

quote:

Michel Lotito (June 15, 1950 - June 25, 2007) was a French entertainer, born in Grenoble, famous for deliberately consuming indigestible objects. He came to be known as Monsieur Mangetout ("Mister Eats All").

List of items consumed
Item Count
Bicycles 18
Shopping cart 15
Television 7
Chandelier 8
Bed 2
Skis (pair) 1
Cessna aircraft 1
Coffin 1
Computer 1

Brainbread posted:

I mean. Gasoline is toxic. You shouldn't even do that with unleaded gasoline. God knows why you'd put yourself through it when employees are dying in the plants because of lead poisoning. But, you know, villain gotta villain.

quote:

On October 30, 1924, Midgley participated in a press conference to demonstrate the apparent safety of TEL. In this demonstration, he poured TEL over his hands, then placed a bottle of the chemical under his nose and inhaled its vapor for sixty seconds, declaring that he could do this every day without succumbing to any problems whatsoever...Midgley sought treatment for lead poisoning in Europe a few months after his demonstration at the press conference

Molentik posted:

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

Strongylocentrotus posted:

... but what happened to the turkey?

HEY GAL posted:

"Cattle" can also mean livestock in general.

Abugadu posted:

quote:

Cicada 3301 is a name given to an enigmatic organization that on three occasions has posted a set of complex puzzles to recruit capable cryptanalysts from the public. The first Internet puzzle started on January 5, 2012 and ran for approximately one month. A second round began exactly one year later on January 5, 2013, and a third round is ongoing following confirmation of a fresh clue posted on Twitter on 5 January 2014. The stated intent was to recruit "intelligent individuals" by presenting a series of puzzles which were to be solved, each in order, to find the next. The puzzles focused heavily on data security, cryptography, and steganography.

It has been called "the most elaborate and mysterious puzzle of the internet age," and is listed as one of the "Top 5 eeriest, unsolved mysteries of the Internet" by the Washington Post, and much speculation exists as to its purpose. Many have speculated that it is a recruitment tool for the NSA, CIA, MI6, or a cyber mercenary group. Others have claimed it is an Alternate Reality Game (ARG), but the fact that no company or individual has taken credit or tried to monetize it, combined with the fact that none who have solved the puzzles have ever come forward, has led most to feel that it is not. Others have claimed it is run by a bank working on cryptocurrency.

peter gabriel posted:

The bomb looks really really fascinating to me:







Like nothing I have ever seen before.

Here is an article, you can just about read it:

quote:

The Irvings say that Gef communicated to them that he was "an extra extra clever mongoose", an "Earthbound spirit" and "a ghost in the form of a mongoose" and once said, "I am a freak. I have hands and I have feet, and if you saw me you'd faint, you'd be petrified, mummified, turned into stone or a pillar of salt!" The Irvings made various claims about Gef: he supposedly guarded their house and informed them of the approach of guests or any unfamiliar dog. They said that if someone had forgotten to put out the fire at night, Gef would go down and stop the stove. The Irvings claimed Gef would also wake people up when they overslept. And whenever mice got into the house, Gef supposedly assumed the role of the cat, although he preferred to scare them rather than kill them. The Irvings say they gave Gef biscuits, chocolates and bananas, and food was left for him in a saucer suspended from the ceiling which he took when he thought no one was watching. The Irvings claimed the mongoose regularly accompanied them on trips to the market, but always stayed on the other side of the hedges, chatting incessantly.

quote:

At this point they claimed that a feeling of oppression and dreariness came over them. They then saw some men who looked like palace gardeners, who told them to go straight on. Moberly later described the men as "very dignified officials, dressed in long greyish green coats with small three-cornered hats." Jourdain noticed a cottage with a woman and a girl in the doorway. The woman was holding out a jug to the girl. Jourdain described it as a "tableau vivant", a living picture, much like Madame Tussauds waxworks. Moberly did not observe the cottage, but felt the atmosphere change. She wrote: "Everything suddenly looked unnatural, therefore unpleasant; even the trees seemed to become flat and lifeless, like wood worked in tapestry. There were no effects of light and shade, and no wind stirred the trees."

They reached the edge of a wood, close to the Temple de l'Amour, and came across a man seated beside a garden kiosk, wearing a cloak and large shady hat. According to Moberly, his appearance was "most repulsive... its expression odious. His complexion was dark and rough." Jourdain noted "The man slowly turned his face, which was marked by smallpox; his complexion was very dark. The expression was evil and yet unseeing, and though I did not feel that he was looking particularly at us, I felt a repugnance to going past him.

quote:

From Cahill we learn that The Black Flash was a 'a giant monster,' a phantomlike creature dressed in black, 'black hood, black cape, black face but his fierce eyes and long pointed ears were a glowing silver.' A woman had a frightful evening encounter in Provincetown in the second week of November 1938. Afterwards she described the Black Flash as "black, all black, with eyes like balls of flame, and he was big, real big... maybe eight feet tall. He made a sound, a loud buzzing sound, like a June bug on a hot day, only louder... he disappeared like a flash."

Other encounters would follow. Writes Cahill:

"Within the next three weeks, four other people had similar experiences in downtown Provincetown. The Black Flash either jumped out at them from behind a tree, or dropped down before them from a rooftop. Two of his victims were husky men, and although one man reported that he chased him, he said he was no match for the speed and agility of the Black Flash."

Those who had had their luckless encounters with the elusive phantom agreed on its height, black cape, almost superhuman agility, and (sometimes) silver ears. In one instant, when it was cornered by the Provincetown police in a schoolyard surrounded by a ten foot fence, a flashlight shining on its face revealed "a mask, which looked like an old flour-screen without its handle, painted silver and strapped to the phantom’s head." The Black Flash then escaped over a fence. During another encounter one teenager alleged that the phantom had spit blue flames into his face. Then there is the farmer who allegedly emptied his rifle at The Black Flash, whereupon the phantom merely laughed and leaped over an eight-foot hedge.

DryGoods posted:

Although it's not a Wiki link, I stumbled on a blog post in connection with one of my favorite stories I linked earlier and most everyone has heard of before, Spring-Heeled Jack.

The Black Flash of Cape Cod


Could Jack have leapt from England to America while still causing innocent passers-by to recoil as he bounds over fences? I'll hop on any other similar stories I find.

Jack Gladney posted:

I think you're jumping to conclusions there.

bulletsponge13 posted:

Maybe I am just tired, but I didn't pick up any sarcasm in this post at first.
The bomb design was neat, because he anticipated the bomb techs reactions, and by making it a big rear end non-descript metal box he countered some of the simple and basic Bomb Squad methods of examining the device. The whole story is insane to me.