|
Shady Amish Terror posted:shrewd, clear-headed, and eloquent. I'm a big John Brown fan, but, to be fair, this is how one would describe Hanibal Lecter too.
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2016 22:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 05:48 |
|
|
Not an unreasonable point, I guess.  Still, nothing points to John Brown having any particular mental disorder that I can see. He was just old and jaded.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2016 22:58
|
|
|
I recall reading about the smearing of John Brown in a book, possibly Lies My Teacher Told Me. It was entirely post facto and largely based on the idea no sane white man would go to battle for black people.
|
|
#
?
Aug 29, 2016 23:19
|
|
|
There's a terrible movie out starring Stephen Lang as an elderly recluse who hunts and kills some teen burglars who sneak into his house, and I kind of wonder if it's based on that case posted here a while back about the old man who lured two burglars into his basement and then tortured and killed them. He had a lair set up where he could sit and wait after making it look like he wasn't home, and a tarp laid out where he dragged them after shooting them. Also he was convicted because he made a recording of what he did. The movie (spoilers): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Breathe_(2016_film) The unnerving story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byron_David_Smith_killings It seems kind of like a stretch, but there was that comedy a few years ago based on that pizza guy who was tied to a bomb and forced to rob a bank, so maybe?
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 20:44
|
|
|
I'm from near where the real killings happened, and followed the news while it was all unfolding, and it seems like a stretch to connect that movie's plot with the actual killings beyond a Law and Order "Ripped from the Headlines" kind of vague inspiration. The actual murders were a crazy old man snapping and setting up an ambush to murder unarmed burglars in cold blood while trying to set up an "I was just defending himself" defense. Don't Breathe looks way, way more hosed up and about the only things they have in common are home invasion and murder, which is basically a horror subgenre at this point.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 21:22
|
|
|
If only they hadn't stolen his anti-psychotics
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 21:29
|
|
|
When I first saw the preview for Don't Breathe I thought of that case. It's a horror movie so it would be an extreme unrealistic version, but that doesn't mean it wasn't inspired by the case. But I have no idea, I haven't read any press on it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 21:34
|
|
|
Jack Gladney posted:There's a terrible movie out starring Stephen Lang as an elderly recluse Wow, looks horrible 
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 22:50
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:I'm from near where the real killings happened, and followed the news while it was all unfolding, and it seems like a stretch to connect that movie's plot with the actual killings beyond a Law and Order "Ripped from the Headlines" kind of vague inspiration. A "ripped-from-the-headlines" mashup might be right, as the twist seems very Ariel Castillo/that Austrian guy. But the emphasis on the basement makes me wonder. Maybe it's more like the Asylum version of Room.
|
|
#
?
Aug 31, 2016 23:12
|
|
|
Rochallor posted:This guy's got one of the crazier Wikipedia pages I've ever read. He's like the Forrest Gump of terrible people. From the wiki: "Skorzeny fled from his holding prison in 1948, first to France, and then to Spain. He later lived in Ireland." AragonANaziDoesNotSimplyJustFleeIntoFrance.jpg Tying together people's crazy relative and WWII stories my grandparents were Slovenians who ended up as refugees in Italy for several years after the end of the war. Not sure how exactly but their parents were partisans. Anyway my grandmother and grandfather eventually immigrated to Australia, my grandmother's brother was with them however he had had his identity stolen reportedly by a fleeing member of the Nazi party, and was not let on the ship. As a result of this the only country that would allow him asylum/citizenship or whatever was Iceland. He lived there the rest of his life (only passed a few years ago), never learnt the language, never had a job only selling home made pottery, had no relationships and was rightly considered crazy by most people. Whenever this story is brought up there is never any mention of what happened to this Nazi that fled to Australia in the family, which I have always found curious. Apparently the Wiesenthal Center was quite critical towards Australia's policy of extraditing Nazis through to the 70s or so. Whenever this story is brought up i take the time to point out (jokingly) to my elders that our branch of the family is the only one with blond hair, blue eyes and fair skin. I have no idea how accurate the story is but I wonder if there is anyway to find out who the guy was etc. According to this: https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/24939 ASIO, which is the equivalent to the CIA except australian, actively recruited various fascist WWII war criminals, and the various governments chose to ignore it for 40 years. Gross. turntabler has a new favorite as of 04:09 on Sep 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 03:40
|
|
|
turntabler posted:From the wiki: we run concentration camps for refugees fleeing violence in other countries so this doesn't really come as a surprise e: both major parties' party line is that these concentration camps are necessary to secure a strong future for the country quite stretched out has a new favorite as of 06:55 on Sep 1, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 06:52
|
|
|
willus posted:we run concentration camps for refugees fleeing violence in other countries so this doesn't really come as a surprise Unironically titled "The Pacific Solution"
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 10:02
|
|
|
https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/08/24/when-you-find-body-the-last-days-hiker-gerry-largay/DcaZf6RcojOTN2LNsOXm0K/story.html As someone from a small country it's just crazy to think that there's somewhere so isolated that you can wander off a path and just get instantly and completely lost
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 16:02
|
|
|
Seabhac posted:https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/08/24/when-you-find-body-the-last-days-hiker-gerry-largay/DcaZf6RcojOTN2LNsOXm0K/story.html The Pine Barrens in NJ are infamous for this. Step in to the Pine Barrens and never seen again.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 17:52
|
|
|
flosofl posted:The Pine Barrens in NJ are infamous for this. Step in to the Pine Barrens and never seen again. well no poo poo, the Jersey Devil eats you
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 17:54
|
|
|
Seabhac posted:https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/08/24/when-you-find-body-the-last-days-hiker-gerry-largay/DcaZf6RcojOTN2LNsOXm0K/story.html
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 18:09
|
|
|
Seabhac posted:https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/08/24/when-you-find-body-the-last-days-hiker-gerry-largay/DcaZf6RcojOTN2LNsOXm0K/story.html If you want to be even more amazed, read about the search for Steve Fossett after his plane crashed out in the Sierra Nevada Mountains around the California/Nevada border. The initial search didn't find his plane, but did find eight previously undocumented plane crash sites, including one that could be from as far back as 1964. Then there's that guy who had to cut off his hand and part of his arm when he got stuck in a desolate and remote place with no hope of rescue because he didn't tell anyone where he was going or when he'd be back, so by the time anyone would notice him missing, he'd be dead. In a lot of areas, the advice given to those going into the wilderness is eerily similar to the advice given to women before going on a date with a stranger. Know where you're going, tell someone when you're leaving and when you'll be back, etc. And it sounds similar for a good reason. In both cases, it's all about knowing something is wrong before it's too late to do anything. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Mother Nature is a stone-cold psychopath. Don't let her beauty fool you, she could snap any moment, and then what was a fun walk through the woods is suddenly a fight for survival.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 18:32
|
|
|
That's a stupid take. Nature is not a psychopath. Nature just punishes the unready, the unwary, and those who don't plan.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 19:07
|
|
|
KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:That's a stupid take. Nature is not a psychopath. Nature just punishes the unready, the unwary, and those who don't plan. I'd watch a slasher movie where the serial killer is the abstract concept of nature.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 20:09
|
|
|
WickedHate posted:I'd watch a slasher movie where the serial killer is the abstract concept of nature. final destination?
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 20:34
|
|
|
Kanine posted:final destination? poo poo, you got me there.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 20:38
|
|
|
Final Destination was about Death killing people because they escaped the events which were supposed to kill them. If you want a movie about nature itself killing people, watch The Happening. (Don't watch The Happening, it's terrible)
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 22:05
|
|
|
Shady Amish Terror posted:John Brown is interesting in that the few actual in-depth accounts I've read of him seem to suggest that his reputation as a madman are primarily the result of an incredibly successful smear campaign that survived for generations; while he had a rough life, contemporary accounts seem to describe him as resolute and well-spoken, and well-aware of the consequences his violent revolt would have. he wasnt insane, a religious nut sure, but not insane. the thing that puzzles alot of people is if he meant to "go all the way with it." as in did he intend to create a super rebelion/insugency or did he intend to be a martyr. i personaly think its a mix of both. also he wrote his own constitution which was a weird mixed bag of progressive ideas and scary theocracy. http://www.racc.edu/Faculty/lawlor/his110/j_brown.aspx you can read it at the bottom of this page. Terrible Opinions posted:Yeah America is huge and has a lot of places to get lost in. Same thing with China but there is less English language travel literature about that. that reminds me of story that my dad told me. he and my uncle were searching for a mountain cabin in north central PA and they go down an old abandoned road and basicaly ended up in RE4/hills have eyes. they ended up in the middle of small shanty town full of messed up looking people, alot of them in waders, some clearly physically disabled/mentaly disabled on the porches. they slowly start moving towards armed with shotguns and farm tools. some were dragging themselves. my dad and uncle sped out of there. this was more then 15 years ago. Ill try to get more details.
|
|
#
?
Sep 1, 2016 23:55
|
|
|
KYOON GRIFFEY JR posted:That's a stupid take. Nature is not a psychopath. Nature just punishes the unready, the unwary, and those who don't plan. It's way less common in the developed world, because we've managed to get to a point where we're not a couple consecutive harvest failures away from famine, or an unlucky arrival away from a plague outbreak, or a drought away from dying of thirst, etc. As much as I love the beauty of nature, I will never fully understand people who voluntarily put themselves into situations that our forebears worked their entire lives to escape.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 00:17
|
|
|
Seabhac posted:https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2016/08/24/when-you-find-body-the-last-days-hiker-gerry-largay/DcaZf6RcojOTN2LNsOXm0K/story.html People from smaller countries are amazed at how big and empty the US can be, but I think depending on what part of the country they live in, even a lot of Americans underestimate the size of the wilderness here. Specifically when it comes to the western/southwestern states. In the east, you can drive through an entire state in a matter of hours; in the west, there are places where you can drive for hours and not only be in the same state, but not see any houses or signs of life at all. People don't realize how huge or how deadly it can be. For example, over a hundred immigrants die every year trying to cross the barren land between Mexico and the US. Over 2,000 have died since border security ramped up in 2001. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-ff-immigrant-border-deaths-20151021-story.html http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/3/11/death-in-the-desertthedangeroustrekbetweenmexicoandarizona.html Maybe it makes sense that immigrants don't survive; they're on a long and dangerous walk through land no one uses, they don't have the option of seeking help from authorities, they're often not as well supplied as they should be. But even people going out for a day hike can be endangering themselves. People die in state parks every year because they ignore the severe heat warnings and go out anyway, and then get dehydrated and lost, or just too sick to walk. This summer, parts of Arizona got between 115-120 and lots of people ended up dead or hospitalized. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/06/22/100-percent-avoidable-hiker-deaths-mount-in-blazing-az-heat-wave/ A lot of these things happen in areas that are relatively close to "civilization" too. Ventana Canyon is less than ten miles long and directly outside the city of Tucson, but it's still desolate enough that those people died out there. That's always what gets me most about the stories in this thread about lost hikers...when they're JUST within the reach of help but miss it by inches and end up dying... Anyway I rambled a little bit but my point is, the land out here is massive and weird and hot as hell. You can go from a well populated city to a moonscape in a matter of minutes and you'll die if you don't know what you're doing.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 01:06
|
|
|
People from smaller countries have a lot of trouble grasping the size of larger countries. I had some German friends who were determined to drive from Perth to Brisbane (about 4300km/2700 miles) and thought it would only take a day or so. It took a really long time to convince them otherwise. They weren't even going to bring spare fuel or water because they assumed there would be frequent towns along the way.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 01:22
|
|
|
flosofl posted:The Pine Barrens in NJ are infamous for this. Step in to the Pine Barrens and never seen again. Just make sure you bring ketchup and relish packets you'll be fine
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 01:37
|
|
|
Vladimir Poutine posted:People from smaller countries have a lot of trouble grasping the size of larger countries. I had some German friends who were determined to drive from Perth to Brisbane (about 4300km/2700 miles) and thought it would only take a day or so. It took a really long time to convince them otherwise. They weren't even going to bring spare fuel or water because they assumed there would be frequent towns along the way. Cause there's definitely places in the U.S. where going coast to coast you wouldn't find anywhere to stop for an hour or two, but the signs on the interstate warn you how far it is until the next gas station, and it won't be so far that you couldn't fill up at one stop and not make it to the next in pretty much any car that you'd actually drive cross country, and all those places would at least sell you water, if not food but maybe Australia just likes to try to kill stupid tourists?
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 02:23
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:Strange question, but are you saying that there aren't gas stations at regular enough intervals that without modifying the vehicle to carry more fuel than the normal tank can carry that they'd run out of fuel before reaching the next station? Or were they determined to bumble across back roads because it looks like a shorter route than taking the main highway (looks like Highway A1 from what Google Maps says)? You don't need to modify the car, you just need a jerrycan. The second half of the journey (once you get near Adelaide) there would be at least one town every hour. The first half (especially the Nullarbor Plain) is a featureless wasteland but there would be enough people driving past that you wouldn't be without assistance if you broke down. But yeah, there are definitely parts of Australia where you could drive for 8 hours or so without passing through a town.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 02:36
|
|
|
Vladimir Poutine posted:You don't need to modify the car, you just need a jerrycan. The second half of the journey (once you get near Adelaide) there would be at least one town every hour. The first half (especially the Nullarbor Plain) is a featureless wasteland but there would be enough people driving past that you wouldn't be without assistance if you broke down. But yeah, there are definitely parts of Australia where you could drive for 8 hours or so without passing through a town.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:08
|
|
|
Vladimir Poutine posted:You don't need to modify the car, you just need a jerrycan. The second half of the journey (once you get near Adelaide) there would be at least one town every hour. The first half (especially the Nullarbor Plain) is a featureless wasteland but there would be enough people driving past that you wouldn't be without assistance if you broke down. But yeah, there are definitely parts of Australia where you could drive for 8 hours or so without passing through a town. That's amazing and I've driven cross country a few times in the US. Even in the New Mexico/Arizona desert lands the furthest I remember between gas stations was a hundred something miles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:10
|
|
|
Azathoth posted:Interesting, and thanks for sharing. I guess I figured that there'd be enough traffic that someone would put up a gas station at the half-way point on stretches like that and make a boatload of cash off of desperate travelers, but thinking on it more, I'm guessing that traffic on that road is almost exclusively semi trucks with very few cars. yeah it's largely trucks and road trains, most people travelling to Western Australia for pleasure or work just fly
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:15
|
|
|
Solice Kirsk posted:That's amazing and I've driven cross country a few times in the US. Even in the New Mexico/Arizona desert lands the furthest I remember between gas stations was a hundred something miles. There are back parts of west Texas where the signs say 300 miles. I've never gone down them to verify but that's what the signs say.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:39
|
|
|
I recently drove around the coast of the majority of Australia, and even as a life-long Australian we ran out of fuel twice (500k+ ranges between towns). It is an unbelievably deslote and huge landscape with sparse population. Coming from high density Western Europe or the densely packed states in the US, a lot of people don't understand the magnitude difference of our wastelands vs their homeland.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:42
|
|
|
willus posted:travelling to Western Australia for pleasure ???
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:46
|
|
|
Isolationist posted:I recently drove around the coast of the majority of Australia, and even as a life-long Australian we ran out of fuel twice (500k+ ranges between towns). It is an unbelievably deslote and huge landscape with sparse population. Coming from high density Western Europe or the densely packed states in the US, a lot of people don't understand the magnitude difference of our wastelands vs their homeland.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 03:52
|
|
|
Terrible Opinions posted:There are back parts of west Texas where the signs say 300 miles. I've never gone down them to verify but that's what the signs say. I was going to say we've run out of gas between west Texas/eastern New Mexico before. We passed a gas station that was shuttered, drove another ~150mi?, saw a second station that was closed with the pumps turned off, then basically drove until we ran out of gas, actually found a spare can with a couple gallons in it, drove through that and then managed to call someone to come meet us. This was like almost 20 years ago though, it's probably harder to end up in that situation now what with cellphones and pumps running 24/7.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 04:20
|
|
|
Hauki posted:This was like almost 20 years ago though, it's probably harder to end up in that situation now what with cellphones and pumps running 24/7. Still a lot of areas out that way with no cell reception. If I am in a dead zone I will stop and help people who are broke down because of that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 04:38
|
|
|
Atticus_1354 posted:I will stop and help people who are broke down because of that. Stay safe.
|
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 05:07
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 31, 2024 05:48 |
|
|
Azathoth posted:Strange question, but are you saying that there aren't gas stations at regular enough intervals that without modifying the vehicle to carry more fuel than the normal tank can carry that they'd run out of fuel before reaching the next station? Or were they determined to bumble across back roads because it looks like a shorter route than taking the main highway (looks like Highway A1 from what Google Maps says)? I thought he was claiming going from Perth to Brisbane direct, as close as you can get to "as the crow flies". Yeah you can't do that. You can go west to east and then head north to brisbane no problems though. There's towns every 300k or so even in the most desolate places. I've done it in a ford falcon a few times as well as driving from Perth to the NW of WA, and also Sydney to cape tribulation near FNQ E: To be fair my falcon was dual fuel, petrol and LPG so I had a 1000km range. Didn't need that, just gave me the ability to skip towns where I thought the fuel price was too high. Hell, when my brit grandfather was a new immigrant to Australia in the 1960s, and before the Nullabor was even a paved road, he followed the dirt track/railway line from Perth to Sydney in a old 1950s renault Aussies today are too soft and scared. Fo3 has a new favorite as of 06:05 on Sep 2, 2016 |
|
#
?
Sep 2, 2016 05:58
|
|
