The Role Playing Public Radio Forums
General Category => RPGs => : Setherick February 05, 2010, 10:42:42 PM
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Immortal organic surveillance entities: http://rawstory.com/2010/02/pentagon-synthetic-organisms/
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Definitely would like to use this general idea in a one shot...
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The Loneliest Whale: http://www.metafilter.com/88971/Nobody-Home
For the past 21 years, across the limitless expanse of the North Pacific, a lonely whale has been singing, calling for a response. There has been none, and there never will.
Picked up first in 1989 by NOAA hydrophones, the call is clearly a whale, but different than all other known species. Different enough that no other whale has responded in all this time. Hypotheses vary, but the mental image is definitely haunting.
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I've actually been considering that one. I've got a campaign coming up that's sort of an X-Files/Psi-Factor/Fringe monster-of-the-week thing and I've got a whole see monster adventure planned out based on the Bloop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop) and the lonely whale.
I've really been wracking my brains tho' to come up with a punchline that doesn't involve the Cthulhu mythos at all.
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Two sea monsters: Kraken and Leviathan for convenience's sake.
Kraken is bloop and hates humanity - has destroyed countless ships over the centuries but only a few every decade or so.
Leviathan is the Ur-whale - a sapient immortal whale. It is indifferent to humanity. It used to like humans but seeing its lesser kin slain by whalers has hardened it.
Someone figures out how to manipulate or communicate with Kraken. Call him mad scientist. Uses Kraken to destroy many more ships than usual - Kraken is getting noticed. Enter the PCs.
PCs get on trail of mad scientist with help from Ahab - a whale song specialist who has learned that every freak ship sinking is accompanied by bloop type sounds.
PCs find Mad Scientist out at sea using a ship. Kraken attacks obviously. Before all is lost, Ahab detects the song of the lonely whale - Leviathan. Leviathan drives off Kraken but mad scientist escapes.
PCs and Ahab figure out how to communicate with Leviathan who tells them that Kraken's frequent attacks are upsetting the ecosystem of the ocean - Kraken produces certain chemicals when wounded or enraged that cause mass mutations in aquatic life - if Kraken doesn't stop the attacks soon, the entire ecosystem of the world's oceans will undergo a severe metamorphosis that will make all fish poisonous to humans, among other things.
So the PCs have to coordinate with Leviathan to track down Kraken and stop the mad scientist or the world will be doomed.
Optional side plot: Military/shadow government agency wants to acquire Kraken or Leviathan as weapons or kill the ancient whale after Kraken is slain (better to be sure) Moral dilemma horray!
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Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus?
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I wasn't going to say it.
But, I'll admit to pulling some of my best ideas from really horrible schlock movies. In fact, one of the best TMNT games I ever ran lifted heavily from "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes".
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AtKT was a great cult classic.
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Forgot about this until today when I found ABWH on Grooveshark.
I've gotten a lot of inspiration for fantasy-style adventures from the seemingly random lyrics of Jon Anderson. In fact, I ran an entire campaign based off of the Anderson/Bruford/Wakeman/Howe album. Yes "Union" is another good one with random new-agey nonsense lyrics.
Granted, that music's not everyone's cup of tea, and it makes terrible game music, but it's got some weird/cool sentence fragments that a creative mind can take and expand upon.
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I wonder if this counts as an act of David Syndrome:
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0211101walmart1.html
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I never did anything that crazy while on Effexor.
I hope his bat did a number on them demons in the TVs.
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First off, is that Richard Kind?
Second, we all know he just saved the world, or at least the little portion of it he lives in, and the reason he won't talk is because nobody will believe the truth.
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Scientists recreate Big Bang, in miniature, and only for a billionth of a picosecond: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/science/16quark.html?em
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Yum, plasma.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania)
Centralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005[1] and 9 in 2007,[2] as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962
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Britain releases UFO files: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/17/ufo.files/index.html
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Centralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States.
The Door to Hell (http://englishrussia.com/?p=1830).
The Derweze area is rich in natural gas. While drilling in 1971 geologists accidentally found an underground cavern filled with natural gas. The ground beneath the drilling rig collapsed, leaving a large hole with a diameter of about 50-100 meters. To avoid poisonous gas discharge, it was decided to burn the gas. Geologists had hoped the fire would go out in a few days but it has been burning ever since.
-- Wikipedia, "Derweze" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darvaza)
English Russia (http://www.englishrussia.com) has a wealth of photos of abandoned Russian cities, military bases, and underground complexes.
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Geotagging on Twitter: http://twitter.zendesk.com/forums/26810/entries/78525
How do you make people ignore you've moved to a society of total surveillance? Make them self-surveil. This is so amazingly Orwellian that I almost nerdgasmed.
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Unmanned drones the size of a Boeing 737, check: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/02/21/world/AP-ML-Israel-Drones.html?_r=1
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A story about vampyres published in Harpers' in 1855: http://digital.library.cornell.edu/cgi/t/text/pageviewer-idx?c=harp;cc=harp;rgn=full%20text;idno=harp0010-5;didno=harp0010-5;view=image;seq=0691;node=harp0010-5%3A11
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Ted's Caving Diary (http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/index.html).
Old, but good stuff. I re-read it whenever I want to create a claustrophobic underground atmosphere for players.
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How do you make people ignore you've moved to a society of total surveillance? Make them self-surveil.
Or loan them equipment that can spy on them (http://www.crn.com/security/223100261;jsessionid=LR3RA3MNJ2JYBQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN), but don't tell them you can spy on them.
Parents of sophomore Blake Robbins last week filed a lawsuit against Harriton High School alleging that the school monitored him via Webcam while he was at home. The family filed the suit after a school administrator accused Robbins of engaging in "improper behavior" in his home and offered a still image from the laptop Webcam as evidence, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week.
-- Security Experts Baffled By Pa. School Webcam Spying Case (http://www.crn.com/security/223100261;jsessionid=LR3RA3MNJ2JYBQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN)
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How do you make people ignore you've moved to a society of total surveillance? Make them self-surveil.
Or loan them equipment that can spy on them (http://www.crn.com/security/223100261;jsessionid=LR3RA3MNJ2JYBQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN), but don't tell them you can spy on them.
Parents of sophomore Blake Robbins last week filed a lawsuit against Harriton High School alleging that the school monitored him via Webcam while he was at home. The family filed the suit after a school administrator accused Robbins of engaging in "improper behavior" in his home and offered a still image from the laptop Webcam as evidence, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported last week.
-- Security Experts Baffled By Pa. School Webcam Spying Case (http://www.crn.com/security/223100261;jsessionid=LR3RA3MNJ2JYBQE1GHRSKHWATMY32JVN)
Oh yeah, that's a crazy case.
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Ted's Caving Diary (http://www.angelfire.com/trek/caver/index.html).
Old, but good stuff. I re-read it whenever I want to create a claustrophobic underground atmosphere for players.
I don't know what to say...
I think that was the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time if not ever...
I'm am completely at a loss for words. I mean I thought it was real at first, now I'm not sure just because it was so crazy, but in the end it doesn't even matter that much. I don't usually swear much, but shit...
EDIT: I don't know what to make of this, but I wanted to try and do some more work tonight, but I don't know if I'll be able to focus on anything that requires a lot of thought for a while...
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Zombi stories for the 19C. I have read all of these yet, but I intend to. I'm more or less just putting out links right now so I can come back to them.
Two stories by Lafcadio Hearn (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lafcadio_Hearn) in his 1890 collection Two Years in the French West Indies (http://books.google.com/books?id=qnAYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA5#v=onepage&q=&f=false):
Un Revenant (http://books.google.com/books?id=qnAYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA148#v=onepage&q=&f=false)
La Guiablesse (http://books.google.com/books?id=qnAYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA184#v=onepage&q=&f=false)
A story attributed to a Mrs. S. H. Colman in the 1869 edition of The Ladies Repository called "Sebastian Gomez (http://books.google.com/books?id=JHkUAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA424#v=onepage&q=&f=false)." Found this in a collection called Deeds of Genius (http://books.google.com/books?id=hEgYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA192#v=onepage&q=&f=false), which was attributed to Mary Jane Piercy as well. And again in The Home Friend (http://books.google.com/books?id=Sm0EAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA97#v=onepage&q=&f=false). And at least two other places, so I stopped keeping track.
An unattributed republished story in the 1838-39 edition of The Ploughskeepsie Casket called "The Unknown Painter (http://books.google.com/books?id=91QAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA82#v=onepage&q=&f=false)"
For you French readers Le Zombi (http://books.google.com/books?id=xJAGAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q=&f=false) by Pierre-Corneille Blessebois, which apparently was written in the late-17C. More info here (http://www.chezjim.com/sundries/s36.html)you have to scroll down. Someone tell me if you find an English version of this. Mentioned in a footnote in this work (http://books.google.com/books?id=-FgFAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA22#v=onepage&q=&f=false) (page 24).
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I think that was the most terrifying thing I have read in a long time if not ever...
:D
Like I said, it's really good for showing how to set a terrifying mood. Whenever I want to scare the beejeezus out of the players, I always remember Spielberg's rule of thumb - give an idea of what the monster can do, but don't actually show the monster until the last possible minute. Ted's Diary is a good example of how well that works.
Another good story for a horror atmosphere - Algernon Blackwood's "The Willows" (http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/blackwood/stories/willows.htm). One of Lovecraft's inspirations. it set the tone for future vague, "ancient horror" stories. Good fodder for "spooky woods" settings.
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More than 300 fall sick on Caribbean cruise
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/23/caribbean.cruise.illness/index.html?hpt=T2
Zombie outbreak, or just regular deadly virus attack? Either way, being stuck on a huge boat in the middle of the ocean could be creepy, especially if someone or something goes crazy.
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More than 300 fall sick on Caribbean cruise
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/23/caribbean.cruise.illness/index.html?hpt=T2
Zombie outbreak, or just regular deadly virus attack? Either way, being stuck on a huge boat in the middle of the ocean could be creepy, especially if someone or something goes crazy.
That's a great idea for a different RPPR collaborative project. You should post some thoughts on what a zombie outbreak would look like in the RPPR section of the forums.
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holy shit http://buncheness.blogspot.com/2010/02/most-disturbing-submission-letter-ever.html?zx=52258aecb5e0c0d7
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holy shit http://buncheness.blogspot.com/2010/02/most-disturbing-submission-letter-ever.html?zx=52258aecb5e0c0d7
They should have sent a poet.
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holy shit http://buncheness.blogspot.com/2010/02/most-disturbing-submission-letter-ever.html?zx=52258aecb5e0c0d7
That's what he gets for having Rob Zombie write his biography.
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Not quite a volcano fortress but if you want your NPC crime boss/cult leader to have a swanky lair, try this http://finance.yahoo.com/real-estate/article/108875/is-this-the-safest-house-in-the-world
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More than 300 fall sick on Caribbean cruise
http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/02/23/caribbean.cruise.illness/index.html?hpt=T2
Zombie outbreak, or just regular deadly virus attack? Either way, being stuck on a huge boat in the middle of the ocean could be creepy, especially if someone or something goes crazy.
Piggybacking on Murph's post since I haven't made a separate thread about this as a possible collaborative project.
Apparently, you can view the deck plans of the QE2 online (and download them to PDF), which makes for an excellent resource for any cruise ship based game: http://www.cunard.co.uk/QE_Flash_deckPlans/default.htm
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Apparently, you can view the deck plans of the QE2 online
Princess has deck plans, minus employee-only areas, available online for all of their ships (http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/). You can even print them off.
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Apparently, you can view the deck plans of the QE2 online
Princess has deck plans, minus employee-only areas, available online for all of their ships (http://www.princess.com/learn/ships/). You can even print them off.
Sweet. Thanks robotkarateman. You should perform more of your mechanical ninjaing on the forums. 8)
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The three defendants, all alleged to be cult members, have declined attorneys and are representing themselves against charges they starved a willful baby to death because he wouldn't say "amen" after meals.
Religious cult starves child: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/baltimore-city/bal-md.cult23feb23,0,4825827.story
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This is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it first http://www.blackgate.com/special-fiction-feature-%E2%80%9Cthe-renunciation-of-the-crimes-of-gharad-the-undying%E2%80%9D/
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This is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it first http://www.blackgate.com/special-fiction-feature-%E2%80%9Cthe-renunciation-of-the-crimes-of-gharad-the-undying%E2%80%9D/
This is the best part of it.
I am very sorry about seizing the throne of Falland and establishing a dictatorship based on terror and intimidation. As ruler of Falland, I enforced a number of highly unfair and immoral policies for which I now feel very badly, including putting all orphans raised by any forms of wildlife to death, and ordering the execution of all wandering bards (although I must say in my defense that that decision was not entirely unpopular). I congratulate the Directorate for their more enlightened social and economic policies, and am certain that their wisdom will see Falland through these deeply troubled times. I urge the People of Falland to be patient while awaiting results from the Directorate’s programs.
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This is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it first http://www.blackgate.com/special-fiction-feature-%E2%80%9Cthe-renunciation-of-the-crimes-of-gharad-the-undying%E2%80%9D/
This is the best part of it.
I am very sorry about seizing the throne of Falland and establishing a dictatorship based on terror and intimidation. As ruler of Falland, I enforced a number of highly unfair and immoral policies for which I now feel very badly, including putting all orphans raised by any forms of wildlife to death, and ordering the execution of all wandering bards (although I must say in my defense that that decision was not entirely unpopular). I congratulate the Directorate for their more enlightened social and economic policies, and am certain that their wisdom will see Falland through these deeply troubled times. I urge the People of Falland to be patient while awaiting results from the Directorate’s programs.
"Hide behind the mound of dead bards!"
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This is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it first http://www.blackgate.com/special-fiction-feature-%E2%80%9Cthe-renunciation-of-the-crimes-of-gharad-the-undying%E2%80%9D/
This is the best part of it.
I am very sorry about seizing the throne of Falland and establishing a dictatorship based on terror and intimidation. As ruler of Falland, I enforced a number of highly unfair and immoral policies for which I now feel very badly, including putting all orphans raised by any forms of wildlife to death, and ordering the execution of all wandering bards (although I must say in my defense that that decision was not entirely unpopular). I congratulate the Directorate for their more enlightened social and economic policies, and am certain that their wisdom will see Falland through these deeply troubled times. I urge the People of Falland to be patient while awaiting results from the Directorate’s programs.
"Hide behind the mound of dead bards!"
They're just bards. After all, it's not like they have souls.
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This is such a good idea I wish I had thought of it first http://www.blackgate.com/special-fiction-feature-%E2%80%9Cthe-renunciation-of-the-crimes-of-gharad-the-undying%E2%80%9D/
This is the best part of it.
I am very sorry about seizing the throne of Falland and establishing a dictatorship based on terror and intimidation. As ruler of Falland, I enforced a number of highly unfair and immoral policies for which I now feel very badly, including putting all orphans raised by any forms of wildlife to death, and ordering the execution of all wandering bards (although I must say in my defense that that decision was not entirely unpopular). I congratulate the Directorate for their more enlightened social and economic policies, and am certain that their wisdom will see Falland through these deeply troubled times. I urge the People of Falland to be patient while awaiting results from the Directorate’s programs.
"Hide behind the mound of dead bards!"
They're just bards. After all, it's not like they have souls.
If a tree falls in the woods and it lands on a Bard, does anybody care?
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Saddest multiclassed race in the world - the bard-hooker gnome.
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bitches don't know about epic social skill usage
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bitches don't know about epic social skill usage
I still say that epic diplomacy (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#diplomacy) is more useful than epic bluff (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/skills.htm#bluff).
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This is the start of a CoC adventure if I've ever heard one.
Roughly 2 million years ago, the Taylor Glacier sealed beneath it a small body of water which contained an ancient community of microbes. [...] Evolving independently of the rest of the living world, these microbes exist without heat, light, or oxygen, and are essentially the definition of "primordial ooze."
-- Blood Falls (http://atlasobscura.com/places/blood-falls)
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This is the start of a CoC adventure if I've ever heard one.
Roughly 2 million years ago, the Taylor Glacier sealed beneath it a small body of water which contained an ancient community of microbes. [...] Evolving independently of the rest of the living world, these microbes exist without heat, light, or oxygen, and are essentially the definition of "primordial ooze."
-- Blood Falls (http://atlasobscura.com/places/blood-falls)
Or the zombpocalypse.
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A Short History of Ireland (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072vjc/episodes/2009), BBC Radio 7.
I'm about halfway through this series and it's absolutely brilliant. If you've got a traditional Europe-based fantasy setting, this series gives real-world flavor for Empire vs. Barbarian combat, religious war, subjugation of the impoverished, and the taming of wild lands that's invaluable. It's definitely helped shape my current campaign.
Unfortunately, the series is no longer on the BBC iPlayer, and I would never, ever recommend finding it through torrent sites such as RadioArchive.cc because that would be illegal even if the show were on such sites. Which it is.
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A Short History of Ireland (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0072vjc/episodes/2009), BBC Radio 7.
I'm about halfway through this series and it's absolutely brilliant. If you've got a traditional Europe-based fantasy setting, this series gives real-world flavor for Empire vs. Barbarian combat, religious war, subjugation of the impoverished, and the taming of wild lands that's invaluable. It's definitely helped shape my current campaign.
Unfortunately, the series is no longer on the BBC iPlayer, and I would never, ever recommend finding it through torrent sites such as RadioArchive.cc because that would be illegal even if the show were on such sites. Which it is.
I saw an interesting program about how potatoes were introduced to Europe, and Ireland specifically, during the 16C by the Spanish. It was really neat.
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Science and Tech Ads of the 50's and 60s (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/sets/72157612943324998/)
Add a little McCarthy-era science flavor to your campaign.
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Science and Tech Ads of the 50's and 60s (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bustbright/sets/72157612943324998/)
Add a little McCarthy-era science flavor to your campaign.
Google books has a collection of old Life magazines.
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Dude, I love their old Popular Science. It's fun to read the "MAKE MONEY FAST" ads in the back. Things haven't changed much.
I ran an alt-verse steampunk campaign a few years ago and I used the Google Magazines archive extensively for flavor.
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Iraqi War footage: http://www.guernicamag.com/features/1563/the_pleasure_of_flinching/
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The story of Mouse Tower: http://great-castles.com/index.pl?mauseturmtale.html
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Is that actually a true story.
Death by mouse?
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Is that actually a true story.
According to Wikipedia, no, but it's still an awesome story. And actually gives me a great idea about the current scenario my players are in.
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Actual reviews from a Ramada Inn in Fond du Lac, WI (near where I live): http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g59884-d100828-r3024580-Ramada_Plaza_Hotel_Fond_Du_Lac-Fond_du_Lac_Wisconsin.html
Let me start out by saying it's a great Ramada with clean rooms, and friendly staff. However, in the middle of the night, I heard the sound of someone pulling covers off the other bed. I looked at the other bed in my room, and saw the outline of a head resting on the pillow. I put my hand on it, and it was ICE cold. 30 minutes later, I am woken up again with the sound of footsteps by the bathroom. I get up, and find no one. But wait theres more, I also heard the sound of water from the sink in the bathroom. I got up, and could not find any faucet running. At that point, I just asked whoever was there to please let me have some rest. And the ghost(s) must have been listening, because after that I slept fine. Give it a chance! If you love spacious, haunted hotels, this is for you!!!
A very nice hotel with lots of charm, but this place gave me the creeps. An older couple on the way up to the seventh floor (the floor we were both staying on) told me this hotel had a haunted past, and I didn't believe it...at first. But in the middle of the night I heard noises coming from the bathroom, so I went to investigate and found nothing. While in the bathroom I heard footsteps coming from the room near the bed, but when I looked I also found nothing. Then later in the night I woke up again, feeling like I was being held. Weird! Supposedly this place has a history, and I'm curious if something bad has happened in this old place over the years...
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Actual reviews from a Ramada Inn in Fond du Lac, WI (near where I live): http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g59884-d100828-r3024580-Ramada_Plaza_Hotel_Fond_Du_Lac-Fond_du_Lac_Wisconsin.html
This sounds like a great place to host a COC/horror gaming convention.
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Safari Ltd toys (http://www.safariltd.com)
We use minis in our games, so I'm always looking for fun things to throw on the table (last year I scared the shit out of my players by dropping a few of Mongoose Miniatures' Starship Troopers soldier bugs on the table).
Anyways, I've got a campaign coming up that's a modern updating of the Harryhausen film The Mysterious Island (http://lavender.fortunecity.com/judidench/584/new-myst.html). I found the Safari Ltd. toys at Target and they're awesome. They're just the right scale for the giant creatures that inhabit the island, including weird stuff like dodo birds and giant bees. The movie was the basis, but the more I've poked around the Safari collection, the more ideas I've gotten.
I'm particularly looking forward to introducing the players to the 7.5" Sally Lightfoot Crab (http://www.shopatron.com/products/productdetail/part_number=261729/740.0.1.1).
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It's like Y: The Last Man.
Atrazine, one of the world's most widely used pesticides, wreaks havoc with the sex lives of adult male frogs, emasculating three-quarters of them and turning one in 10 into females, according to a new study by University of California, Berkeley, biologists.
Pesticide Atrazine Can Turn Male Frogs Into Females (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100301151927.htm)
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Flickr "Underground" cluster. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/underground/)
Subways, sewers, even underground churches (http://www.flickr.com/photos/aldovanzeeland/4394966180/). Pretty awesome stuff, if you ignore the "underground boxing" results.
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Recent paper (2007) on dirty bombs: http://www.princeton.edu/sgs/publications/sgs/archive/15_2_Magill.pdf
Also, an interesting examination on spent fuel pools and terrorism: http://www.cfr.org/publication/8967/are_nuclear_spent_fuel_pools_secure.html
The committee judges that successful terrorist attacks on spent fuel pools, though difficult, are possible. If an attack leads to a propagating zirconium cladding fire, it could result in the release of large amounts of radioactive material. The committee concluded that attacks by knowledgeable terrorists with access to appropriate technical means are possible. The committee identified several terrorist attack scenarios that it believed could partially or completely drain a spent fuel pool and lead to zirconium cladding fires. Details are provided in the committee’s classified report. I cannot discuss the details here.
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Cut and paste art from the m19C: http://www.slate.com/id/2245975/slideshow/2246537/
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Invader Galaxies http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100226161428.htm (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100226161428.htm)
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Great website of weird patents: http://totallyabsurd.com/archive.htm
Featuring the bunny syringe (http://totallyabsurd.com/bunnysyringe.htm) and the life expectancy watch (http://totallyabsurd.com/lifeexpectancywatch.htm).
You initially program the watch by answering a series of questions about your lifestyle such as exercise, disposition, food consumption and alcohol and tobacco use (big negatives, kids!). Living a healthy lifestyle? This watch has an on/off button so you can stop it temporarily while you engage in a healthy activity (e.g. taking a walk, cleaning the closet, etc.)
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Steampunk computers and other things: http://www.datamancer.net/
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Interesting collection of anomalies and conspiracy theories that's been floating around the internet for years: http://www.anomalies-unlimited.com/
Unfortunately, I don't think the site has been updated since 04 if then.
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Ladies and gentlemen, the craziest theory on dreams since Freud, Oneiric Darwinism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_J._Blechner#Oneiric_Darwinism) found in Mark Blechner's book The Dream Frontier (http://books.google.com/books?id=L3DTp1tazYcC&pg=PA74&dq=Oneiric+Darwinism&cd=1#v=onepage&q=Oneiric%20Darwinism&f=false).
I propose one more reason that we dream--to create new ideas, through partial random generation, which can then be retained if judged useful. . . . Dreams introduce random variations into psychic life and internal narratives. They produce "though mutations" Our minds can then select among these mutations and variations to produce new kinds of thought, imagination, self-awareness, and other psychic functions.
Dream interpretation as a science really begins in the late-eighteenth century with the publishing of several oneirocritics. Even though these early dream interpretation manuals were designed primarily as fortunetelling books, they represent an intersection between pre-modern beliefs of dreams being divine revelation and modern liberal epistemological structures (what we would call "science") that sought to define events as derivative of certain natural laws. By Freud's day, the divinity of dreams had been relegated to mere superstition, while the scientific explorations of dreaming had exploded.
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Never been a fan of About.com, but I thought this was fun - 10 Most Puzzling Ancient Artifacts (http://paranormal.about.com/od/ancientanomalies/ig/Most-Puzzling-Ancient-Artifact/).
Most of the items on the list have been debunked, but there's still some good fodder for Old Ones artifacts and anomalous archeological finds.
Now I really want to dig out my clay and 1-1 molding and make an ancient spaceship.
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Right wing terrorism in the US: http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/publications/terror-from-the-right
Now, someone find a study of far left wing terrorism during the same period. You know, econuts, animal rights people, etc.
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A SHORT HISTORY OF ECO-TERRORISM (http://www.off-road.com/offroad/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=292637)
Your post reminded me of this article I read today, Conspiracy Theorists are the new Terrorists (http://blogs.alternet.org/grantlawrence/2010/03/07/conspiracy-theorists-are-the-new-terrorists/).
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http://www.antikythera-mechanism.gr/
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When a Mexican drug lord gets busted. (http://www.omgsoysauce.com/10432/when-a-mexican-drug-lord-gets-busted/)
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The Large Hadron Collider is down again (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8556621.stm). This time for a year or more as several support struts and shielding units are redesigned and rebuilt.
Which brings me to two things -
- Is The Large Hadron Collider Being Sabotaged from the Future? (http://io9.com/5380647/is-the-large-hadron-collider-being-sabotaged-from-the-future) - Posted way back in 2009, when the thing had failed only three times. At this point, I'd be willing to accept that. This thing is either the biggest technological failure or the most dangerous thing ever built, possibly both.
It'd be interesting to run a campaign where the players are protecting something sciency from future saboteurs - only to find out in a Shyamalanian non-twist that the saboteurs are themselves! From the future!
- What do the LHC and Hilary Duff have in common? When either one goes down you know someone just blew a fortune.
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(http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8556621.stm)- What do the LHC and Hilary Duff have in common? When either one goes down you know someone just blew a fortune.
Both are terrible preformers and need a team of PHD's to work properly?
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Hilary Duff gets engaged, "thanks" fiance (http://bridepop.com/proposal/hilary-duff-marriage-proposal-photos/)
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Hilary Duff gets engaged, "thanks" fiance (http://bridepop.com/proposal/hilary-duff-marriage-proposal-photos/)
At first glance I read this as "enraged," which when combined with the quotations around thanks conjured an entirely different image in my mind then the one I saw...
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Hilary Duff gets engaged, "thanks" fiance (http://bridepop.com/proposal/hilary-duff-marriage-proposal-photos/)
what game do you run where that is a scenario idea?
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GO GO GO!
ENAGAGE THE DUFF
DON'T LET IT LIVE
Now fire your rifle goddammit!
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what game do you run where that is a scenario idea?
I think it's a daily in 4E.
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what game do you run where that is a scenario idea?
I think it's a daily in 4E.
your mom is a daily power
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This is on topic: The CIA spiked the bread of a village with LSD http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/11/french-village-went.html
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Over the last two decades more than 200 super-carriers - cargo ships over 200m long - have been lost at sea. Eyewitness reports suggest many were sunk by high and violent walls of water that rose up out of calm seas.
[...]
To prove the phenomenon or lay the rumours to rest, a consortium of 11 organisations from six EU countries founded MaxWave in December 2000.
- Freak waves spotted from space (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/3917539.stm)
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Interesting writing exercise going on on Twitter right now, RPG Oddities (http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23rpgoddities). Strange little seeds to throw into your adventures. Some good ones in there.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinitite)
Nuclear Glass
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In 2005 it was theorized by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Robert Hermes and independent investigator William Strickfaden that much of the mineral was formed not simply by sand which was exposed to the fireball, but the sand which was drawn up inside the fireball itself and then rained down in a liquid form.
That's awesome. I can see combining that idea with a Rudy Rucker-esque plot about haywire mathematics.
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(http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/2015/24158489v1480x480frontc.jpg)
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Mystery creatures living 600 meters below Antarctica (http://www.geekosystem.com/lyssianasid-amphipod-antarctica/)
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Cities of the Underworld (http://www.hulu.com/cities-of-the-underworld)
This show is awesome. Sadly, the episode on the Civil War underground gunpowder factory has been taken down.
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Cities of the Underworld (http://www.hulu.com/cities-of-the-underworld)
This show is awesome. Sadly, the episode on the Civil War underground gunpowder factory has been taken down.
I used that show as research for Tides of Doom.
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In paleontology, a Lazarus taxon (plural taxa) is a taxon that disappears from one or more periods of the fossil record, only to appear again later. The term refers to the account in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus is claimed to have raised Lazarus from the dead. Lazarus taxa are observational artifacts that appear to occur either because of (local) extinction, later resupplied, or as a sampling artifact. If the extinction is conclusively found to be total (global or worldwide) and the supplanting species is not a lookalike (an Elvis species), the observational artifact is overcome. The fossil record is inherently imperfect (only a very small fraction of organisms become fossilized) and contains gaps not necessarily caused by extinction, particularly when the number of individuals in a taxon becomes very low. If these gaps are filled by new fossil discoveries, a taxon will no longer be classified as a Lazarus taxon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazarus_taxon
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mummies http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/16/science/16archeo.html?ref=science&pagewanted=all
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Atonal/mondern music, especially Philomel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rd5_9hyWm0) by Milton Babbitt...
Not only is the music weird, but the story is too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Babbitt%27s_Philomel)...
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Atonal/mondern music, especially Philomel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rd5_9hyWm0) by Milton Babbitt...
Not only is the music weird, but the story is too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Babbitt%27s_Philomel)...
Let's not forget Schoenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg)and the 12 Tone Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-tone_technique).
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Atonal/mondern music, especially Philomel (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Rd5_9hyWm0) by Milton Babbitt...
Not only is the music weird, but the story is too (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Babbitt%27s_Philomel)...
Let's not forget Schoenberg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Schoenberg)and the 12 Tone Scale (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve-tone_technique).
I've listened to that, but Philomel was just plain creepier...
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Immortal jellyfish?
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/featured/only-immortal-animal-on-earth/20087?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+environmentalgraffiti+(Environmental+Graffiti)
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I think Ross posted a previous article on this, but Viking mass grave in England confirmed: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/03/100315-headless-vikings-england-execution-pit/
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In recent years, geneticists have learned how to take skin cells and return them to a state called pluripotency, where they can become almost any type of cell in the human body. Church proposes to use the MAGE technique to alter a stem cell's DNA to match the Neanderthal genome. That stem cell would be left to reproduce, creating a colony of cells that could be programmed to become any type of cell that existed in the Neanderthal's body. Colonies of heart, brain, and liver cells, or possibly entire organs, could be grown for research purposes.
This technique could also be used to create a person.
- Should We Clone Neanderthals? (http://www.archaeology.org/1003/etc/neanderthals.html)
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Not sure how this can be used as game or story fodder right now, but it's something interesting to keep an eye on. In Michigan, starting with Flint and now with proposals for Detroit, a new type of urban planning is emerging that involves shrinking city limits to eliminate blight and concentrate emergency and city services (this of course is meeting with resistance): http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwckVe8gKZJKd2w-MpXWAIyZu-BgD9EAMQFO3
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Which is awesome because those same regions protested the city's "creep" 20/30 years ago. Philly is going through the same thing, pulling back services while still claiming tax rights on outside townships.
I can see where this is going easily - Shadowrun privatized police forces, suburban slums, centralized megacities.
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Need a hideout for crazed domestic terrorists? Look no further than http://www.survivalrealty.com/
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You thought the Bhut Jolokia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhut_Jolokia_pepper), otherwise known as the Ghost Chili, was hot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale). Just wait until you get a hold of a weaponized Ghost Chili (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100323/ap_on_re_as/as_india_chili_grenades;_ylt=AgSFB1YkRGMOkSP6NOW_txas0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTFpNTlraDQ5BHBvcwMzOARzZWMDYWNjb3JkaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDaW5kaWFubWlsaXRh).
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One of my buddies owns Wing Shack down off of national street and, hes supposed to be getting in some ghost chilis to make some wings with, and have a contest of eat 10 wings with the ghost chili dont drink anything for some time afterwords you win a Shirt, and bumper sticker. I havent tryed yet prob wont, I like spicy but no way could I do 10 wings with something that spicy on it!
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One of my buddies owns Wing Shack down off of national street and, hes supposed to be getting in some ghost chilis to make some wings with, and have a contest of eat 10 wings with the ghost chili dont drink anything for some time afterwords you win a Shirt, and bumper sticker. I havent tryed yet prob wont, I like spicy but no way could I do 10 wings with something that spicy on it!
What if it was weaponized Ghost Chili, eh? Would that entice you more?
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I dont want any form of ghost chili in or around any of my orifice.
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Unknown human ancestor: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100324/ap_on_sc/us_sci_human_ancestor
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Crazy medical inventions: http://www.medicalassistantprograms.net/blog/10-crazy-medical-inventions
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Myths about the art market: http://www.bernardewell.com/good_to_know/what_are_the_six_myths_of_the_art_market.html
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_vault (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_vault)
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http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934027,00.html (http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/completelist/0,29569,1934027,00.html)
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Pictures of Edwardian era drunks: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260872/Ancestry-Edwardian-Englands-drunkards.html
These should be added to the next 1890s COC game anyone plays.
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INTERPOL list of recent art thefts (http://www.interpol.int/Public/WorkOfArt/Search/RecentThefts.asp)
Nice collection of paintings and objects stolen in the last two months; includes physical details but little or no historical information.
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Airplane repo men. A PC party task you might not have ever considered for a modern game.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/29/airplane-repo-men.html
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Airplane repo men. A PC party task you might not have ever considered for a modern game.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/29/airplane-repo-men.html
A Salon article about the same dude from last year: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/06/lear_jet_repo_man/
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Airplane repo men. A PC party task you might not have ever considered for a modern game.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/03/29/airplane-repo-men.html
A Salon article about the same dude from last year: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/06/06/lear_jet_repo_man/
Noice. This guy is a fucking badass. We should stat him for a bunch of system.s
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Holy daghklhjaektlhdskghaekothaerhtklaj!!!!
Turn off someone's morality with a cell phone: http://heretic.blastmagazine.com/2010/03/em-field-behind-right-ear-suspends-morality/
More on it: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-03/miot-mjc032510.php
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Like that stephen king story
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I'm left-handed. Hah! Take that, science!
Now I'll be fine while the rest of the country is...turned...into...amoral...sociopaths...
Actually I don't see the upside any more.
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I'm left handed as well. Maybe we can team up? Take it on the road, Mad Max style.
Actually that sounds like a great scenario, forcing all the PCs to play left handed.
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I'm not the messiah: food activist is considered to be messiah by cult http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/19/raj-patel-colbert-report-benjamin-creme
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In Messiah related news
http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/03/29/simpsons.messiah.syndrome/?hpt=Sbin
Get past the part about the Simpson, and get to the Jerusalem Syndrome part.
The best known, although not the most prevalent, manifestation of the Jerusalem syndrome is the phenomenon whereby a person who seems previously balanced and devoid of any signs of psychopathology becomes psychotic after arriving in Jerusalem. The psychosis is characterised by an intense religious theme and typically resolves to full recovery after a few weeks or after being removed from the area.
Possession in a historically and mythologically rich area, in a country host to modern and ancient conflict.
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But who was phone?
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Creepy boarded up one fashionable hotel caught in a 70 year old legal battle? Check!
Creepy groundskeeper who continually fights against trespassers and the elements? Check!
Creepy location for a CoC one-shot? Oh, most def, check!
http://www.scoutingny.com/?p=1832
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The music video for this song in my opinion would make an awesome Hunter or CoC one shot or even story.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovq8QlYE_q4
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a new modern league of extraordinary gentlemen: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/04/01/top-shelf-announces-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-1988/
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a new modern league of extraordinary gentlemen: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/04/01/top-shelf-announces-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-1988/
Yes
Now, disgraced scientist Emmet Brown...
YES!!!!
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a new modern league of extraordinary gentlemen: http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/04/01/top-shelf-announces-league-of-extraordinary-gentlemen-1988/
I can't really think of any way to get more "awesome" into this...
I hate April Fools, always making people make up cool fake things...
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Yeah. :'(
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I would play B.A. Baracus in a game just so I could say "I pity the fool..." every other sentence.
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I would play B.A. Baracus in a game just so I could say "I pity the fool..." every other sentence.
Even though he didn't ever really say that? Ooh, but you could say everyone is "on the jazz."
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Do you know what's in your medical waste dump: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100402/ap_on_re_us/us_medical_waste_bodies
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Did anyone check out this video? I mean, I can understand if you don't like the music, but this video has all the elements of a creepy story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ovq8QlYE_q4
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http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/04/02/1228249/Intel-and-Nokia-Provide-First-MeeGo-Release
Intel and Nokia release a new product line called "MeeGo"...
roll Spot Hidden at -20%, Idea, or Mythos Knowledge at +20%
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meth addicts dig up indian burial sites so they can sell the artifacts for drug money http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-03-24/news/tweakers-n-diggers-looters-pillaging-native-american-burial-grounds-finance-meth-habits
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meth addicts dig up indian burial sites so they can sell the artifacts for drug money http://www.riverfronttimes.com/2010-03-24/news/tweakers-n-diggers-looters-pillaging-native-american-burial-grounds-finance-meth-habits
The most interesting thing about this is the armed landowners scaring off the looters. I think that has to be the lead for a scenario based on it. Either Farmer A shoots Cultist B and then goes crazy. Or Farmer A, a known marksmen, gets killed in some unusual way by Cultist B.
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The Harvard Despository: http://hul.harvard.edu/hd/ and http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2010/4/1/depository-library-books-facility/
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Not sure if this goes here, but here is where I'm posting it.
Cool architecture photos? Check.
Making fun of hipsters? Oh, check please.
http://unhappyhipsters.com/
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East Timor declares war on "ninjas": http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0406/timor-police-declare-war-mysterious-ninjas/
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Goddamn ninjas always eating the crops and scaring the animals!
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I personally think that at least half of the videos from http://www.everythingisterrible.com/ (http://www.everythingisterrible.com/) can be used as inspiration for a Monsters and Other Childish things. For example:
This last Saturday, I needed to run a Monsters game off the cuff. So, I decided to scan through the most recent EIT! videos, and ran across this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xawyxcqB7ec&feature=player_embedded (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xawyxcqB7ec&feature=player_embedded)
So, I quickly crafted a plot where this guy went to the player's school for a "Bubbles Against Drugs" performance. However, he was actually a bubble cultist, and was trying to convert the entire school to also worship the almighty bubble with his eldrich arts of bubblemancy. The players, being monster-bonded, were able to see through the illusion and had to find a way to break his spell and bring him down.
The best part about it was that I could use the video as both inspiration and a prop of sorts. I imagine it'd be tougher to find videos that would work in other games, but most of it's perfect for a game of Monsters.
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THANK YOU Setherick, for the unhappyhipsters link.
I loves it.
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THANK YOU Setherick, for the unhappyhipsters link.
I loves it.
Like I said in my post, I don't know if it goes in this topic, but it's just too goddamn funny not to post.
"My apartment is infested with koala bears, it's the cutest infestation I've ever seen." <-- that's how funny it is.
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Adolf Hitler wanted to steal the Turin Shroud during World War II, an Italian monk has claimed.
But the Vatican helped hide the cloth relic, on which is scorched the image of Christ's face, in a rural monastery to keep it out of the clutches of the Fuhrer.
-- Hitler wanted to steal the Turin Shroud - 'but was thwarted by the Vatican' (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1264150/Hitler-plot-steal-Turin-Shroud-thwarted-Vatican.html)
It's like a Dan Brown novel, but interesting.
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Family finds hidden chapel in their house!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1263965/Family-discover-ancient-chapel-hidden-house-100-years.html
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maps on the back of mystery novels http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2010/04/11/456-maps-of-murder-dell-books-and-hard-boiled-cartography/
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oh shit
LIST OF CREEPY AS SHIT WIKIPEDIA PAGES
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Power_Building
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Thunderstorm%2C_Widecombe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hermitage_%28Ontario%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Licked_Hand
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_May_Day_Mystery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_travel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_information_awareness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentich_Disappearance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanishing_hitchhiker
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Villisca%2C_Iowa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will-o%27-the-wisp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Witching_hour
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_10%2C000_problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2070_problem
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crying_Boy
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Mabus
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_Social_Workers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond_Vampire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Heung_Jin_Nim
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_B%C3%A1thory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milgram_experiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_prison_experiment
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realistic_conflict_theory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Third_Wave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_K._Hofling#Obedience_study
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fan_death
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Heeled_Jack
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chupacabra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigfoot
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Almas_(cryptozoology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barmanou
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebu_Gogo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_liath
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fouke_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hibagon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karakoncolos
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Worth_monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loch_Ness_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Momo_the_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ng%C6%B0%E1%BB%9Di_R%E1%BB%ABng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Yellow_Top
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Mawas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orang_Pendek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skunk_Ape
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodwose
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeren
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeti
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yowie_(cryptid)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chessie_(sea_monster)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tianchi_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Van_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manipogo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mokele-mbembe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morag_(loch_monster)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogopogo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_squid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lusca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kraken
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossal_Squid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_giant_squid_specimens_and_sightings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_gigantism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insular_dwarfism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep-sea_gigantism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owlman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man-eating_tree
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptozoology
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legendary_creature
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cryptids
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legendary_creatures
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%22I_AM%22_Activity
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_%28unsolved_Thames_murder_case%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_hand_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arecibo_reply
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atuk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aum_Shinrikyo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Los_Angeles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_Exmoor
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beast_of_Gevaudan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belchen_Tunnel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_Scout_Lane
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Rail_flying_saucer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbly_Creek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunny_Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capgras_delusion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Tanzler
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia%2C_Pennsylvania
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chandre_Oram
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Bonnet_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Torso_Murderer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collective_unconscious
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete-Encased_High_School_Girl_Murder_Case
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consensus_reality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crawfordsville_monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cure_for_Insomnia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cydonia_%28Mars%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_Teed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Rather#.22Kenneth.2C_what_is_the_frequency.3F.22
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Parker_Ray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehomag
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphine_LaLaurie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devil%27s_Footprints
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donner_Party
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_argument
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dulce_Base
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_pass_accident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ediacaran_biota
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exotic_star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_head_syndrome
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faces_of_belmez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_Lake_Incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_awakenings
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatwoods_monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foo_fighter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forbidden_Plateau
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6bekli_Tepe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Girl_A
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ramirez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grey_Goo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_rat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamster_zona-free_ovum_test
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Head_transplant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hello_Kitty_murder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Face_Fish
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrasound#Human_reactions_to_infrasound
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Parsons
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Devil
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murray_Spear
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junko_Furuta
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaspar_Hauser
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly-Hopkinsville_encounter
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennedy_Curse
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_hadron_collider
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lina_Medina
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lizard_Man_of_Scape_Ore_Swamp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loveland_frog
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRSA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manises_UFO_Incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Markovian_parallax_denigrate
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Applewhite
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Tofts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mel 's_Hole
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellified_Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moll_Dyer
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monkey_tree_phenomenon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_of_Glamis
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montauk_Project
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorish_Science_Temple_of_America
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mothman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nannie_Doss
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omayra_S%C3%A1nchez
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Whitecoat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_Spanish_Kitchen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osho
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Out_of_place_artifacts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penis_panic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_die_if_they_are_killed
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Temple
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phaistos_Disc
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polywater
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Lick_Monster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pripyat%2C_Ukraine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Process_Church
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_ARTICHOKE
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_BLUEBIRD
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pykrete
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_immortality
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Station_UVB-7
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Chase
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roanoke_Colony
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._White
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_the_Doll
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dodecahedron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-75
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sailing_stones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sedlec_Ossuary
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadow_people
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skinwalker_Ranch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starchild_skull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_tunnel_incident
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_Laughter_Epidemic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bloop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Great_Thunderstorm%2C_Widecombe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hermitage_%28Ontario%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mad_Gasser_of_Mattoon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mahavishnu_Orchestra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_May_Day_Mystery
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Therac-25
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Total_information_awareness
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toynbee_tiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trepanation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsutomu_Miyazaki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UKUSA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Demikhov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who_put_Bella_in_the_Wych_Elm%3F
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whole-body_transplant
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yahweh_ben_Yahweh
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trunko
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuk-luk
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discoveries_of_human_feet_on_British_Columbia_beaches%2C_2007%E2%80%932
008
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valentich_Disappearance
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavener_Runestone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Runestone
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tecaxic-Calixtlahuaca_head
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_egoism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94
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Well, there's no more point for horror related game fodder in this thread anymore.
Moving on...
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The wiki article about the shrinking penis phenomenon cracked my shit up.
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Well, there's no more point for horror related game fodder in this thread anymore.
Moving on...
Ross ruins everything.
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yeah... fuck ross.
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Where did you get a list that long?
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Where did you get a list that long?
Probably on the SA forums or another wiki entry. I think I saw a wiki entry floating around with that list awhile back. Who knows. All I know is Ross ruins everything.
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Ross was contacted by beings know as the Wikipedians. Dwelling in the Warpwiki these beasts traverse time and space cataloging facts and information that can be easily edited by mere mortals.
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Feral Cities and cities under siege
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/cities-under-siege.html
This is the future of war - make your next war campaign with this info in mind
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UFOs in art http://lithiumdreamer.tripod.com/ufoart.html (http://lithiumdreamer.tripod.com/ufoart.html)
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http://www.laobserved.com/visiting/2010/04/daryl_gates_secret_legacy.php
Obvious use in a Delta Green game: A hotbed for DG friendlies and intel. Hell, the PDID could even serve as a DG cell or anti-mythos agency ignorant of DG or MJ-12. Alternatively, Gates might have been clued in to the mythos which led to his paranoia and need for obsessive control. A 1980s DG based game could face unusual complications: Gates only cooperates with DG if they scratch his back - ruin a reporter's career or assassinate a target and stage it as a robbery. Otherwise, Gates turns the full force of the LAPD against the cell.
On Page 231, Gates recounts how he knew every time Lew Wasserman, the head of MCA, the big movie and record company, got on an airplane to Las Vegas. He says when he told Wasserman about this the mogul was astonished and wanted to know why. Because, Gates explained, you're important.
Gates even got one officer I interviewed, whose undercover work continued well into the 1970s, to Moscow and Havana. But by the time I got that story Gates had so intimidated someone high up at the L.A. Times or its parent company (or its owners) that the L.A. Times was too cowed to let me tell it.
...
I reported this in the Los Angeles Times in a story that told how the May Day 1982 violence between Revolutionary Communist Party marchers and the LAPD began when an undercover officer posing as one of the communists gave a signal for people to run. That gave the police a pretext to attack. No one would have known this except that the officer was inadvertently captured on videotape.
At a meeting in South Central that has been used by TV and many screenwriters, a gathering of blacks upset about LAPD violence erupted into demands from one person after another in the audience to attack LAPD officers and division buildings. The leaders at the actual meetings told these people to shut up. Year later court documents showed that the calls for violence all came from undercover LAPD officers, one of whom stole hundreds of dollars from the organization he infiltrated and served as treasurer.
My piece on how LAPD instigated the May Day riot was virtually the last story I wrote before the paper shut me down and moved on to a new narrative - that the political spying bad guy was a single sergeant who lived in a trailer, rather than the carefully directed work of Chief Gates.
This narrative got big play in the paper, but there was no explanation of why all these secret files were created, who was identified in them and why they ended up in the hands of a secretive group associated with an Army general. The general, who once commanded American forces in South Korea, saw communists and conspiracies everywhere, a view Gates shared.
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Zombie Hippos http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6818 (http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn6818)
Contagous Cancer http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8433645.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8433645.stm)
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Weeping Angels (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Weeping_Angel) from Doctor Who episode Blink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_%28Doctor_Who%29)...
Creepy, I know I'll never look at statues the same. Will definitely work a game around this (thinking Dread might be cool)...
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Weeping Angels (http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Weeping_Angel) from Doctor Who episode Blink (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_%28Doctor_Who%29)...
Creepy, I know I'll never look at statues the same. Will definitely work a game around this (thinking Dread might be cool)...
Dude, I fucking hate those things.
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Wiki dedicated to Tarot: http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/Main_Page#Tarotpedia
One of these days, I'll see if Google Books has a list of crazy fortunetelling manuals from the 18C.
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H.R. 2995: Weather Modification Research and Technology Transfer Authorization Act of 2005:
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h109-2995&tab=summary
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Riot Police in Disneyland.
http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=672 (http://www.anaheim.net/article.asp?id=672)
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In only four days, a twin-engine aircraft equipped with an advanced version of lidar (light detection and ranging) flew back and forth over the jungle and collected data surpassing the results of two and a half decades of on-the-ground mapping, the archaeologists said.
Mapping Ancient Civilization, in a Matter of Days (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/11/science/11maya.html)
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Soon robots will be doing all the science.
humans will just sit back and watch.
It's gonna be sweet
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Dude, I just want a robot to roll my dice for me.
Roll my dice and make up adventures for me to run every week.
...
And maybe run them for me so I can just watch and play with the audio recorder. Actually, if it could record the game sessions for me too, that'd be sweet, that way I could focus on eating Pringles.
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Denmark's Gang war - bikers vs immigrant youths
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/general/2010/04/201041275338185250.html
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da Vinci's Resume: http://www.theladders.com/career-newsletters/leonardo-da-vinci-resume
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http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/OH/ChippewaLake/chippewa-lake.htm (http://www.defunctparks.com/parks/OH/ChippewaLake/chippewa-lake.htm)
Haunted amusement parks are creepy as sin.
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Scientists create a motherfucking new organism, srsly, wtf scientists: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/20/scientists.organism.ft/index.html
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Scientists create a motherfucking new organism, srsly, wtf scientists: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/20/scientists.organism.ft/index.html
It's good they've finally done this, every year the guy has claimed to of done it for 15 years. I'd also state that there are thousands of things scientists are doing right now that the general public shouldn't know about because they'd put a big halt on progress. This goes doubly so for the things psychologists get upto.
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Scientists create a motherfucking new organism, srsly, wtf scientists: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/20/scientists.organism.ft/index.html
It's good they've finally done this, every year the guy has claimed to of done it for 15 years. I'd also state that there are thousands of things scientists are doing right now that the general public shouldn't know about because they'd put a big halt on progress. This goes doubly so for the things psychologists get upto.
I hope you don't think I'm seriously opposed to what was done or scientific progress in general.
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Scientists create a motherfucking new organism, srsly, wtf scientists: http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/science/05/20/scientists.organism.ft/index.html
It's good they've finally done this, every year the guy has claimed to of done it for 15 years. I'd also state that there are thousands of things scientists are doing right now that the general public shouldn't know about because they'd put a big halt on progress. This goes doubly so for the things psychologists get upto.
I hope you don't think I'm seriously opposed to what was done or scientific progress in general.
Oh no, didn't get that impression at all just dropping in that this stuff is done all the time which people can view as 'playing god'.
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Article on the "Wow Signal": http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126510251
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From the people at MIT, the virtual reality glove (http://singularityhub.com/2010/05/28/mits-ridiculously-colorful-glove-is-the-latest-hand-tracking-interfacevideo/#more-17089).
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I always wanted to make an OWoD Mage Akashic Brother who was a cage fighter, but I'm afraid his awakening would have gone something like this: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1282647/American-cage-fighter-rips-beating-heart-training-partner-fearing-possessed-devil.html
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Prosecutors added the torture charge as Powell was still alive when his heart was removed.
Shit.
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As Dr. Rosco would say, "I do cocaine. Seriously, I have the flesh rot to prove it (http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/contaminatedcocainecancausefleshtorot;_ylt=Arpc.e2vZk4K0VyhIadneKes0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTRhMzAybmR2BGFzc2V0A2hzbi8yMDEwMDYwMS9jb250YW1pbmF0ZWRjb2NhaW5lY2FuY2F1c2VmbGVzaHRvcm90BGNjb2RlA21vc3Rwb3B1bGFyBGNwb3MDOARwb3MDNQRwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX2hlYWRsaW5lX2xpc3QEc2xrA2NvbnRhbWluYXRlZA--)."
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lol wut http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/swordwielding-attacker-ki_n_597599.html
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lol wut http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/02/swordwielding-attacker-ki_n_597599.html
"There was no indication that things were going to get violent, there was nothing that provoked this attack, but at some point Steven chose to arm himself with what can be best described as a sword," Price said. "He then used that sword against those three victims."
What's that name for the piece of metal with a handle that you use to stab and slash people?
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A knife, I'm a Glaswegian.
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Don't want your free will? Get infected with taxoplasma parasites: http://tobiastenney.com/2010/06/toxoplasma/
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So it's cats, not bees, that carry the black ooze.
BRB, off to kill cats in the name of self preservation.
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http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/31/dot-shot-sinkhole-in-guatemala-city/?src=mv
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So it's cats, not bees, that carry the black ooze.
BRB, off to kill cats in the name of self preservation.
PLAY DWARF FORTRESS
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PLAY DWARF FORTRESS
NO
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Ohio and Arizona say no to human-animal hybrids (not that anyone was actually working on any): http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/animal-human-hybrids-banned-states/story?id=10831325
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Yeah, nobody was even thinking of working on hybrids. Not at all
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Yeah, nobody was even thinking of working on hybrids. Not at all
Depends on what you mean by hybrid compared to how the law defines them.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacanti_mouse)
Related: LOLZ
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Mathematical Model Shows What Future Flags Would Look Like as U.S. Grows (http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/how-preserve-symmetry-star-spangled-banner)
Maybe not direct story fodder, but playing around with the low numbers gave me some great inspiration for sci-fi flags, coalitions, and insignias.
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And you thought your shoes were old: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/09/tech/main6565327.shtml
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Meet the dark pulse laser: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/06/100609171804.htm
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Meet the dark pulse laser
That's some Justice League shit right there.
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http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/06/modeling-enemy.html
Use a model of a fortress you've captured to show badass you are by parading around a city with it.
These triumphant returning soldiers would sometimes "carry models of forts captured by the victorious army," she explains. "Enthusiastic accounts of the procession held these models to be so accurate that the places were 'easily recognizable' to the participants in the various battles." It was about "the success of display no less than the display of success," she quips.
Next New World module will have a triumph as a magic item
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Why use weapons when you can use... PUPPIES!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37710921/ns/world_news-weird_news
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Why use weapons when you can use... PUPPIES!
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37710921/ns/world_news-weird_news
... Puppies! oh and a bulldozer, but the puppies is what pissed them off!
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I'm not exactly sure why he would decide throwing a puppy was a good idea but.....
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Player logic in real life: lone nutjobs trying to take Bin Laden down http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/osama-hunter-only-the-latest-terror-fightin-wannabe/
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Ricky Jay's Cards as Weapons: http://www.scribd.com/doc/6489457/Cards-as-Weapons
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Player logic in real life: lone nutjobs trying to take Bin Laden down http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/06/osama-hunter-only-the-latest-terror-fightin-wannabe/
This is my favorite part:
Matt Mihsen, a Syrian-born, naturalized U.S. citizen, set out on the same mission — kill bin Laden — in 2005. Ready to board a plane from Detroit to Syria (via Amsterdam), Mihsen was detained by authorities after they found over $13,000 in cash, a Taser, ammunition, pepper spray, a bullet proof vest, and three Geiger counters in his luggage.
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Late 19C and Early 20C menus, perfect for CoC games: http://www.coloradocollege.edu/Library/SpecialCollections/Colorado/Menus.html
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What's the stupidest way to end cyber terrorism ever conceived? Just shut down the internet: http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Press.MajorityNews&ContentRecord_id=227d9e1e-5056-8059-765f-2239d301fb7f
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Even Jesus gets spanked by God from time to time.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/06/15/14398936.html
If you swear in Australia, you could get fined 100$
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/WeirdNews/2010/06/16/14409821.html
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Cacoa the edible loot: http://www.archaeology.org/online/interviews/chocolate/
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First recorded music in history http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/edisonia/audio/EDIS-SRP-0154-17.mp3 from http://www.nps.gov/archive/edis/edisonia/very_early.htm
http://www.metafilter.com/93217/The-first-ever-field-recording
more nightmare fuel for my games :D :D :D
Someone needs to put together a nightmare fuel mix of number stations, calliope music, this shit, vault archives, and other creepy ass shit.
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Holy shit! That's scary as hell.
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goddamn commies spies in my country? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37982175/ns/us_news-security
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WTF russia?
I wonder how our awesome American spies are doing?
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Gravity: Now in HD
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8767763.stm
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urban exploration of sealed russian lab http://brusnichka.com/2007/11/15/laboratory-of-studying-a-human-brain/
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Nano drones: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38062588/ns/technology_and_science-innovation/
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goddamn russians
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you mean sexy russian spies
(http://i.imgur.com/wMB9y.jpg)
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you mean sexy russian spies
(http://i.imgur.com/wMB9y.jpg)
Anyone else find her hot... only cause she might be a spy?
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2.5b year old multi-cellular organisms may re-write natural history: http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-10722-Austin-Science-Policy-Examiner~y2010m7d2-Two-billion-yearold-fossils-may-rewrite-natural-history-books
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you mean sexy russian spies
You mean crazy, nymphomaniac Russian spies: http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/07/05/2010-07-05_kinky_spy_anna_was_great_in_bed_sez_her_ex_sizzling_days_of_whips__clamps.html
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Carbon dating the pharaohs.
Here: http://c14.arch.ox.ac.uk/embed.php?File=news.html
And here: http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/06/new-dates-for-egypts-pharaohs.html
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Pontypool the radio drama http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/2009/06/090617_pontypool_audio.shtml
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I must post this one in its entirety onto the thread because, seriously, wow: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i9EjGwmzqTnjC36wG2nL8Tntb0MQD9GPKCIO0
Widow lives with corpses of husband, twin
By MICHAEL RUBINKAM (AP) – 6 hours ago
WYALUSING, Pa. — The 91-year-old widow lived by herself in a tumbledown house on a desolate country road. But she wasn't alone, not really, not as long as she could visit her husband and twin sister.
No matter they were already dead. Jean Stevens simply had their embalmed corpses dug up and stored them at her house — in the case of her late husband, for more than a decade — tending to the remains as best she could until police were finally tipped off last month.
Much to her dismay.
"Death is very hard for me to take," Stevens told an interviewer.
As state police finish their investigation into a singularly macabre case — no charges have been filed — Stevens wishes she could be reunited with James Stevens, her husband of nearly 60 years, who died in 1999, and June Stevens, the twin who died last October.
But their bodies are with the Bradford County coroner now, at least temporarily off limits to the woman who loved them best. District Attorney Daniel Barrett said Tuesday that Stevens plans to build a crypt on the property.
"If she does that, the bodies will be released for that purpose," he said. "Otherwise they will be re-interred."
From time to time, stories of exhumed bodies are reported, but rarely do those involved offer an explanation. Jean Stevens, seeming more grandmother than ghoul, holds little back as she describes what happened outside this small town in northern Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains.
She knows what people must think of her. But she had her reasons, and they are complicated, a bit sad, and in their own peculiar way, sweet.
Dressed smartly in a light blue shirt and khaki skirt, silver hoops in her ears, her white hair swept back and her brown eyes clear and sharp, she offers a visitor a slice of pie, then casts a knowing look when it's declined. "You're afraid I'll poison you," she says.
On a highboy in the corner of the dining room rests a handsome, black-and-white portrait of Jean, then a stunner in her early 20s, and James, clad in his Army uniform. It was taken after their 1942 marriage but before his service in World War II, in which he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, James worked at a General Electric Corp. plant in Liverpool, N.Y., then as an auto mechanic. He succumbed to Parkinson's disease on May 21, 1999.
Next to that photo there is a smaller color snapshot of Jean and June, taken when they were in their late 80s.
In many ways, Jean shared a closer bond with her twin than her husband.
Though June lived more than 200 miles away in West Hartford, Conn., they talked by phone several times a week, and June wrote often. The twins — who, as it happened, married brothers — were honored guests at the 70th reunion of the Camptown High School Class of 1937.
Then, last year, June was diagnosed with cancer. She was in a lot of pain when Jean came to visit. The sisters shared a bed, and Jean rubbed her back. "I'm real glad you're here," June said.
On Oct. 3, June died. She was buried in her sister's backyard — but not for long.
"I think when you put them in the (ground), that's goodbye, goodbye," Stevens said. "In this way I could touch her and look at her and talk to her."
She kept her sister, who was dressed in her "best housecoat," on an old couch in a spare room off the bedroom. Jean sprayed her with expensive perfume that was June's favorite.
"I'd go in, and I'd talk, and I'd forget," Stevens said. "I put glasses on her. When I put the glasses on, it made all the difference in the world. I would fix her up. I'd fix her face up all the time."
She offered a similar rationale for keeping her husband on a couch in the detached garage. James, who had been laid to rest in a nearby cemetery, wore a dark suit, white shirt and blue knitted tie.
"I could see him, I could look at him, I could touch him. Now, some people have a terrible feeling, they say, 'Why do you want to look at a dead person? Oh my gracious,'" she said.
"Well, I felt differently about death."
Part of her worries that after death, there's ... nothing. "Is that the grand finale?" But then she gets up at night and gazes at the stars in the sky and the deer in the fields, and she thinks, "There must be somebody who created this. It didn't come up like mushrooms."
So she is ambivalent about God and the afterlife. "I don't always go to church, but I want to believe," Stevens said.
Dr. Helen Lavretsky, a psychiatry professor at UCLA who researches how the elderly view death and dying, said people who aren't particularly spiritual or religious often have a difficult time with death because they fear that death is truly the end.
For them, "death doesn't exist," she said. "They deny death."
Stevens, she said, "came up with a very extreme expression of it. She got her bodies back, and she felt fulfilled by having them at home. She's beating death by bringing them back."
There was another reason that Stevens wanted them above ground.
She is severely claustrophobic, and so was her sister; she was horrified that the bodies of her loved ones would spend eternity in a casket in the ground. "That's suffocation to me, even though you aren't breathing," she said.
So she said she had them dug up, both within days of burial.
She managed to escape detection for a long time. The neighbors who mowed her lawn and took her grocery shopping either didn't know or didn't tell. Otherwise forthcoming, Stevens is vague when asked about who exhumed the bodies and who knew of her odd living arrangement. She blames a relative of her late husband's for calling the authorities about the corpses.
"I think that is dirty, rotten," she said.
State police haven't said who retrieved the bodies but will soon present their findings to Barrett, the district attorney. A decision on charges is expected as early as Friday.
Authorities are looking into several possible violations, including misdemeanor abuse of a corpse, Barrett said.
Stevens has talked extensively with both the police and Bradford County Coroner Tom Carman, who calls it a "very, very bizarre case."
But the coroner has nothing but kind things to say about the woman at the center of it.
"I got quite an education, to say the least. She's 100 percent cooperative — and a pleasure to talk to," Carman said. "But as far as her psyche, I'll leave that to the experts."
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that is really depressing.
On a different note: does the US still execute spies?
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Prehistoric humans affected the earth's climate: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/prehistoric-humans-caused-climate-changes-too.php
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So, now we know what would happen if the world stop spinning: http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0610/nospin.html
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Blog dedicated to UFO sightings (no CoC scenario starters in here): http://unitedstatesufo.blogspot.com/
What I love is the number of people freaking out over seeing what obviously sound like Chinese lanterns. Americans are dumb.
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One man's quest
to desperately summon Yig break the record for living with the most dangerous snakes in one room: http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/07/07/4624670-one-man-one-room-40-venomous-snakes-
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What's better than dragon skin body armor (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Skin_%28body_armor%29)? Liquid kevlar: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10569761.stm
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Substitute in real zombies and go: http://www.kgw.com/news/Car-accident-victims-dressed-like-zombies-confuse-crash-witnesses-98157894.html
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http://blastr.com/2010/07/chupacabra-found-officer.php
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Apparently (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/15/science/earth/15necropsy.html?_r=1&th&emc=th), people aren't really sure why wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico are dying.
We all know the truth (http://chainsawsuit.com/2010/06/09/the-truth-behind-the-oil-spill/), of course.
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http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/07/6_boring_new_england_destinations_made_awesome_by.php
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http://www.toplessrobot.com/2010/07/6_boring_new_england_destinations_made_awesome_by.php
I just realised I share the last name of a Lovecraft character.
This, explains alot.
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Want to be a real life superhero (http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/real-life-superheroes-gear-up-with-ninja-throwing-stars-ax-handles-stun-knuckles/)? Join their forums (http://www.therlsh.net/).
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Solar UAV: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-10664362
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Anti-Aircraft Laser: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-07-18-laser-drones_N.htm
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This is just too sweet. The headline reads:
"Spider-infested ship turned away from port
Thousands spill out as cargo is unloaded; vessel last docked in South Korea"
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38320429/ns/us_news/
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Holy fucking shit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26keating.html?_r=2&hp
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The aliens, they hate him: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1584618/Aliens-attack-Bosnian-mans-home-with-meteors.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/1584618/Aliens-attack-Bosnian-mans-home-with-meteors.html)
also: Not so much Game fodder as detail fodder: Want your descriptions of ancient devices to pop, bored with regular circular gears, try this: http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/noncircular_gears_are_mesmorizing (http://www.thatvideosite.com/video/noncircular_gears_are_mesmorizing)
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Holy fucking shit http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/26/world/asia/26keating.html?_r=2&hp
sounds like something you would see on the history channel.
About fucking Vietnam!
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Craigslist and the Sex Industry (NSFW): http://www.spreadmagazine.org/2010/02/01/whores-and-other-hackers/
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Craigslist and the Sex Industry (NSFW): http://www.spreadmagazine.org/2010/02/01/whores-and-other-hackers/
Christ they're as high and mighty as the politicians that put pressure on them. Why in the fuck is someone trying to glamourise the notion of sticking your legs in the air while a 300 pound man tries his best to hump between them? The sex industry has always been tinged with other criminal activities, it has always had a strong relationship with violence and still to this day is illegal in most countries. Now I'm not saying the ads should be taken down but I think anyone that calls prostitutes the grand innovators of history needs to make sure that the necrotising fasciitis hasn't spread to their brain.
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Craigslist and the Sex Industry (NSFW): http://www.spreadmagazine.org/2010/02/01/whores-and-other-hackers/
Christ they're as high and mighty as the politicians that put pressure on them. Why in the fuck is someone trying to glamourise the notion of sticking your legs in the air while a 300 pound man tries his best to hump between them? The sex industry has always been tinged with other criminal activities, it has always had a strong relationship with violence and still to this day is illegal in most countries. Now I'm not saying the ads should be taken down but I think anyone that calls prostitutes the grand innovators of history needs to make sure that the necrotising fasciitis hasn't spread to their brain.
The article makes an interesting point about Craigslist cutting out the middle-man in the sex industry. Now instead of going through a pimp or a service you can go directly to the source. Nothing like free market sex workers.
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As horrible as it sounds does the pimp not present a genuine threat to the potentially violent trick? Take Dolemite for example; not all hoes know kung-fu.
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Wow. There is a really an active debate about the Pros (pun intended) and Cons (pun intended) of the sex industry...
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100729/ap_on_re_ca/cn_canada_franklin_ship_found
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Radioactive Pigs! Seriously, radioactive pigs: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,709345,00.html#ref=rss
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Not too crazy or directly game related, but an interesting story at least that could be expanded into something gaming related...
http://tinycartridge.com/post/866743831/super-creepy-pokemon-hack
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Those that played in Ross' Skype game know why this is in the game fodder thread. If not, just wait for two years when Ross releases the file: http://itchyi.squarespace.com/thelatest/2010/7/20/the-longest-photographic-exposures-in-history.html
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7923069/Nasa-scientists-braced-for-solar-tsunami-to-hit-earth.html
Hope you guys are ready!
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If that is real that's some crazy shit right there.
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If that is real that's some crazy shit right there.
Trust me, its quite real lol. Its funny how this is, in my opinion, equal parts awe inspiring and terrifying at the same time lol.
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Get your drones on http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/globalguerrillas/2010/08/journal-when-drones-prank.html
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Not fully fleshed out but the link
http://www.amazon.com/Animorphs-26-Attack-K-Applegate/dp/0590762591/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1281741212&sr=8-1
I was a huge nerd for Animorphs years ago but I have this idea that stems from this book....While the idea of two near-omnipotent beings picking champions to play a part in there great game is decent game fodder... My idea is different.
In this book the planet they go to use memories for entertainment, they buy sell and trade peoples memories. A person sells their memory of a specfic life event, and others pay to experiance it, like a movie but your IN it. Feels like there is something there for gamey goodness, plus it tranfers across genres. Sci-Fi aliens to Fantasy Fey Creatures... hell even a dumbed down version could go good with CoC, like an artifact that holds a vital clue, but costs sanity to exsist and experiance someone elses memory to gain that clue.
sounds like gaming fodder if you ask me.
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Zombie Ants and Parasitic Fungi: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2010/aug/18/zombie-carpenter-ant-fungus
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"Macropredation" (http://scienceblogs.com/tetrapodzoology/2009/02/lions_as_macropredators.php)
Lion use psychological warfare to kill elephants.
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Somebody posted this over on RPG.net:
75 Year Old Fetuses Found In Trunk (http://"http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20014270-504083.html")
The old fetuses part is bad enough, but what's up with all the connections to Peter Pan?
Also, should I be concerned about the fact that CBS news is devoting coverage to this, or is that just a sign that I'm ten years behind the Weird News curve?
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more number stations related creepiness http://www.metafilter.com/95091/4625-kHz
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_unusual_deaths)
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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Updated+Ninth+human+foot+found+washed+West+Coast/3452455/story.html
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http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Updated+Ninth+human+foot+found+washed+West+Coast/3452455/story.html
Paging David Lynch, paging a Mr. David Lynch.
And, I don't know that this quite fits into the non-fiction source of these game/story ideas - and I think Ross already mentioned it on a past podcast but I'm still putting it here because its GREAT. Its called Red Riding Trilogy. Its based on a novel series set in Yorkshire during the 70's and 80's during a string of serial murders. The Yorkshire Ripper was real, but the series embellishes on the actual (brutal) crimes by crafting a web of conspiracy, fairy tale symbolism, widespread corruption and neo-noir despair around them with a big cast of Grade A English actors. Its a bit like The Wire crossed with Zodiac and a James Ellroy novel and I heartily recommend it if you're not squeamish and are okay with being utterly depressed when you watch it. I hear the book series (by David Peace) involves more overt occult references and is also really superb. Better yet, all three episodes are streaming on Netflix.
Here's a trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWyz-Qee--o
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Fungus living inside the Chernobyl reactor "eats" energy from the radiation... (http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/2095/full)
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A random, but possibly neat idea seed for a game (I think it would work especially well at a convention):
The PCs are divided into two groups before the game actually starts, and the two groups are essentially exploring the same area (though they start in distinctly different places in the area). The "kicker" I guess is that one group is there some period of time after the other group. Really I just like the meta aspect of discovering that the other people at the table are exploring the same place, just either before or after their group. I don't really know what else you would do, it just seemed it would be fun to realize halfway through that you aren't going to run into these other characters...
If someone figures out a cool scenario somewhat like this, let me know, I'd love to see how it would play out...
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I live in a small town near Stockton, CA. Who would have thought I would be living near comic book game fodder.(Granted you'd have to embellish a little. Either that or you can run a "Kick Ass" style of game.)
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=94501
It's like I have a bunch of Super Villains hanging out around me.
http://www.news10.net/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=94135&provider=top
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50 posts about cyborgs
http://50cyborgs.tumblr.com/
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http://tardis.wikia.com/wiki/Weeping_Angels
This is awesome horror game fodder.
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The first truly habitable exoplanet, only a mere twenty light-years away.
http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-like-planet-life.html
http://news.ucsc.edu/2010/09/planet.html
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Diciples of the Worm + Congenital Insensitivity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_insensitivity_to_pain) = Delta Green goodness.
The race to stop a man/woman from being united with a Worm, because if he/she is, they will be fully cognicent and have nothing to fear from the Worms nasty side effect.
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Diciples of the Worm + url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_insensitivity_to_pain]Congenital Insensitivity[/url] = Delta Green goodness.
The race to stop a man/woman from being united with a Worm, because if he/she is, they will be fully cognicent and have nothing to fear from the Worms nasty side effect.
Unless I misunderstood, wouldn't a person like this still be pretty screwed when it comes to the Worms? The debilitation of a Worm is the pain + the drugs and spells you have to be under to keep the Worm sedated so you don't bloat into a big ol' bag of baby worms. So this person would still need to be sedated if they had a Worm in them. Right?
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Diciples of the Worm + url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congenital_insensitivity_to_pain]Congenital Insensitivity[/url] = Delta Green goodness.
The race to stop a man/woman from being united with a Worm, because if he/she is, they will be fully cognicent and have nothing to fear from the Worms nasty side effect.
Unless I misunderstood, wouldn't a person like this still be pretty screwed when it comes to the Worms? The debilitation of a Worm is the pain + the drugs and spells you have to be under to keep the Worm sedated so you don't bloat into a big ol' bag of baby worms. So this person would still need to be sedated if they had a Worm in them. Right?
I haven't read the book I only heard what was in the interview but I thought the sedation was so you could attempt to function while you are in intense pain.
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I haven't read the book I only heard what was in the interview but I thought the sedation was so you could attempt to function while you are in intense pain.
Same - but my impression was it was for that too, but it's also to keep the Worm sedated so it doesn't reproduce constantly. So I suppose someone who couldn't feel pain and was infested with a Worm would have a leg up on the other cultists, but would still not be the perfect immortal that the Disciples are attempting to create.
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I haven't read the book I only heard what was in the interview but I thought the sedation was so you could attempt to function while you are in intense pain.
Same - but my impression was it was for that too, but it's also to keep the Worm sedated so it doesn't reproduce constantly. So I suppose someone who couldn't feel pain and was infested with a Worm would have a leg up on the other cultists, but would still not be the perfect immortal that the Disciples are attempting to create.
My buddy has the book, I called him and he said there is a Ritual that they do everyday to suppress the reproduction as well as eating some hormone suppressing herbs.
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My buddy has the book, I called him and he said there is a Ritual that they do everyday to suppress the reproduction as well as eating some hormone suppressing herbs.
Right on, so that's a lot more feasible. Still wouldn't be a perfect villain but pretty damn scary.
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My buddy has the book, I called him and he said there is a Ritual that they do everyday to suppress the reproduction as well as eating some hormone suppressing herbs.
Right on, so that's a lot more feasible. Still wouldn't be a perfect villain but pretty damn scary.
I think the threat of him making it to the worms would be scarier than if he actually did make it. I mean he won't be an incredible badass sorc right away, but he has all the time in the world to become incredible. So the threat he represents is to the future. I am thinking of making this part two of my groups first delta green scenario.
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There is an interesting episode of ReGenesis that deals with Congenital Insensitivity to Pain that I recommend watching.
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Bronze Age Aryan cities: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/unearthed-aryan-cities-rewrite-history/story-e6frg6so-1225933563131
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7ndD7svMhc
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More than a 1,000 people live in the tunnels below the Vegas Strip. I've known about this for years, but I don't think I posted an article about it yet. I saw this one today, it has great pictures: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1326187/Las-Vegas-tunnel-people-How-1-000-people-live-shimmering-strip.html
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http://news.discovery.com/space/how-space-drives-you-insane.html
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Earlier in the year there was another post about a cruise ship that I should cross post with this one: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_cruise_ship_fire;_ylt=Aocamb.teswB60JArBt6fG6s0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNraWcxY2w0BGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTAxMTA5L3VzX2NydWlzZV9zaGlwX2ZpcmUEY2NvZGUDbW9zdHBvcHVsYXIEY3BvcwMzBHBvcwMxMARwdANob21lX2Nva2UEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yeQRzbGsDbmVhcmx5NDUwMHN0
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Also, crazy Russian missile defense platforms: http://gizmodo.com/5685044/the-heart-of-the-soviet-missile-defense-system-seems-out-of-this-world
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Also, giant structure (Azathoth) at the center of the galaxy: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/GLAST/news/new-structure.html
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In the modern game category. It starting to feel like the end of a Godfather movie in Montreal these days.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rizzuto_crime_family
After consolidation of their power in the 1990s, the Rizzutos became over-exposed and over-extended. Vito Rizzuto was arrested in January 2004 for his involvement in the 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family captains (Alphonse Indelicato, Phillip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera) and was sentenced to ten years in May 2007. In November 2006 the senior leadership of the criminal organization was hit by a police operation, dubbed Project Colisee. Among the 90 people arrested were Nick Rizzuto, father of Vito Rizzuto, Paolo Renda, Vito Rizzuto's brother-in-law, and Francesco Arcadi.
On December 28, 2009, Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of Vito Rizzuto, was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a borough in Montreal. The killing of Nick Jr. – the face of the organization on the street – illustrated the power vacuum within the upper ranks of Montreal organized crime.
Since the slaying of Vito Rizzuto's son, the organisation suffered other major setbacks. Paolo Renda, Vito's brother-in-law disappeared on May 20, 2010. A month later Agostino Cuntrera, the presumed acting boss who is believed to have taken control of the family, was killed together with his bodyguard on June 30, 2010. After three decades of relative stability, the face of the city's Mafia hierarchy is subject to a major management shuffle.
On November 10th, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto, father of Vito Rizzuto, was killed at his residence in the Cartierville borough of Montreal.
Quite a bunch of italian stores have been molotoved in the past year too.
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How many of you are familiar with the tale of Ned Kelly?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ned_Kelly)
A final violent confrontation with police took place at Glenrowan on 28 June 1880. Kelly, dressed in home-made plate metal armour and helmet, was captured and sent to jail.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Ned_kelly_armour_library.JPG/338px-Ned_kelly_armour_library.JPG)
Just keep in mind the armour worked. They only managed to capture him by shooting him in his unprotected legs.
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Ned Kelly is one of my favorite bizarre cops and robber stories. Good post. :)
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http://www.weaponscombat.com/make-weapons
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What the fuck I mean is this Burn Notice or something jegus cribmus (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/23/world/asia/23kabul.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=a2)
In short: Dude impersonates a very high-ranking Taliban leader during US/Taliban peace talks and makes off with a huge sum of money. Sounds like the perfect start to an international Dirty World campaign.
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3 teens survive after 50 days in the Pacific.
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2010/11/25/teens-south-pacific025.html
"In a physical sense, they look very physically depleted, but mentally ... very high," Tai Fredricsen, first mate of the San Nikuna, told New Zealand Radio on Thursday.
Obviously some of the quote is cut out, but that bolded part seems vague and could be interpreted more than one way. Seems like a good tie-in for Dagon/Cthulhu based CoC scenario.
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KILL IT WITH FIRE
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/the-surreal-treehoppers/
D: D: D:
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KILL IT WITH FIRE
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/11/26/the-surreal-treehoppers/
D: D: D:
The linked PDF is better: http://www.lightmediation.net/blog/podcast/august/biodiversity.pdf
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There's really no where for this to go, so here will work: http://milwaukee.craigslist.org/pet/2091733959.html
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Gravitational Anarchy (http://www.radiolab.org/blogs/radiolab-blog/2010/nov/29/vertigo/) - The first half of this show sounds like some kind of horror game inspiration.
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A great noir detective webcomic http://www.agreeablecomics.com/kimimura/?p=9
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Probably already listed here somewhere, but here it is anyway;
http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/ (http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/)
The SCP Foundation.
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http://thouandone.wordpress.com/2010/12/18/an-outbreak-of-dragons/
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Previously unknown/undiscovered species of humans: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/12/101222-new-human-species-dna-nature-science-evolution-fossil-finger/
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When Nigerian email scams get real (cthulhu wise) http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type/refs/Mozilla_Scrapbook/David_Ehi.html
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Extra Large Virus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimivirus
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
I'll see your dead birds and raise you a cancer cluster: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40855275/ns/health-cancer/
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With a combination of old and new genetic techniques they could narrow down this search. I bet if you traced the family trees they'll be about as inbred as an amazonian tribe. Using modern techniques you can relatively cheaply map a persons entire genome, look for similiarities amongst the families comparing with an outsiders.
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So it gets weirder, 5,000 dead birds: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-weird_news/
100,000 dead fish: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/ns/today-green/
WTF Arkansas?
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Former Presidential aide and military consultant murdered (possibly because of a feud with a neighbor?): http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=7876386
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So it gets weirder, 5,000 dead birds: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-weird_news/
100,000 dead fish: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/ns/today-green/
WTF Arkansas?
Yeah, I wonder who poisoned the watering hole.
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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-12111496
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So it gets weirder, 5,000 dead birds: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-weird_news/
100,000 dead fish: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/ns/today-green/
WTF Arkansas?
So, it gets even weirder than Arkansas: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/mass-bird-fish-deaths-worldwide-phenomenon/
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So it gets weirder, 5,000 dead birds: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-weird_news/
100,000 dead fish: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/ns/today-green/
WTF Arkansas?
So, it gets even weirder than Arkansas: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/mass-bird-fish-deaths-worldwide-phenomenon/
This is getting kind of spooky.
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This is tiny, but could be an interesting bit of inspiration: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/02/AR2011010200272.html?hpid=moreheadlines
So it gets weirder, 5,000 dead birds: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40885546/ns/us_news-weird_news/
100,000 dead fish: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/40887450/ns/today-green/
WTF Arkansas?
So, it gets even weirder than Arkansas: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/01/mass-bird-fish-deaths-worldwide-phenomenon/
This is getting kind of spooky.
Let's just keep in my that proximity does not mean that disparate events have the same root cause.
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Let's just keep in my that proximity does not mean that disparate events have the same root cause.
True, but in my mind it's similar to the increasing number of natural disasters - the world's falling apart around our ears. That kind of spooky.
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IT'S THE WILL OF QUETZALCOATL! THE MAYAN PROPHECY IS TRUE!
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Precursors of VITAS.
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IT'S THE WILL OF QUETZALCOATL! THE MAYAN PROPHECY IS TRUE!
That's the Aztec name. The Mayans knew the Feathered Serpent as Kukulcan.
IM ROSS PAYTON AND I VISITED THE MAYAN CITY OF CHICHEN ITZA
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How Mossad done fucked up in Dubai http://www.gq.com/news-politics/big-issues/201101/the-dubai-job-mossad-assassination-hamas
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IM ROSS PAYTON AND I VISITED THE MAYAN CITY OF CHICHEN ITZA
What's Nahuatl phrase for "no one cares?"
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IM ROSS PAYTON AND I VISITED THE MAYAN CITY OF CHICHEN ITZA
What's Nahuatl phrase for "no one cares?"
Rahs Peytahn
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Ross, I think you're gonna love this one.
It's called 'The enigma of Amigara Fault.' It's a horror one-shot about a faultline that mysteriously has thousands of human shaped holes in them. A bunch of people go there to investigate, some of which say that they've 'seen holes that were made just for them.'
I dled the file and scanned/unzipped it. I thought it was pretty damn cool.
http://www.mediafire.com/?gf3aficfwkk9gzg
The specific story I'm talking about is in Volume 2 Extra stories.
Saw it posted on /a/ and thought I would share.
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I am well aware of Junji Ito's work. You should get Uzumaki, which is his greatest work thus far. Lovecraftian without actually invoking the mythos.
Still, if you haven't read Amigara, you MUST DO THIS NAO
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Agreed. Uzumaki and Gyo are both really awesome.
Particularly the scene in Gyo where
[spoiler]A SHARK GETS MECHANICAL LEGS AND BEGINS WRECKING SHIT ABOVE THE WATER[/spoiler]
Highly recommended.
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I am well aware of Junji Ito's work. You should get Uzumaki, which is his greatest work thus far. Lovecraftian without actually invoking the mythos.
Still, if you haven't read Amigara, you MUST DO THIS NAO
Yes, I do believe these are worth purchasing. I shall do so at the soonest possible time ^^.
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http://www.reanimator.8m.com/experiment17.html
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Upload Your Brain: Live Forever http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30501433/vp/41025474#41025474
Now they just need to develop sleeves. . .
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http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2011/0113/New-zodiac-signs-2011-Why-astrology-is-even-sillier-than-we-thought
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The City under Ice: http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/project-iceworm.html
Camp Century—aka "Project Iceworm"—was a "city under ice," according to the U.S. Army, a "nuclear-powered research center built by the Army Corps of Engineers under the icy surface of Greenland," as Frank J. Leskovitz more specifically explains.
A fully-functioning "underground city," Camp Century even had its own mobile nuclear reactor—an "Alco PM-2A"—that kept the whole thing lit up and running during the Cold War.
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This: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/22/world/europe/22voina.html
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http://io9.com/#!5752030 (http://io9.com/#!5752030)
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRgyG1ipTC0
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old school D&D fodder http://plagmada.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=1330&g2_GALLERYSID=b698dbba69c129dcc3faa26ee6d5bf03
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PRIME CTHULHU MYTHOS PLOT!
http://vimeo.com/19840201
http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/devon/hi/people_and_places/arts_and_culture/newsid_9376000/9376420.stm
I can't wait for this.
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Victorian insane asylum plans http://www.oobject.com/category/insane-asylum-plans/
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This: http://www.kmbc.com/news/27119614/detail.html
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http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=57430 (http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=57430)
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http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=57430 (http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=57430)
The creepy part is that part of that is supposedly real. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Experiments_in_the_Revival_of_Organisms)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle:_Los_Angeles
Went and saw this last night.
It is Action Movie Teh Awesomeness
Plot was OK but the Combat was pretty sweet.
Either way, variations of this are completely game able, especially because they could not catch a fucking break. Which leads me to believe they are all PC's and their GM is a dick.
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God had a wife: http://news.discovery.com/history/god-wife-yahweh-asherah-110318.html
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Hello supersoldier fodder: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/23/anxiety-brain_n_838648.html
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Book of the O'Lees: http://www.ria.ie/library/special-collections/manuscripts/book-of-the-o-lees.aspx
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Some of these may be useful for some type of CoC campaign:
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2010/11/16/children-draw-h-p-lovecraft-cthulhu/
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1371290/70-metal-books-Jordan-cave-change-view-Biblical-history.html
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FOR HORROR IMAGERY . NSFL
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23595533/ns/health-health_care/ (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23595533/ns/health-health_care/)
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PCs in real life + best bluff check ever
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLDcX6Nx8DQ
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http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/04/17/mystery-illnesses-plague-louisiana-oil-spill-crews/
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Steampunk fodder that I want to write up. "Orphan Trains": http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Train
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http://www.cracked.com/article_19161_the-6-creepiest-things-hiding-in-your-dna.html?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=fanpage&utm_campaign=new+article&wa_ibsrc=fanpage
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IBM and the Holocaust (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust)
I desperately want to write up a Call of Cthulhu scenario incorporating this relationship. It's quite unsettling, really. Especially the usage of IBM devices for management of the concentration camps (and the regular maintenance the machines required - IBM employees saw the horrors of the Holocaust firsthand).
EDIT: More information: On the usage of the machines (http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/IBM.html)
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plans for Bin Laden's house: http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2011/05/06/the-actuals-plan-for-bin-ladens-pucca-house/
Who's going to run a one shot based on the raid?
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Wushu game vs Mecha-Bin-Laden.
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http://gizmodo.com/#!5799307/holy-freaking-hell-this-saw-cuts-through-mountains
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Creepy amusement parks:
http://thumbpress.com/45-pictures-of-super-creepy-abandoned-amusement-parks/
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Opens the door to a lot of scary scenarios - Want to know how long you have to live?
New telomere-based blood tests will tell you! (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/19life.html)
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Opens the door to a lot of scary scenarios - Want to know how long you have to live?
New telomere-based blood tests will tell you! (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/19/business/19life.html)
Alternately, this: http://machineofdeath.net/
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The city of the Black Pharaoh has been found: http://theweek.com/article/index/215706/satellite-discovery-17-new-egyptian-pyramids
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DIY weapons in the Libyan Civil War
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/06/diy-weapons-of-the-libyan-rebels/100086/
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DIY weapons in the Libyan Civil War
http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2011/06/diy-weapons-of-the-libyan-rebels/100086/
The truck mounted UB-32 rocket launchers are genius.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCyRBUAEneM
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SERIOUSLY.
http://www.sign69.com/medialounge/space9334.html
not hotlinked for your safety.
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So there is a term for when absinthe or ouzo turns milky white when water is added: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouzo_effect
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Louching is pretty cool. But then, most of the interesting properties of alcohol (such as the ability to layer them by specific gravities) are fascinating.
As they say, 'God made grapes, but Man made wine' (and alcohol thereafter).
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110626/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_mountain_deaths;_ylt=Aj45ph9eJP8XQfT.Z16x19aROrgF;_ylu=X3oDMTNpcGp2MmptBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNjI2L2V1X2ZyYW5jZV9tb3VudGFpbl9kZWF0aHMEY2NvZGUDb2ZmcHpmMzBhbGxwb29sBGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA2hpa2VyZmluZHNibw--
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http://thelocation.wordpress.com/2011/05/25/hidden-tunnels-bugs-and-bigamy-a-strange-and-true-d-c-story/
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http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/01/largest-cave/jenkins-text
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http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/dust-storm-sicknesses_2011-07-12
Related: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valley_fever
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Another one in the "they have a term for that?" category: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murderabilia
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Female vikings for all you sexist pigs that didn't know: http://www.themarysue.com/vikings-women/
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http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/need-to-read/2011/07/16/welsh-soldiers-reveal-the-cyprus-town-frozen-in-time-since-1974-91466-29067110/#ixzz1T5OyYTGf
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After a few murders taking place at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant, the police "arrived to find a macabre scene. The bodies lay in an empty restaurant as burglar alarms rang, game lights flashed, a vacuum cleaner ran, and Chuck E. Cheese mechanical animals continued to perform children's songs. "
Could be used as a really screwed up way of starting an investigative type game. It could definitely dial the game into a serious mood, if nothing else.
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After a few murders taking place at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant, the police "arrived to find a macabre scene. The bodies lay in an empty restaurant as burglar alarms rang, game lights flashed, a vacuum cleaner ran, and Chuck E. Cheese mechanical animals continued to perform children's songs. "
Could be used as a really screwed up way of starting an investigative type game. It could definitely dial the game into a serious mood, if nothing else.
Eh? Are you quoting a news story? This thread is for links and resources that can be used as fodder for gaming.
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After a few murders taking place at a Chuck E. Cheese's restaurant, the police "arrived to find a macabre scene. The bodies lay in an empty restaurant as burglar alarms rang, game lights flashed, a vacuum cleaner ran, and Chuck E. Cheese mechanical animals continued to perform children's songs. "
Could be used as a really screwed up way of starting an investigative type game. It could definitely dial the game into a serious mood, if nothing else.
Eh? Are you quoting a news story? This thread is for links and resources that can be used as fodder for gaming.
I got this from a book. I understand the gaming fodder thing. I thought the idea of a grisly murder at a children's amusement place could serve as a fucked up, interesting way to start a game. Is this thread SOLELY for links? If so, my bad.
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uh, well, it would help if we knew what the book was. In general, at least one link is recommended.
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Ha ha. Well, believe it or not, it came from "Fast Food Nation (http://www.amazon.com/Fast-Food-Nation-Dark-All-American/dp/0060838582/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1311714503&sr=1-1)"
I didn't think a link to this book would be extremely helpful, as it's not chock-full of fodder, I just happened to stumble upon that particular scene while reading it.
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Oh I read that. Good book.
God's Own prison: http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/07/burl-cain-angola-prison
Perfect setting for a noir or horror game - imagine a silent hill version of that place.
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imagine a real life version of that place
wait, what, are you telling me that place is real?
wow
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The singularity is nigh: http://news.discovery.com/tech/artificial-intelligence-made-from-dna-110727.html
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http://gizmodo.com/5826017/honor-your-dead-loved-ones-by-stuffing-their-ashes-in-a-bullet-and-shooting-it
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The essential Saltes of Animals may be so prepared and preserved, that an ingenious Man may have the whole Ark of Noah in his own Studie, and raise the fine Shape of an Animal out of its Ashes at his Pleasure; and by the lyke Method from the essential Saltes of humane Dust, a Philosopher may, without any criminal Necromancy, call up the Shape of any dead Ancestour from the Dust whereinto his Bodie has been incinerated.
- Borellus
What the thing was, he would never tell. It was like some of the carvings on the hellish altar, but it was alive. Nature had never made it in this form, for it was too palpably unfinished. The deficiencies were of the most surprising sort, and the abnormalities of proportion could not be described. Willett consents only to say that this type of thing must have represented entities which Ward called up from imperfect salts, and which he kept for servile or ritualistic purposes. If it had not had a certain significance, its image would not have been carved on that damnable stone. It was not the worst thing depicted on that stone - but Willett never opened the other pits. At the time, the first connected idea in his mind was an idle paragraph from some of the old Curwen data he had digested long before; a phrase used by Simon or Jedediah Orne in that portentous confiscated letter to the bygone sorcerer:
'Certainely, there was Noth'g but ye liveliest Awfulness in that which H. rais'd upp from What he cou'd gather onlie a part of.'
Then, horribly supplementing rather than displacing this image, there came a recollection of those ancient lingering rumours anent the burned, twisted thing found in the fields a week after the Curwen raid. Charles Ward had once told the doctor what old Slocum said of that object; that it was neither thoroughly human, nor wholly allied to any animal which Pawtuxet folk had ever seen or read about.
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that was from http://www.yankeeclassic.com/miskatonic/library/stacks/literature/lovecraft/novellas/caseofch.htm
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Creepy as FUCK
In Time (http://www.intimemovie.com/)
Although if you can find the trailer with Olivia Wilde, it's much better put together.
Still
WOW
That's fucked up.
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Creepy as FUCK
In Time (http://www.intimemovie.com/)
Although if you can find the trailer with Olivia Wilde, it's much better put together.
Still
WOW
That's fucked up.
It's a really fascinating premise and I'll definitely see it when it comes out.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00gAbgBu8R4
The next step towards hyper-realistic graphics. Maybe the beginnings of Eclipse Phase's Simulspaces?
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This is pretty nuts: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/15/us-amoeba-death-idUSTRE77E5ZN20110815
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/silicon-valley-billionaire-funding-creation-artificial-libertarian-islands-140840896.html
Organization Homepage: http://seasteading.org/
Man-made islands designed like miniture countries, placed in internation waters "free of laws and moral codes". I think it's custom made for a Delta Green game but it could also be a good start for designing custom habitats in Eclipse Phase.
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This just popped up in the news again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri
Good stuff for any horror game or in an action game as a "motive" for the PCs.
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This just popped up in the news again:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naegleria_fowleri
Good stuff for any horror game or in an action game as a "motive" for the PCs.
I almost post the Wiki entry when I posted the first article. It's odd to have two cases in a decade let alone in a month.
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Noir Siberian Shaman http://hardboiledshaman.com/
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Why isn't there a COC scenario based around this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOVE#1985_bombing
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http://slushy.tumblr.com/post/8692269469/rip-nancy-wake-30-august-1912-7-august-2011
Ms Wake, who has died in London just before her 99th birthday, was a New Zealander brought up in Australia. She became a nurse, a journalist who interviewed Adolf Hitler, a wealthy French socialite, a British agent and a French resistance leader. She led 7,000 guerrilla fighters in battles against the Nazis in the northern Auvergne, just before the D-Day landings in 1944. On one occasion, she strangled an SS sentry with her bare hands. On another, she cycled 500 miles to replace lost codes. In June 1944, she led her fighters in an attack on the Gestapo headquarters at Montlucon in central France.
Fuck. Yeah.
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Anyone can shoot someone. It takes something extra special to strangle someone to death with your own digits.
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Amazing story on the 1933 double eagle gold coin mystery: http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/113398/double-eagle-gold-coins-mystery-businessweek
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Nifty little article on America's Asylums, and a slideshow of some creepy stuff.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/pictureshow/2011/09/04/140146150/americas-asylums-in-photographs?ft=1&f=97635953&sc=tw&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
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Nightmare fuel. What really goes on inside illegal spas? If this is accurate - nothing you want on or in you. :o
http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/875317-eel-removed-from-mans-bladder-after-entering-penis-during-beauty-spa
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Holy shit. Mexico is crazy.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/americas/09/14/mexico.violence/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_mostpopular+%28RSS%3A+Most+Popular%29
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Proof we live in a dystopian future: http://pruned.blogspot.com/2011/09/mapping-dark-geography-of-sand.html
Sand piracy is a thing. Criminals steal fucking SAND for profit and sell it to Singapore, which uses the sand to create new land.
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This is bizarre but very cool. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNews/scientists-youtube-videos-mind/story?id=14573442
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RPG designer reviews own game: is awesome http://rpggeek.com/thread/687972/here-i-am-reviewing-my-own-game
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuhYXOZ7ZTY
I smell Call of Cthulhu scenario all over this one.
Some how I feel like this is a song about a guy who killed his friends and dumped them in the lake. The reason why may or may not include Deep Ones.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll
Quite interesting location for a DG or Call of Cthulhu Modern mission
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston_Atoll
Quite interesting location for a DG or Call of Cthulhu Modern mission
Interesting. It would be a challenge though depending on when the scenario was set. Now it's a barren island it seems but when there was still military activity on the island, then it would be easier to design an adventure for that.
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I'm just gonna leave this here.
http://www.reallifesuperheroes.com/heroes/
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http://www.cracked.com/article_16213_the-25-least-inspiring-military-operation-names.html
Because Operation Beaver Cage is too good a name not to be used in some sort of military spoof campaign.
Edit: http://www.cracked.com/article_18550_5-true-war-stories-that-put-every-action-movie-to-shame.html
And before I forget, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare should never be forgotten. Ian Fleming and Christopher Lee working together based out of Baker Street, fighting Nazis on the level that gentlemen shouldn't stoop to, and I am not making this shit up? Brilliant.
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http://www.cracked.com/article_16213_the-25-least-inspiring-military-operation-names.html
Because Operation Beaver Cage is too good a name not to be used in some sort of military spoof campaign.
Edit: http://www.cracked.com/article_18550_5-true-war-stories-that-put-every-action-movie-to-shame.html
And before I forget, the Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare should never be forgotten. Ian Fleming and Christopher Lee working together based out of Baker Street, fighting Nazis on the level that gentlemen shouldn't stoop to, and I am not making this shit up? Brilliant.
WW1 stories are just as insane. Like the pacifist, sharpshooter Alvin York.
"And those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful. And the Germans were yelling orders. You never heard such a racket in all of your life. I didn't have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush… As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them. There were over thirty of them in continuous action, and all I could do was touch the Germans off just as fast as I could. I was sharp shooting… All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn't want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had."
http://www.museumofappalachia.org/Alvin%20York%20Machine%20Gun.html
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I present Operation Acoustic Kitty, the CIA's use of cats implanted with listening devices and antennas to spy on the Russians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_kitty
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Medical Tourism
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/04/uk-asia-medical-tourism-idUSLNE79300X20111004
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This woman is hardcore: http://www.cbssports.com/general/story/15715556/woman-completes-chicago-marathon-then-gives-birth
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Yugoslavian WW2 monuments: http://www.cracktwo.com/2011/04/25-abandoned-soviet-monuments-that-look.html
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In a near future world where chronic obesity has led to a tremendous increase in the number of diabetes patients, big government decides just to kill all of the fatties by hacking their insulin pump software: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/25/us-medtronic-cybersecurity-idUSTRE79O8EP20111025
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http://www.thisman.org/history.htm
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Check it; light as air building materials. Straight out of Eclipse Phase.
http://news.yahoo.com/worlds-lightest-solid-takes-inspiration-eiffel-tower-134809070.html
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Great interview with a historian about why the Third Reich continued to function as a "normal" society even as the Russians pushed into Berlin: http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,798377-2,00.html
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Ancient cities in Iran: http://www.archaeology.org/1111/features/dasht-e_lut_iran_shahr-i-sokta-shahad_tepe_yaha.html
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Meet everyone's answer, everyone's: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21228404.300-life-began-with-a-planetary-megaorganism.html?full=true
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Medical "never events": http://www.qualityforum.org/News_And_Resources/Press_Releases/2011/NQF_Releases_Updated_Serious_Reportable_Events.aspx
I would like to see this list adapted for Eclipse Phase.
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And now something from American history: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dahlgren_Affair
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Some olde timey photos crying for Cthulhu
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-unexplainable-black-white-photos
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Some olde timey photos crying for Cthulhu
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/50-unexplainable-black-white-photos
#21 is the earliest known example of "Fyeah face" in photographic form: "Ask for a pet for my birthday and my parents bought me a goddamn jaguar, fyeah."
#34 is the last known example of the "blackface" portion of an American beauty contest.
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Ghost ship and insurance scam all rolled into one. Ladies and gentleman, the Mary Celeste: http://www.slate.com/articles/life/culturebox/2011/12/the_mary_celeste_the_unluckiest_ship_to_ever_sail_the_seven_seas_.single.html
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Holy shit the TITANs just fired a test shot!
http://news.yahoo.com/comet-lovejoy-survives-fiery-plunge-sun-nasa-says-015706403.html
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Some serious EP fodder here. More illicit drug use in an area equals more illicit drugs in the ambient air. Pretty, duh, common sense, but still an interesting idea to work with: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/12/illegal-drugs-air-quality/
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The disappearance of Louis Le Prince, the inventor of the first motion picture camera: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Le_Prince#Suspicious_disappearance
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Native American sites in Georgia may actually be Mayan: http://www.examiner.com/architecture-design-in-national/massive-1-100-year-old-maya-site-discovered-georgia-s-mountains
A great quote, and something to think about when designing any game world, comes after the article itself:
Archaeologists have been looking for vestiges of “high” Maya civilization in the United States, when all along it was the commoners “who got the heck out of Dodge City” when wars, famines, droughts and almost non-stop volcanic eruptions became unbearable. The Itza Maya middle class and commoners became the elite of such towns as Waka (Ocmulgee National Monument) and Etalwa (Etowah Mounds) Just as happened in England after the Norman Invasion, the separate cultures of the commoners and nobility of the indigenous Southeast eventually blended into hybrid cultures that became our current Native American tribes.
The quote does a good job of reminding that "civilizations" don't just "disappear." Old orders and elites disappear, but many people in the civilization just move on to somewhere else bringing the old customs with them.
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http://paranatural.net/
Paranatural is best described as “X-Men meets Ghostbusters except everyone’s twelve.” It’s a comedy/action comic about a group of middle school kids with ghostly superpowers fighting evil spirits and investigating paranormal activity in their hometown. It has no set update schedule, but a new page is put up at least once a week. Paranatural began in the summer of 2010.
Get kids with freaky skills (from bigger bads) and BAM instant MAOCT campaign.
--
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I forget who wrote the story but you guys played a game where there was a room that the walls had a giant bee hive inside it. Just wanted to say that, it's a real thing. My wife told me a story that happened over at a comic publisher. The publisher had a abandoned building next to their building. Seems over a span of 6-7 years bee's turned that building walls into a giant bee hive. Also is seems that when a bee hive gets large enough other queens will build hives nearby. So not only was the abandoned building infested but their building and another one got hit too. They didn't know about the problem till bee's starting falling out of light fixtures. It took pest control 3 days to clean out all the hives and the honey wasn't the normal golden color, it turned into this black ichor due to it rotting. So, have fun with that bit of info.
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Yeah, I got the idea from reading this blog post http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2010/11/honey-comb-home.html
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When will scientists learn that playing god is a bad idea http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2082799/Supersoldier-ants-gigantic-jaws.html
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When will scientists learn that playing god is a bad idea http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2082799/Supersoldier-ants-gigantic-jaws.html
ME AM PLAY GODS! (http://dresdencodak.com/2009/09/22/caveman-science-fiction/)
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Yay, double-posts.
Here's a file-sharing religion. Could be translated to Eclipse Phase.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16424659
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http://www.malaysian-explorer.com/carcosa.html
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Perfect for any modern espionage game
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2104372,00.html
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http://ny.curbed.com/tags/floor-plan-porn
floor plans for all your scenario planning needs
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I made an automatic scenario builder based on "A Dirty World"s 10 d10 roll system and... it was kinda boring. Unless you roll 4 or 5 of the same number you don't get any juicy crimes happening and you're stuck with things like "Negligence led to some widespread, low-grade problem - mild illness, a horrible odor from a sewer, car breakdowns, etcetera. Nothing life-threatening." ...Drama!
So I found a pulp plot generator on Drive Thru RPG for cheap. Swung that into action and it's way more fun but a lot less believable. Eg:
A mad scientist wants to hunt for a man in the city slums. The story starts with the players getting into a fight. The players encounter a dense professional fanatic, an impulsive native soldier and a weak evil scientist. The story twists on a greater villain!
Obviously you have to fill in the blanks but it's fun spinning the numbers and trying to invent something cohesive from what they give you.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2088331/How-devils-staircase-maths-formula-predict-serial-killers-strike-next.html?ITO=1490
Easy fodder for any horror game.
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Shadow wars in East Africa: http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/battleground-africa/
More links to come.
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Call of Cthulhu scenario fodder?
http://news.change.org/stories/why-are-ipad-factory-workers-killing-themselves
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Call of Cthulhu scenario fodder?
http://news.change.org/stories/why-are-ipad-factory-workers-killing-themselves
I had a student that did an interesting research project about the Foxconn factory a few years ago. He was a Chinese-American student who still spoke and read Mandarin so he tracked down a bunch of worker blogs in Chinese and translated them. Crazy, crazy stuff.
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Call of Cthulhu scenario fodder?
http://news.change.org/stories/why-are-ipad-factory-workers-killing-themselves
I had a student that did an interesting research project about the Foxconn factory a few years ago. He was a Chinese-American student who still spoke and read Mandarin so he tracked down a bunch of worker blogs in Chinese and translated them. Crazy, crazy stuff.
can you post the translations of the blogs?
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Call of Cthulhu scenario fodder?
http://news.change.org/stories/why-are-ipad-factory-workers-killing-themselves
I had a student that did an interesting research project about the Foxconn factory a few years ago. He was a Chinese-American student who still spoke and read Mandarin so he tracked down a bunch of worker blogs in Chinese and translated them. Crazy, crazy stuff.
can you post the translations of the blogs?
I can if I can find the scanned version. This was back before I made students submit everything electronically.
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I hesitate to post this, but I've been listening to Extra Credits (http://penny-arcade.com/patv/show/extra-credits) and a solid chunk of their topics are directly applicable to writing for games. I'm a firm believer in cross-pollination of techniques and knowledge, and this is probably the best source of video-game how-to that I have come across.
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I hesitate to post this, but I've been listening to Extra Credits (http://penny-arcade.com/patv/show/extra-credits) and a solid chunk of their topics are directly applicable to writing for games. I'm a firm believer in cross-pollination of techniques and knowledge, and this is probably the best source of video-game how-to that I have come across.
I'd watch more Extra Credits if the host's voice filter wasn't so annoying. :S
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World's largest floating condo building: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_The_World
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http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2012/02/02/russian-scientists-lost-in-frozen-land-lost/
Not to make it a distasteful comment, but the first thing I thought when I read this was "At the Mountains of Madness".
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This isn't Ogrish - no pictures of real dead bodies
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Imagine this, but instead of being a typical drunk, he's a mythos sorcerer that requires a steady supply of alcohol: http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2012/02/the-man-who-wouldnt-die/
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Underwater archaeologist explore lost 19C arctic rescue mission ship: http://www.archaeology.org/1203/features/hms_investigator_shipwreck_arctic_exploration.html
Also, 30,000 year old statue called Lion Man: http://www.archaeology.org/1203/features/stadelhole_hohlenstein_paleolithic_lowenmensch.html
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What post-liberal, neofeudal citizenship will look like: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/us-passport-idUSTRE81B05A20120212
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These are all great. Thanks Patrick.
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These are all great. Thanks Patrick.
You guys underestimate the number of great things that show up in my Google Reader each morning. I don't usually have time to even look at the Mefi links.
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PETA recently sued SeaWorld using the 13th Amendment as evidence that the orca whales where slaves and should be freed.
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/2011/10/25/peta-sues-seaworld-for-violating-orcas-constitutional-rights.aspx
http://www.peta.org/b/thepetafiles/archive/tags/13th+Amendment/default.aspx
The Daily Show covered it a little as well, in the middle section of this episode: http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/wed-february-15-2012-louise-slaughter
Whatever your opinions about the claim itself, this makes a cool piece of information to use in a campaign set in the future, especially Eclipse Phase, which describes stuff like this has the 1st step in Uplifts.
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Nuclear truckers: http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/nuclear-truckers
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DIY biotech, awesome and very scary: http://www.technologyreview.com/printer_friendly_article.aspx?id=39597
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Speaking of biotech. This looks awesome, but I've not played with it much: http://openwetware.org/wiki/Main_Page
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Five hundred German fairy tales collected by Franz Xaver von Schönwerth discovered: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/mar/05/five-hundred-fairytales-discovered-germany?fb=native&CMP=FBCNETTXT9038
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Great review on Cătălin Avramescu’s classic work on cannibalism: http://lareviewofbooks.org/post/18900540016/people-who-eat-people
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Members of the homeless being used as wireless hotspots at SXSW. http://io9.com/5892397/at-sxsw-2012-wireless-hotspots-are-people
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Members of the homeless being used as wireless hotspots at SXSW. http://io9.com/5892397/at-sxsw-2012-wireless-hotspots-are-people
This is probably going to be the basis of the next research writing class I teach.
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http://www.retronaut.co/2012/03/guest-list-of-round-the-world-voyage-of-s-s-president-monroe-1936/
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Guerrilla gardening in Ireland: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/28/us-ireland-gardening-idUSBRE82R0O720120328
This reminds me a lot of dirt+seed bombs.
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How to make a volcano erupt: http://m.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/could-people-trigger-a-volcanic-eruption-on-purpose/
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One for a horror game
A virulent cancer in the Tasmanian Devil population all as the same DNA independent of who the host is.
http://blog.ted.com/2011/09/22/fighting-a-contagious-cancer-elizabeth-murchison-on-ted-com/
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The Aokigahara Forest, otherwise known as the "Suicide Forest" of Japan: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2127414/The-suicide-forest-Japan-Mystery-Mount-Fuji-beauty-spot-100-bodies-year.html?ICO=most_read_module
And a wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aokigahara
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Dinosaurs ruled in Hell:
http://io9.com/5900889/dinosaurs-were-surrounded-by-constant-fires?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow (http://io9.com/5900889/dinosaurs-were-surrounded-by-constant-fires?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow)
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Drug trafficking, human trafficking, and the most lawless place in America: http://www.mensjournal.com/150-miles-of-hell
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The great articles just keep coming today on my G Reader. An interview with a matador: http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/0,1518,826676,00.html
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Just to repeat what i put on the RPPR facebook page
A quick guide for an awesome Horror game - Go and see "Cabin in the woods", make sure none of your players have seen it and then plagiarise the entire movie using a rules light Horror system like Fear Itself or Dread.
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The nodding disease: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nodding_disease
And recent news about an outbreak in Uganda: http://www.dailytech.com/Baffling+Illness+Strikes+Africa+Turns+Children+Into+Violent+Zombies/article24276.htm
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/why-are-ugandas-children-nodding-to-their-deaths-7628107.html
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For anyone interested in the history of religion and archaeology this is really interesting, but it also has some great potential for thinking through religions in gaming scenarios: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,827144,00.html
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I watched a low-budget sci-fi/horror flick called Alien Raiders (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0996979/), and was honestly surprised at how good it was. Admittedly, I'm no aficionado of the b-movie world, but I think it deserves watching.
Could make for a pretty good game scenario too. You're down at the local grocery store when what seems to be a gang of criminals barges in and takes everyone hostage. But instead of robbing the place or making demands, they start "testing" people...
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Introducing nanosponges: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/04/17/researchers-create-nanosponges-to-suck-up-oil-spilled-in-water/
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Impressions on engineering archaeology and reverse corporate espionage: http://wrttn.in/04af1a (http://wrttn.in/04af1a)
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Two good articles from Reuters (really I could post five or six Reuters articles a day).
The sources, who are familiar with operations at Iran's main export terminal Kharg Island in the north of the Gulf, said 14 of National Iranian Tanker Company's (NITC) fleet of 25 very large crude carriers, each loaded with about 2 million barrels of oil, are now at anchor acting as floating storage.
A further five of Iran's nine Suezmax tankers, with capacity of one million barrels, are also parked offshore with oil aboard.
That means that of Iran's 59-million-barrel fleet of VLCCs and Suezmax sized tankers, 33 million barrels of capacity are being used to store crude at sea in the Gulf, or 56 percent of the fleet.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/23/us-iran-tankers-idUSBRE83M0W220120423
But the wastewater generated by fracking and other extraction processes may play a role in causing geologic faults to slip, causing earthquakes, the report suggests.
"A remarkable increase in the rate of (magnitude 3) and greater earthquakes is currently in progress," the authors wrote in a brief work summary to be discussed Wednesday at a San Diego meeting of the Seismological Society of America.
"While the seismicity rate changes described here are almost certainly manmade, it remains to be determined how they are related to either changes in extraction methodologies or the rate of oil and gas production," the abstract said.
From 1970 through 2000, the rate of magnitude 3 or greater quakes was 21 plus or minus 7.6 each year, according to USGS figures. Between 2001 and 2008, that increased to 29 plus or minus 3.5.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/17/us-earthquakes-usa-idUSBRE83G1FL20120417
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Planetary Resources' first customers are likely to be science agencies, such as NASA, as well as private research institutes.
Within five to 10 years, however, the company expects to progress from selling observation platforms in orbit around Earth to prospecting services. It plans to tap some of the thousands of asteroids that pass relatively close to Earth and extract their raw materials.
Not all missions would return precious metals and minerals to Earth. In addition to mining for platinum and other precious metals, the company plans to tap asteroids' water to supply orbiting fuel depots, which could be used by NASA and others for robotic and human space missions.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/24/us-space-asteroid-mining-idUSBRE83N06U20120424
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At least twenty-five former truckers are currently serving time in American prisons for serial murder. There’s Robert Ben Rhoades, who converted his truck cab into a torture chamber, now serving a life sentence in Illinois. There’s Scott William Cox, a trucker who pled no-contest to two murders in Oregon. There’s Dellmus Colvin, who pled guilty in five murders to avoid the death penalty in Ohio; Keith Hunter Jesperson, serving life sentences from four different states; and Wayne Adam Ford, who finally got sick of killing and walked into a California sheriff’s office carrying a woman’s breast in a plastic bag. When trucker Sean Patrick Goble was arrested in North Carolina and confessed to several murders, ten states lined up to question him about their cold-case highway homicides. It seems our interstate highway system has become our Whitechapel, with truckers its roving Rippers.
http://thislandpress.com/04/04/2012/drive-by-truckers/
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This is indescribably awesome (and has even more awesome links). For all the xenobiologists out there: http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/savvy-scientist/invisible-aliens-theyre-not-life-as-we-know-it-8212-yet/425
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Nicotine poisoning and the birth of toxicology: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/05/nicotine-and-the-chemistry-of-murder/
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I can see some potential here. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/skydiver-planning-world-record-120-000-foot-jump-200327140.html
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I can see some potential here. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/skydiver-planning-world-record-120-000-foot-jump-200327140.html
There was a good article about this in Air and Space that I thought I had posted over the weekend: http://www.airspacemag.com/flight-today/Bullet-Man.html
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Oil theft in Nigeria: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/04/us-nigeria-delta-idUSBRE8530DU20120604
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That's no rat, it's a pair of lungs: http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/06/11/possible-pair-of-lungs-found-on-south-la-sidewalk/
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What would happen if there were costumed vigilantes fighting crime?
Wait, it's already happening in Seattle.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_Jones
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Real gunfights are insane: http://www.lawofficer.com/article/training/officer-down-peter-soulis-inci
Palmer had taken 22 hits from Soulis' .40-caliber Glock, 17 of which had hit center mass. Despite the fact that the weapon had been loaded with Ranger SXTs considered by many to be one of the best man-stoppers available Palmer lived for more than four minutes after the last shot was fired. His autopsy revealed nothing more than a small amount of alcohol in his bloodstream.
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Real gunfights are insane: http://www.lawofficer.com/article/training/officer-down-peter-soulis-inci
Palmer had taken 22 hits from Soulis' .40-caliber Glock, 17 of which had hit center mass. Despite the fact that the weapon had been loaded with Ranger SXTs considered by many to be one of the best man-stoppers available Palmer lived for more than four minutes after the last shot was fired. His autopsy revealed nothing more than a small amount of alcohol in his bloodstream.
Yuppers -- we can have situations like that and we can have flight attendants fall out of an airplane some 10,000 m onto a mountain and walk back to civilization
we can also have situations like a soldier who twists his ankle while out training and has to be helped back to base where he dies...
(someone did a hack of the WOD system that got rid of health levels and just made it so that you state what you want to do, the GM gives you a difficulty/# of successes and that's that...so you can kill people right then and there...)
That's why I prefer narrative-type games...games that stress some sort of health reservoir don't fit well with me, but are good, I guess, for tournament games or when trying to impress
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUhgYqKdWI0
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Oh, those Japanese, always searching for ways to bring anime to real life: http://designtaxi.com/news/353169/Japanese-Company-Creates-Robot-That-You-Can-Ride-And-Battle-In/
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The Codex Seraphinianus was "written" and illustrated by an Italian artist in the 1980s. It is an encyclopedia to a fake world. It features its own made-up language, as well as abstract, whimsical and fantastical art. Basically, it will try and confuse you, creep you out, and then confuse you again.
Here's the freely-distributable PDF: http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/CodexSeraphinianus.pdf
Here's the Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Seraphinianus
And here's a sample of the book.
(http://i.imgur.com/hDeUl.jpg)
...Yeah.
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When you gaze long enough into the ear canal, the ear canal gazes back at you.
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/doctors-remove-spider-hiding-woman-ear-canal-195029859.html
(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/nNSDQXwQy2uIiLjERP6fNw--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/thesideshow/SpiderEar.jpg)
YOU CANNOT UNSEE IT!
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http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/10/world/asia/floating-pumice/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn
R'lyeh will probably be coming up next.
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What the fuck!?
http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/yangtze-river-turns-red-turns-mystery-175232434--abc-news-topstories.html
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http://news.yahoo.com/you-don-t-bring-a-3d-printer-to-a-gun-fight----yet.html
Article basically sums up to "Look out, 3D-printed guns are coming." Time to DRM the fabbers. Actually, I predict the first death resulting from 3D printing technology will be some kid shot by the cops after someone in their family prints out a toy gun without an orange tip.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/sep/08/filmnews.france
Some kind of secret society had a movie theater under Paris.
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http://www.theweathernetwork.com/your_weather/details/786/7624434/95/upload/2
Mysterious Marsh fire up in Prince Edward Island (Canadian Ireland). I saw this in the newspaper last week and Firefighters have not determined the cause of the massive fire on the marsh. Probably swamp gas, but what if... Natural occurrence? or Eldritch Wrath? Thought it might be a good hook for a CoC game at the time.
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Holy war? Battle over sovereignty? Trench warfare in the 21C? http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/us-azerbaijan-armenia-conflict-idUSBRE88A0DQ20120911
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Three questions a GM should ask before "Fudging" a die roll http://www.doucheydm.com/?p=1140 (http://www.doucheydm.com/?p=1140)
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from the Versimilitude-Dept:
John Keel, merrycan Journalist famed for his investigation of the Mothman, someone's made his field notes available for public viewing:
http://www.johnkeel.com/?p=1590
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A self-directed guide to the FEMA marking system. (http://dart.arc.nasa.gov/Recon/BUILDI~1Rev1.pdf)
(I'm watching Treme. They show up a lot.)
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http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-series
I haven't read any of these yet but my friend told me about a few of them and they sound pretty Delta Green worthy.
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Not much to this, just an amusing "crazy person" paint job.
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_3_4/585873_My_project___Camothulu___WARNING___Picture__and_INSANITY_heavy__.html
(http://i50.tinypic.com/2af08pe.jpg)
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gunthulhu?
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Ia! Ia! Kalashnikov ftagn!
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http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-series
I haven't read any of these yet but my friend told me about a few of them and they sound pretty Delta Green worthy.
Read them! Read them ALL! :o
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(http://)
This just screams carcosa to me.
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In honor of Baseraiders I found this incredibly relevant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQC1nZrKQAM
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good find!
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more bizarre fortean stuff
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hh1jDZoj2xs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hWxKpcnLaU
chaos magicians are getting younger and younger or "you DO know the Banish Hastur spell?"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UP5we93SRo
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"Gates of Hell" in Newburyport Massachusetts, my old home town
http://paranormalspy.com/videos/welcome-to-the-gates-of-hell-maudslay-state-park.html
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Well, Newburyport was the inspiration for Innsmouth.
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Newburyport was nearby to innsmouth as mentioned in Shadow... but it was more inspired by more decrepit sea towns town the road a bit :-)
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Teenagers over several generations break into a tomb and party with the corpses in Newburyport's Old Hill cemetery. I recall the 1985 story well being a teen at the time myself.
http://www.boudillion.com/piercetomb/piercetomb.htm
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Newburyport was nearby to innsmouth as mentioned in Shadow... but it was more inspired by more decrepit sea towns town the road a bit :-)
I am taking this from Wikipedia but I did also hear this from the "Shadow Over Innsmouth" episode of the HP Lovecraft Literary Podcast that Lovecraft called Innsmouth "a considerably twisted version of Newburyport".
Sounds like a cool place to check out if I am ever in New England.
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Newburyport has lost much of it's old charm, but there are still some interesting areas to visit. In the 50s and 60s it was likely much closer to what Innsmouth was, but that was after Lovecraft's time. In the 70s it was much improved to draw in the tourists. :-)
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Another story on Ken Cage, the repo man that targets the superrich. This guy has been getting a lot of press in the last few years: http://www.businessweek.com/printer/articles/77942-the-luxury-repo-men
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Amazing story of traversing the Parsian underground: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/places/going-souterrain?page=full
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This reads like a CoC diary on trying to deal with the Mythos...especially interesting is the 'monster'
http://johnkettler.com/ufo-war-ufo-bisected-bizarre-developments/
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This reads like a CoC diary on trying to deal with the Mythos...especially interesting is the 'monster'
http://johnkettler.com/ufo-war-ufo-bisected-bizarre-developments/
The level of crazy that these people exude amazes me.
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Vocabulum; or, The Rogue's Dictionary. Basically the Urban Dictionary of the mid-19C: http://archive.org/details/cu31924073798740
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This reads like a CoC diary on trying to deal with the Mythos...especially interesting is the 'monster'
http://johnkettler.com/ufo-war-ufo-bisected-bizarre-developments/
The level of crazy that these people exude amazes me.
one of them might be the POTUS soon...real world horror :3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7MRykTpw1RQ
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Here's another one: a real life horror story that continues
http://www.dailygrail.com/blogs/red-pill-junkie/2012/11/The-Precocious-Brief-Life-Sabina-Rivas
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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/queens-residents-arm-looters-article-1.1196031
The tragedy that Sandy has caused could be easily used in a Dirty World scenario, as it brings about isolated communities, looters, vigilantes and anarchy in Queens.
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http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/queens/queens-residents-arm-looters-article-1.1196031
The tragedy that Sandy has caused could be easily used in a Dirty World scenario, as it brings about isolated communities, looters, vigilantes and anarchy in Queens.
Queens, even more than New Orleans after Katrina, is becoming a case study of what happens in the aftermath of a major natural disaster in America's "new normal."
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warehouses and pallets: basic building blocks for RPGs and movies:
http://www.slate.com/articles/business/transport/2012/08/pallets_the_single_most_important_object_in_the_global_economy_.single.html
http://www.premierhandling.com/latest-news/top-10-warehouse-movies/
http://www.premierhandling.com/latest-news/blink-its-gone-material-handling-equipment-movies-and-weekend-824-movie-preview/
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http://youtu.be/FUtvmvxTNwg
Little Fears in Tokyo?
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Super fast luxury jets. A must for today's villain: http://www.justluxe.com/lifestyle/aircraft/feature-1788753.php?ref=obrain
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I wish they had provided more details than this:
When the man noticed the police vehicle, How said, he immediately jumped up.
“The guy jumped on the hood of the Washburn University police cruiser and started trying to tear it apart,” How said.
http://cjonline.com/news/2012-11-19/man-fires-shots-near-washburn-attacks-police-vehicle
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http://youtu.be/FUtvmvxTNwg
Little Fears in Tokyo?
this is cool. I wonder if the actual anime is any good.
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http://youtu.be/FUtvmvxTNwg
Little Fears in Tokyo?
this is cool. I wonder if the actual anime is any good.
It is, you can find it on youtube. It is only 25 minutes or so, but seeing how everything was done by one guy (the voice over aside) its pretty impressive.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqQKGdAsOYM
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I'm watching Norwegian Ninja (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wNVjI9bJIk) right now. It's incredible. It's part Chuck Norris movie, part Team America: World Police, part I DON'T KNOW WHAT THE FUCK. Why aren't you watching it yet? Do you want the Americans and Soviets to destroy the Norwegian way of life?
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After a recent re-listen of Caleb's Lover Before the Ice, I chanced upon this video, taken around 1956, of a housewife dropping LSD for the first time. Might be good for anyone running a game involving acid. :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGf2loLAwVE
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Parasitc mushrooms (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordyceps))
For a Cthulhu game, it could be a new tool developped by Mi-Go scientist to control a small community.
The mushroom will link its victime through a common mind hive, control by a gigantic, but static mushroom grain, itself at the service of Mi-Go.
Symptoma of the contamination could be the appearance of small "mushroomy" protuberances at the base of the neck, or on the skull (usually hidden by hairs until it becomes too long).
For Heroes of New Arcadia, the 'Shroom-man, the guy who has the ability to generate all kind of useful and funky mushrooms could create such parasitic creature, which could help him expand his awareness.
However, since he seems a rather good guy, what if he was victim of a parasitic mushroom. Due to his nature, he is more sensitive that usual human to this infection, and it is diluting it personality amongst many other mushrooms pods.
He starts to act crazy and loose control of his action, spreading his mushrooms everywhere - maybe trying to absorb everybody in a collective mushroom colony.
To stop him and help him recover his sanity, the heroes must find and destroy the several mushrooms pods which are holding a part of his personality.
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I used Cordyceps in a horror game - I think it was this http://actualplay.roleplayingpublicradio.com/2012/05/systems/call-of-cthulhu/call-of-cthulhu-delta-green-operation-eyes-down/ but I don't remember exactly.
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I think Cordyceps was used in The Shard game.
EDIT: BHHHHAAWWWWWMMMMM
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Keep in mind that I hate snakes, but I'm still willing to present to you the Titanoboa for your snake loving pleasure:
http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/coal/2012/11/coal_mine_fossils_paleontology_shows_us_past_climate_change.single.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanoboa
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVMCuZZ3XKk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCTKHHfsM7Y
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I think Cordyceps was used in The Shard game.
EDIT: BHHHHAAWWWWWMMMMM
Correct! My bad. The Chinese believe it has medicinal properties, as I learned in my trip to China: http://www.slangdesign.com/2012/04/blog/travels/question-for-china-experts-what-is-this/
http://inception.davepedu.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4a3y7xetJY
http://www.ugo.com/movies/the-inception-sound-makes-bad-movies-good
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A habitable planet has been found 'a mere' 12 light years away.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/dec/19/habitable-planet-discovered-tau-ceti
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good idea for a one shot: http://www.theonion.com/articles/archaeologist-tired-of-unearthing-unspeakable-anci,1448/?ref=auto
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Fodder for a Fiasco game set in Hollywood: http://scriptshadow.net/hollywood-horror-stories-from-screenwriterjohn-jarrell/
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East German Westerns: not just a good name for a ska band http://firstrunfeatures.com/defawesterns.html
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the 14 rules for predicting future geopolitical events http://qz.com/40960/the-14-rules-for-predicting-future-geopolitical-events/
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Do you want a post apocalypse jail/city/gun factory? http://www.iiicitadel.com/index.html
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Seems China really doesn't care about copy rights. They built a World of Warcraft theme park without Blizzards premission. Thad you should go check it out before it gets shut down.
http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/01/16/chinas-massively-illegal-world-of-warcraft-theme-park
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Those are some big-ass statues. If the place does get shut down, can Blizzard auction those off because my backyard would look amazing with a giant Warrior in it, towering over my house.
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i came across this quite by accident: there is a play called "Sleep No More" where the audience wears a mask and is told to not speak and has all their communication devices taken from them. then they are let loose in the area where the play is happening and different things are happening with different characters in different parts of the play area.
it sounds a bit like 'Carcosa' and a bit like this is what happens when RPG's go pro
here is a youtube taste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RR0MPk69Iao
hope this springs idears amongst you people :3
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German laser cannon: http://singularityhub.com/2013/01/07/german-military-laser-destroys-targets-over-1km-away/
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Double fodder here: http://www.thejournal.ie/heat-from-cities-affects-weather-771590-Jan2013/
The weather angle is very interesting. However, let's change weather with magic. Imagine a city polluted with magic, how long would the residual magic continue to affect the surrounding countryside and how far would it extend.
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If this isn't game fodder I don't know what is: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1509987/Stone-Age-tribe-kills-fishermen-who-strayed-on-to-island.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/india/1509987/Stone-Age-tribe-kills-fishermen-who-strayed-on-to-island.html)
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I'll see your lost tribe and raise you drone proof city: http://www.chapatimystery.com/archives/imperial_watch/drone_city.html
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This guy: http://www.youtube.com/user/damienwalters
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Walters
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how to role play the friendly Russian arms dealer in your next game: http://www.m1-garand-rifle.com/ivan-chesnokov.php
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Drug smugglers also smuggle ancient artifacts: http://www.wfaa.com/news/world/190484501.html
Pitch (COC/DG): Drug smugglers get their hands on some pre-Columbian artifacts and attempt to smuggle them into the US. In the process, they become corrupted. Corrupted smugglers then meet up with border guard and mythos-magic-gunfight ensues. Game must include a UAV border drone.
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Nuclear blast radius website for T2K fans: http://www.nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
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The links just keep on coming. Stranded at sea on a cruise ship: http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/02/13/us/passengers-face-2-more-days-of-foul-conditions-on-stranded-ship.xml;jsessionid=0CA7FAA81FB1C47010AE092AF46CC41B?f=21
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Delivery Drivers in riots:
http://www.npr.org/2013/02/02/170922704/in-cairo-couriers-take-big-risk-to-deliver-goods
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First Blood anyone?
Dirty World or even Killsplosion game fodder I think, maybe even street level Wild Talents or Call of Cthulhu with some work.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/12/christopher-dorner-shootout-big-bear-live
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The latest Radiolab had an interesting segment on automated stock trading, and the resulting race to minimize delay of communications between trading centers. Seemed immediately pertinent to a world like Eclipse Phase, where you might have AGIs handling most share-trading transactions, coupled with extremely long communication delays between various habitats.
http://www.radiolab.org/2013/feb/05/
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just came across this strange, occult society who have their own cant and forbidden hazing rituals...
what are they up to?
what are their motives?
what ice cream flavours do they love?
http://slangdesign.com/rppr/
wait, what's that so---NO CARRIER
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The shutting off of street lights to actively reshape a city; it feels like it could have occult significance in an urban fantasy game like Unkown Armies.
Link: http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html (http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html)
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The latest Radiolab had an interesting segment on automated stock trading, and the resulting race to minimize delay of communications between trading centers. Seemed immediately pertinent to a world like Eclipse Phase, where you might have AGIs handling most share-trading transactions, coupled with extremely long communication delays between various habitats.
http://www.radiolab.org/2013/feb/05/
I've been following HFT - altho not as closely as I should have been - for the past six years. This is the best post that I (via Ross) have seen on the strangeness of HFT: http://www.metafilter.com/94516/High-frequency-trading-crop-circles
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The shutting off of street lights to actively reshape a city; it feels like it could have occult significance in an urban fantasy game like Unkown Armies.
Link: http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html (http://mobile.bloomberg.com/news/2012-05-24/half-of-detroit-s-streetlights-may-go-out-as-city-shrinks.html)
Detroit has become a case study for new urbanism and neofeudalism:
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/06/detroit-the-shrinking-city-that-isnt-actually-shrinking/240193/
http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20090402/METRO08/904020395/To+urban+hunter++next+meal+is+scampering+by
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Check this out: http://news.yahoo.com/spy-camera-robot-penguins-infiltrate-bird-colonies-211005569.html
Science is sending robots dressed like penguins into their colonies, in addition to cameras hidden in ice and other objects. If we're doing this to penguins, imagine what more advanced species could to us.
The RockhopperCam is particularly impressive. The bipedal penguin-bot features 20 degrees of freedom of movement and gyro/accelerometer sensors. It can waddle over challenging terrain and pick itself up if it falls over. The producers say it was so realistic, some of the penguins accepted it as part of their colony.
A fluffy ChickCam did double-duty as a camera disguise and as a way to keep the camera from freezing. The production team even used a remote-controlled underwater penguin camera capable of diving down to 300 feet.
My first thought was Call of Cthulhu but this could be a really cool one for kids, like Monsters and Other Childish Things. I'm going to work it into my Wild Talents game.
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TNR officially announces the start of neofeudalism: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112395/wall-street-hedge-funds-buy-rental-properties
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TNR officially announces the start of neofeudalism: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112395/wall-street-hedge-funds-buy-rental-properties
Is it sad that I get most of my news from this thread?
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TNR officially announces the start of neofeudalism: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112395/wall-street-hedge-funds-buy-rental-properties
Is it sad that I get most of my news from this thread?
Yes, build yourself a Google Reader subscription list. ;)
I recommend: The Browser, Archaeology Magazine, Slate, Salon, Wired, Ars Technica as a start.
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Done. Time to get myself informed about the world and stuff!
Thank you, good sir.
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Done. Time to get myself informed about the world and stuff!
Thank you, good sir.
To be honest, Ross and I started this thread because we exchange articles and other internet things all the time to use as fodder. Also, I read an insane amount of news items everyday, and since I don't have time to game anymore, I just dump 1/1,000th of the stuff I find interesting.
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This. Is. Poetry: http://gawker.com/5984287/the-police-blotter-for-americas-third-most-expensive-zip-code-is-a-thing-of-first-world-beauty
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This. Is. Poetry: http://gawker.com/5984287/the-police-blotter-for-americas-third-most-expensive-zip-code-is-a-thing-of-first-world-beauty
Seconded
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It would be awesome to find ways to turn these reports into mythos encounters. They just keep popping up all over town.
Queue former police detective with an obsession with the seemingly mundane. His friend who is still on the force. A local new and used (re: occult) book store owner, and his seventeen year old son who couldn't stay out of trouble, his mother couldn't handle him anymore so now he lives with his eccentric father.
The former officer uses the occult bookstore to research the events he's claimed to see, everyone else is town just thinks these things are harmless hapless coincidence.
Aaaaaand I'm spent.
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People injured by falling meteor (can't make this stuff up folks): http://www.salon.com/2013/02/15/500_injured_by_blasts_as_meteor_falls_in_russia/
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People injured by falling meteor (can't make this stuff up folks): http://www.salon.com/2013/02/15/500_injured_by_blasts_as_meteor_falls_in_russia/
Lots of pictures in this one: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279020/Russian-meteorite-Moment-meteorite-exploded-doctors-treat-500-people-injured.html
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Developing all of the super powers from meteor exposure.
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(http://i.imgur.com/MRb4VpB.gif)
http://imgur.com/gallery/efu1y
Candle Cove commercial breaks! :D
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Developing all of the super powers from meteor exposure.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0215/Just-how-big-was-that-Russia-meteor-anyway
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Also, about those Russian dash cams: www.wired.com/autopia/2013/02/russian-dash-cams/
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All kinds of good stuff keep popping up in my G Reader. The original longform investigative journalism piece on the My Lai Massacre: http://pierretristam.com/Bobst/library/wf-200.htm
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I'm sure of you already know about this, but for those of you that don't, Royal Shrovetide Football: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Shrovetide_Football
Happy Lent everyone--although no point in playing the "I gave up something more important game this year," the Pope has already won.
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So you're a dictator, throw yourself a party: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/02/18/self_appreciation_presidents_day_dictators_monarchs
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Asshole art thieves: www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/banksy-work-auction/
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WWII Nazi bunkers become an art project, also neat pictures: http://www.wired.com/rawfile/2013/02/world-war-ii-bunkers-jonathan-andrew/
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Asshole art thieves: www.wired.com/underwire/2013/02/banksy-work-auction/
Well, y'know, what goes around comes around (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elgin_Marbles).
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Too damn cool not to link. OK, current RPPR members, get your Legos together and play Quiet Year again: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/02/imagine-playing-sim-city-real-life/4652/
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Too damn cool not to link. OK, current RPPR members, get your Legos together and play Quiet Year again: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/02/imagine-playing-sim-city-real-life/4652/
I simply love the idea of using Lego* as a 3D game map.
*= In the UK Lego is used to refer to the singular and the plural. Otherwise we'd have Legos land.
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Too damn cool not to link. OK, current RPPR members, get your Legos together and play Quiet Year again: http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2013/02/imagine-playing-sim-city-real-life/4652/
I simply love the idea of using Lego* as a 3D game map.
*= In the UK Lego is used to refer to the singular and the plural. Otherwise we'd have Legos land.
We Americans like to put "esses" (which we'd spell "s's") on everything.
Also, for those that don't have a lot of money to buy Lego(s). There is the Lego Digital Designer that you can buy for free: http://ldd.lego.com/en-us/download/
Imagine it like Minecraft without griefers.
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This. Is. Poetry: http://gawker.com/5984287/the-police-blotter-for-americas-third-most-expensive-zip-code-is-a-thing-of-first-world-beauty
Seconded
obviously propaganda from Her Exaltedness Monique D'Aubainne...:3
(or an Eclipse Phase blotter...just imagine how strange those would be? all those various -chauvinisms...)
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Defeat facial recognition programs with make up: http://cvdazzle.com/
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Trailer for a movie (http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/noplaceonearth/)
Jews in WW2 living about a year and a half underground in sealed caves.
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Ladies and Gentlemen, the sun: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/science-2/nasa-video-plasma-rain/
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Tradecraft bitches http://fairfieldproject.wikidot.com/tradecraft
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My next IH character: http://www.livescience.com/27275-ancient-treasure-warrior-grave.html
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Kenya, mobile commerce, and leapfrog development: http://qz.com/57504/31-of-kenyas-gdp-is-spent-through-mobile-phones/
Lots here for an EP game.
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If y'all call y'selves fantasy gamers and don't have a subscription to archaeology.org RSS feed in your Google Readers, y' need to. Here's a good example why: http://www.cais-soas.com/news/index.php/component/content/article/65/371-sasanian-palatial-house-discovered-in-lorestan
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Scientists create a pair of super rats that will destroy us all. Also, brain to brain communication: http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34547/title/A-Brain-to-Brain-Interface-for-Rats/
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A loud crash, then nothing: Sinkhole swallows Florida man http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/us/florida-sinkhole/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Reminds me of House of Leaves.
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'rl' escape-the-room game: http://realescapegame.com/rersf1/
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http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3342275&userid=0&perpage=40&pagenumber=183#post413042194
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Ordos, China's biggest "Ghost City": http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-17390729
More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ordos
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Ancient ironworks at Angkor Wat: http://www.cambodiadaily.com/selected-features/the-ancient-ironworks-of-angkor-12426/
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The nail in the coffin for Crystal Skulls: http://cen.acs.org/articles/91/i9/Crystal-Skulls-Deemed-Fake.html
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2,800 pigs dumped in river float into Shanghai. (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_DEAD_PIGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-11-06-42-16)
BEIJING (AP) -- A surge in the dumping of dead pigs upstream from Shanghai - with more than 2,800 carcasses floating into the financial hub through Monday - has followed a police campaign to curb the illicit trade in sick pig parts.
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2,800 pigs dumped in river float into Shanghai. (http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_CHINA_DEAD_PIGS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-03-11-06-42-16)
BEIJING (AP) -- A surge in the dumping of dead pigs upstream from Shanghai - with more than 2,800 carcasses floating into the financial hub through Monday - has followed a police campaign to curb the illicit trade in sick pig parts.
That gives the phrase "bringing home the bacon" a whole new definition. Thanks folks! I'll be here all week.
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More 'futureshock'
folks, get your Makers ready
"the US group that developed open-source 3D-printed gun parts has launched a file-sharing website for blueprints to 3D-printed illicit items including weapons, drugs and medical equipment.
Defcad.com, launched at the SXSW technology conference in Austin, Texas, will be "the world's first unblockable, open-source search engine for all 3D-printable parts," according to founder and Texas law student Cody Wilson."
http://www.dezeen.com/2013/03/13/defcad-3d-printing-pirate-bay-launched-defense-distributed-cody-wilson-sxsw/
the Global Human Spring continues
-
Proof of Chinese global trade pre-Columbus: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130313131900.htm#.UUGsC2R_ynM.facebook
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Eclipse Phase Weaponry, now: http://mashable.com/2013/03/17/3d-printed-gun-license/#lead-image (http://mashable.com/2013/03/17/3d-printed-gun-license/#lead-image)
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Criminals pose as tourists, hijack helicopter to break associates out of prison:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/18/174614646/after-helicopter-jail-break-two-cons-recaptured-in-canada?sc=17&f=1001
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Criminals pose as tourists, hijack helicopter to break associates out of prison:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/03/18/174614646/after-helicopter-jail-break-two-cons-recaptured-in-canada?sc=17&f=1001
Haha, I saw that last night while set up the pages. XD
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need a creepy house for your game? http://imgur.com/gallery/Yxb6s
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Oh hey, I've been there. It's really depressing.
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It's even creepier if you know what Dilantin is and why it was prescribed: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenytoin
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This went across my "desk" today while paginating:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/21/mysterious_disappearance_of_dozens_of_dogs_ritualistic_killing_confound_animal_control_officials.html
Crazy mass dog kidnapping for ritualistic purposes? Sounds like a Cthulhu or Esoterrorist game to me!
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This went across my "desk" today while paginating:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/03/21/mysterious_disappearance_of_dozens_of_dogs_ritualistic_killing_confound_animal_control_officials.html
Crazy mass dog kidnapping for ritualistic purposes? Sounds like a Cthulhu or Esoterrorist game to me!
Definitely a Bast cult.
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Eclipse Phase university http://singularityu.org/
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Martial arts and Suffragettes = my next historical CoC character concept http://www.badreputation.org.uk/2011/09/12/revolting-women-the-ju-jutsuffragettes/
(http://i.imgur.com/DVyp26K.jpg)
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The following story raises a number of questions:
How far is Springfield from Kansas City?
Is Ross really becoming a terrible monster IRL?
Was Caleb just looking for a too realistic prop?
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/28/4148716/eyeballs-found-in-trash-at-kansas.html (http://www.kansascity.com/2013/03/28/4148716/eyeballs-found-in-trash-at-kansas.html)
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Something to keep an eye on as it develops: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/31/us-texas-districtattorney-idUSBRE92U00S20130331
He was shot to death the same day the U.S. Department of Justice released a statement saying the Kaufman County District Attorney's Office was involved in a racketeering case against the Aryan Brotherhood white supremacist group.
Earlier this month, the Hasse slaying case took a new turn when the Kaufman police chief said the FBI was looking for any possible link between Hasse's death and the March 19 shooting death of Colorado prisons chief Tom Clements.
Evan Spencer Ebel, 28, a Colorado prison parolee suspected of killing Clements, died in a shootout with police in Decatur, Texas, on March 21. Ebel was a member of a white supremacist prison gang called the 211 Crew and had a swastika tattoo, prison records indicate.
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Extra, Extra, Read all about it!
Cottage in northern Ontario, Canada reduced to splinters in mysterious explosion. Investigation so far determind that there is no signs that the explosion was incendiary or involve fire.
Saw this while sending out the Timmins Paper, they have it on the site too:
http://www.timminspress.com/2013/04/02/opp-investigate-cottage-explosion
Ithaqua attack anyone?
-
Ithaqua attack anyone?
No thanks, I'm trying to cut back.
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someone mention Ithaqua?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZqHRQbH2RU
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Lovecraftian monster generator!
http://slimebeast.com/random/monstername/index.php
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Lovecraftian monster generator!
http://slimebeast.com/random/monstername/index.php
The Crab Squid!
In other news, Bitcoins are now worth over $200 each.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/09/176708504/bitcoin-surpasses-200-mark-continuing-epic-rise
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Lovecraftian monster generator!
http://slimebeast.com/random/monstername/index.php
The Crab Squid!
In other news, Bitcoins are now worth over $200 each.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/09/176708504/bitcoin-surpasses-200-mark-continuing-epic-rise
You mean "Dunning-Krugerrands"? 8)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krugerrand
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Lovecraftian monster generator!
http://slimebeast.com/random/monstername/index.php
The Crab Squid!
In other news, Bitcoins are now worth over $200 each.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/09/176708504/bitcoin-surpasses-200-mark-continuing-epic-rise
You mean "Dunning-Krugerrands"? 8)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krugerrand
wow, i shouldn't be but i still am surprised when i find out that someone has already come up with a name for something that i've noticed/experienced...nothing new under azathoth...nothing new :3
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Underground homeless camp:
http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/05/4164931/underground-homeless-camp-cleared.html (http://www.kansascity.com/2013/04/05/4164931/underground-homeless-camp-cleared.html)
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Iranian scientist invent a time machine.
LINK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9985757/Iranian-scientist-claims-to-have-invented-time-machine.html) to an article in the Telegraph
We are all screwed! ;D
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Iranian scientist invent a time machine.
LINK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9985757/Iranian-scientist-claims-to-have-invented-time-machine.html) to an article in the Telegraph
We are all screwed! ;D
sounds like a functional quantum computer
-
Iranian scientist invent a time machine.
LINK (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/9985757/Iranian-scientist-claims-to-have-invented-time-machine.html) to an article in the Telegraph
We are all screwed! ;D
sounds like a functional quantum computer
If its not a http://machineofdeath.net/ (http://machineofdeath.net/) I don't wanna know!
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Need to get out of orbit in a hurry? No worries, MOOSE has you covered (TM)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOOSE
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PC logic in student activism http://indianaantifa.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/indiana-university-white-student-union/
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PC logic in student activism http://indianaantifa.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/indiana-university-white-student-union/
Let us announce a gigantic hoax and tell everyone we're liars while simultaneously creating an urban legend about marauding gangs of anti-racist thugs that will make our whole movement look bad! GO TEAM! 8)
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Spider Robinson might just get his wish http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2311526/The-shower-spell-end-spacesuit-Researchers-reveal-nano-coating-revolutionise-space-travel.html
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Mini-robot in the Temple of Quetzalcoatl: http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/22/17868392-mini-robot-finds-surprise-in-mexicos-ancient-temple-of-quetzalcoatl
And a huge temple site in Oaxaca: http://www.livescience.com/28919-oldest-temple-oaxaca.html
Oldest European cookbook: http://news.discovery.com/history/oldest-european-medieval-cookbook-found-130417.htm
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for the horror furries: frog with hair that breaks its own bones to make claws http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn13991-horror-frog-breaks-own-bones-to-produce-claws.html
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I'm not going to preface how horrible this is: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/461651/20130426/chile-burn-baby-bonfire-antichrist.htm
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/08/history
-
Underwater city discovered: http://www.weather.com/news/science/lost-underwater-city-uncovered-20130430
-
This should be xposted in the EP thread. Digital wearable clothing and power sourcing: http://www.fastcolabs.com/3008818/tracking/why-digital-clothing-wont-need-batteries
http://gigaom.com/2013/04/19/how-energy-harvesting-tech-could-power-wearables-and-the-internet-of-things/
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Need a Dogs of the Vineyard setting: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/a-17th-century-russian-community-living-in-21st-century-alaska/275440/?utm_source=feedly
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A whole bunch of cool images of Armoured Trains (http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2013/05/awesome-armoured-trains-and-rail.html).
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dr tongue and womb wisdom
http://anaiyasophia.com/audio/anaiya-sophia-speaks-with-peter-tongue-about-womb-wisdom
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Great story about the smuggling of manuscripts out of Timbuktu: http://www.newrepublic.com/article/112898/timbuktu-librarians-duped-al-qaeda-save-books
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Cranial mutilation (is creepy): http://www.livescience.com/25743-alien-like-skulls-excavated-mexico.html
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15,000 years of language cognates: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/linguists-identify-15000-year-old-ultraconserved-words/2013/05/06/a02e3a14-b427-11e2-9a98-4be1688d7d84_story.html
I have the PNAS article that is mentioned in this if anyone is really interested in reading some hardcore linguistics research.
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yaaay cortical stacks on their way! http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/07/tech/brain-memory-implants-humans/index.html?hpt=te_r1
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http://www.technologyreview.com/view/514581/government-lab-reveals-quantum-internet-operated-continuously-for-over-two-years/
and it might already be obsolete ;3
singularity? pah! old skool...
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Gate to hell: http://news.discovery.com/history/archaeology/gate-to-hell-found-in-turkey-130329.htm
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Why you should never trust a psychic to do investigative work: http://news.discovery.com/human/psychic-claimed-amanda-berry-dead-130508.htm
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Hah. James Randi issued that contest years ago.
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i'm imagining a truly interactive necronomicon http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130509-paper-printed-circuits-electronics-technology-science
origami that can do blood tests?
a Ross Peryton book that smells, looks, tastes, sounds, psis like different zombies?
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i'm imagining a truly interactive necronomicon http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130509-paper-printed-circuits-electronics-technology-science
origami that can do blood tests?
a Ross Peryton book that smells, looks, tastes, sounds, psis like different zombies?
This is good. I'm already working on one posthuman CoC scenario and am looking for fodder for future ones. I'll definitely keep this in mind.
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-bYe2vQOwU
Full original article: http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-18/in-virginias-fairfax-county-robbing-banks-for-the-cia
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Crazy triple homicide not far from where my parents live: http://cjonline.com/news/2013-05-07/sheriff-three-bodies-found-franklin-county-farm
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2013/may/07/ottawa-9am-press-conference-beta/
http://cjonline.com/news/2013-05-12/body-18-month-old-lana-bailey-believed-found-osage-county
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Semi-submerged ghost town: http://www.weather.com/news/science/environment/argentina-ghost-town-photos-20130510
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The Root Bridges of Cherrapunji (if that doesn't sound like a pulp adventure I'll eat my hat): http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/05/08/root_bridges_of_cherrapunji.html?wpisrc=obnetwork (http://www.slate.com/blogs/atlas_obscura/2013/05/08/root_bridges_of_cherrapunji.html?wpisrc=obnetwork)
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a successful veil-out
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/05/13/mayan-pyramid-belize_n_3268255.html?utm_hp_ref=canada
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A good quotation? Or the best quotation?
"I have never in my life seen such a swollen pelvic bone. It hid the whole package [and] the scrotum was enlarged. Right now it feels heavy and unreal. We did not talk very often, but he was still my neighbour."
http://m.ibtimes.co.uk/man-sweden-dies-sex-hornet-s-nest-467900.html
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Big heists aren't just something from movies and RPGs.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22566533
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Underground Chinese money exchanges for people gambling in Macau: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/19/us-china-laundering-triangle-insight-idUSBRE94I0CB20130519
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Not rpg based but This might at least help the would-be writers out there. - http://karinacooper.com/rules-to-live-by-own-your-shit/
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Parasitic worms (http://io9.com/your-daily-dose-of-nightmare-fuel-squiggly-ant-parasit-509153112) that grow and live curled up inside of ants, warping their anatomy over time, until they burst out to go a matin'.
Scale that up to human-size and you've got some good monster fodder.
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Parasitic worms (http://io9.com/your-daily-dose-of-nightmare-fuel-squiggly-ant-parasit-509153112) that grow and live curled up inside of ants, warping their anatomy over time, until they burst out to go a matin'.
Scale that up to human-size and you've got some good monster fodder.
More fuel to pull out when people say how good nature is. Nature is one cruel m-fer.
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Machete attack in London. Something that needs followed: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/22/police-respond-serious-incident-woolwich
Live feed: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2013/may/22/woolwich-two-shot-in-police-incident-live-coverage
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taman_Shud_Case
An unsolved murder case that involves a mysterious death, a book of poetry, a secret code, and a possible love affair.
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http://physicsworld.com/cws/article/news/2011/aug/11/hi-tech-tattoos-monitor-brain-waves
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the aftereffects of Drew's 'DG: Tiamat' game http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23610-missing-moon-dust-discovered-in-storage-after-43-years.html
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New Zealand háð man eating eagles until 500 years ago.
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/maori-legend-of-maneating-bird-is-true-1786867.html
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Parasitic worms (http://io9.com/your-daily-dose-of-nightmare-fuel-squiggly-ant-parasit-509153112) that grow and live curled up inside of ants, warping their anatomy over time, until they burst out to go a matin'.
Scale that up to human-size and you've got some good monster fodder.
http://www.deviantart.com/download/377122041/mr__wiggles_of_tweed_by_crazon-d68j189.jpg?token=69a6d04f8b2b2a65d9f07a18e3a7aa038f6e19d3&ts=1370893329
(http://fav.me/d68j189)
Just a little something something I'm planning on tossing at my players next game, inspired partially by the parasitic worm.
Tweed, Ontario has a very peculiar urban legend/ local monster. Though some description of the entity tends to vary, the basic form is always the same. a strangely tall, twisting human form that drags and waddles and stalks around the woods, farms, and roadsides outside of town. The first sighting was in August 21st, 1969. Multiple disappearances have also accompanied these sighting.
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Liebot, what is the worst thing?
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/06/12/us-nigeria-shipwreck-idUSBRE95B0M120130612
This. This is the worst thing.
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Archaeological evidence found about the mole people.
http://ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/extensive-ancient-underground-network-discovered-scotland-turkey-00540#
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I see this thread has been going strong in my absence, so I'll have to up my game. Atlas Obscura may be my new favorite website:
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-grotesques-of-chapelle-de-bethlehem
http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-museum-of-witchcraft-boscastle-cornwall
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A giant stick insect, the tree lobster: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/02/24/147367644/six-legged-giant-finds-secret-hideaway-hides-for-80-years?sc=fb&cc=fp
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Carbon fiber elevator ropes may make incredibly tall skyscrapers possible: http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21579437-new-lightweight-lift-cable-will-let-buildings-soar-ever-upward-other?utm_source=feedly
Lighter, stronger ropes mean the main limiting factor in constructing higher skyscrapers would become the cost, says Antony Wood, an architect at the Illinois Institute of Technology, in Chicago. Dr Wood is also executive director of the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, which, among other things, lists the official heights of skyscrapers. At present the tallest is the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, which was completed in 2010 and, at 828 metres, shot past the previous record-holder, the 508-metre Taipei 101 tower. The Mecca Royal Clock Tower in Saudi Arabia, completed in 2012, is now, at 601 metres, the second-tallest. The Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan, built near the site of the World Trade Centre’s twin towers (417 metres and 415 metres) that were destroyed by al-Qaeda in 2001, had its spire added in May to reach 541 metres. But work has now started on the Kingdom Tower in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Its exact proposed height is still a secret, but it will be at least a kilometre.
With a big enough budget it would, says Dr Wood, now be possible to build a mile-high (1,600-metre) skyscraper. Even with carbon-fibre ropes few of such a building’s lifts would go all the way from the entrance lobby to the observation deck. Most would debouch into intermediate sky lobbies, where passengers could change lifts (not least because a mile-high lift which seemed to stop on every other floor would not be popular; it would be unutterably tedious and might force the poor souls on board to make eye contact).
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Sanzhi UFO houses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanzhi_UFO_houses
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Holy shit, Elder Things were real: http://news.yahoo.com/bizarre-500-million-old-creature-unearthed-002426314.html
Either that or it's a primitive Flying Polyp.
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If you loved candle cove you'll love these - http://www.cracked.com/article_20517_the-7-most-unintentionally-nightmarish-childrens-characters.html?utm_source=thechive.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-7-most-unintentionally-nightmarish-children-s-characters-pics-article (http://www.cracked.com/article_20517_the-7-most-unintentionally-nightmarish-childrens-characters.html?utm_source=thechive.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=the-7-most-unintentionally-nightmarish-children-s-characters-pics-article)
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Need a henchman? why not roll one up - http://www.rolang.com/archives/549
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filling the void left by dom davinci & nick knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj1MqHgFnmE
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filling the void left by dom davinci & nick knight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj1MqHgFnmE
Tom was clearly playing the flying man
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more fodder for DG, Conspiracy X, Bureau 13-type games
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1H3_EUnfVY
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An archaeologists write-up on setting roleplaying games in England 1200AD
http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/12thcent.html
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liberace-gorgon victim?
new cult for your surreal game?
an untouched genre for caleb to try?
http://www.yourdailymedia.com/post/the-human-anime-character/?utm_source=crowdignite.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=crowdignite.com
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An untouched genre of... what?
What do you people think I do with my time all day? ???
Dear god, the next game I write needs to be more lighthearted. I'm building a rep.
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An untouched genre of... what?
What do you people think I do with my time all day? ???
Dear god, the next game I write needs to be more lighthearted. I'm building a rep.
you write ONE book about zombies and all of a sudden you get typecast as the guy who puts zombies in every game he runs
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I have found both the best news resource, as well as the best Twitter account ever.
https://twitter.com/_FloridaMan
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where terry gilliam sets go to rest
http://sacredsites.com/europe/lithuania/hill_of_crosses.html
a Mountains of Madness LARP that went too far
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyatlov_pass_accident
i remember reading aboot this in a prominent medical journal
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Ramirez
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solar system belives in the US 2nd amendment
http://www.space.com/8028-sun-nemesis-pelted-earth-comets-study-suggests.html
"oh great Groth..."
add this for more fun https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2qE0lOIBtE
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These! Only bigger in game.
(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18xihgfrfa979gif/ku-xlarge.gif)
(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18ximp33mq72cgif/ku-bigpic.gif)
(http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/18xih1qz58j1xgif/ku-xlarge.gif)[/quote]
Carnivorous caterpillars from Hawaii
LINK (http://io9.com/a-guide-to-the-ravenous-hellbeast-that-is-the-carnivoro-1032957256/1168811840)to io9 article.
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Monument to ‘god of chaos’ mysteriously appears in front of Oklahoma City restaurant
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/monument-god-chaos-materializes-front-oklahoma-city-restaurant-article-1.1439431
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You think you've got the most detailed world map?
Check this guy out
(also, for those more occult-y inclined, massive psychogeography)
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/09/jerry-gretzinger-map-ukrania/
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Essential Watching for anyone running or playing MAOCT.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgh27gCgiQw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drop_Dead_Fred
I used to watch this movie to death when I was a kid but I recently revisited it and its just perfect. It may not have horrible monsters from the place between dimensions but it has a wonderful representation of what it is to have an imaginary friend.
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simply clever toys
, a subsidiary of dawn biozymepentex, test markets its 'shoggoth in a can'
(they found out that shoggoths are 'life force magnets')
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TuMPp4FWBw
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Brain-eating amoeba discovered in Louisiana. (http://now.msn.com/cdc-confirms-brain-eating-amoeba-in-louisiana-links-it-to-boys-death?ocid=vt_fbmsnnow) Welp, so this is the way the world will end.
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Great architectural horror fodder: basically an underground "vault" below Las Vegas:
http://mobile.theverge.com/2013/9/15/4733676/a-cold-war-mansion-26-feet-beneath-las-vegas
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remember all those horror stories & tales aboot corrupting codes & numbers?
there is a real number that, if someone were able to have the actual number in their heads that a black hole would form
(reality is so cool)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTeJ64KD5cg
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Impromptu tracheotomy to save a choking woman. (http://www.bakersfieldcalifornian.com/politics/local/x558590653/Doctor-uses-pocket-knife-to-save-former-county-supervisor-from-choking?utm_source=widget_56&utm_medium=photo_entries_teaser_widget&utm_campaign=synapse)
After the Heimlich maneuver failed to open Larwood’s airway, witnesses said, Dr. Royce Johnson, professor of medicine at UCLA and Kern Medical Center’s chief of infectious diseases, used a friend’s knife to make an incision in Larwood’s throat to allow the insertion of the hollow cylinder of a pen as a breathing tube.
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http://edition.cnn.com/2013/10/29/us/plane-crash-mystery/index.html
Huh.
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Could be useful as a setting for CoC: http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-4.htm (http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq102-4.htm)
On 17 December 1944, the ships of Task Force 38, seven fleet and six light carriers, eight battleships, 15 cruisers, and about 50 destroyers were operating about 300 miles east of Luzon in the Philippine Sea. The carriers had just completed three days of heavy raids against Japanese airfields, suppressing enemy aircraft during the American amphibious operations against Mindoro in the Philippines. Although the sea had been becoming rougher all day, the nearby cyclonic disturbance gave relatively little warning of its approach. On 18 December, the small but violent typhoon overtook the Task Force while many of the ships were attempting to refuel. Many of the ships were caught near the center of the storm and buffeted by extreme seas and hurricane force winds. Three destroyers, USS Hull, USS Spence, and USS Monaghan, capsized and went down with practically all hands, while a cruiser, five aircraft carriers, and three destroyers suffered serious damage. Approximately 790 officers and men were lost or killed, with another 80 injured. Fires occurred in three carriers when planes broke loose in their hangars and some 146 planes on various ships were lost or damaged beyond economical repair by fires, impact damage, or by being swept overboard. This storm inflicted more damage on the Navy than any storm since the hurricane at Apia, Samoa in 1889. In the aftermath of this deadly storm, the Pacific Fleet established new weather stations in the Caroline Islands and, as they were secured, Manila, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. In addition, new weather central offices (for coordinating data) were established at Guam and Leyte.
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I just finished KODT #202. The ending of Dave's paranoia adventure is an AWESOME idea for a FATE scenario. It also gives me adventure ideas for BASE RAIDERS.
SPOILERS!!!
[spoiler]The ape research station where the apes and monkeys are fuckin' ninja commando badasses. [/spoiler]
Sent from my SCH-R970 using Tapatalk
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An evolutionary alliance between trees and the ants that guard them has a sinister explanation, a new study suggests, finding ants hooked on nectar.
In Central America, ants act as bodyguards for acacia trees, defending them from weeds and hungry animals in exchange for room and board, one of the most iconic alliances in nature. (See "Ant Bodyguards Get Exclusive Contract From Trees.")
But Martin Heil of Cinvestav Unidad Irapuato in Mexico has found that the tree's sugary snacks are laced with an enzyme that prevents the ants from eating other sources of sugar.
One sip, and the insects are consigned to a life of indentured servitude.
...
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131106-ants-tree-acacia-food-mutualism/ (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/11/131106-ants-tree-acacia-food-mutualism/)
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This could be the beginning of a Trail of Cthulhu or Essoterrorist/Fear Itself scenario...
Hell, it could also work as a CoC scenario by making all the characters public works employees and they could use dump trucks to kill the evil garbage beast before it finds its other body parts!
Six-fingered 'hand' found among garbage at recycling plant
http://www.jsonline.com/news/bear-paw-found-among-garbage-at-madison-recycling-plant-b99142439z1-231891331.html (http://www.jsonline.com/news/bear-paw-found-among-garbage-at-madison-recycling-plant-b99142439z1-231891331.html)
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Uhh... so, yeah, this is a real thing:
https://m.facebook.com/pages/The-Snuggle-House/188564867991813?id=188564867991813&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FThe-Snuggle-House%2F188564867991813 (https://m.facebook.com/pages/The-Snuggle-House/188564867991813?id=188564867991813&refsrc=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fpages%2FThe-Snuggle-House%2F188564867991813)
http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Snuggle-House-owner-hopes-to-open-in-Madison-next-week-227837311.html?device=phone (http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Snuggle-House-owner-hopes-to-open-in-Madison-next-week-227837311.html?device=phone)
$60 for an hour of snuggling!
I MAY have to investigate and try it out. For research, of course!
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The grisly end of a Trail of Cthulhu scenario? Most likely.
http://m.jsonline.com/more/news/wisconsin/model-t-found-submerged-in-mississippi-river-remains-a-mystery-b99150805z1-233402441.html (http://m.jsonline.com/more/news/wisconsin/model-t-found-submerged-in-mississippi-river-remains-a-mystery-b99150805z1-233402441.html)
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When Delta Green op sec falls apart.
http://mobile.rawstory.com/therawstory/#!/entry/ghosthunters-allegedly-burn-down-historic-louisiana-plantation,5293a529025312186c909dca/1 (http://mobile.rawstory.com/therawstory/#!/entry/ghosthunters-allegedly-burn-down-historic-louisiana-plantation,5293a529025312186c909dca/1)
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FOR TOM http://io9.com/action-and-horror-movie-characters-get-cutesy-manga-mak-1474091326/@laurendavis
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someone make a survival horror adventure or post-apoc scenario based on this http://www.nathab.com/polar-bear-tours/tundra-lodge-town-adventure/
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someone make a survival horror adventure or post-apoc scenario based on this http://www.nathab.com/polar-bear-tours/tundra-lodge-town-adventure/
I imagine the Gnoph-Keh would be involved. If it was a Cthulhu game.
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So, uh, does anyone else believe that Simon Beck has seen Carcosa?
http://www.viralnova.com/simon-beck-snow-art/ (http://www.viralnova.com/simon-beck-snow-art/)
#wow
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Some dude on 4chan wrote a paramilitary guide to killing supernaturals:
I wrote this up originally for Hunters in WoD but you can apply it to any armed individual or unit combating a threat.
To begin we’ll start with the basic fact that mortal Hunters are woefully and completely inadequate for going up against supernaturals; especially solo. Going head to head or being put in a situation where the supernatural has any serious advantage over you is a death sentence.
As a single Hunter, a member of a small cell, or a member of an organization that gives its members significant autonomy your best bet is to be using my personal variation of the F3EAD Targeting Process with significant adjustments made for the supernatural threat you are facing. PF3EADS stands for Prepare, Find, Fix, Finish, Exploit, Analyze, Disseminate, and Sterilize. To give you some basis on where I am coming from F3EAD is what JSOC uses to hunt down and eliminate insurgent forces in Afghanistan and formerly a previous iteration of it was used in Iraq.
I will walk you through each step and adjust accordingly for the fact I am applying this to fighting supernaturals.
PREPARE
Before you even begin PF3EADS you would do well to be prepared.
Preparation includes:
-Equipment such as incendiary, silver, iron, salt, gypsy tears, etc ammunition for all firearms or edged weapons made of/imbued with that material. If the threat is even more unconventional special attention should be paid to equipping yourself with something that will do the greatest damage to your enemy. Medical equipment, night vision, communications, and concealable body armor are also a must have.
-Skills such as the Combat Marksmanship Merit or an otherwise mastered proficiency for your prefered method of killing should be of particular import to you. This includes the knowledge to build IEDs (Vampire gets into car, opens front door, lays down in bed, etc. BOOM! EFP/gasoline bomb engulfs their ass in fire), providing medical treatment to yourself or others for combat trauma, the stealth and streetwise necessary to surveil and track a target in rural and urban terrain both directly and indirectly, and the larceny ability which will be critical when it comes to acquiring a new method of transportation after or during each operation as well as providing easier access to targets.
-A temporary Tactical Operations Center (TOC) separate from the character’s residence that can be sterilized with thermite with the call of a cell phone if a fast escape is necessary or taken down in under 3 minutes if there is time available. Operational Security should be maintained at all times and no one but the Hunters themselves should know the TOC’s location. Additionally, the TOC should be regularly checked for surveillance and intrusion and sterilized with thermite if any sign is found. Nothing from a compromised TOC should be retained regardless of monetary or sentimental value to the Hunters. I personally recommend storage facilities. TOCs should be changed after every Targeting Process.
-A temporary means of transportation that is commonly found in the Area of Operations (AO). Transportation should be sterilized and changed with every encounter with a supernatural regardless of whether the encounter was successful or remained uncompromised. Sterilization of a vehicle should include scrubbing it of fingerprints, removing the VIN and license plates to be scattered in dumpsters in a different neighborhood, burning the vehicle with thermite if any body fluids were spilled, or leaving it unlocked with the keys in the ignition in a high crime neighborhood if not.
FIND
This phase is all about merely learning about or spotting a High-Value Individual (HVI) for the first time. Firstly you must confirm that the subject is a supernatural or otherwise conducting themselves in a manner that would lead you to target the for a Kill Capture mission. If you have a name, phone number, or location from information or intelligence gathered previously you a can continue with the process. If you are not aware of an HVI you will need to conduct surveillance or sweeps of the AO.
My personal favorite technique was to go to areas I knew had vampires such as club district or busy areas absolutely bustling with what would initially appear to be human activity and observe to venue with a digital camera. When I saw someone blurry through the camera (WoD vampires do this) I would surveill them for as long as I could while keeping other characters on standby to swap out with me to maintain surveillance or to separate and follow other possible targets the HVI interacted with.
Something important to note about PF3EADS is that if your HVI presents you with the opportunity to skip ahead to the Finish phase of the process you are free to prosecute the target. However, it is important to know the difference between just an opportunity and a good opportunity that will allow for a solid Exploit phase. Use sound judgment.
With an HVI successfully found you can begin establishing target priority, assign assets if your unit is larger, confirm HVI, further locate HVI, and decide on a course of action.
You have only two courses of action: Kill or Capture.
Killing your target is done with the express purpose of rendering a target so damaged that it cannot function as intended nor be restored to a useable condition without being entirely rebuilt.
Capturing your target is done with the express purpose of disrupting your enemy to preclude effective cohesion and support systems while enabling detailed exploitation of the captured target. Capture is not ideal given the individual strengths and abilities of supernatural HVIs and in some cases should not even be attempted.
FIX
Once the HVI is identified you are to maintain surveillance, maintain HVI identification, and refine the target’s place and time so you can execute the Finish and Exploit phases to maximum effectiveness. Fixing is all about further refining information you gathered in the Find phase so that you can know at any time whether you are able execute a Kill Capture mission successfully or not. Your intent is to focus and unblinking eye squarely upon the target for the duration of your operation.
FINISH
This is generally the operational climax. In this phase you will execute your mission.
Lethal combat operations in which the Hunters or their surrogates close with and destroy or seize enemy facilities, equipment, or personnel are one type of operation associated with the Finish phase.
However, the finish phase can just as easily be non-kinetic in nature. Neutralization of an enemy communications node, disrupting a courier network, legal prosecution of key target personalities, or achieving a desired psychological, political, or social effect are just as much a part of Finish as missile strikes, explosives, or direct action.
EXPLOIT
This phase; as the main effort of PF3EADS, is the most critical single step in the process as it leads to the Finding, Fixing, and Finishing of the next target and the perpetuation of the cycle. The overall aim of the exploitation effort is to produce enough actionable intelligence to perpetuate the PF3EADS process as rapidly as possible.
You're looking for laptops, hard drives, cell phones, documents, enemy personnel, and anything else you can imagine which will provide information that will allow you to engage the enemy across his network. With this information you can build a targeting matrix and begin working your way through all the HVIs of your AO.
ANALYZE
In this phase the information gained in the previous phases turns into intelligence which can be used to drive future operations. Remember that anything you have acquired should be analyzed and destroyed by thermite immediately following its usage and do not underestimate the network you HVI belonged to. It is not difficult to triangulate a cell phone’s location your unit is now cracking, activate the webcam on a computer in order to see the face of who is hacking it, or utilizing supernatural tracking methods to divine the location of important objects or personnel you may have seized.
DISSEMINATION
Now that you have analyzed the information you must review it and decide what can be disseminated to other Hunters. Remember do not compromise your OPSEC. Presume that any information that is given to those outside your unit should be done under the presumption that is is being given directly to the enemy so it would naturally benefit you not to give out any information about future targets you will engage lest those HVIs become aware and make your attempts to Find, Fix, and Finish them difficult if not impossible.
STERILIZE
This phase is continuous and pervasive. It should be conducted at all times during the Process from start to finish. Everything you purchase for the operation should be done through at least one; if not more, third parties who should either be unaware of your identity or eliminated, everything you touch during the operation should be scrubbed clean, spilled blood of team members should be doused in bleach, other forensic evidence and locations wherein the team conducts serious actions (such as the TOC, the location of the Finish phase, the location of the Exploit phase) should be sterilized with thermite. Attempts to conceal or alter the physical appearance of the Hunters should be made while conducting operations. It is important to conduct these counterintelligence/countersurveillance operations continuously as the networks you will be attempting to destroy and disrupt will attempt to Find, Fix, and Finish you as well. Sterilize everything you wore or used in an encounter with an HVI whether it was overt or covert, a failure or a success. Take absolutely no chances at any time. Presume that everything you touch or utilize can be traced back to you if it was carried or utilized within the general vicinity of an HVI.
Obviously this brings up the issue of resupply in terms of equipment and materiel. If you belong to a larger organization who can replenish you by all means utilize them. Otherwise bulk purchases done through one or more third party brokers wherein communications remain anonymous or the broker who becomes aware of your identity is eliminated. Theft and other illicit means of acquisition are also necessary and preferable when it come to some items such as vehicle acquisition and sterilization.
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Are you a bad enough dude to be a Botswanian Death Metal renegade?
http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/12/27/the-heavy-metal-subculture-of-botswana-africa/
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Nothing horrible will result from this! Nothing at all... #wtfJapan
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BT00520131230?feedType=RSS&irpc=932 (http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BT00520131230?feedType=RSS&irpc=932)
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It sure is a good thing that strange, lost geographical features don't resurface, and unleash great evil upon the world in real life.
Oh wait. (http://www.livescience.com/39819-ancient-forest-thaws.html)
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Nothing horrible will result from this! Nothing at all... #wtfJapan
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BT00520131230?feedType=RSS&irpc=932 (http://mobile.reuters.com/article/idUSBRE9BT00520131230?feedType=RSS&irpc=932)
I'm glad that someone posted this. I've been very lax on collecting fodder. I need to get back to it.
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It sure is a good thing that strange, lost geographical features don't resurface, and unleash great evil upon the world in real life.
Oh wait. (http://www.livescience.com/39819-ancient-forest-thaws.html)
Related, for those of you not in the know, the clonal colony: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clonal_colony
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Also, I'm sure many of you have heard of the Voynich Manuscript (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript). What if, in a CoC game, investigators discovered something similar, which turned out to be a record of the flora and fauna (as well as details on reaching) a parallel world or something? Human civilization having evolved differently to our own - mega-bears and stuff still running around. England regularly winning the World Cup. That kind of thing. *shrug*
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Also, I'm sure many of you have heard of the Voynich Manuscript (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voynich_manuscript). What if, in a CoC game, investigators discovered something similar, which turned out to be a record of the flora and fauna (as well as details on reaching) a parallel world or something? Human civilization having evolved differently to our own - mega-bears and stuff still running around. England regularly winning the World Cup. That kind of thing. *shrug*
Codex Seraphinianus is a similar book, although one with a known author: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Codex_Seraphinianus
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I've always thought this would be a cool setting for a CoC/Fear Itself series:
http://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Machine (http://1d4chan.org/wiki/The_Machine)
A strange, mechanical chasm is discovered beneath the Earth, with a seemingly impossible network of tunnels spread out through its crust.
Also insane Soviet or Nazi (time-period dependant) remnant forces and deadly cleaning-automatons that are "just doing their job" by obliterating the party.
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Cool photos: http://www.weather.com/news/science/haunting-photos-ice-covered-buildings-20140107
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In-keeping with the Ice/Thawing Thereof theme we've got running:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10562017/Melting-glaciers-in-northern-Italy-reveal-corpses-of-WW1-soldiers.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-one/10562017/Melting-glaciers-in-northern-Italy-reveal-corpses-of-WW1-soldiers.html)
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Now for something completely different. Bacterial archaeology: http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-cholera-mysteriously-disappeared-1.14490
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The biggest man made explosion
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tsar_Bomba
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Treasures_of_the_Island_of_Britain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen_Treasures_of_the_Island_of_Britain)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Treasures_of_the_Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Treasures_of_the_Tuatha_D%C3%A9_Danann)
A bunch of relics for a Dark Age/Early Medieval setting?
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Frozen trees in the snow: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/wired-aperture/2012-08/aperture-1-august
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Frozen trees in the snow: http://www.wired.co.uk/news/wired-aperture/2012-08/aperture-1-august
That's... just a tad terrifying.
There's also this:
http://www.oobject.com/category/insane-asylum-plans/
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Would be pretty creepy to wander around in.
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2013/06/29/unfortunate-google-employee-forced-to-wander-alone-on-eerie-abandoned-island-for-street-view-photos/
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Need a little mood-music for your writing/RPG?
How about... oh, you know...
a freakin' Templar Chant?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uv_2x6JmuaE
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The calcified remains of animals around Lake Natron in Tanzania. (http://imgur.com/gallery/shaGj)
Oddly enough, this place is the nesting site of the East African Lesser Flamingo. About 2.5 million of the birds come to breed every year, and two species of fish live in the lake, which can reach 60º C.
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Would you know of the Dogscape? (http://plus4chan.org/boards/coc/res/29988.html)
"...this was a city once, i think, though which one i can't remember. I only owe my guess to the massive pillars of dogs jutting into the sky, perhaps ancient buildings now completely filled and overgrown by canine biomatter. i climbed one once, sinking my fingers and toes deep into the dogwall to gain purchase, and after hours and hours of climbing was rewarded with an incredible vista - fur and eyes, panting tongues and wagging tails, hugging the contours of the once-barren land and stretching in a single aeomebic mass farther than the eye can see.
now i don't do that, though. now I merely go about my day. I hike to the Gardens, where the dogplants sprout up in bizarre shapes from the floor of the dogscape, and reach up to pluck the fetal puppyfruits right off the wagging, energetic branches. I bite into the succulent flesh, the juices dribbling down my chin and dripping down to be reabsorbed by the groundflesh, and revel in the savory taste. I'm thirsty, so i range until I find one of the Mothermounds, and there I suckle at a teatpatch until I've had my fill of milk. sometimes I see other humans around me, as well-adapted to the dogscape as I am, but i barely acknowledge them, say nothing. what, after all, is there to say? The world is different now - what meaning would our old words have?"
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http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/199/house-on-loon-lake
Posted this before somewhere but not on this thread. Couple of teen kids visiting a camp in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire stumble on an abandoned house that is still full of stuff, like the people just disappeared years before.
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http://www.businessinsider.com/abandoned-russian-cruise-ship-lyubov-orlova-heading-for-britian-2014-1
Abandoned ships filled with cannibal rats, what's not to love?
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Harvard has found 3 books in their collection bound in human skin.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/2/the-skinny-on-harvards-rare-book/
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Harvard has found 3 books in their collection bound in human skin.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/2/the-skinny-on-harvards-rare-book/
It is a little know fact when Miskatonic U folded in he seventies because of the high rate of student body deaths Harvard bought up most of their library.
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New planet found in our solar system.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/03/26/294358647/new-dwarf-planet-found-at-the-solar-systems-outer-limits?utm_campaign=storyshare&utm_source=share&utm_medium=twitter
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Okay, this is slightly off-topic but it needs to be posted somewhere. And I guess there is a bit of player logic in there.
http://nationalreport.net/bill-murray-stops-bank-robbery-tokyo-accidentally/
Disregard this, it's fake and I didn't notice :-/
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How to Britain:
1) Forget you have a colony on the tiny, isolated Pitcairn islands, which falls under your jurisdiction. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_Islands)
2) Rediscover said colony (all the inhabitants of which are inbred descendants of one navy captain from the 1800s) after nearly 16% of its population are accused of being part of some rapey pervert-cult. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitcairn_sexual_assault_trial_of_2004)
3) Also discover that the islanders are armed to the teeth, and narrowly avoid some kind of armed resistance to your attempts to arrest and prosecute those responsible. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3554256.stm)
4) Appoint the sister of the leader of said group as the island's sole police officer until a suitable replacement is found.
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This smells like a Delta Green game gone wrong ... or maybe gone good ... I guess it depends on your perspective.
http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/10/4951136/chimps-on-the-loose-at-kc-zoo.html (http://www.kansascity.com/2014/04/10/4951136/chimps-on-the-loose-at-kc-zoo.html)
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Daniel Knauf, creator of HBO's Carnivale (which would be up some of you RPPRers aisles), has created an...interactive movie, shot in multiple places in real time...
here's a link to get you started
http://bxxweb.com/
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If you were running a 20s era game this could be an interesting setting - working the mail route following these giant concrete arrows across the country. Would work for a two person game or maybe have two plans for 4 PCs.
And night gaunts of course.
http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/15/the-forgotten-giant-arrows-that-guide-you-across-america/ (http://www.messynessychic.com/2013/11/15/the-forgotten-giant-arrows-that-guide-you-across-america/)
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It's the Base Raiders way. (http://nonadventures.com/2014/04/05/mastery-of-puppets/)
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I ran into this on facebook or some such mass spam site.
It's 40 Incredible Secret Places Most Travelers Don't Know About.
I hereby renamed it '40 places to Have Adventures / Stage Firefights (http://news.distractify.com/culture/rather-unknown-but-really-special-places-on-earth/?v=1)'.
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It's the Base Raiders way. (http://nonadventures.com/2014/04/05/mastery-of-puppets/)
Wonderella is pretty much a base raider :D
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Harvard has found 3 books in their collection bound in human skin.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2006/2/2/the-skinny-on-harvards-rare-book/
It is a little know fact when Miskatonic U folded in he seventies because of the high rate of student body deaths Harvard bought up most of their library.
Luckily, it was only their bodies which died. Most of the students' souls were harvested intact and continue to have full and meaningful lives.
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A list of My Little Pony RPGs
http://www.examiner.com/article/a-list-of-unofficial-my-little-pony-tabletop-rpgs
So, Ross, when are we hearing one of these on the AP?
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A list of My Little Pony RPGs
http://www.examiner.com/article/a-list-of-unofficial-my-little-pony-tabletop-rpgs
So, Ross, when are we hearing one of these on the AP?
Caleb, Tom, and Aaron playing a My Little Pony game would be pretty epic.
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ಠ_ಠ
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So, uhh, this is NOT game fodder....but it is gaming related and kinda terrifying. And sad. why, slender man? :(
http://fox11online.com/2014/06/02/2-girls-stab-friend-19-times-in-planned-attack/ (http://fox11online.com/2014/06/02/2-girls-stab-friend-19-times-in-planned-attack/)
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Pictures of SF divisions from around the world.
http://imgur.com/gallery/73EzH
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Pictures of SF divisions from around the world.
http://imgur.com/gallery/73EzH
So many of these are breaking Evil Overlord rule nr.1 (http://www.eviloverlord.com/lists/overlord.html)
"My Legions of Terror will have helmets with clear plexiglass visors, not face-concealing ones."
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Based on recent RPPR Actual Plays this would have been a useful link -
http://www.epicurious.com/articlesguides/blogs/editor/2014/06/kitchen-hacks-how-to-open-a-bottle-of-wine.html
I was shocked to see the shoe method in practice.
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I've been watching videos by Surveillance Man. They have inspired me to work on a scenario where the players are just sitting at a restaurant and a random guy walks up and starts taping them without answering any questions or giving ANY communication clues at all.
I am very curious to see how player characters react. ;D
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RqXg6-06a4[/youtube]
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Just watched VHS 2. Like the first one it kinda sucks, except for the third film, "Safe Haven," which is this crazy amazeballs story about a zany cult. It is fucking FUN and would make a great CoC game. It also helps that the main characters in that one aren't dicks.
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http://i.imgur.com/IqUICot.jpg
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http://i.imgur.com/IqUICot.jpg
Its like the next version of "Serial Experiment Lain".
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I'm just going to leave this here. . .
http://imgur.com/a/R8ykc (http://imgur.com/a/R8ykc)
(http://i.imgur.com/zTamUji.gif)
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derwent,_Derbyshire
The village in Derwent was 'drowned' by the Ladybower reservoir in 1947.
The 2001 UK census lists Derwent as having a population of 51.
Innsmouth is real.
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A giant hole appears in the ground at a place called 'Worlds End'.
http://www.9news.com.au/world/2014/07/16/04/48/giant-hole-appears-at-world-end
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http://www.businessinsider.com/joe-biden-putin-soul-2014-7
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A mayfly hatch so large the SWARM WAS CAPTURED BY WEATHER SATELLITES :o
http://www.jsonline.com/weather/radar-photos-capture-massive-mayfly-swarm-around-la-crosse-b99317371z1-268425792.html (http://www.jsonline.com/weather/radar-photos-capture-massive-mayfly-swarm-around-la-crosse-b99317371z1-268425792.html)
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Shades of Eclipse Phase (insofar as existential threats!):
http://io9.com/the-radical-plan-to-eliminate-earths-predatory-species-1613342963
This is, uh... terrifying. I need to write something around it. :D
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Russia Wants Bulgarians to Stop Vandalizing Soviet Monuments To Look Like American Superheroes
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/505354.html
(http://www.themoscowtimes.com/upload/iblock/721/Bulgaria-soviet-monument-painted.jpg)
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This single image could be a plot hook. Think about it.
(http://i.imgur.com/ifPMFws.jpg)
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I was on a camping trip with some friends and we stayed in a single room cabin that was handbuilt by his great grandfather in the 1920s or so. It was very basic and rustic with just a frame and boards for the walls. What seemed like a very good bit to add to a potential game was that almost every time someone stays there, they find a space on the wall and leave a message about their trip. It was dark wood and most of it was in pencil, pen, or carved in so they weren't immediately visible and noticeable (you had to walk up to the walls and focus on actually reading them), so I can imagine a lot of creepy elements of players reading mostly jovial messages with some sinister undertone emerging from them....
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I was on a camping trip with some friends and we stayed in a single room cabin that was handbuilt by his great grandfather in the 1920s or so. It was very basic and rustic with just a frame and boards for the walls. What seemed like a very good bit to add to a potential game was that almost every time someone stays there, they find a space on the wall and leave a message about their trip. It was dark wood and most of it was in pencil, pen, or carved in so they weren't immediately visible and noticeable (you had to walk up to the walls and focus on actually reading them), so I can imagine a lot of creepy elements of players reading mostly jovial messages with some sinister undertone emerging from them....
This has given me an awesome idea for an Unknown Armies game that could devolve into beautiful pvp. Sometimes you just gotta carve your deepest darkest secrets into walls with a friendly tone!
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http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/07/01/128170775/a-very-scary-light-show-exploding-h-bombs-in-space
The US military, during the Cold War, decided to detonate atom bombs in space, just to see what would happen.
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Need a whacky character to to serve as a cult leader or superpowered villain? Here ya go!
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-lawsonomy/ (http://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-lawsonomy/)
Here is the "university" discussed, which is about 5 miles north of where I live. :-\
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3533/3740810942_54dc8e8a55.jpg)
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Need a whacky character to to serve as a cult leader or superpowered villain? Here ya go!
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-lawsonomy/ (http://www.wired.com/2014/10/fantastically-wrong-lawsonomy/)
Here is the "university" discussed, which is about 5 miles north of where I live. :-\
(https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3533/3740810942_54dc8e8a55.jpg)
"He who breaks the law shall be punished back to the House of Pain."
They certainly do have a nice campus. Wonder how their sports teams are ranked?
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"Edison's Conquest of Mars" - an unauthorized sequel to The War of the Worlds, whereupon Thomas Edison builds a fleet of spaceships and does exactly what it says on the tin. Seems like a good starting point for a Kerberous club or any sort of game set in the turn of the century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison's_Conquest_of_Mars (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edison's_Conquest_of_Mars)
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Clearly, the tanks and armored vehicles were necessary to seize this old bastard's property!
http://www.wsaw.com/news/headlines/Attorney-Calls-Deputies-Response-to-Property-Seizure-Excessive-Lawsuit-Filed-280578482.html (http://www.wsaw.com/news/headlines/Attorney-Calls-Deputies-Response-to-Property-Seizure-Excessive-Lawsuit-Filed-280578482.html)
nothing hidden to see here folks just move along now
....he may have been a warlock
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4 acre spider web engulfs a building
http://www.wired.com/2014/10/4-acre-spider-web-engulfs-building/ (http://www.wired.com/2014/10/4-acre-spider-web-engulfs-building/)
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Cross-posting from the Best Internet Vidyas thread, by request.
This is what the 80's sitcom version of a show like Candle Cove turns into, if no PCs ever come along to fix it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzdRQCnDBlw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzdRQCnDBlw)
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So a friend brought this story up and I immediately assumed it was fake and went to Snopes, but apparently not: http://www.snopes.com/photos/odd/evilstick.asp
Might be good for part of a Delta Green game or something. Also was a bit reminiscent of Akaja (sp?) from Know Evil. Something weird like this is going to make the rounds, so the thought that it could gain power as it spreads is definitely creepy....
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That is great! Now, what system to run it in: MAOCT, Little Fears, or Wield ( in which the players will take the role of scary wands).
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MAOCT imo
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Am I a bad person if I look at a map of human suffering and think: "That there is roleplaying material"?
(http://i.imgur.com/lcoBjkm.jpg)
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The day the sun turned blue above Toronto (http://spacing.ca/toronto/2014/12/09/day-sun-turned-blue-toronto/)
(http://spacing.ca/toronto/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2014/12/Toronto-Blue-Sun-1950s-0-1.jpg)
“Toronto’s sky was filled with weird wonder,” the Globe and Mail reported. “A great saffron-colored cloud filled the sky. Around it rolled steel grey clouds, shot by blackness and rippled, as water is rippled by a sudden light wind. Far off to the north and east the cold white light of the horizon accentuated the darkness that hung over the city.
“It was beautiful with a strange and dreary beauty and filled with ominous portent…”
The sun was most ominous of all. For most of the day, it was hidden behind those dark, swirling, purple clouds. But in the few brief moments when it did shine out from between them, it was shining the wrong colour: a frightening blue-mauve. It cast no shadows. And it shone with no rays.
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I'm not sure if to be scared or laughing hysterically
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/world/europe/putin-cites-claim-about-us-designs-on-siberia-traced-to-russian-mind-readers.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/19/world/europe/putin-cites-claim-about-us-designs-on-siberia-traced-to-russian-mind-readers.html?_r=0)
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A map of monsters across the United States. Unfortunately, it is missing the Hodag. :(
(http://images.bigcartel.com/bigcartel/product_images/147380644/max_h-1000+max_w-1000/hog_island_press_monsters_in_america.jpg)
http://www.hogislandpress.com/product/monster-map (http://www.hogislandpress.com/product/monster-map)
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Sweet, Pauly! I'd never heard of Momo before. He's apparently our state's version of Bigfoot.
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Previously undiscovered Nazi nuclear power plant discovered.
What more can a gamer ask for?
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/secret-nazi-nuclear-plant-discovered-northern-austria.html (http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/secret-nazi-nuclear-plant-discovered-northern-austria.html)
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Rewatching Kill La Kill makes me want to make clothing made with strange super-threads a power source in Base Raiders.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralia,_Pennsylvania)
Centralia is a borough and ghost town in Columbia County, Pennsylvania, United States. Its population has dwindled from over 1,000 residents in 1981 to 12 in 2005[1] and 9 in 2007,[2] as a result of a mine fire burning beneath the borough since 1962
Didn't RPPR do a game set there once?
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One road in, one road out.
http://gizmodo.com/the-alaskan-town-living-under-one-roof-1678831641 (http://gizmodo.com/the-alaskan-town-living-under-one-roof-1678831641)
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Of possible interest especially for horror gaming: historical books bound in human skin:
http://www.vice.com/read/binding-books-with-human-skin-135?utm_source=vicetwitterus (http://www.vice.com/read/binding-books-with-human-skin-135?utm_source=vicetwitterus)
Apparently there was some tradition of famous criminals having their skin used to bind books about their crimes, as a part of their punishment.
As a story seed, maybe one such book bears the curse that anyone who touches the skin feels a compulsion to reinact the murderer's crimes...
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I'm sure someone can find good use for this in their game
(http://i.imgur.com/SmAe8Fi.jpg)
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http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NzMxNjI5Mg==&mid=205125938&idx=2&sn=f8c3645029db27cf4e9f17e836aa51cf#rd (http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MjM5NzMxNjI5Mg==&mid=205125938&idx=2&sn=f8c3645029db27cf4e9f17e836aa51cf#rd)
Misconceptions about other cultures can be funny!
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I'm gonna wear my shoes to bed tonight, now that I know that it's common practice.
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No harm can come from resurrecting ancient traditions. None at all.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years)
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No harm can come from resurrecting ancient traditions. None at all.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/feb/02/iceland-temple-norse-gods-1000-years)
I'll get you some photos once the building is done.
If anyone is looking for cult leaders to put in their game, I present to you two ex-head pagan cultist of Iceland (Allsherjargoði)
Sveinbjörn Beinteinsson
(http://i.imgur.com/MgdkZid.jpg?1)
Jörmundur Ingi Hansen
(http://icelandicknives.com/wp-content/gallery/walking-stick/cain1-1.jpg)
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Oh, man, that second photo. I want that outfit.
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Oh, man, that second photo. I want that outfit.
This is the guy who made the staff.
http://icelandicknives.com/ (http://icelandicknives.com/)
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While the current situation with ISIS is deadly serious, there's a lot of stuff out there that my GM brain can't help but turn into game fodder.
http://ekurd.net/iraqi-kurdistans-gun-markets-boom-as-kurds-fight-islamic-state-2015-02-18 (http://ekurd.net/iraqi-kurdistans-gun-markets-boom-as-kurds-fight-islamic-state-2015-02-18)
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The ghouls of Paris have a sense of humor
Hundreds of skeletons found under Paris supermarket
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/world/paris-skeletons-found/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/03/world/paris-skeletons-found/)
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gamers are everywhere: https://medium.com/the-nib/rpg-9d45eda73160
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Tired of grimdark villains? Want a unique mystery for GUMSHOE? Behold, the serial pooper:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/akron-ohio-police-seek-man-who-defecated-cars-19-times-n322246
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Tired of grimdark villains? Want a unique mystery for GUMSHOE? Behold, the serial pooper:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/akron-ohio-police-seek-man-who-defecated-cars-19-times-n322246 (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/crime-courts/akron-ohio-police-seek-man-who-defecated-cars-19-times-n322246)
I would rather not closely contemplate the core clues.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbYcB9ctu8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FnbYcB9ctu8)
Inspiration in case anyone wants to run a Call of Cthulhu game about cheesy Mythos evangelists.
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We just had a near total solar eclipse here in Iceland.
http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2015-march-20 (http://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar/2015-march-20)
That in itself is story worthy, but if you want to make it really interesting then...
Well the only place on dry land that had TOTAL solar eclipse this time was Færeyjar (The Faror islands (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faroe_Islands)) and Svalbarði (Svalbard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard)). Both places are just begging to be deep one colonies.
The Faroe Island are a Danish colony in the middle of the Atlantic ocean. They and have a population of just 50,000 people, their own language, about 1200 years of history and a really interesting customs of whale herding and butchering (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whaling_in_the_Faroe_Islands).
Svalbardi is even more remote. It's a Norwegian island colony without native population and only about 2,500 inhabitants. But it's a big ass place, 60,000 sq km, about 1/3 of the size of the state of Missouri.
And these two places are the only place that just had a full eclipse.
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We've had too much fun in Iceland, let's head somewhere safe. . . like Japan!
(http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/ujpaQ4CVXp21lNOjsf_5rQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTgwMDtpbD1wbGFuZTtweW9mZj0wO3E9NzU7dz0xMjAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/Reuters/2015-03-16T080052Z_2089135445_GM1EB3G0NVU01_RTRMADP_3_JAPAN-DOLLS-WIDERIMAGE.JPG)
:\
http://news.yahoo.com/time-stands-still-japans-village-scarecrows-080628366.html?soc_src=copy (http://news.yahoo.com/time-stands-still-japans-village-scarecrows-080628366.html?soc_src=copy)
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Call of Cthulhu plots just fall from the sky sometimes.
http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/03/18/pkg-ancient-discovery-basement.cbc-news (http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2015/03/18/pkg-ancient-discovery-basement.cbc-news)
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/bathurst-bishop-discovers-16th-century-books-in-diocese-basement-1.2998627 (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/bathurst-bishop-discovers-16th-century-books-in-diocese-basement-1.2998627)
In Bathurst, New Brunswick (Canada) a basement pipe explodes in a Church building and lo and behold, a hidden library is found with books dating back to the late 1500s. Most of the books were printed in Europe and transferred to the New World.
He says most of the books they have discovered are scripture, written in Greek and Latin, and some are bound in lamb skin.
"For us, just to touch these books, we have the impression [of going] back in history and to be with people of this time — people at the time of Jacques Cartier touched that book, so it's special."
The oldest book is from 1589 and Jodoin says the collection also includes books written in old French and books written in Mi'kmaq.
According to Wikipedia, Mi'kmaq is:
... Mi'kmaq, an Eastern Algonquian language .[7][8] Once written in Mi'kmaq hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the standard Latin alphabet.
At the very least if you are running the classic Cthulhu scenario The Haunting, if the players don't think to go into the basement you can always have a pipe burst.
For the next news story, do you remember the 13th Warrior?
http://www.history.com/news/islamic-ring-found-in-9th-century-viking-grave (http://www.history.com/news/islamic-ring-found-in-9th-century-viking-grave)
In the late 19th century, the archaeologist Hjalmar Stolpe spent years excavating gravesites near Birka, a town on the Swedish island of Björkö that operated as a key center for trade during the Viking Age. In a grave of a woman buried in the 9th century, his excavations recovered a silver-colored ring with a purple stone, now in the collections of the Swedish History Museum. Researchers confirmed this week that the ring, which is engraved with Arabic script, provides rare physical evidence of contact between Vikings and the Islamic world.
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How ISIS conducted espionage operations in Syria: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html (http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/islamic-state-files-show-structure-of-islamist-terror-group-a-1029274.html)
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There's a hole in the universe, 1.8 billion light years across. Physicists call it a "super-void" and say it's the largest structure in the known universe.
Quote: "Its existence only emerged thanks to a targeted astronomical survey, which confirmed that around 10,000 galaxies were “missing” from the part of the sky it sits in."
Source: The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/apr/20/astronomers-discover-largest-known-structure-in-the-universe-is-a-big-hole)
Jesus Christ Azathoth what are you doing
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Azathoth: "Duhhhhh... just want a little bite?"
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Fantastic find Radioactive Beer. I hope the Eclipse Phase crew includes it in a future supplement.
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Heist stories:
On the trail of jewel thieves known as the Pink Panthers (New Yorker 2010, heist pulled off in 2003 was about $30M):
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/12/the-pink-panthers (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/04/12/the-pink-panthers)
More recently, pictures from the $300M diamond heist known as the Hatton Garden heist in London:
http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/world/gallery/hatton-garden-heist/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/22/world/gallery/hatton-garden-heist/)
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The gods are angry in Chile
(http://i.imgur.com/K1whx6y.jpg)
Source: From mister Andrés Maximiliano Sepúlveda Gómez facebook (https://www.facebook.com/andres.m.sepulvedag.1/posts/10152961149984387?pnref=story) page. There are some more picture there.
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Snap! Nodens has left Kingsport.
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I live in cali this news headline caught my eye
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aide-california-state-attorney-accused-133247087.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=fb (http://finance.yahoo.com/news/aide-california-state-attorney-accused-133247087.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory&soc_trk=fb)
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CNN had a story about an African cult.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/06/africa/gallery/infiltrated-african-nyau-cult/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/06/africa/gallery/infiltrated-african-nyau-cult/)
(http://i.imgur.com/P6ZqoFUh.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/4qwWhIjh.jpg)
Some of the regalia look vaguely like Hopi Kachinas.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/06/eerie-chalkboard-drawings-frozen-in-time-for-100-years-discovered-in-oklahoma-school/?tid=trending_strip_1 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/06/06/eerie-chalkboard-drawings-frozen-in-time-for-100-years-discovered-in-oklahoma-school/?tid=trending_strip_1)
Could be used for MaoCT or Little Fears.
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Holy shit, the guy that owns Tshirthell.com is fucking crazy. Here is some game fodder to usher in the King in Yellow.
http://www.tshirthell.com/truthor.htm (http://www.tshirthell.com/truthor.htm)
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Someone is murdering climate scientist.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/globalwarming/11762680/Three-scientists-investigating-melting-Arctic-ice-may-have-been-assassinated-professor-claims.html (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/earth/environment/globalwarming/11762680/Three-scientists-investigating-melting-Arctic-ice-may-have-been-assassinated-professor-claims.html)
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Someone is murdering climate scientist.
This still to this day pisses me off: The Harper Canadian government, as part of 'cost cutting' defunded a lot of Canada's archives. One of the things that as destroyed were Ernest Shackleton's logs. The Canadian government burned books that contained climate data gathered by Shackleton noting the weather in his daily logs.
Of course, I'm a librarian - burning books engenders some rage on my part. And when I say some, I mean all of it.
On an 'oh shit' moment for Eclipse Phase games, air gapped servers are not safe - they can broadcast data: http://www.wired.com/2015/07/researchers-hack-air-gapped-computer-simple-cell-phone/ (http://www.wired.com/2015/07/researchers-hack-air-gapped-computer-simple-cell-phone/)
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_Church,_Leeds
So, this is something I've actually used to write a Trail of Cthulhu scenario.
During the 1930's, homelessness was such a problem in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, that the local church addressed their problems by turning their crypt (a literal crypt) into a temporary homeless shelter.
I mean, what could go wrong by sticking society's most vulnerable and at-risk folk in a literal fucking crypt right?
(Spoilers: in the scenario I wrote, no it's not ghouls. Ghouls were too obvious)
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Having read the Color Out of Space there is no way this does not end poorly.
http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/08/meteorite_may_have_sparked_fir.html (http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2015/08/meteorite_may_have_sparked_fir.html)
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Come on!
Body of notorious ‘Nosferatu’ director stolen by grave robbers
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/body-of-notorious-nosferatu-director-stolen-by-grave-robbers-1.2295093 (http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/body-of-notorious-nosferatu-director-stolen-by-grave-robbers-1.2295093)
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Welp, the Secret of NIMH just got a whole lot more plausible:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/08/17/mutated-mice-show-enhanced-brain-power-ubc-study (http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/08/17/mutated-mice-show-enhanced-brain-power-ubc-study)
Also this could be good reading for a "legacy" of NIMH game? XD hint, hint Aaron ?
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Welp, the Secret of NIMH just got a whole lot more plausible:
http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/08/17/mutated-mice-show-enhanced-brain-power-ubc-study (http://vancouver.24hrs.ca/2015/08/17/mutated-mice-show-enhanced-brain-power-ubc-study)
Also this could be good reading for a "legacy" of NIMH game? XD hint, hint Aaron ?
Split odds on this going for world changing breakthrough, or This is how Planet of the Apes started!!!
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Anyone have a lead on some super creepy flute only or at the very least primarily flute music?
It's harder to find than I thought it would be.
Also as for contribution to story fodder:
Ikea Furniture names are actually all words in the ancient seal holding back oblivion via Great Old One.
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! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbRC3scRYeE#)
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tb7yhXrPfC4#)
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http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/18/isis-beheads-archaeologist-syria (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/aug/18/isis-beheads-archaeologist-syria)
OK, this is sad, but the dude was a badass in multiple ways. Could easily be tied in with a Delta Green story line (just listened to Iconoclasts Actual Play the other day so this stuck out at me).
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Yeah that was very sad.
New York Times article on Antiquities Smuggling
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/arts/design/the-ultimate-temple-raider-inside-an-antiquities-smuggling-operation.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/26/arts/design/the-ultimate-temple-raider-inside-an-antiquities-smuggling-operation.html)
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http://www.havocscope.com/ (http://www.havocscope.com/)
A site that collects together a whole bunch of information on black market and world crime information.
For example, the prices of AK-47s and other weapons around the world:
http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/ak-47/ (http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/ak-47/)
The Niger Delta has crazy good prices!
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This sounds like a Delta Green scenario just waiting to be written.
Confirmed: Long-Lost Nazi Loot Train Found In Poland
Officials in Walbrzych, Poland confirm a mysterious Nazi train has been found, but don't know what it contains
http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/news/a17087/confirmed-nazi-loot-train-found/ (http://www.popularmechanics.com/adventure/news/a17087/confirmed-nazi-loot-train-found/)
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I need to play this as an RPG
http://youtu.be/UyBUYmUnNCw (http://youtu.be/UyBUYmUnNCw)
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Sparkles.
http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/911-call-ross-bay-cemetery-armed-man-in-unicorn-mask-1.2046063 (http://www.timescolonist.com/news/local/911-call-ross-bay-cemetery-armed-man-in-unicorn-mask-1.2046063)
SPARKLES NO.
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A new batch of tv infomercials:
(http://i773.photobucket.com/albums/yy17/Speevy026/Horror_zpstclaaq9w.gif)
(http://i.imgur.com/O8toNwd.gif)
(http://i.imgur.com/1ksWFY4.gif)
(http://i.imgur.com/FV80TKu.gif)
(http://gifsoup.com/webroot/animatedgifs6/2479251_o.gif)
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Ship-swallowing GREEN BIO-STORM spotted FROM SPAAACE ...from The Register:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/07/shipswallowing_green_biostorm_spotted_from_spaaace/ (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/07/shipswallowing_green_biostorm_spotted_from_spaaace/)
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New species of human discovered, Homo Naledi.
Importantly, it is reported that there is evidence Homo naledi buried their dead.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/africa/homo-naledi-human-relative-species/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/09/10/africa/homo-naledi-human-relative-species/)
Berger's team came up with the startling theory just days after reaching the place where the fossils -- consisting of infants, children, adults and elderly individuals -- were found, in a previously isolated chamber within the cave.
The team believes that the chamber, located 30 meters underground in the Cradle of Humanity world heritage site, was a burial ground -- and that Homo naledi could have used fire to light the way.
"There is no damage from predators, there is no sign of a catastrophe. We had to come to the inevitable conclusion that Homo naledi, a non-human species of hominid, was deliberately disposing of its dead in that dark chamber. Why, we don't know," Berger told CNN.
"Until the moment of discovery of 'naledi,' I would have probably said to you that it was our defining character. The idea of burial of the dead or ritualized body disposal is something utterly uniquely human."
Standing at the entrance to the cave this week, Berger said: "We have just encountered another species that perhaps thought about its own mortality, and went to great risk and effort to dispose of its dead in a deep, remote, chamber right behind us."
"It absolutely questions what makes us human. And I don't think we know anymore what does."
The first undisputed human burial dates to some 100,000 years ago, but because Berger's team hasn't yet been able to date naledi's fossils, they aren't clear how significant their theory is.
...
So far they've unearthed more than 1,500 fossil remains in total -- the largest single hominin find yet revealed on the continent of Africa, the cradle of human evolution.
(http://i.imgur.com/cXDlBuMh.jpg)
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http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2015/09/10/Homo-naledi-a-new-species-of-human-relative-from-the-Cradle-of-Humankind (http://www.timeslive.co.za/scitech/2015/09/10/Homo-naledi-a-new-species-of-human-relative-from-the-Cradle-of-Humankind)
The mystery is how this hominid, ended up in the chamber, which has been named the Dinaledi Chamber, or “Chamber of Stars”.
...
Homo naledi is unique in that it has a mix of primate and human-like features. The shoulders are similar to apes while the feet are distinctly human-like.
“Surprisingly, Homo naledi has extremely curved fingers, more curved than almost any other species of early hominin, which clearly demonstrates climbing capabilities. This contrasts with the feet of H. naledi, which are “virtually indistinguishable from those of modern humans,” said Dr William Harcourt-Smith of Lehman College, City University of New York, and the American Museum of Natural History, who led the study of Homo naledi’s feet.
He believes the feet with the long legs might have also made Homo naledi suitable for long-distance walking.
But as yet scientists don't know where Homo naledi sits on man's evolutionary tree as they have been unable to date the species as yet.
Link to original scientific papers:
http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e09561 (http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e09561)
http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e10627 (http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e10627)
Other links:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/ (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150910-human-evolution-change/)
So who's going to integrate this into the Delta Green Mythos?
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Report in Nature about Underwater Archaeology off the Pacific coast of the Americas.
Fodder for Delta Green/general CoC/supernatural investigation games.
Includes information on government agencies that are funding the work.
http://www.nature.com/news/fishing-for-the-first-americans-1.18334#/graphic (http://www.nature.com/news/fishing-for-the-first-americans-1.18334#/graphic)
On 17 September, a catamaran will set off into the Pacific Ocean on a week-long cruise back to the Pleistocene. Laden with sonar instruments, the research vessel Shearwater will probe the ocean bottom to find places that were beaches and dry land more than 13,000 years ago, when the sea level was around 100 metres lower. The researchers are hunting for evidence that ancient people lived along this now-sunken coastline as they colonized the New World.
Meanwhile, other archaeologists are digging in the intertidal zone on a remote island off the shore of British Columbia in Canada, where the sea level has barely changed since the ice-age glaciers began to retreat. Since late last year, that team has found footprints and a tool that date back 13,200 years, making them some of the oldest human marks on the continent. Whoever left them had to have reached the island by boat.
Welcome to the newest wave of American archaeology: the idea that the first residents of the Americas came by sea, hugging the Pacific coast as they went south. This theory marks a sharp departure from the once-dominant hypothesis that Pleistocene hunters from Siberia migrated by foot across a land bridge to Alaska and then south into the heart of North America. This route opened up only when the vast sheets of ice covering the continent had melted enough to permit passage. It was thought that these first migrants made the distinctive stone spear tips called Clovis points, which began appearing at sites in the interior of North America around 13,000 years ago.
There has long been evidence that others reached the New World at least 1,000 years earlier. But only in the past decade have archaeologists accumulated enough evidence to abandon the Clovis-first model (see Nature 485, 30–32; 2012). Some of the earliest human sites in the Americas date to well before a corridor opened up between the ice sheets, which is forcing researchers to explore the idea that New World colonizers skirted the coastline. Travelling by boat, these early people could have hopscotched their way south of the ice sheets, subsisting on the rich marine resources of the ice-free strip along the shore.
The search for these sea-going settlers will not be easy. Much of the evidence that archaeologists seek is deep underwater — or was smashed long ago by the Pacific's legendary waves. But momentum is building to find those earliest settlers. “People are just more optimistic,” says Quentin Mackie, an archaeologist at the University of Victoria in Canada. Amanda Evans, a marine archaeologist at the ocean-survey company Tesla Offshore in Prairieville, Louisiana, says that prehistoric underwater archaeology in general is having a moment. “This year just seems to be the year that everybody was pushing the ball uphill and it finally crested.”
Tools of the trade
Loren Davis, an archaeologist at Oregon State University in Corvallis, is searching for the ancient seafarers in an unusual spot — at a site in Idaho called Cooper's Ferry, which is on a bank of the Salmon River, hundreds of kilometres away from the coast. At the dig site in August, Davis examines a piece of rock brought to him by one of his field crew. He turns it over to see whether it was shaped by human hands, perhaps by early toolmakers who littered the ground with flakes of rock as they worked.
Although Cooper's Ferry is far inland, Davis suggests that it is part of the coastal story. The Salmon is a tributary of the mighty Columbia River, which would have been the first large waterway encountered by people who made it south of the ice sheets during the last glacial epoch. At that time, valleys farther north would have been covered by glaciers. For a water-adapted culture, he says, “the first off-ramp south of the ice is the Columbia River”.
Having considered the stone, Davis hands it back to his colleague and says, “I think it is a flake.” His archaeological pits, which the crew has shaped into a series of neat holes, are full of flakes and finished 'western stemmed' points up to 13,200 years old1. Whereas the Clovis points are shaped like miniature surfboards, the western stemmed points from Cooper's Ferry are smaller and look like Christmas trees. Points resembling the western stemmed variety have been found throughout the western United States and in Siberia — a connection that suggests they were brought over to the New World by early hunters.
Davis's crew is quietly intent, and the air is filled with the gentle sound of trowels scraping earth, along with a rock wren's distinctive call. The peace is occasionally broken by shouts between diggers and data recorders: “Bone!”, “Fire-cracked rock!” or “Deb!” (short for debitage, or flakes). The position of each artefact is precisely recorded, then it is bagged up and stored in one of many boxes that are piling up in a nearby trailer. Precise dates will be assigned later, in the laboratory.
A sense of expectation hangs over the dig. If the team uncovers particularly old western stemmed points that definitively pre-date the Clovis era, that would strongly suggest that the first Americans carried these points there by sea and river. “You get a gambler's mentality,” Davis says. The hunt obsesses the crew, who spend weeks here, camped out and digging for hours each day. Sarah Skinner, an Oregon State student who supervises pit B, says that she wakes up clenching her fists around dream trowels. “When I close my eyes, I see artefacts,” she says.
Hinge-point hunt
Signs of early inhabitants are also starting to appear along the coast, particularly in spots where the swelling seas have not covered ancient shorelines since the end of the last glacial period. The western coast of Canada, for example, was pressed down by the Pleistocene ice and has been rebounding upwards since the glaciers melted. In some spots — hinge points — that post-glaciation rebound almost exactly cancels out the rising sea level2. One of those hinge points is Calvert Island, where a 13,200-year-old footprint was found late last year and another was discovered this summer. Daryl Fedje and Duncan McLaren, both archaeologists at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, plan to continue working the site to look for signs of the earliest Americans (see 'Welcome to America').
The Hakai Institute on Calvert Island, founded by Canadian entrepreneur Eric Peterson, is supporting that work. “As a fourth-generation British Columbian,” Peterson says, “I am intensely interested in the rich history of humans on our coastline, which we now realize goes way, way back. How far back? Thirteen thousand years? Fifteen thousand years? That's what we want to find out.”
Mackie thinks that Calvert Island and similar hinge points will produce results much faster than underwater work, which is technically challenging and expensive. “You might as well just stand on your boat and burn $100 bills,” he says.
But despite the enormous cost and technical challenges, he and others agree that underwater locations may hold tremendous potential and that the time has finally come for archaeologists of American prehistory to explore the Pacific Ocean. There have been a few projects over the years. In the late 1990s, Mackie and Fedje did some sea-floor mapping around Haida Gwaii, an island off the British Columbia coast3. They took samples of sea-floor sediment and hauled up a barnacle-encrusted flake tool that they suggest dates from 10,000 years ago, when the sea floor on which it was found was dry land. More recently, the duo used an autonomous underwater vehicle to explore and found what they suggest could be a fishing weir — a trap made from rocks — that dates back 13,800 years.
Archaeologist James Dixon of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque has done marine surveys of the now-submerged land that once connected Asia and North America. And Jon Erlandson, an archaeologist at the University of Oregon in Eugene, has worked for years on the Channel Islands off Southern California, piecing together evidence for his theory that people followed a 'kelp highway' down the coast. This route would have offered abundant food — fish, shellfish and marine mammals — supported by the kelp forest ecosystems.
But the offshore studies so far have been limited, and most of the discoveries have not been reliably dated. “There's very few of us, and we are spread over vast, vast areas,” says Dixon. There has been a hesitation to join — or fund — the chancy and expensive underwater search. “You can go out there and be totally skunked by the weather,” he says. “It is a tough thing.”
That has led many researchers to discount the coastal hypothesis in the past, notes Mackie. “People thought 'well, all the information is deep underwater and we'll never find it',” he says. And so far, nothing older than the Clovis era has been found along the Pacific Coast — either on the sea floor or on land.
Spark of interest
What snapped the field out of its funk was not a charismatic leader or a spectacular find — it was federal bureaucracy.
The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) was formed in 2010 to regulate energy development on the continental shelf. The bureau is bound by the National Historic Preservation Act, which requires it to make sure that valuable archaeological sites will not be destroyed by any development that requires a federal permit. As interest in offshore renewable-energy projects has increased in recent years, BOEM has scrambled to improve methods for identifying prehistoric sites.
In 2011, it commissioned a sweeping study of possible archaeological sites on the Pacific outer continental shelf. Davis and a colleague at Oregon State, archaeologist Alex Nyers, worked on the report, using existing ocean-depth data and estimates of sea-level rise to decipher where previous shorelines would have been4. They then modelled where prehistoric sites might be clustered: presumably on gentle, south-facing (and thus warmer) slopes and near lakes, rivers, bays and islands, all now submerged.
That report came out in 2013, and led directly to a US$600,000 grant from BOEM to seek out evidence for the predictions about prehistoric environments. On a series of cruises off California and Oregon over the next three years, researchers will use a variety of sonar instruments to survey the ocean floor and sediments below. If they identify a possible estuary, beach or other ancient shoreline feature, they will take core samples and carbon date biological material from the various layers of sediment to confirm the find.
Principal investigator Todd Braje, an anthropologist at San Diego State University in California, is trying to expand the project by encouraging the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other potential funders to add more cruises. But even at its current size, he says, “This is probably the biggest effort to identify submerged sites along the Pacific coast.”
The investment may be big, but Braje is trying to keep expectations modest. He insists that the goal is to learn how to identify environments in which humans might have camped or settled up to 20,000 years ago; the team is not expecting to find the remains of any settlements, and certainly not ones older than those of the Clovis settlers. “The idea that we are going to hit on a 15,000-year-old site that is underwater is probably unrealistic in the near future,” says Braje. “You get to those first migrants into the New World and the archaeological footprint they left is very small.”
The project will build on Davis's model of submerged environments, using coring and imaging to test whether his projections actually lead them to the right sorts of sites. Davis is a co-principal investigator and will join the Oregon cruises next year.
In the meantime, he is digging in Idaho. It is near the end of the field season, and he and his crew are working on their day off to finish as much as possible. He has bribed them with gourmet cheese, and he lays it out with no fewer than five cheese knives. Combined with the trowels, brushes, scrapers and spoons used by the crew, the site is bristling with tools.
Given all the difficulties of this work, those involved in investigating the ocean-migration hypothesis stress that expectations should remain modest for many years as researchers improve their search methods. If the theory is correct, the first definitive older-than-Clovis find along the coast — the green light for the theory that everyone seems to be hoping for — could still be far off. “It could happen this summer, next summer, it could be ten years,” says Erlandson.
Or it could happen right now in the sweltering pit at Cooper's Ferry, with the very next scrape of a trowel.
(http://i.imgur.com/M720LN5.jpg)
So this got me thinking. Have there been any Call of Cthulhu games that feature underwater investigation with SCUBA rules published?
What about a Delta Green scenario revolving around containment of artifacts from an underwater archaeological site. Similar to The Last Equation where players have to destroy evidence of the Numbers, perhaps DG investigators have to pose as archaeologist grad students (or helpers or whatever experts) and obscure/steal artifacts to be unearthed as well as plant evidence to convince the tenured archaeological faculty to generate a narrative for the site that makes it not a groundbreaking archaeological find but something that fits into the current "real" archaeological narrative.
And of course there is the zealous postdoc/grad student who is certain of his hunches about a pre-human civilization and the party has to either eliminate the vector making it look like an accident or try to make the monomaniacal academic a friendly.
In addition to this perhaps the party has to also investigate the mysterious shell corporation that is funding this archaeological dig so that they can get clearance for building an offshore powerplant on the site.
We usually jump to Deep Ones or The Temple when thinking of underwater sites but there has to be some new Mythos threat that can be thrown at players.
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Cross posting this so more people see it.
May be useful to someone think of a moon base or a eclipse phase game.
In the 1960's the US Army drafted plans to build a military base on the moon. Code named "Project Horizon".
CNN: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/24/us/1960s-moon-military-base/ (http://edition.cnn.com/2014/07/24/us/1960s-moon-military-base/)
The U.S. Army brainchild "Project Horizon" was born.
Its proposal to leap beyond the Soviets opened with the line: "There is a requirement for a manned military outpost on the moon."
The paper argued that it was imperative for the United States to develop and protect its potential interest on the Earth's natural satellite -- and to do so quickly to protect the American way of life.
"To be second to the Soviet Union in establishing an outpost on the moon would be disastrous to our nation's prestige and in turn to our democratic philosophy," the paper surmised.
It should have the kind of priority and authority given to the Manhattan Project, which developed the atomic bomb, the Army said.
"Once established, the lunar base will be operated under the control of a unified space command." The space around the Earth and moon would be considered a military theater.
Lunar nuclear power plants
After a thorough justification of the scientific, political and military need for the base, the proposal -- two documents and more than 400 typewritten pages -- calculated out the details of what could be done on the outpost and what it would take to make it reality.
It offered graphs and mathematical formulas; considerations for low gravity and magnetic field, lack of water and air, and ballistic dynamics on the moon's surface; and design drawings of spacecraft, lunar bulldozers, modular moon cabins and special space suits.
It contained photos of the moon with desirable spots for a colony mapped out on them.
Project Horizon would start out with 10 to 20 crew members on a mission to build a somewhat self-sustaining colony capable of producing its own oxygen and water.
Supply ships would bring the rest. Page after page was dedicated to the future capabilities of the Saturn rockets that would boost the supplies there.
With expansion would come lunar nuclear power plants.
Construction of the basic outpost would start in 1964 and be completed five years later.
The visions were a bit ahead of schedule. Humans did not land on the moon for the first time until July 1969. And in the end, it wasn't the military, but NASA that sent them there.
Lunar nuclear detonation
The nuclear arms race was omnipresent in the '60s, and Project Horizon made room for its possible expansion to the moon. It pondered the pros and cons -- scientifically, militarily and psychologically -- of detonating a nuclear device on the moon or nearby.
And it reflected on the possibility of using nuclear weapons in space.
Technological advances accelerated the Cold War and the space race through the 1960s, and U.S. military and intelligence agencies expounded in further papers on how the moon could be used for military purposes or intelligence gathering.
George Washington University has collected the papers and published them on its National Security Archive website.
The U.S. agencies also documented their space rivalry with the Soviet Union, how U.S. intelligence picked up Soviet anti-ballistic missile radar images, when their signals reflected off the moon.
Intelligence officers feverishly studied Soviet space capabilities and intercepted pictures their spacecraft signaled back to Earth.
And in 1967 the CIA documented how operatives "borrowed" a Lunik space capsule, analyzed it and returned it to the Soviets.
The purpose of a nuclear detonation near or on the moon would be for show, a document said.
Its "foremost intent was to impress the world with the prowess of the United States."
The security archive said that Air Force leaders scrapped the idea after deciding that it was too risky.
In 1967, the U.N. adopted the Outer Space Treaty banning the use of nuclear weapons from space -- including from the moon.
Link to Declassified Moon Base pdfs: http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB479/#_edn2 (http://nsarchive.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB479/#_edn2)
UN Treaty on "Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies" : http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html (http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/en/ourwork/spacelaw/treaties/introouterspacetreaty.html)
[/quote]
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This needs to be a part of a Fiasco game
‘Ginger extremist’ convicted in royal death plot so Prince Harry can be king (http://www.thespec.com/news-story/5924821--ginger-extremist-convicted-in-royal-death-plot-so-prince-harry-can-be-king/)
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Anybody need house blueprints? Here's an awesome collection of them searchable and filterable by size, room number, etc. Includes exteriors too. And the images are easily saveable.
http://www.eplans.com/ (http://www.eplans.com/)
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So with the most reason of Doctor Who now on Netflix, I've "caught up" so to speak. Say what you will about the show as a whole, but there are pretty consistently bits and pieces that are great for monsters or big bads, especially in horror games (weeping angels, the silence and the most recent Christmas special spring to mind)....
Building up my pool of ideas to pull from for a Halloween game coming up....
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An idea for some historical horror gaming: An Excerpt from the Russian Primary Chronicle -
"6600 (1092). An extraordinary event occurred at Polotsk. At night
there was heard a clatter and a groaning in the streets, and demons ran
about like men. If any citizen went forth from his house to look upon
them, he was wounded straightway by some invisible (215) demon,
and so many perished from such wounds that the people dared no
longer leave their houses. The demons later began to appear on horseback
during the day. They were not visible themselves, but the hoofs
of their horses could be seen. Thus they did injury to the people of
Polotsk and the vicinity, so that it was commonly said that ghosts were
killing the people of Polotsk."
TL;DR: according to one of the best primary source documents concerning Kiev Rus, a town was literally invaded by invisible demons once.
I definitely recommend anyone who's interested poke around at the RPC - it's full to the brim with this sort of wackyness. Also game of thrones-esque dynastic struggles and power-plays. It's a delight to read.
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It might be fun to do a Cthulhu scenario based around people trapped in an alien zoo.
http://io9.com/10-animal-husbandry-techniques-that-alien-zoos-will-use-1702453774 (http://io9.com/10-animal-husbandry-techniques-that-alien-zoos-will-use-1702453774)
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An idea for some historical horror gaming: An Excerpt from the Russian Primary Chronicle -
I had never heard of this before now. Great find!
For posterity, ancient India's stepwells
(http://i.imgur.com/54rV7Rq.jpg)
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/06/architecture/victoria-lautman-wells/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/06/architecture/victoria-lautman-wells/)
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China being the first to implement a fairly comprehensive reputation scoring system:
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans (https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-future/chinas-nightmarish-citizen-scores-are-warning-americans)
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I posit that any GM who cannot use this story should just go ahead and hang up their GM spurs.
http://mashable.com/2015/10/18/colonial-church-reservoir-mexico/#izI6zzNLaPq3 (http://mashable.com/2015/10/18/colonial-church-reservoir-mexico/#izI6zzNLaPq3)
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I posit that any GM who cannot use this story should just go ahead and hang up their GM spurs.
http://mashable.com/2015/10/18/colonial-church-reservoir-mexico/#izI6zzNLaPq3 (http://mashable.com/2015/10/18/colonial-church-reservoir-mexico/#izI6zzNLaPq3)
Awesome. My first thought was that looks like the inspiration for Dark Souls' drowned New Londo Ruins.
(http://i.imgur.com/Mgg83Tf.jpg)
1,200-year-old Viking sword discovered by hiker in Norway.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/europe/viking-sword-norway/ (http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/22/europe/viking-sword-norway/)
3,500-year-old treasure trove unearthed from grave of Greek warrior-king
http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/europe/greece-pylos-warrior-tomb/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/27/europe/greece-pylos-warrior-tomb/index.html)
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So, unsure how well known or not this might be, but I just found this and it's kind of amazing. They're called a number of names according to wikipedia, including 'ribs' or 'roentgenizdats'. During the Soviet times, it was difficult to get banned music distributed. So someone figured out that by cutting grooves into x-ray shots they snipped into record shapes, they could produce (low quality) phonograph records.
There's a site that deals with them that has a few you can listen to.
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A site to which I completely forgot to include the link.
http://www.x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/ (http://www.x-rayaudio.squarespace.com/)
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There has to be a Delta Green game in this.
What happens when a cults get famous people digitally spread their madness?
Bad 90s music, that's what happens.
http://youtu.be/K9VLA8Tc5Ss (http://youtu.be/K9VLA8Tc5Ss)
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Guy graphed all the predicted "ends of world" from history ... Trending to a point perhaps? http://www.limn.co.za/2015/10/a-timeline-of-when-the-world-ended/ (http://www.limn.co.za/2015/10/a-timeline-of-when-the-world-ended/)
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So, unsure how well known or not this might be, but I just found this and it's kind of amazing. They're called a number of names according to wikipedia, including 'ribs' or 'roentgenizdats'. During the Soviet times, it was difficult to get banned music distributed. So someone figured out that by cutting grooves into x-ray shots they snipped into record shapes, they could produce (low quality) phonograph records.
I don't know if you're old enough to recall this, but they used to use the same sort of material to make cheap, flexible records that you could put into magazines and such. The X-ray bootleg element definitely adds a layer of cool to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubgwVwK0SPg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubgwVwK0SPg)
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So, unsure how well known or not this might be, but I just found this and it's kind of amazing. They're called a number of names according to wikipedia, including 'ribs' or 'roentgenizdats'. During the Soviet times, it was difficult to get banned music distributed. So someone figured out that by cutting grooves into x-ray shots they snipped into record shapes, they could produce (low quality) phonograph records.
There's a site that deals with them that has a few you can listen to.
I was not aware of this. That is very cool.
There has to be a Delta Green game in this.
What happens when a cults get famous people digitally spread their madness?
Bad 90s music, that's what happens.
http://youtu.be/K9VLA8Tc5Ss (http://youtu.be/K9VLA8Tc5Ss)
I forget which Delta Green supplement it was, but there was a Hastur inspired musical group that was promoted/supported by The Fate that was spreading the Yellow Sign through their music.
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I was reading an Interview with Steven King on the Rolling Stone site that was published back in 2014.
http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/stephen-king-the-rolling-stone-interview-20141031 (http://www.rollingstone.com/culture/features/stephen-king-the-rolling-stone-interview-20141031)
This sent a shiver of existential dread up my spine. Pure Cosmic Horror material. Could be used for the vanished alien civilizations of Eclipse Phase too.
How about evil? Do you believe there is such a thing?
I believe in evil, but all my life I've gone back and forth about whether or not there's an outside evil, whether or not there's a force in the world that really wants to destroy us, from the inside out, individually and collectively. Or whether it all comes from inside and that it's all part of genetics and environment. When you find somebody like, let's say, Ted Bundy, who tortured and killed all those women and sometimes went back and had sex with the dead bodies, I don't think when you look at his upbringing you can say, "Oh, that's because Mommy put a clothespin on his dick when he was four." That behavior was hard-wired. Evil is inside us. The older I get, the less I think there's some sort of outside devilish influence; it comes from people. And unless we're able to address that issue, sooner or later, we'll fucking kill ourselves.
What do you mean?
I read a thing on Huffington Post about a month ago that stayed with me. It was very troubling. It was a pop-science thing, which is all I can understand. It said we've been listening to the stars for 50 years, looking for any signs of life, and there's been nothing but silence. When you see what's going on in the world today, and you have all this conflict, and our technological expertise has far outraced our ability to manage our own emotions – you see it right now with ISIS – what's the solution? The only solution we see with ISIS is to bomb the shit out of those motherfuckers so that they just can't roll over the world. And that's what's scary about that silence – maybe all intelligent races hit this level of violence and technological advances that they can't get past. And then they just puff out. You hit the wall and that's it.
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The Cape is called the Ocean's Graveyard. One fifty-mile stretch alone has over 3,000 shipwrecks. People would run out after the ships had crashed to steal the cargo and items on any dead men who had washed ashore. The winter meant as many as two wrecks a month and people who managed to swim ashore would freeze on the sand.
(http://www.nps.gov/caco/learn/historyculture/shipwrecks.htm (http://www.nps.gov/caco/learn/historyculture/shipwrecks.htm))
Call of Cthulhu Adventure? Shadow over Innsmouth mentioned Fiji cultists were there. Or Delta Green, for a more "frozen in time" feel.
Quotes!
"Lighthouses, from ancient times, have fascinated members of the human race. There is something about a lighted beacon that suggests hope and trust and appeals to the better instincts of mankind"
Easily manipulated by a corrupted keeper, like some weird tweed-wearing siren.
"East of America, there stands in the open Atlantic the last fragment of an ancient and vanished land. Worn by the breakers and the rains, and disintegrated by the wind, it still stands bold." The Cape, historically, was a dark, harsh, lonely place. It reminds you of that occasionally.
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Very cool. Very interesting.
Here is an article I've been meaning to post for a couple weeks.
Interesting discussion on the Indus script, the methods being used to translate it and discussion over the interpretation.
The utility for a Call of Cthulhu/Delta Green game is in the description of the still currently untranslated ancient scrips, and the very computational and abstract methods used to attempt to decipher them.
http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-civilization-cracking-the-indus-script-1.18587 (http://www.nature.com/news/ancient-civilization-cracking-the-indus-script-1.18587)
Ancient civilization: Cracking the Indus script
20 October 2015
Andrew Robinson reflects on the most tantalizing of all the undeciphered scripts — that used in the civilization of the Indus valley in the third millennium bc.
The Indus civilization flourished for half a millennium from about 2600 bc to 1900 bc. Then it mysteriously declined and vanished from view. It remained invisible for almost 4,000 years until its ruins were discovered by accident in the 1920s by British and Indian archaeologists. Following almost a century of excavation, it is today regarded as a civilization worthy of comparison with those of ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, as the beginning of Indian civilization and possibly as the origin of Hinduism.
More than a thousand Indus settlements covered at least 800,000 square kilometres of what is now Pakistan and northwestern India. It was the most extensive urban culture of its period, with a population of perhaps 1 million and a vigorous maritime export trade to the Gulf and cities such as Ur in Mesopotamia, where objects inscribed with Indus signs have been discovered. Astonishingly, the culture has left no archaeological evidence of armies or warfare.
Most Indus settlements were villages; some were towns, and at least five were substantial cities (see 'Where unicorns roamed'). The two largest, Mohenjo-daro — a World Heritage Site listed by the United Nations — located near the Indus river, and Harappa, by one of the tributaries, boasted street planning and house drainage worthy of the twentieth century ad. They hosted the world's first known toilets, along with complex stone weights, elaborately drilled gemstone necklaces and exquisitely carved seal stones featuring one of the world's stubbornly undeciphered scripts.
Follow the script
The Indus script is made up of partially pictographic signs and human and animal motifs including a puzzling 'unicorn'. These are inscribed on miniature steatite (soapstone) seal stones, terracotta tablets and occasionally on metal. The designs are “little masterpieces of controlled realism, with a monumental strength in one sense out of all proportion to their size and in another entirely related to it”, wrote the best-known excavator of the Indus civilization, Mortimer Wheeler, in 19681.
Once seen, the seal stones are never forgotten. I became smitten in the late 1980s when tasked to research the Indus script by a leading documentary producer. He hoped to entice the world's code-crackers with a substantial public prize. In the end, neither competition nor documentary got off the ground. But for me, important seeds were sown.
More than 100 attempts at decipherment have been published by professional scholars and others since the 1920s. Now — as a result of increased collaboration between archaeologists, linguists and experts in the digital humanities — it looks possible that the Indus script may yield some of its secrets.
Since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone in Egypt in 1799, and the consequent decipherment of the Egyptian hieroglyphs beginning in the 1820s, epigraphers have learnt how to read an encouraging number of once-enigmatic ancient scripts. For example, the Brahmi script from India was 'cracked' in the 1830s; cuneiform scripts (characterized by wedge-shaped impressions in clay) from Mesopotamia in the second half of the nineteenth century; the Linear B script from Greece in the 1950s; and the Mayan glyphs from Central America in the late twentieth century.
Several important scripts still have scholars scratching their heads: for example, Linear A, Etruscan from Italy, Rongorongo from Easter Island, the signs on the Phaistos Disc from the Greek island of Crete and, of course, the Indus script.
In 1932, Flinders Petrie — the most celebrated Egyptologist of his day — proposed an Indus decipherment on the basis of the supposed similarity of its pictographic principles to those of Egyptian hieroglyphs. In 1983, Indus excavator Walter Fairservis at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, claimed in Scientific American2 that he could read the signs in a form of ancient Dravidian: the language family from southern India that includes Tamil. In 1987, Assyriologist James Kinnier Wilson at the University of Cambridge, UK, published an 'Indo-Sumerian' decipherment, based on a comparison of the Indus signs with similar-looking ones in cuneiform accounting tablets from Mesopotamia.
Three problems
In the 1990s and after, many Indian authors — including some academics — have claimed that the Indus script can be read in a form of early Sanskrit, the ancestral language of most north Indian languages including Hindi. In doing so, they support the controversial views of India's Hindu nationalist politicians that there has been a continuous, Sanskrit-speaking, Indian identity since the third millennium bc.
Whatever their differences, all Indus researchers agree that there is no consensus on the meaning of the script. There are three main problems. First, no firm information is available about its underlying language. Was this an ancestor of Sanskrit or Dravidian, or of some other Indian language family, such as Munda, or was it a language that has disappeared? Linear B was deciphered because the tablets turned out to be in an archaic form of Greek; Mayan glyphs because Mayan languages are still spoken. Second, no names of Indus rulers or personages are known from myths or historical records: no equivalents of Rameses or Ptolemy, who were known to hieroglyphic decipherers from records of ancient Egypt available in Greek.
Third, there is, as yet, no Indus bilingual inscription comparable to the Rosetta Stone (written in Egyptian and Greek). It is conceivable that such a treasure may exist in Mesopotamia, given its trade links with the Indus civilization. The Mayan decipherment started in 1876 using a sixteenth-century Spanish manuscript that recorded a discussion in colonial Yucatan between a Spanish priest and a Yucatec Mayan-speaking elder about ancient Mayan writing.
What we know
Indus scholars have achieved much in recent decades. A superb three-volume photographic corpus3 of Indus inscriptions, edited by the indefatigable Asko Parpola, an Indologist at the University of Helsinki, was published between 1987 and 2010 with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; a fourth and final volume is still to come. The direction of writing — chiefly right to left — has been established by analysis of the positioning of groups of characters in many differing inscriptions. The segmentation of texts containing repeated sequences of characters, syntactic structures, the numeral system and the measuring system are partly understood.
Views vary on how many signs there are in the Indus script. In 1982, archaeologist Shikaripura Ranganatha Rao published a Sanskrit-based decipherment with just 62 signs4. Parpola put5 the number at about 425 in 1994 — an estimate supported by the leading Indus script researcher in India, Iravatham Mahadevan. At the other extreme is an implausibly high estimate6 of 958 signs, published this year by Bryan Wells, arising from his PhD at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Nevertheless, almost every researcher accepts that the script contains too many signs to be either an alphabet or a syllabary (in which signs represent syllables), like Linear B. It is probably a logo-syllabic script — such as Sumerian cuneiform or Mayan glyphs — that is, a mixture of hundreds of logographic signs representing words and concepts, such as &, £ and %, and a much smaller subset representing syllables.
As for the language, the balance of evidence favours a proto-Dravidian language, not Sanskrit. Many scholars have proposed plausible Dravidian meanings for a few groups of characters based on Old Tamil, although none of these 'translations' has gained universal acceptance.
A minority of researchers query whether the Indus script was capable of expressing a spoken language, mainly because of the brevity of inscriptions. The carvings average five characters per text, and the longest has only 26. In 2004, historian Steve Farmer, computational linguist Richard Sproat (now a research scientist at Google) and Sanskrit researcher Michael Witzel at Harvard University caused a stir with a joint paper7 comparing the Indus script with a system of non-phonetic symbols akin to those of medieval European heraldry or the Neolithic Vinča culture from central and southeastern Europe8.
This theory seems unlikely, for various reasons. Notably, sequential ordering and an agreed direction of writing are universal features of writing systems. Such rules are not crucial in symbolic systems. Moreover, the Indus civilization must have been well aware through its trade links of how cuneiform functioned as a full writing system.
Nevertheless, the brevity of Indus texts may indeed suggest that it represented only limited aspects of an Indus language. This is true of the earliest, proto-cuneiform, writing on clay tablets from Mesopotamia, around 3300 bc, where the symbols record only calculations with various products (such as barley) and the names of officials.
Digital approach
The dissident paper has stimulated some fresh approaches. Wells — a vehement believer that the Indus script is a full writing system — working with the geoinformation scientist Andreas Fuls at the Technical University of Berlin, has created the first, publicly available, electronic corpus of Indus texts (see www.archaeoastronomie.de (http://www.archaeoastronomie.de)). Although not complete, it includes all the texts from the US-led Harappa Archaeological Research Project.
A group led by computer scientist Rajesh Rao at the University of Washington in Seattle has demonstrated the potential of a digital approach. The team has calculated the conditional entropies — that is, the amount of randomness in the choice of a token (character or word) given a preceding token — in natural-language scripts, such as Sumerian cuneiform and the English alphabet, and in non-linguistic systems, such as the computer programming language Fortran and human DNA. The conditional entropies of the Indus script seem to be most similar to those of Sumerian cuneiform. “Our results increase the probability that the script represents language,” the Rao group has written9. Sproat strongly disagrees10.
On the ground in Pakistan and India, more inscriptions continue to be discovered — although not, as yet, any texts longer than 26 characters. Unfortunately, less than 10% of the known Indus sites have been excavated. The difficulty — apart from funding — is the politically troubled nature of the region. Many of the most promising unexcavated sites lie in the Pakistani desert region of Cholistan near the tense border with India. One such is the city of Ganweriwala, discovered in the 1970s and apparently comparable in size with Mohenjo-daro and Harappa.
If these sites, and some others within Pakistan and India, were to be excavated, there seems a reasonable prospect of a widely accepted, if incomplete, decipherment of the Indus script. It took more than a century to decipher the less challenging Mayan script, following several false starts, hiatuses and extensive excavation throughout the twentieth century. Indus-script decipherers have been on the much barer trail — older by two millennia — for less than a century, and excavation of Indus sites in Pakistan has stagnated in recent decades.
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Something to hand your players in your Delta Green game.
The official planning document for Europes biggest man made ice-cave in Langjökull, Iceland.
http://www.borgarbyggd.is/Files/Skra_0072895.pdf (http://www.borgarbyggd.is/Files/Skra_0072895.pdf)
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Interesting article from the New York Times. I'd never even heard of Red Mercury, even crazier that it doesn't exist and there are people looking for it. I like the idea of a cthulhu game where you find it. Or a general horror game where hoaxes that people believe in too feverishly become real and terrifying
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0)
Wiki link if you want that, too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury)
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That's some high octane crazy right there. Reminds me of the 'Black Metallic Liquid' from The Book of Unremitting Horror, a substance like a dark mercury, which is peddled as a drug and always turns up in glass ampoules with shredded wiring and metallic pieces on one end, like it was torn off of some machine. In small doses, it's a psychoactive, in a full dose, it sends the user's mind to the Outer Dark, another realm where biomechanical monstrosities wage eternal war beneath unspeakable titans locked in eternal combat. On top of being sanity blasting, it also allows things from there to notice the user and follow him home.
Maybe when it's used as a weapon, it doesn't cause a nuclear explosion, but spreads and the people in the affected radius unconsciously summon something short lived and unstable. Would be one hell of a dirty bomb.
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Cognition bomb would be cool too. Alter the way people think to increase levels of depression and decrease levels of self efficacy. That's pretty eclipse phase-ey though. I wanted to run a game where the x threat was a virus that causes severe suicidal ideation and depression, so you get people who wipe their own backups and space themselves. My main idea was for drugs in the swarm to be laced with it
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Doesn't even necessarily need to be drugs. One of my favorite 'oh god why does this exist it's so horribly beautiful' topics is behavior altering parasites. A nanoswarm can just directly alter brain chemistry and structure to compel the infected host to spread the infection while offing themselves, classic examples being toxoplasma, ophiocordyceps and euhaplorchis californiensis (the one that causes fish to swim close to the surface and spasm and wriggle which drastically increases chances of being eaten by the bird species that serves as the first stage of it's reproductive cycle).
You could make it something as simple as suicidal ideation, or a more complex lifecycle, like increasing sociability, sex drive and desire to be in groups while destroying self-confidence and weakening natural resistance to depression and suicidal thoughts. The host spreads the infection via desperate struggle for approval, affection and companionship, while having no hope of any success alleviating it's problems or resulting in drive reduction, so they just go further and further until they end up dead after a while.
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Another one based on parasites just occurred to me. An Apple of Knowledge hack that makes the non-fit infected more attracted to and interested in people with high intelligence and status, while making those infected obsessed with Titans and wanting to go to active Titan sites/quarantine zones and have their behavior and risk evaluation shifted. So you have mostly asymptomatic carriers and the targets, the people with high mental abilities and in positions of power basically offer themselves up on a platter for forced uploading.
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Damn that's metal.
Now I want to do that really badly.
Another idea I had was to do a TITAN manipulated character who's proficiency adapts based on music, who's been weaponized by Firewall as a one-man Erasure Squad or by Oversight/that one conspiracy group that Manjappa worked for [the name escapes me]. Basically looks, thinks, comes up on scans as a random schlub, and then someone starts playing music of a certain type and they turn into Christian Bale from equilibrium
A little silly, I admit, but it's still something I'd like to play with at some point
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Project OZMA
I like your idea. I just watched ep 1 of Jessica Jones which has the creepiest mind control.
Throw in some synesthesia to taste.
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Real life character concept. Nuns posing as prostitutes to save sex slaves.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/18/women-conference-trafficking-idUSL1N13D0HD20151118#cmVJ6Pgf3i8TKEPc.97 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/18/women-conference-trafficking-idUSL1N13D0HD20151118#cmVJ6Pgf3i8TKEPc.97)
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Interesting article from the New York Times. I'd never even heard of Red Mercury, even crazier that it doesn't exist and there are people looking for it. I like the idea of a cthulhu game where you find it. Or a general horror game where hoaxes that people believe in too feverishly become real and terrifying
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0)
Wiki link if you want that, too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury)
The Essoterrorists, one of the early games using the GUMSHOE system, uses that very concept. Bad guys try to make imaginary horrors become real, so that entities from the Outer Dark can invade our world through the power of directed human belief.
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Interesting article from the New York Times. I'd never even heard of Red Mercury, even crazier that it doesn't exist and there are people looking for it. I like the idea of a cthulhu game where you find it. Or a general horror game where hoaxes that people believe in too feverishly become real and terrifying
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0)
Wiki link if you want that, too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury)
The Essoterrorists, one of the early games using the GUMSHOE system, uses that very concept. Bad guys try to make imaginary horrors become real, so that entities from the Outer Dark can invade our world through the power of directed human belief.
Which they took from White Wolf's Mage, specifically the Nephandi (satanic-Lovecraftian cultist faction).
Which was ripped off from somewhere else I don't know of.
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Interesting article from the New York Times. I'd never even heard of Red Mercury, even crazier that it doesn't exist and there are people looking for it. I like the idea of a cthulhu game where you find it. Or a general horror game where hoaxes that people believe in too feverishly become real and terrifying
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0 (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/22/magazine/the-doomsday-scam.html?_r=0)
Wiki link if you want that, too
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_mercury)
The Essoterrorists, one of the early games using the GUMSHOE system, uses that very concept. Bad guys try to make imaginary horrors become real, so that entities from the Outer Dark can invade our world through the power of directed human belief.
Which they took from White Wolf's Mage, specifically the Nephandi (satanic-Lovecraftian cultist faction).
Which was ripped off from somewhere else I don't know of.
You know, I'd never quite thought of that connection between The Esoterrorists and Mage before, but now that you mention it I see exactly what you mean. I suppose you could say that in Mage everybody is an Esoterrorist, both good guys and bad guys (unless you're playing a Technocracy campaign, and even then you sorta still are).
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Watched the music video of "Sail" by AWOLNATION (2011)
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgIqecROs5M#)
Realized the video's images would be perfect for a Delta Green or alien abduction game.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl00LrDVngU#)
This music video is perfect for a steampunk game.
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Another one based on parasites just occurred to me. An Apple of Knowledge hack that makes the non-fit infected more attracted to and interested in people with high intelligence and status, while making those infected obsessed with Titans and wanting to go to active Titan sites/quarantine zones and have their behavior and risk evaluation shifted. So you have mostly asymptomatic carriers and the targets, the people with high mental abilities and in positions of power basically offer themselves up on a platter for forced uploading.
This reminds me on a TITAN nanovirus I came up with, formally referred to as Lethe but nicknamed Brain Drain. It worked on the principle of brain fingerprinting (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_fingerprinting) which, to grossly oversimplify, allows you to tell what someone does or doesn't know by seeing if their brain gives the "nope, no need to remember this stuff; we already know it" signal when it receives certain data. So, if only the murderer would recognise the murder weapon, you could literally look at a suspect's brain and go "he knows that weapon; therefore he's the murderer". (Well, again over-simplifying - it doesn't know WHY the information is in the brain, just that it is there. So a detective would recognise the murder weapon and wouldn't be the murderer. But you get the point.)
How this translated to Lethe/Brain Drain was a way the TITANs subverted the R&D efforts against them. Essentially it was a culling of the most intelligent and technically training egos, especially in the field of nanotechnology. It jacked into your nervous system, tapped into your sensory feeds and waited. It still exists in 10 AF because of this very long latency period; it's possible for someone infected to never turn symptomatic. It triggered when the host was processing and understanding advanced technical data, eroding the walls of blood vessels in the brain to cause a cerebral haemorrhage. In true Lovecraftian (and Calebian) fashion, the most reliable way to trigger it was to learn you were infected and understand exactly what that meant; by understanding why you were doomed, you doomed yourself. It was most deadly against the people most likely to be able to fight it.
(I hope that mild anecdote is permitted if you consider my bringing up of brain fingerprinting as fodder to the thread)
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If there isn't a horror scenario in here, I don't know where you could get one:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-japan-korea-ships-idUSKBN0TK3V520151201#Wsqam82eu3CzwpVk.99 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-japan-korea-ships-idUSKBN0TK3V520151201#Wsqam82eu3CzwpVk.99)
TL:DR 12 boats with 22 dead bodies on board have washed up on Japanese shores since October of this year.
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If there isn't a horror scenario in here, I don't know where you could get one:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-japan-korea-ships-idUSKBN0TK3V520151201#Wsqam82eu3CzwpVk.99 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/01/us-japan-korea-ships-idUSKBN0TK3V520151201#Wsqam82eu3CzwpVk.99)
TL:DR 12 boats with 22 dead bodies on board have washed up on Japanese shores since October of this year.
That link died; apparently they reposted the article to fix a problem. Try this one:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/japan-korea-ships-idUSL3N13Q2EN20151202 (http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/02/japan-korea-ships-idUSL3N13Q2EN20151202)
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There is a Delta Green game or three in this. It has someone saying "driving into the bush and paying a juju priest for magic email powers." Ghanas Sakawa boys are the meeting point of internet scams and old style African religions.
http://youtu.be/o26Eks801oc (http://youtu.be/o26Eks801oc)
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"Gunslinger's Gait" -- Russian President Vladimir Putin and at least three other high-ranking Russian officials all walk with a distinctively strange style, always keeping their right hand close to their side.
KGB training? Neurological ailment? Or...something stranger?
http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6141 (http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6141)
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Just going off the abstract here, but shouldn't that sort of thing be visible in other folks with weapons training? Or you know, those agencies have policies/rationale for how they train their folks that could produce that?
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I have always thought someone (preferably with more experience with CoC than me, which means >0.1) would be able to make a fine campaign out of Blue Oyster Cult's IMAGINOS. Considering Sandy Peralman has always said Lovecraft was a direct influence, and I get the manic giggles thinking of PC's opposing the Cult of the Blue Oyster.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginos (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imaginos)
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Watching the new BBC version of "...And then there were none" series. Perfect fodder for Cthulhu or SlasherFlick.
Creepy as Hell.
Listening to Colvil & Soames which is Christoper Lee's crime/espionage series on BBC radio. Delta Green games set in the uk is obvious very good for A Dirty World.
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Scientists Find Hints Of A Giant, Hidden Planet In Our Solar System (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/01/20/463087037/hints-of-a-hidden-distant-planet-in-our-solar-system?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=20160120)
Looks like Delta Green has lost containment on an important piece of intel. Somebody forgot to falsify the orbital data for some ice dwarfs...
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So, back in RPPR Episode 95: Historical Histronics (http://slangdesign.com/rppr/2013/12/podcast-episode/rppr-episode-95-historical-histronics/), Adam Scott Glancy mentioned the phenomenon of human zoos. And this week, the CBC will be airing a documentary (http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes//trapped-in-a-human-zoo) about a group of Inuit from Labrador who were exhibited in human zoos in Germany and France over a century ago. In addition, the CBC has put some information about 19th, 20th and 21st century human zoos up on their website:
HUMAN ZOOS: A SHOCKING HISTORY OF SHAME AND EXPLOITATION (http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/features/human-zoos-a-shocking-history-of-shame-and-exploitation)
In the late 1800s, colonial exhibits became popular in the western world — exhibits that not only showcased artifacts but actual people. In the era before cinema, these shows allowed westerners to see the foreigners they’d only heard of, and led to huge audiences clamouring for these tableaux vivants.
Or, as they are now called, “Human Zoos.”
France’s Colonial Jewels
In the late 1800s, France had an agricultural site (Jardin tropical) devoted to the cultivation of plants from the country’s vast empire, showcasing Madagascar, Indochine, Sudan, Congo, Tunisia and Morocco. In 1907, the garden’s fare became part of the Paris Colonial Exposition, and hosted recreated indigenous villages from the colonies to represent what life was like there. Such recreations might have been innocuous, were it not for the display of live human beings.
Each village was populated with colonial subjects who’d been engaged as performers, yet were little more than exhibits themselves. The performers were given costumes to wear as they performed non-stop for the audience, their costumes only authentic in that they offered little protection from the elements: Terrible living conditions, foreign diseases, and the cold killed dozens of the performers, who were then buried in the gardens.
The grounds of the fair now sit in a state of eerie disrepair, a site of quiet shame for the French.
1904: St. Louis World’s Fair
Human zoos were not merely a product of the old world; North America had its own. The St. Louis World’s Fair in 1904 was an international exhibition in Missouri that, consistent with other world fairs of the time, was an entertaining spectacle, as well as a means of promotion for both products and industry.
The event boasted a variety of displays, including a 260-ft. Ferris wheel, a pavilion made of corn, and a number of scaled “living exhibits,” including recreated Filipino villages, an initiative of the US Government in the Philippines. The fair featured a 47-acre area of more than 1,000 Filipinos from dozens of tribes.
The Igrot Village
One of the most popular exhibits was the Igorot village, an ethnic group perceived as the least civilized of those on display. An audience success; the revenue from this attraction was said to have surpassed that of all the other villages combined. This exhibition featured indigenous people in minimal clothing and who could often be found eating dog as the audience clamoured for a better look.
While the eating of dog was a sensational curiosity for western audience, it was also a misrepresentation. The Igorot did eat dog, but only did for ceremonial reasons. Yet during the seven months of the fair, dogs were fed to the Igorot daily. The tribespeople also performed infrequent sacred rituals, such as crowing a chief, as daily entertainment, to their delight of the parasol-spinning audience.
Once the fair ended, the popularity of the show continued and members of the Igorot group became fixtures in fairs and carnivals in North America and beyond. But not everyone was charmed. After protests by Filipinos, the US government in the Philippines banned the shows in 1914.
Ota Benga
The St. Louis Fair didn’t just display Filipinos; it also featured an exhibit of Africans, including a Congolese man named Ota Benga. After the St. Louis Fair wrapped up, Benga was taken to New York to become part of an exhibition at the Bronx Zoo. He apparently believed he was being hired to care for the zoo’s elephant.
He was gravely mistaken. Touted as a savage pygmy, Benga quickly became a highlight of the zoo, and was displayed in a monkey house. The card outside the exhibit read:
Age, 23 years. Height, 4 feet 11 inches.
Weight 103 pound. Brought from the Kasai River,
Congo Free State, South Central Africa,
By D. Samuel P Verner.
Exhibited each afternoon during September
His teeth were filed to points, as was customary in his tribe, and the floor of his cage was littered with bones placed there by zookeepers to make him look more threatening. He played the role of the savage and in time was displayed in a cage with apes, a move championed by amateur anthropologist Madison Grant, then secretary of the New York Zoological Society, and future prominent eugenicist.
The New York Times heralded the exhibit with the headline: “Bushman Shares a Cage with Bronx Park Apes.” In the body of the article, Benga was identified as “a Bushman, one of a race that scientists do not rate high in the human scale."
And the audience came in droves; often 500 people at a time, even thousands a day at the zenith of the exhibit.
But there was growing concern about this kind of display. Alarms were sounded at the Colored Baptist Ministers’ Conference, and a number of prominent pastors were outspoken about what they viewed as a monstrous disrespect. Rev. James H. Gordon, superintendent of the Howard Colored Orphan Asylum in Brooklyn was one of the most vocal opponents of the exhibit. “Our race, we think, is depressed enough, without exhibiting one of us with the apes,” he wrote. “We think we are worthy of being considered human beings, with souls.”
After leaving the zoo, Benga moved back to Africa, yet feeling he no longer belonged there, soon returned to the US. But he found no comfort in America, either. In 1916, he shot himself in the heart.
Brussels and The End of an Era
Even into the middle of the 20th century, the practice of human zoos continued. In 1958, the World’s Fair in Brussels featured a Congolese Village, and boasted a picture that’s become emblematic of this phenomena: a young African girl in western dress. She’s fed by the outstretched white hand of a patron. A fence stands between them. A throng of visitors watch.
Luckily, by 1958, the exhibition in Brussels seemed like an outlier; interest in human zoos had waned with the advent of motion picture as people were able to sate their appetites for foreign lands via the silver and small screens. And by the time of the fair in Brussels, the notion of a human zoo was largely considered distasteful and had been banned in most countries.
Yet change didn’t happen quickly enough for those of the Congolese village in 1958. A number of the original 297 died during the show and were buried in a mass, unmarked grave.
Human Zoos of the 21st Century
Even today, there are echoes of human zoos. The reclusive Jarawa Tribe live on India's Andaman Island.
A video released in 2012 showed images of a safari trip to this island in the beautiful Bay of Bengal, now a popular tourist attraction. But the safari didn’t just showcase animals — these tourist trips promised to allow visitors to observe the Jarawa tribe in their natural habitat. The video was the proof of something more troublesome, and more exploitative; it showed islanders performing for the tourists on safari.
These indigenous people had only begun to have contact with mainlanders, and their willingness to interact with the outside world was exploited and resulted in what some groups believed were no better than human zoos of yore.
At the entrance of the nature preserve, there was a sign forbidding interaction or “feeding” of the tribespeople, but tourists flooded in by the hundreds daily, with bananas and nuts in hand. While police officers were there to protect the tribe from contact, at least one video revealed a police officer instructing the naked women of the tribe to dance, as food is thrown at them. Reports gathered by The Guardian said that the throwing of food, with the expectation of a performance, was actually routine, not an anomaly.
The government demanded a crackdown on such performances and in 2013, the Indian Supreme Court ordered a complete ban on such safaris. Still, some activist groups claim such activities continue covertly, despite the ban.
Human Zoos as Protest Art
2014: Oslo. In celebration of the 200th anniversary of the country’s constitution, two artists staged a recreation of the Kongolandsbyen (The Congo Village), a popular and prominent exhibition of Norway’s World Fair of 1914 mounted a century before. The original exhibition featured 80 Senegalese in “authentic” environments featuring palm roof cabins and was seen by half the population.
One hundred years later, two artists, Mohamed Ali Fadlabi and Lars Cuzner, recreated the exhibit. Now called the European Attraction Limited, they sought to probe what they deemed Norway’s colonial and racial “amnesia,” and to open up a conversation about the legacy of colonialism. For the recreation, people of all nationalities from around the world were invited to be on display in this post-modern, human zoo.
But the response was not what the artists had hoped for. Many critics said that the exhibit simply affirmed and re-inscribed racist and colonial notions in a world that’s far from “post racial.” Writer Bwesigye bwa Mwesigire asked, “is there any artistic value in the re-enactment of such a dehumanizing spectacle, especially in a world not yet fully healed of racism? Is this an abuse of art??"
In truth, European Attraction Limited did create a conversation about Norway’s colonial history, but it was an angry and fractured one, one that also found the artists on the receiving end of threats from both racists and anti-racists alike.
Though there are echoes of these human zoos around the globe, such shows are widely condemned. Yet as these pavailions and villages lay in ruins, or only existing in faded posters, there are those who argue these shameful episodes from of our history should not be simply effaced or forgotten, but should stand as a testament to a shameful, and often uncomfortable past.
So, a little information about the historic (and in some cases, not-so-historic) practice of human zoos for your CoC games.
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Pure Delta Green fodder
The CIA has a secret art collection they won't show to you.
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/arts/cia-secret-art-collection/ (http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/05/arts/cia-secret-art-collection/)
This video is mainline DG. The outbreak, the explanation and the after action report are perfect.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqyQmecxub4#)
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Unspeakable, but real
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-crime-idUSKCN0VQ2IP (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-colombia-crime-idUSKCN0VQ2IP)
Scores of dismembered bodies found in Colombian jails
Remains of at least 100 dismembered prisoners and visitors have been found in drain pipes at a jail in Colombia's capital that houses drug traffickers, Marxist rebels and paramilitaries, investigators said on Wednesday.
Body parts were found at La Modelo jail in Bogota, one of the Andean nation's biggest penitentiaries, as well as in jails in the cities of Popayan, Bucaramanga and Barranquilla, said Caterina Heyck, an investigator at the attorney general's office.
"The number of victims is unknown, but we know it's over 100 and could be considerably higher," she told reporters in Bogota. "Remains of prisoners, visitors and others were thrown in the drainage system."
Colombian jails are among the most overcrowded and violent in Latin America and accommodate leftist guerrillas alongside their right-wing paramilitary enemies.
(Reporting by Nelson Bocanegra; Writing by Helen Murphy; Editing by Leslie Adler)
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Delta Green ideas.
From Nature: http://www.nature.com/news/what-sparked-the-cambrian-explosion-1.19379?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox (http://www.nature.com/news/what-sparked-the-cambrian-explosion-1.19379?WT.mc_id=SFB_NNEWS_1508_RHBox)
What sparked the Cambrian explosion?
An evolutionary burst 540 million years ago filled the seas with an astonishing diversity of animals. The trigger behind that revolution is finally coming into focus.
Douglas Fox
(http://i.imgur.com/qNgLFv9.jpg)
A series of dark, craggy pinnacles rises 80 metres above the grassy plains of Namibia. The peaks call to mind something ancient — the burial mounds of past civilizations or the tips of vast pyramids buried by the ages.
The stone formations are indeed monuments of a faded empire, but not from anything hewn by human hands. They are pinnacle reefs, built by cyanobacteria on the shallow sea floor 543 million years ago, during a time known as the Ediacaran period. The ancient world occupied by these reefs was truly alien. The oceans held so little oxygen that modern fish would quickly founder and die there. A gooey mat of microbes covered the sea floor at the time, and on that blanket lived a variety of enigmatic animals whose bodies resembled thin, quilted pillows. Most were stationary, but a few meandered blindly over the slime, grazing on the microbes. Animal life at this point was simple, and there were no predators. But an evolutionary storm would soon upend this quiet world.
This reads straight out of the Mythos.
I think these images are of the pinnacle reefs in Namibia. Haven't verified.
(http://i.imgur.com/ccvhSVc.jpg)
Here's a useful related excerpt from The Color of Dust (Laurel Halbany) in the DG fiction book Extraordinary Renditions.
"Go to hell," she snapped.
Rob turned his dead eyes to her. "Way ahead of you," he said. "Anyway, I didn't mean the Pacific. I meant the old sea. You didn't know? Kid, half the country [America] used to be one big ocean. It's dried up now, but you know how it is. Not everything that dies is really dead. Especially if it's from the sea."
Within several million years, this simple ecosystem would disappear, and give way to a world ruled by highly mobile animals that sported modern anatomical features. The Cambrian explosion, as it is called, produced arthropods with legs and compound eyes, worms with feathery gills and swift predators that could crush prey in tooth-rimmed jaws. Biologists have argued for decades over what ignited this evolutionary burst. Some think that a steep rise in oxygen sparked the change, whereas others say that it sprang from the development of some key evolutionary innovation, such as vision. The precise cause has remained elusive, in part because so little is known about the physical and chemical environment at that time.
If we are going by the "Shoggoths were the antecedent for life on Earth" Mythos canon you could place Shoggoth influence on animal development as the X factor that is responsible for the generation of predators and rapid differentiation of body plans we see in the Cambrian explosion.
One could also place Shoggoth progenitor influence eons earlier in the RNA world when nucleic acids started to polymerize and double membranes began to co function with primitive long chain nucleic acids.
Anyway, if the Shoggoths are a reason for the Cambrian explosion, then one could assume there are proto-Shoggoth remnants or fossils laying dormant in the Nambian pinnacle reefs. Other locations (below) where the pre-Cambrian is being investigated include China and Siberia. Areas rife with Mythos links.
But over the past several years, discoveries have begun to yield some tantalizing clues about the end of the Ediacaran. Evidence gathered from the Namibian reefs and other sites suggests that earlier theories were overly simplistic — that the Cambrian explosion actually emerged out of a complex interplay between small environmental changes that triggered major evolutionary developments.
Some scientists now think that a small, perhaps temporary, increase in oxygen suddenly crossed an ecological threshold, enabling the emergence of predators. The rise of carnivory would have set off an evolutionary arms race that led to the burst of complex body types and behaviours that fill the oceans today. “This is the most significant event in Earth evolution,” says Guy Narbonne, a palaeobiologist at Queen's University in Kingston, Canada. “The advent of pervasive carnivory, made possible by oxygenation, is likely to have been a major trigger.”
Easy to blame Shoggoths for the initiation of carnivorous behavior.
Energy to burn
In the modern world, it's easy to forget that complex animals are relative newcomers to Earth. Since life first emerged more than 3 billion years ago, single-celled organisms have dominated the planet for most of its history. Thriving in environments that lacked oxygen, they relied on compounds such as carbon dioxide, sulfur-containing molecules or iron minerals that act as oxidizing agents to break down food. Much of Earth's microbial biosphere still survives on these anaerobic pathways.
Animals, however, depend on oxygen — a much richer way to make a living. The process of metabolizing food in the presence of oxygen releases much more energy than most anaerobic pathways. Animals rely on this potent, controlled combustion to drive such energy-hungry innovations as muscles, nervous systems and the tools of defense and carnivory — mineralized shells, exoskeletons and teeth.
Given the importance of oxygen for animals, researchers suspected that a sudden increase in the gas to near-modern levels in the ocean could have spurred the Cambrian explosion. To test that idea, they have studied ancient ocean sediments laid down during the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods, which together ran from about 635 million to 485 million years ago.
In Namibia, China and other spots around the world, researchers have collected rocks that were once ancient seabeds, and analysed the amounts of iron, molybdenum and other metals in them. The metals' solubility depends strongly on the amount of oxygen present, so the amount and type of those metals in ancient sedimentary rocks reflect how much oxygen was in the water long ago, when the sediments formed.
These proxies seemed to indicate that oxygen concentrations in the oceans rose in several steps, approaching today's sea-surface concentrations at the start of the Cambrian, around 541 million years ago — just before more-modern animals suddenly appeared and diversified. This supported the idea of oxygen as a key trigger for the evolutionary explosion.
But last year, a major study1 of ancient sea-floor sediments challenged that view. Erik Sperling, a palaeontologist at Stanford University in California, compiled a database of 4,700 iron measurements taken from rocks around the world, spanning the Ediacaran and Cambrian periods. He and his colleagues did not find a statistically significant increase in the proportion of oxic to anoxic water at the boundary between the Ediacaran and the Cambrian.
(http://i.imgur.com/uhRqoGt.jpg)
Modern mirrors
Sperling has looked for insights into Ediacaran oceans by studying oxygen-depleted regions in modern seas around the globe. He suggests that biologists have conventionally taken the wrong approach to thinking about how oxygen shaped animal evolution. By pooling and analysing previously published data with some of his own, he found that tiny worms survive in areas of the sea floor where oxygen levels are incredibly low — less than 0.5% of average global sea-surface concentrations. Food webs in these oxygen-poor environments are simple, and the animals feed directly on microbes. In places where sea-floor oxygen levels are a bit higher — about 0.5–3% of concentrations at the sea surface — animals are more abundant but their food webs remain limited: the animals still feed on microbes rather than on each other. But around somewhere between 3% and 10% oxygen levels, predators emerge and start to consume other animals4.
The implications of this finding for evolution are profound, Sperling says.The modest oxygen rise that he thinks may have occurred just before the Cambrian would have been enough to trigger a big change. “If oxygen levels were 3% and they rose past that 10% threshold, that would have had a huge influence on early animal evolution,” he says. “There's just so much in animal ecology, lifestyle and body size that seems to change so dramatically through those levels.”
The gradual emergence of predators, driven by a small rise in oxygen, would have meant trouble for Ediacaran animals that lacked obvious defences. “You're looking at soft-bodied, mostly immobile forms that probably lived their lives by absorbing nutrients through their skin,” says Narbonne.
Here's a thought. At this point in the timeline the hypothesis is that there are vast fields of "peaceful" multicellular life that feed off of microbes. Then this population of predators forms.
If we examine this dichotomy from the Catholic Mythos viewpoint, I can't help but draw parallels between a "good" and "evil" force and a war in Heaven. In this case the predators (Satan?) won.
Shall we speculate that the ancient non-predator life had intelligence and prayed to some Great One of their own? Did Nyarty in one of his myriad masks tempt an ancient multi-cellular progenitor with the power of becoming a carnivore? Was some peaceful race extinguished beneath the anoxic seas as a dark god laughed?
Does the potential Great One weep over it's fallen worshipers? Does it wish revenge upon those descended from a diversified body plan?
Studies of those ancient Namibian reefs suggest that animals were indeed starting to fall prey to predators by the end of the Ediacaran. When palaeobiologist Rachel Wood from the University of Edinburgh, UK, examined the rock formations, she found spots where a primitive animal called Cloudina had taken over parts of the microbial reef. Rather than spreading out over the ocean floor, these cone-shaped creatures lived in crowded colonies, which hid their vulnerable body parts from predators — an ecological dynamic that occurs in modern reefs5.
Cloudina were among the earliest animals known to have grown hard, mineralized exoskeletons. But they were not alone. Two other types of animal in those reefs also had mineralized parts, which suggests that multiple, unrelated groups evolved skeletal shells around the same time. “Skeletons are quite costly to produce,” says Wood. “It's very difficult to come up with a reason other than defence for why an animal should bother to create a skeleton for itself.” Wood thinks that the skeletons provided protection against newly evolved predators. Some Cloudina fossils from that period even have holes in their sides, which scientists interpret as the marks of attackers that bore into the creatures' shells6.
Palaeontologists have found other hints that animals had begun to eat each other by the late Ediacaran. In Namibia, Australia and Newfoundland in Canada, some sea-floor sediments have preserved an unusual type of tunnel made by an unknown, wormlike creature7. Called Treptichnus burrows, these warrens branch again and again, as if a predator just below the microbial mat had systematically probed for prey animals on top. The Treptichnus burrows resemble those of modern priapulid, or 'penis', worms — voracious predators that hunt in a remarkably similar way on modern sea floors8.
The rise of predation at this time put large, sedentary Ediacaran animals at a big disadvantage. “Sitting around doing nothing becomes a liability,” says Narbonne.
The world in 3D
The moment of transition from the Ediacaran to the Cambrian world is recorded in a series of stone outcrops rounded by ancient glaciers on the south edge of Newfoundland. Below that boundary are impressions left by quilted Ediacaran animals, the last such fossils recorded on Earth. And just 1.2 metres above them, the grey siltstone holds trails of scratch marks, thought to have been made by animals with exoskeletons, walking on jointed legs — the earliest evidence of arthropods in Earth's history.
No one knows how much time passed in that intervening rock — maybe as little as a few centuries or millennia, says Narbonne. But during that short span, the soft-bodied, stationary Ediacaran fauna suddenly disappeared, driven to extinction by predators, he suggests.
Narbonne has closely studied the few fauna that survived this transition, and his findings suggest that some of them had acquired new, more complex types of behaviour. The best clues come from traces left by peaceful, wormlike animals that grazed on the microbial mat. Early trails from about 555 million years ago meander and criss-cross haphazardly, indicating a poorly developed nervous system that was unable to sense or react to other grazers nearby — let alone predators. But at the end of the Ediacaran and into the early Cambrian, the trails become more sophisticated: creatures carved tighter turns and ploughed closely spaced, parallel lines through the sediments. In some cases, a curvy feeding trail abruptly transitions into a straight line, which Narbonne interprets as potential evidence of the grazer evading a predator9.
This change in grazing style may have contributed to the fragmentation of the microbial mat, which began early in the Cambrian. And the transformation of the sea floor, says Narbonne, “may have been the most profound change in the history of life on Earth”10, 11. The mat had previously covered the seabed like a coating of plastic wrap, leaving the underlying sediments largely anoxic and off limits to animals. Because animals could not burrow deeply in the Ediacaran, he says, “the mat meant that life was two-dimensional”. When grazing capabilities improved, animals penetrated the mat and made the sediments habitable for the first time, which opened up a 3D world.
Great way to inject a little science in your game is to have an artifact out of place in deep Ediacaran sediments. The current hypothesis is Life couldn't burrow into that strata so what intelligent agent left it there?
Tracks from the early Cambrian show that animals started to burrow several centimetres into the sediments beneath the mat, which provided access to previously untapped nutrients — as well as a refuge from predators. It's also possible that animals went in the opposite direction. Sperling says that the need to avoid predators (and pursue prey) may have driven animals into the water column above the seabed, where enhanced oxygen levels enabled them to expend energy through swimming.
The emerging evidence about oxygen thresholds and ecology could also shed light on another major evolutionary question: when did animals originate? The first undisputed fossils of animals appear only 580 million years ago, but genetic evidence indicates that basic animal groups originated as far back as 700 million to 800 million years ago. According to Lyons, the solution may be that oxygen levels rose to perhaps 2% or 3% of modern levels around 800 million years ago. These concentrations could have sustained small, simple animals, just as they do today in the ocean's oxygen-poor zones. But animals with large bodies could not have evolved until oxygen levels climbed higher in the Ediacaran.
Understanding how oxygen influenced the appearance of complex animals will require scientists to tease more-subtle clues out of the rocks. “We've been challenging people working on fossils to tie their fossils more closely to our oxygen proxies,” says Lyons. It will mean deciphering what oxygen levels were in different ancient environments, and connecting those values with the kinds of traits exhibited by the animal fossils found in the same locations.
This past autumn, Woods visited Siberia with that goal in mind. She collected fossils of Cloudina and another skeletonized animal, Suvorovella, from the waning days of the Ediacaran. Those sites gave her the chance to gather fossils from many different depths in the ancient ocean, from the more oxygen-rich surface waters to deeper zones. Wood plans to look for patterns in where animals were growing tougher skeletons, whether they were under attack by predators and whether any of this had a clear link with oxygen levels, she says. “Only then can you pick out the story.”
Nature 530, 268–270 (18 February 2016) doi:10.1038/530268a
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Sweet ideas, Twisting H. We'll put the ARCHINT boys on it right away.
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www.cracked.com/article_23546_5-ways-public-school-system-sets-you-up-to-fail.html (http://www.cracked.com/article_23546_5-ways-public-school-system-sets-you-up-to-fail.html)
For those of us blessedly ignorant of the terribleness of US Education system. Good fodder for No Soul Left Behind.
Demonic Calculator!
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The first spy training film ever made, used by the OSS in 1943.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elxOHvowy-c (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elxOHvowy-c)
The Mystery Blacklisted Ship
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-voyages-of-the-dawnlight-where-does-it-go-and-what-is-it-carrying/2016/02/18/1fe02ec0-a34f-11e5-8318-bd8caed8c588_story.html (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/the-voyages-of-the-dawnlight-where-does-it-go-and-what-is-it-carrying/2016/02/18/1fe02ec0-a34f-11e5-8318-bd8caed8c588_story.html)
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I should have made everyone watch that before I ran tribes of tokyo
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I'm dropping this here mostly because the gang talked about going Conspira Sea one time, and partly because the flavors of crazy might inspire someone. http://jezebel.com/sail-far-away-at-sea-with-americas-largest-floating-1760900554 (http://jezebel.com/sail-far-away-at-sea-with-americas-largest-floating-1760900554)
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Planning an eclipse phase game based on the natural extension of breaking robots by dividing by zero:
http://www.sciencealert.com/reality-doesn-t-exist-until-we-measure-it-quantum-experiment-confirms (http://www.sciencealert.com/reality-doesn-t-exist-until-we-measure-it-quantum-experiment-confirms)
If you can prove, mathematically, that reality doesn't exist, you could theoretically break TITANs--But if any humans know the full equation, they get broken too. General idea is that one researcher on a virus that proves this wrote half the equation, while OZMA finished it--when he finds it, he wants to test it to see if it works. Since he doesn't know the full equation, he can objectively know in a Schrodinger-type way whether or not reality exists.
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I should have made everyone watch that before I ran tribes of tokyo
Hahahahaha
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Hey.
Did you know when smugglers try to transport stolen antiques from Syria/Iraq/anywhere else they often cut a mural into pieces for easy transport?
Did you know that some of these cut murals depict protective seals and entities? ;D
Everything is fine. What could go wrong?
From the Delta Green Files.
http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35755273 (http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35755273)
(http://i.imgur.com/1dnc8rh.jpg)
Museum of Lost Objects: The Genie of Nimrud
Three thousand years ago, a genie graced the walls of an Assyrian palace. Then, probably about 20 years ago, it disappeared, only to re-emerge in London. Since 2002 it's been languishing in police vaults at Scotland Yard, because of difficulties determining the legal owner.
The genie is a powerfully built man, with wings sprouting from his back. About 2m high, it is carved in relief on a stone panel, holding a pine cone, and facing a pattern that represents the tree of life. The genie symbolised both protection and fertility - its role was to safeguard and replenish the ancient kingdom of Assyria.
It was a design particularly popular with the Assyrian king, Ashurnasirpal II, who came to the throne in 883 BC, and made Nimrud his new capital.
"Ashurnasirpal and his artists were really the first to decorate many of the rooms in the public spaces within the palace," says archaeologist Augusta McMahon, lecturer at the University of Cambridge.
"One of the key symbols that appeared over and over was this genie or protective spirit. Because in the minds of the ancient Assyrians it's an enormously powerful motif, it can't hurt to have a further fertility symbol somewhere in the room."
Protective genies came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The photograph above is very similar but not identical to the one now in the hands of British police. Others had the bodies of men but the heads of ferocious-looking birds and a feathered hairstyle, still others were a combination of man and fish.
[TwistingH -- Isn't Dagon depicted as a combination of man and fish in Phoenician mythology?]
Our particular genie had copious amounts of curly hair and a long beard. "The really big crazy-looking hair and the massive beard were part of making him really stand out," says McMahon, who also draws attention to the "little fringed outfit that shows off these incredibly muscular legs".
[TwistingH--Take note DG agents. Genies did not skip leg day]
The impact of all the genies side by side in the palace would have been to convey the strength and virility of the Assyrian empire.
Across the belly of the genie was a smattering of cuneiform in the now extinct language, Akkadian. The text is what's known as Ashurnasirpal's "standard inscription". It lays out in minute detail his many kingly accomplishments - from treading on the necks of foes to being "king of the universe" - and was carved on many of the reliefs and sculptures that filled the halls of his palace at Nimrud.
"It's my favourite ancient archaeological site," says Mark Altaweel, an Iraqi-American archaeologist whose ancestors come from Mosul - not far from Nimrud.
"You did see the reliefs in place, you can see the rooms. Even the ancient floors were sort of wobbly, and in some ways that gave it the ancient feel. You got a sense of what a palace was like when you walked in there."
Sometimes, however, even protective spirits need protecting. At some point since Nimrud's excavation, this genie relief was moved into a storage room from where it disappeared. It's believed to have been taken in the 1990s during the chaos of the first Gulf war, but no-one knows for sure.
The genie's whereabouts were completely unknown for about 10 years. Eventually in 2002, just before the second Gulf war, it turned up in London - one of the world's largest antiquities markets.
Scotland Yard's Art and Antiques Unit went to collect the genie, but it's unclear who legally owns it, so for the last 14 years it has been locked up in a secure storage unit belonging to London's Metropolitan Police.
"The problem is that the burden of proof on objects, when they are looted, is on the authorities to show that it really was removed illegally," says Altaweel.
This can be a challenge.
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Find out more
*The Museum of Lost Objects traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria
*Listen to the episode about the Genie of Nimrud on Radio 4 from 12:00 GMT on Wednesday 9 March or get the Museum of Lost Objects podcast
*Also in this series: The Tell of Qarqur, The Winged Bull of Nineveh, The Temple of Bel, The Lion of al-Lat, Aleppo's minaret and Mar Elian's monastery.
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Looters sometimes lie about an object's country of origin, and move it through a variety of transit points. It may change hands many times and some of the sellers may insist on remaining anonymous.
"So the genie is basically in a kind of limbo state," says Altaweel.
Even though it appears to be part of a documented collection that was in Nimrud for 3,000 years, at present it seems unlikely to ever return to Iraq.
At some point in its journey, the genie was badly damaged. His head, wings, and upper body are still visible, but gone are his legs and much of Ashurnasirpal's cuneiform inscription. These may have been hacked away when the genie was first taken, or disposed of en route to London - it's not clear. But it is still highly valuable.
"We hear that just the head was going for £3.5m (almost $5m) in 2003 prices," says Altaweel.
"So imagine the value it would get today, and there are people who are willing to pay those prices. There has always been an interest in Nimrud."
Altaweel was in Nimrud just weeks after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and saw for himself fresh signs of looting.
"The site guard told me there was a gunfight that happened, with some bullets hitting the reliefs," he says. Some of the panels depicting genies and other figures had been cut out - the head would be missing, with the body and legs still in place.
The awful irony is that the looting of the genie now at Scotland Yard may have saved it from complete destruction. After seizing Mosul in 2014, the so-called Islamic State group began destroying sites in and around the city - including, the following year, Nimrud.
This has prompted debates about the thorny issue of repatriation. Some have argued that it might have been better if more of the Middle East's archaeological riches had been taken from the region during the era of European imperialism. To them, the iconoclasm of the would-be caliphate seemed to justify, in retrospect, the cavalier way in which Western archaeologists and collectors relieved the Middle East of its cultural heritage in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.
And yet for many people outside the West, it remains a source of grievance that so much of their past sits in the halls and basements of museums in Paris and Berlin, London and New York. Westerners can more easily enjoy the cultural history of Iraq than Iraqis themselves.
But while looters have plundered Iraqi museums and still threaten historical sites, the looted objects do not always end up being smuggled abroad.
Mark Altaweel was at the museum in Sulaymaniyah in Iraqi Kurdistan five years ago, when he got chatting to an American Kurdish man. Only after the man had left did Altaweel realise that a transaction had just taken place.
The visitor had offered to sell a series of cuneiform tablets and other objects and the museum at the time had a no-questions-asked policy, so it bought them.
"At first glance you think that's a horrible policy," says Altaweel. "But it did actually prevent them from leaving Iraq proper."
The visitor's haul included something amazing - a chapter of the Gilgamesh epic, the original blockbuster adventure, with monster battles, the search for immortality, divine kings, and even a whole section on how the wrathful gods flooded the Earth (a scenario that would appear again in the later biblical tale of Noah). Gilgamesh is humanity's earliest story. It marks that moment when gods and humans stepped out of the murky unknown and into the sharp relief of narrative.
"As soon as they saw that there's a text that talks about the Gilgamesh story, their immediate reaction was to buy this thing," says Altaweel. "They understood that this was extremely rare."
One of the key scenes in the Gilgamesh epic is the momentous encounter between the hero Gilgamesh and the monster Humbaba, described as a hideous ogre - his "roar is a flood, his mouth is death and his breath is fire!"
This beast of the wild can generally be found roaming the beautiful Cedar Forest. His primary aim is to terrify men and it's up to the brave, demi-god Gilgamesh and his sidekick Enkidu to vanquish Humbaba and rid the forest of his ugly tyranny. But what's remarkable about the Gilgamesh tablet recovered at the Sulaymaniyah museum is that it shows Humbaba in a different light.
"Where Ḫumbaba came and went there was a track, the paths were in good order and the way was well trodden," the tablet reads.
"Through all the forest a bird began to sing: A wood pigeon was moaning, a turtle dove calling in answer. Monkey mothers sing aloud, a youngster monkey shrieks: like a band of musicians and drummers daily they bash out a rhythm in the presence of Ḫumbaba."
In this version of the story, Humbaba is beloved of the gods and a kind of king in the palace of the forest. Monkeys are his heralds, birds his courtiers, and his entire throne room breathes with the heady aroma of cedar resin.
Gilgamesh and Enkidu, meanwhile, are aggressors, ecological thieves. They come to Humbaba's forest to take its timber back to their treeless homeland in Mesopotamia. In this newly discovered tablet of the epic, we find - remarkably - a sense that the heroes of the tale were in the wrong.
"Enkidu opened his mouth to speak, saying to Gilgamesh: 'My friend, we have reduced the forest to a wasteland. In your might you slew the guardian, what was this wrath of yours that you went trampling the forest?'"
This sense of remorse is particularly strong in the Sulaymaniyah tablet, but traces of it also exist in other versions of the Gilgamesh epic. In so many other ancient tales, the Anglo-Saxon Beowulf for example, we find a black-and-white world, a clear binary of good and evil. In
Gilgamesh there is plenty of grey. The hero is faced with the moral consequences of his actions. There is so much destruction in the achievement of his greatness.
Intentionally and unintentionally, modern-day combatants in Iraq and Syria are destroying precious records of antiquity, and more objects like the genie and cuneiform tablets will inevitably slip on to the black market. So, it's worth celebrating the rare recoveries of these artefacts.
"It's a good and bad thing. It's bad that it was looted, it's bad that it had to be purchased. But it's good because at least it stays in the country of Iraq," says Altaweel.
"It's one of these things where Western scholars actually have to come to Iraq to see this and study this tablet. So it's good that at least something of significance stays in the country. Iraqis need to see these things too, ultimately these countries need stability, and stability equals economy, equals tourism, equals the objects being back there."
War makes exiles out of people and cultural artefacts alike. It is a small victory, but a victory nonetheless, when an antiquity like the tablet of Gilgamesh can endure and remain in Iraq.
Ashurnasirpal's genie, however, seems destined to stay far from its old home. Once it guarded the palace of its king. Now it is guarded by
British police, in an obscure basement in a foreign country.
The Museum of Lost Objects traces the stories of 10 antiquities or ancient sites that have been destroyed or looted in Iraq and Syria.
(http://i.imgur.com/ndQ5V0N.jpg)
(http://i.imgur.com/1LkqOe1.jpg)
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This screams Delta Green
http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/smithsonian-employee-accused-of-raping-2500-year-old-mummy/ (http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/smithsonian-employee-accused-of-raping-2500-year-old-mummy/)
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Here's an oldie but a goodie, I think, for a Delta Green seed.
I bet $12 billion would pay for a lot of shoggoth feed. (http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/feb/08/usa.iraq1)
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So here is one that just showed up in the Icelandic media
It turns out that the "Hidden Treasure of the Templar Knights"TM is hidden in the Icelandic highlands...
...Well at least that is the opinion of the Italian cryptographer Giancarlo Gianazza. And he's not just talking about it. He's been mounting digs since 2004 and is coming back this summer.
I can imagine at least 5 different ways to use this in game.
Some articles:
http://www.historicmysteries.com/the-holy-grail-in-iceland/ (http://www.historicmysteries.com/the-holy-grail-in-iceland/)
http://stuckiniceland.com/icelandic-culture-and-people/finding-the-holy-grail-in-iceland/ (http://stuckiniceland.com/icelandic-culture-and-people/finding-the-holy-grail-in-iceland/)
Some great images to use in the game:
http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/g145/photos-of-giancarlo-gianazza-iceland-expedition/?slide=12 (http://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/g145/photos-of-giancarlo-gianazza-iceland-expedition/?slide=12)
A kickstarter for a documentary about the dig (Finished)
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1388145683/finding-thule/description (https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1388145683/finding-thule/description)
Example of "Evidence"
(http://toc.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/14/37/980x636/540f844d5ce6f_-_tcx-12-leonardo-da-vinci-the-last-supper-painting-map-1212-69765788-lg.jpg)
EDIT: Some more decoding of the painting above. including how they are spelling out 14/3/1319
https://web.archive.org/web/20110303231822/http://www.gopfrettir.net/GiancarloGianazza/200611HeraMag.htm (https://web.archive.org/web/20110303231822/http://www.gopfrettir.net/GiancarloGianazza/200611HeraMag.htm)
(http://toc.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/14/37/980x636/540f844cd6444_-_tcx-11-botticelli--percent20primavera-painting-map-1212-83838128-lg.jpg)
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those lines don't match up to anything in the paintings at all.
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This looks like the kind of shit I would toss in front of my players in a conspiracy game to throw them completely off the scent of the real mystery.
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those lines don't match up to anything in the paintings at all.
Can't you see where the angel is pointing? You're just in denial. :-)
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"It's all there! Can't you see?! I am the chosen! I have been shown the way!"
Shicheng, "Lion City" the rediscovered flooded city lost in 1959.
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140711-chinas-atlantis-of-the-east] [url]http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140711-chinas-atlantis-of-the-east (http://[url)[/url]
Also, this German forklift safety video because goddamn. Makes Coronet look downright pleasant.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do7lYmr2fPs (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=do7lYmr2fPs)
Radiodurans, the bacteria that can survive in the slagged remains of Reactor Number 4.
http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_02/deinococcus.shtml (http://www.genomenewsnetwork.org/articles/07_02/deinococcus.shtml)
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God I love this thread. I need to like the source but this is something of a CoC idea.
In 1946, two scientists in France, Nancy investigated the family history of a certain Madame B. Their findings were published in a scientific journal. They found that throughout all of Madame B's extended family, they only ever had girls, never boys. Madame B's mother had 10+ girls, and her grandmother too only bore girls. Her relatives, cousins and aunts, only had girls. Despite the expected probability of male vs female = 50%, Madame B's family was 100% female.
In certain animals and plants, there exist a mechanism colloquially called the male killer gene. It is posited that this gene is expressed so strong within Madame B's lineage that all sperm carrying the Y chromosome are either arrested in early development or killed outright. Many animals with such male killer genes also experience parthenogenesis, aka virgin birth, a female giving birth/laying eggs to females. Sadly, Madame B's eldest sister, a celebrate nun for most of her life, did not give birth to a daughter.
Source to come.
Chris
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God I love this thread. I need to like the source but this is something of a CoC idea.
In 1946, two scientists in France, Nancy investigated the family history of a certain Madame B. Their findings were published in a scientific journal. They found that throughout all of Madame B's extended family, they only ever had girls, never boys. Madame B's mother had 10+ girls, and her grandmother too only bore girls. Her relatives, cousins and aunts, only had girls. Despite the expected probability of male vs female = 50%, Madame B's family was 100% female.
In certain animals and plants, there exist a mechanism colloquially called the male killer gene. It is posited that this gene is expressed so strong within Madame B's lineage that all sperm carrying the Y chromosome are either arrested in early development or killed outright. Many animals with such male killer genes also experience parthenogenesis, aka virgin birth, a female giving birth/laying eggs to females. Sadly, Madame B's eldest sister, a celebrate nun for most of her life, did not give birth to a daughter.
Source to come.
Chris
Didn't find anything on Madame B with a five second pubmed search but these links might be helpful
PLOS Intergenomic Arms Races: Detection of a Nuclear Rescue Gene of Male-Killing in a Ladybird
http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1000987 (http://journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1000987)
The abstract states that some proteobacterium infection of ladybirds (Cheilomenes sexmaculata) can lead to male-killing. Authors suggest that they have presented evidence that the genome of the ladybird host has adapted by maintaining a mutant gene that suppresses the proteobacterium induced male-killing phenotype.
Here is a PNAS review on "Selfish genetic elements, genetic conflict, and evolutionary innovation." (2011)
http://www.pnas.org/content/108/Supplement_2/10863.full.pdf (http://www.pnas.org/content/108/Supplement_2/10863.full.pdf)
In a slightly more macro view, there is a very good scifi-horror short story "The Screwfly Solution" written in 1977 by Alice Sheldon.
The genesis of the story was the concept of the "sterile insect technique" in which eradication of a species of pests (screwflies) was attempted by introducing a large number of infertile males to a breeding population of screwflies. Essentially the scientists are hoping to reduce the pest population by flooding the market with dominant negative males and expecting that in the short generation time of screwflies not enough viable progeny will be born, thus causing a population crash.
Alice Sheldon applies this idea to humanity. It's a gripping and visceral story. Also won a Nebula. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwfly_Solution. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Screwfly_Solution.)
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As has been mentioned on other threads, a huge wildfire has just destroyed a whole bunch of the Canadian city of Fort McMurray: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36224767 (http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36224767)
So let's say a fire like that threatens a Delta Green containment site. The agents have to try their best to either move or protect the target as the fire rapidly encroaches.
So basically, Lover in the Ice but with fire. And on a consequently very fast time table.
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Just throwing this here for Ithaqua lovers. I'm sure some of you would have known of this incident already but I love the 'science' part that perhaps tries to justify the bizarre deaths at Dyatlov
https://m.curiosity.com/memes/the-horrifying-mystery-of-the-dyatlov-pass-incident-curiosity/?utm_source=facebookScA&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2016q2xxfbk03ScAldyatlovincident
Perhaps a recording studio had a strange blizzard indoors. And no one knows wtf happened. Perhaps it's the infrasound recording the folk band recorded when they went to record live in the Alaskan wilds. Perhaps that infrasound was the voice of Ithaqua.
Chris
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More CoC/Delta Green ideas ripped from the headlines.
An unfortunate tragic accident on a festival day.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/world/asia/india-temple-fire-kerala-fireworks.html (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/11/world/asia/india-temple-fire-kerala-fireworks.html)
APRIL 10, 2016 Paravur, India; Kollam district
Fireworks Disaster at Kerala Temple Kills 106 in South India
MUMBAI, India — A series of explosions early Sunday caused by a fireworks display during a religious festival at a temple left 106 people dead and hundreds more injured in the southern Indian state of Kerala, the local authorities said.
P. T. Chacko, a spokesman for Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of Kerala, said that the fireworks display had been specifically forbidden by officials in the coastal district of Kollam but that the Puttingal temple had gone ahead anyway.
One of the devices landed in the building where the fireworks were being stored, setting off explosions that leveled several buildings, killing and injuring people, K.Hari Kumar, a fire officer at the scene, said in a telephone interview.
“Fragments of the building with huge pieces of burnt crackers were flying all over,” said Rajendran, 36, a mason who goes by one name. He had traveled with friends from his village 20 miles away to attend the festivities, which marked the start of the new year on the Hindu calendar.
“We all started scrambling for a safe place,” Mr. Rajendran said by telephone from his bed in an intensive care unit at the nearby Holy Cross Super Specialty Hospital, where he was taken with broken bones in his face and in one arm. His friends were so badly burned, he said, that he did not know if they would survive.
Public safety is a huge problem in India, where weak governance frequently results in the flouting of safety rules, leading to large numbers of fatalities. At least 26 people died and 89 were injured when an elevated highway under construction collapsed in late March in a crowded neighborhood in Kolkata.
K. M. Singh, a former member of the National Disaster Management Authority and a retired government official, said public safety was not treated as a top priority. Punishments for violating safety rules are not a sufficient deterrent, he added, because cases drag on for years in the overcrowded courts, and in the end the accused often are not penalized.
“It needs a total mind-set change from top to bottom,” Mr. Singh said. “The situation will not change unless the government enforces the norms in a very undiluted manner and takes serious punitive action wherever there are violations.”
Fireworks have become increasingly popular at religious festivals in India, set off by children and adults in streets and in parking lots, as well as on temple grounds. Religious groups and temples, flush with donations, compete to create the loudest, brightest displays. Accidents are common, though the scale of devastation on Sunday was unusual.
Hours after the explosions on Sunday, the police in Kerala opened an official criminal investigation of two top temple officials, Mr. Chacko said. The two officials, P. S. Jayalal, the temple president, and J. KrishnanKutty Pillai, the temple secretary, could not be reached immediately for comment.
S. Chandrakumar, a police inspector in the temple town, said the police had begun investigations of 17 people, including the temple leadership, on allegations ranging from culpable homicide to violating the orders of a local authority.
Also on Sunday, the Kerala government ordered a judicial inquiry into the temple deaths, which must be completed within six months.
Mr. Chacko said 106 people had died and 383 others were hospitalized and being treated for burns. The medical officer of Kollam, Dr. C. R. Jaysankar, said many of the deaths occurred when pieces of concrete, knocked loose by the explosions, fell on members of the crowd.
Some of the dead were burned so badly that they were unrecognizable, according to a statement from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College, which received some of the first victims.
The explosions began around 3 a.m., and rescue operations were still underway as of 9:30 a.m., with some people still trapped, Mr. Kumar, the fire officer, said. The force of the explosions caused buildings and electrical lines to collapse as far as 50 feet away, he said.
Neethu Reghukumar, a CNN-IBN television reporter at the scene, said by telephone that the fireworks were being set off in a small area next to the temple, less than 300 feet away from houses, when high-intensity fireworks being stored in a concrete building inside the temple premises caught fire after one of the devices landed there. A huge explosion brought down the building, and an adjacent building also collapsed, Ms. Reghukumar said.
Many houses in the vicinity were damaged, their windows, doors and walls cracked, she said. The explosions also tore apart bodies, witnesses said in television interviews. One woman interviewed on CNN-IBN described finding human remains inside her house and on the roof.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi commented on the episode on Twitter, saying, “Fire at temple in Kollam is heart-rending & shocking beyond words.” Television stations showed Mr. Modi arriving in Kerala on Sunday afternoon and heading to visit the vicinity of the temple and victims in hospitals.
The Puttingal temple is about 40 miles from the state capital, Thiruvananthapuram. Local residents believe that a goddess appeared on an ant hill that is now the site of the Hindu temple.
According to the the temple website, the temple is devoted to Devi.
At least that is what I understand. I'm not sure if "Devi" refers to "goddesses" in general or a specific Hindu goddess, or the Divine Mother.
http://puttingaltemple.org/ (http://puttingaltemple.org/)
Puttingal Temple is a Hindu temple in the coastal town of Paravur, India. The temple was founded after the presence of the goddess was experienced on an ant hill; "Puttu" being the Malayalam word for ant Hill.
The festival of this temple is on the "Bharani" star of Malayalam month Meenam. Fireworks (Matsara Kambam) and other events associated with the festival (Aswathi vilakku, Kathakali, Kampadikali, Marameduppu) take place along with other cultural events. Various poojas are performed and offerings are made daily for the fulfillment of desires and redressal of various grievances of devotees.
"Thottampattu", the most important offering in this temple, starts on the 21st day of Vrischikam (a Malayalam month falling in between mid November and mid December) and lasts till the principal festival of the Goddess.
Devi the Divine Mother
https://www.asia.si.edu/devi/whoisdevi.htm (https://www.asia.si.edu/devi/whoisdevi.htm)
Who Is Devi
The Great Goddess, known in India as Devi (literally "goddess"), has many guises. She is "Ma" the gentle and approachable mother. As Jaganmata, or Mother of the universe, she assumes cosmic proportions, destroying evil and addressing herself to the creation and dissolution of the worlds. She is worshiped by thousands of names that often reflect local customs and legends. She is one and she is many. She is celebrated in songs and poems.
Devi is all-important in Hinduism, but there are also forms of female divinity in Buddhism and Jainism. Today millions of Hindu men and women conduct regular pujas to Devi through one of her many manifestations. For some she is their primary deity while for others she is part of a greater pantheon. All Hindu goddesses may be viewed as different manifestations of Devi. In some forms she is benign and gentle, while in other forms she is dynamic and ferocious, but in all forms she is helpful to her devotees.
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Quebec teen discovers ancient Mayan ruins by studying the stars
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/quebec-teen-discovers-ancient-mayan-ruins-by-170620746.html (https://ca.news.yahoo.com/quebec-teen-discovers-ancient-mayan-ruins-by-170620746.html)
This young man is a legitimate genius.
A teenager from Quebec has discovered an ancient Mayan city without leaving his province’s borders.
William Gadoury is a 15-year-old student from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudière, Quebec. The precocious teen has been fascinated by all things Mayan for several years, devouring any information he could find on the topic.
During his research, Gadoury examined 22 Mayan constellations and discovered that if he projected those constellations onto a map, the shapes corresponded perfectly with the locations of 117 Mayan cities. Incredibly, the 15-year-old was the first person to establish this important correlation, reported the Journal de Montreal over the weekend.
Then Gadoury took it one step further. He examined a twenty-third constellation which contained three stars, yet only two corresponded to known cities.
Gadoury’s hypothesis? There had to be a city in the place where that third star fell on the map.
Satellite images later confirmed that, indeed, geometric shapes visible from above imply that an ancient city with a large pyramid and thirty buildings stands exactly where Gadoury said they would be. If the find is confirmed, it would be the fourth largest Mayan city in existence.
“I didn’t understand why the Maya built their cities far away from rivers, in remote areas, or in the mountains,” Gadoury told the Journal de Montreal, explaining how he developed his theory.
Once Gadoury had established where he thought the city should be, the young man reached out to the Canadian Space Agency where staff was able to obtain satellites through NASA and JAXA, the Japanese space agency.
Scientists across the board have been blown away by Gadoury’s discovery.
“What makes William’s project fascinating is the depth of his research,” said Canadian Space Agency liaison officer Daniel de Lisle. “Linking the positions of stars to the location of a lost city along with the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation is quite exceptional.”
Being 15, Gadoury has decided to name the city K'ÀAK ‘CHI, a Mayan phrase which in English means “fire mouth.”
The next step for Gadoury will be seeing the city in person. He’s already presented his findings to two Mexican archaeologists, and has been promised that he’ll join expeditions to the area.
Says Gadoury: “It would be the culmination of three years of work and the dream of lifetime.”
The city hasn't been discovered yet, but in a Delta Green universe, guess who A cell sends along with the academic expedition. Team Your Sorry Asses.
I'm also reminded of the "Orion correlation theory" regarding the position of the Great Pyramids at Giza.
Orion correlation theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_correlation_theory)
The Orion correlation theory (or Giza–Orion correlation theory[1]) is a hypothesis in alternative Egyptology. Its central claim is that there is a correlation between the location of the three largest pyramids of the Giza pyramid complex and Orion's Belt of the constellation Orion, and that this correlation was intended as such by the builders of the pyramids. The stars of Orion were associated with Osiris, the god of rebirth and afterlife, by the ancient Egyptians.[2][3][4] Depending on the version of the theory, additional pyramids can be included to complete the picture of the Orion constellation, and the Nile river can be included to match with the Milky Way galaxy. The theory was first published in 1989 in Discussions in Egyptology, volume 13. It was the subject of a bestseller, The Orion Mystery, in 1994,[5] as well as a BBC documentary, The Great Pyramid: Gateway to the Stars (February 1994), and appears in some new-age books.[6][7]
Anyway back to the main story.
Translated to English from http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/05/07/un-ado-decouvre-une-cite-maya (http://www.journaldemontreal.com/2016/05/07/un-ado-decouvre-une-cite-maya)
A teenager discovers a Mayan city
(http://i.imgur.com/BmmKp7g.jpg)
SAINT-JEAN-DE-MATHA | A Quebecers 15 years has discovered a new Mayan city hitherto unknown with his theory that civilization chose the location of its towns in the form of star constellations.
William Gadoury, a teenager from Saint-Jean-de-Matha in Lanaudière, became a small launch to NASA, the Canadian Space Agency and the Japanese Space Agency, while his discovery is about to be disseminated in a scientific journal.
Passionate Mayan for several years, he analyzed 22 Mayan constellations and realized that if he connected on a map the stars of the constellations, the shape of each corresponded to position 117 Mayan cities. No scientist had ever found such a correlation between the stars and the location of the Mayan cities.
The genius of William, however, was to analyze a 23rd constellation. It contained three stars and only two cities matched on the card. According to his theory, so it should be a 118th Mayan city in a remote and inaccessible location in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico.
One of the 5 largest cities
Analyses from satellites in different space agencies have revealed that there was indeed a pyramid and thirty buildings at the precise location identified by the young man.
The Journal had access to satellite images which we see different structures of what may be an ancient city. "Geometric shapes, such as squares or rectangles, appeared on these images, forms that can hardly be attributed to natural phenomena," says remote sensing specialist at the University of New Brunswick, Dr. Armand LaRocque.
Not only he would have discovered a new Mayan city, but it would be one of the five largest.
"When Dr. LaRocque told me in January, we distinguish a pyramid and thirty structures, it was extraordinary," said the young man.
He named this lost city K'ÀAK 'CHI' or 'fire mouth "in French.
"I did not understand why the Maya built their cities away from rivers, on marginal lands and in the mountains, said William Gadoury. He had to have another reason, and as they worshiped the stars, the idea came to me to verify my hypothesis. I was really surprised and excited when I realized that the most brilliant stars of the constellations matched the largest Maya cities. "
He wants to go
For now, no one has yet delivered in the jungle to see the fiery mouth.
William spoke to two Mexican archaeologists to whom he presented his work, but these are not made there.
"It's always about money. An expedition costs horribly expensive, "said Dr. Armand LaRocque.
Archaeologists have promised William to bring in their excavations. This is the greatest wish of the young man.
"It would be the culmination of my three years of work and the dream of my life," he said.
The stars gave him the key
William Gadoury was interested in the Maya after the publication of the Mayan calendar announcing the end of the world in 2012.
Teen found 22 constellations in a Maya Codex Madrid.
By connecting the stars of the constellations to create forms and applying transparencies with the constellations on a Google Earth map, he found that this corresponds to the Maya cities of the Yucatan Peninsula.
In all, 142 stars to 117 correspond Mayan cities.
The brightest stars are the largest cities.
In addition, the method used by William works with Aztec civilizations, the Incas and Harapa India.
23rd constellation
He found in a Mayan reference book a 23rd constellation that was missing. By linking the three stars, he noticed he was missing a Mayan city on the map.
He shared this discovery with the Canadian Space Agency who provided satellite images from NASA and JAXA Japanese agency.
He also visited a hundred websites distributors of satellite images that allowed him to get hold of images dating from 2005, a year when a great fire devastated the region, which made them more visible vestiges of its lost city.
The impressed scientists
Experts and scientists are unanimous. The discovery of William Gadoury is exceptional.
"What is fascinating about the project of William, is the depth of his research. Linking the position of stars and the location of a lost city and the use of satellite images on a tiny territory to identify the remains buried under dense vegetation, is quite exceptional! "Has said Daniel de Lisle, the Canadian Space Agency. He also presented a medal of merit to the young man.
The space agency has contributed to the advancement of research the young man by providing satellite images that allowed him to find his lost city.
Not easy
Dr. Armand LaRocque, a remote sensing specialist from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton has played a major role in the analysis of radar images.
"The discovery of hidden human structures in the Yucatan jungle was not easy, but the use of satellite images, as well as the contribution of the digital image processing have helped identify these structures and to confirm their possible existence, although they were forgotten for hundreds of years. "
THE LOST CITY
(http://i.imgur.com/T0fvv6J.jpg)
Name: The Fire Mouth
Pyramid 86 meters
Total area of 80 to 120 square km
Location: 17 ° North 90 ° West
large network of alleys and streets
30 visible structures of space
4th largest Mayan city
NEED FUNDS TO GO TO BRAZIL
So far the school pay 100% of costs for the Expos-science (regional and national) William. For attending the International Science Fair Brazil in 2017, the Académie Antoine-Manseau has exhausted its budget allocated to science and can only provide 50% of costs. Therefore missing around $ 1,000 for it to get there.
People wishing to contribute to help William Gadoury to represent Quebec at Fortizina may do so by contacting the young researcher by email at: will_maya@live.ca
Further thoughts
In all, 142 stars to 117 correspond Mayan cities.
The brightest stars are the largest cities.
In addition, the method used by William works with Aztec civilizations, the Incas and Harapa India.
-Do any of the 25 stars that do not correspond to Mayan city locations correspond to a Mayan constellation that has a negative mythological connotation? Perhaps those "evil constellations" denote taboo pre-human ruins (or Atlantean, Hyborian, or Lemurian) or even containment areas Mayan sorcerers used to seal away a great evil.
-What are these constellations and cities that are linked in Harapa India?
-Perhaps a fictionalized version of an archaeological prodigy is actually Randolf Carter reborn (or reincarnated in an different timestream since Carter iirc was lost in time and space). Perhaps Delta Green has to carry out a clandestine escort mission of the prodigy while trying to sabotage the academic expedition to the newly discovered fifth largest Mayan city WHILE the Fate (Nyarty hates Carter) sends a sorcerorous kill team to assassinate the young prodigy before he does something mystically important.
-Now I'm thinking of Laird Barron's Children of the Old Leech stories and the Outer Dark.
There are large "empty" areas in space where galaxies are statistically few and far between.
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-04/20/cold-spot-background-radiation-solved-supervoid (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2015-04/20/cold-spot-background-radiation-solved-supervoid)
Mystery-busting 'supervoid' is largest object in the Universe
Astronomers in Hawaii may have solved a mystery embedded in the background of the Universe, by identifying the largest single object in existence.
...
Successive temperature maps of this cosmic microwave background (CMB), including those produced by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and the European Space Agency's Planck satellite, have found the unusual spot in the southern galactic hemisphere, in the constellation Eridanus.
Its existence is a problem, because statistically the spot sits far outside the standard fluctuations in temperature in the CMB anticipated by standard physics. Explaining it has been a matter of either starting again with the basic physics of the Big Bang, or finding something very, very large in between Earth and the CMB -- such as a supervoid, which is an empty region of space in which galaxies are much more rare than they are elsewhere.
The myth behind the constellation Eridanus
http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/eridanus-constellation/ (http://www.constellation-guide.com/constellation-list/eridanus-constellation/)
In Greek mythology, the constellation is associated with the story of Phaëton (or Phaëthon), the son of the Sun god Helios and the Oceanid Clymene. Phaëton wanted to drive his father’s chariot across the sky and kept begging for Helios’ permission to do so until the god agreed, advising Phaëton to follow the beaten track where he saw wheel marks.
Phaëton mounted the chariot and the horses, sensing that the driver was lighter, flew upwards into the sky, leaving the familiar track behind. The inexperienced driver could not control the horses and the reins slipped from his hands. The chariot plunged so close to the Earth that lands caught fire. It is said that this was how Libya became a desert, Ethiopians got dark skin, and the seas dried up. Zeus saw what was going on and had to intervene to prevent further disaster. He struck Phaëton down with a thunderbolt and, when Phaëton’s hair caught on fire, he leapt from the chariot and fell into the Eridanus. His father Helios, stricken with grief, did not drive his chariot for days, leaving the world in darkness.
The Greek poet Aratus called the constellation Eridanus, while a number of other sources including Ptolemy referred to it as Potamos, which means “the river.” Eratosthenes associated the celestial river with the Nile, the only river that runs from south to north. Hyginus, a Latin author, agreed, pointing out that the bright star Canopus in the constellation Carina lay at the end of the river much like the island Canopus lies at the mouth of the great river in Egypt. The actual constellation, however, represents a river that runs from north to south. Later, the river came to be identified as the river Po in Italy by Greek and Latin authors.
The name Eridanus, according to a theory, comes from the name of a Babylonian constellation known as the Star of Eridu (MUL.NUN.KI). Eridu was a Babylonian city held sacred to the god Enki-Ea. Enki-Ea was the ruler of the cosmic domain of the Abyss, usually imagined as a reservoir of fresh water below the Earth’s surface.
This is all too fucking convenient that the location of a constellation related to myths of "darkness" in two cultures contains a supervoid. Fiction writers, mine this coincidence for ideas please.
Now as I understand it there are other voids in the universe. Perhaps if the location of these voids is charted on the Earth using a civilizations "constellations as city planning locations" as a reference the voids corresponding Earthly locations are places of great evil or great chthonic darkness.
In a Larid Barron's mythos naturally these could be locations detailed by The Black Guide where the Children of the Old Leech gather.
Lots to play with here.
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Cool stuff, Twisting H.
A little closer to home, by which I mean right in the RPPR hometown: A billionaire is digging for hidden caves beneath his golf course.
http://www.topoftherock.com/sinkhole (http://www.topoftherock.com/sinkhole)
"A treasure hunt is underway and we hope to one day discover a new natural wonder lying below,” said Johnny Morris, who has been overseeing the big dig. “It’s been an exciting few months here at Top of the Rock and we hope the best is yet to come.”
The sinkhole’s near-vertical collapse was characteristic of those in close proximity to cave formations. Water from the sinkhole drained out a cave located approximately one mile away that Morris personally discovered 23 years ago leading him to believe the two may potentially be connected by a long cave system.
The excavations may reveal answers to a mystery that has intrigued Morris for many years dating back to the discovery of a small cave decades earlier. Morris' exploits into the cave were documented through family photos and a National Geographic feature story in April 1998.
Morris first discovered the cave – dubbed John L's Cave - in 1993 on a walk with the property’s former owner Dr. M. Graham Clark when the two came upon a natural spring. Johnny started excavations and five years and several dead ends later, they revealed a cavern home to beautiful rock formations National Geographic magazine described as, “an underground chapel.”
Though John L's Cave extends about one hundred yards before large formations block further passage, Morris always wondered if it was linked to a more comprehensive underground system. After water rushed out from the mouth following the sinkhole implosion his interest was renewed and the treasure hunt was on once more.
Could be a more Dresden Files/Ozark Obelisk-oriented story seed, but of course rich people digging up subterranean secrets is a pretty nice Lovecraftian trope, too.
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Could be a more Dresden Files/Ozark Obelisk-oriented story seed, but of course rich people digging up subterranean secrets is a pretty nice Lovecraftian trope, too.
Or batman.
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Some retired member of the Baader-Meinhof group have come out of retirement to rob armoured trucks...And failed...Twice.
How can you not make this into an game. It has Delta Green and/or Fiasco written all over it.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/30/europe/germany-baader-meinhof-robberies/index.html (http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/30/europe/germany-baader-meinhof-robberies/index.html)
EDIT: I failed to mention the grenade launcher and the automatic guns.
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Fuel for thought in an economics/business game that might be applicable to Red Markets, but one of the largest investment firms in Poland has its roots in a bunch of students smuggling used West German electronics into communist Poland on their weekends (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-36341265). The West was updating its tech and wanted rid of the older models, whereas the communist states had barely anything electronic, so the students were running things like Commodore 64's and flogging them in street markets at a 50% profit (and a 10 hour round-trip).
It makes me think of a job for a Recession-based group, where they're getting stock piles of things the Recession aren't using any more (say, Suppressin reaching its use-by date, or old but functional electronics) and heading out into the Loss, in an inversion of the typical game model, to sell to nearby enclaves.
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That sounds like a great one-shot or mini-campaign! I get a sort of junkyard Heart of Darkness vibe for some reason.
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I think it could also serve as an introduction to the setting for new players. You start off in something that looks more or less like modern America, salvage some iPhones and then pop out to sell them and - oh, zombie wasteland. Enclaves. Crushing poverty.
I think an interesting campaign might be based around these guys getting caught and declared homo sacor and - well, better find an enclave to hook up with, buy our way in with the iPhones and get to grafting as Takers...
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This recent report (http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/04/uk-man-jailed-for-15-years-in-us-for-north-korean-drug-plot)on a drug trial paints an elaborate multi-national crime scheme going on.
A British man was sentenced in Manhattan after being arrested in Thailand for buying North Korean meth in Hong Kong, and selling it in the Phillipines with his Zimbabwean boss (who was arrested in Liberia and I've just gone cross-eyed). Apparently what did them in was trying to connect their crime to every continent because a sting operation was carried out whereby law enforcement officers posed as South American cartel members looking to buy, and apparently these guys really wanted to tick that box.
The carbon footprint on this crime in ridiculous.
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This recent report (http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/04/uk-man-jailed-for-15-years-in-us-for-north-korean-drug-plot)on a drug trial paints an elaborate multi-national crime scheme going on.
A British man was sentenced in Manhattan after being arrested in Thailand for buying North Korean meth in Hong Kong, and selling it in the Phillipines with his Zimbabwean boss (who was arrested in Liberia and I've just gone cross-eyed). Apparently what did them in was trying to connect their crime to every continent because a sting operation was carried out whereby law enforcement officers posed as South American cartel members looking to buy, and apparently these guys really wanted to tick that box.
The carbon footprint on this crime in ridiculous.
;D Globalism working as intended.
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medium.com/welcome-to-the-scream-room/im-with-the-banned-8d1b6e0b2932#.29astvub0 (http://medium.com/welcome-to-the-scream-room/im-with-the-banned-8d1b6e0b2932#.29astvub0)
It might just be a coping mechanism at this point but if playing these as NPCs didn't make me feel like rage vomiting I'd run this as a scenario in Unknown Armies to see how my players'd fuck em' up.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV0I-iA5lJU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV0I-iA5lJU)
The Agents have failed. The stars are right. Someone runs the tape, then turns off the light.
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On 27 August 1957, an underground nuclear test dubbed Pascal-B caused the 900 pound, four inch thick cap to be blasted off at what was estimated to be slightly more than three times escape velocity. It was never found. At least, until last Thursday, when it was discovered in a parking lot outside of Buena Vista, highly radioactive but completely unmarked, with strange glyphs carved under the safety symbols originally placed on the cap.
(Fun historical PS: 20 days earlier was a balloon test named Stokes.)
http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Plumbob.html#PascalA (http://nuclearweaponarchive.org/Usa/Tests/Plumbob.html#PascalA)
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Good stuff from the Graveyard shift recently
Skeletons clamped in iron shackles found in mass grave at ancient Greek cemetery
The bodies are thought to be the remains of Cylon supporters, following the failed coup in 632 BC
http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/skeletons-clamped-iron-shackles-found-mass-grave-ancient-greek-cemetery-1573620 (http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/skeletons-clamped-iron-shackles-found-mass-grave-ancient-greek-cemetery-1573620)
Mystery magic spells unearthed with ancient skeletons in Serbia
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-serbia-archaeology-magic-idUSKCN10K10L (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-serbia-archaeology-magic-idUSKCN10K10L)
Archaeologists are trying to decipher magic spells etched onto tiny rolls of gold and silver that they found alongside skeletons of humans buried almost 2,000 years ago.
"The alphabet is Greek, that much we know. The language is Aramaic – it's a Middle Eastern mystery to us," Miomir Korac, chief archaeologist at the site in eastern Serbia, told Reuters.
The skeletons were found at the foot of a massive coal-fired power station where searches are being carried out before another unit of the electricity plant is built on the site of an ancient Roman city.
Last week, after carefully brushing away soil from the bones, Korac's team found two amulets made of lead that, when opened, were each found to rolls of precious metal - silver and gold - covered in symbols and writing.
They believe the inscriptions are magic spells, taken to the grave to invoke divine powers to perform good or evil.
"We read the names of a few demons, that are connected to the territory of modern-day Syria," archaeologist Ilija Dankovic said at the dig, as more skeletons from the 4th century A.D. were being uncovered.
The fragile, golden and silver scrolls - which once unrolled look like rectangles of foil similar in size to a sweet wrapper - may never be fully understood.
They are the first such items discovered in Serbia but resemble amulets of "binding magic" found in other countries, Dankovic said.
"They were often love charms, ordering someone to fall in love, but there were also dark, malignant curses, to the tune of: ‘may your body turn dead, as cold and heavy as this lead,’" he said.
Magic charms tended to be buried with dead children or adults who had suffered a violent death, Dankovic said, because of a belief that "souls of such people took longer to find rest and had a better chance of finding demons and deities and pass the wishes to them so they could do their magic."
If I remember correctly, lead supposedly wards off angels or demons.
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A PC party either tried to summon Thor or there had a ythian lighting gun shoot-out.
Since this is Norway I'm going with summoning Thor. Either way it's Delta Green material.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/29/freak-lighting-bolts-kill-300-reindeer-in-norway/ (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/29/freak-lighting-bolts-kill-300-reindeer-in-norway/)
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Some inspirational sci-fi art. Hypothetical giant spiders that evolved after animals from Earth were transplanted to a planet with much lower gravity:
(http://66.media.tumblr.com/1726c37208995abececd344d29638675/tumblr_nnkd86eTJb1tst46wo1_1280.png)
(http://67.media.tumblr.com/674d34bf89935361b88f7ea6cd3171fc/tumblr_nnkd79SCzf1tst46wo1_1280.png) (http://cmkosemenillustrated.tumblr.com/)
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Some inspirational sci-fi art. Hypothetical giant spiders that evolved after animals from Earth were transplanted to a planet with much lower gravity:
(http://66.media.tumblr.com/1726c37208995abececd344d29638675/tumblr_nnkd86eTJb1tst46wo1_1280.png)
(http://67.media.tumblr.com/674d34bf89935361b88f7ea6cd3171fc/tumblr_nnkd79SCzf1tst46wo1_1280.png) (http://cmkosemenillustrated.tumblr.com/)
Need a Banana for scale. ;)
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So in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp, there were apparently secret villages of free black people, mostly escaped slaves, living in almost total isolation from the outside world. For like 150 years.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist)
SECRET VILLAGES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES DEEP WITHIN THE SWAMP. Do I have my next Civil War Cthulhu scenario? Yes, yes I do.
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Also the swamp has a huge circular lake in the middle of it that is not fed by any streams. Scientists -- and Indian legends -- theorize that it might have been created by a huge underground peat fire. Or maybe a meteorite strike.
Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
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So in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp, there were apparently secret villages of free black people, mostly escaped slaves, living in almost total isolation from the outside world. For like 150 years.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist)
SECRET VILLAGES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES DEEP WITHIN THE SWAMP. Do I have my next Civil War Cthulhu scenario? Yes, yes I do.
Classic Lovecraft would be black cultist in the swamp. Not racist at all... I wonder how we could run this from the other side.
Make the black runaway slaves the players. Make the problem be in the swamp and the ex-slave village can't go anywhere for help, because "ex-slave". Really turns the desperation and isolation up to 11. Add some slave hunters as road-blocks/trouble to keep the real problem from being solved and you have a scenario.
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SECRET VILLAGES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES DEEP WITHIN THE SWAMP. Do I have my next Civil War Cthulhu scenario? Yes, yes I do.
Heck yeah. This is a fantastic setting starter.
Also the swamp has a huge circular lake in the middle of it that is not fed by any streams. Scientists -- and Indian legends -- theorize that it might have been created by a huge underground peat fire. Or maybe a meteorite strike.
Seriously, you can't make this stuff up.
This detail in and of itself is Mythos material. I recall reading a modern story about a Mythos tale around a lake that was not fed by any streams. It was fed by some sort of underground fissure/aquifer with something unnatural below that. Can't recall the title or author unfortunately. Might have been Barron's “The Redfield Girls”, but I don't think so.
Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" also features a lake with a sinister purpose in the latter quarter of the book.
Make the black runaway slaves the players. Make the problem be in the swamp and the ex-slave village can't go anywhere for help, because "ex-slave". Really turns the desperation and isolation up to 11. Add some slave hunters as road-blocks/trouble to keep the real problem from being solved and you have a scenario.
I like the idea of having the player team be slave runaways coming to the village in expectation of freedom.
First, this concept gives the players a significant reason to be/work together. Secondly the GM (I know it's Keeper but I'm going with GM for simplicity) can divide useful skills among the group of escapees/refugees because it's likely that only a group of people with some degree of synergy and competence managed to survive for this long. In addition to skill interdependence the players have on one another, the GM could also introduce player flaws (physical disadvantages like Ethan's last game) that the entire party has to come together to overcome (because Bob the guy who lost part of a leg in a cannon blast is our only doctor damn it!) which ratchets up the tension.
Make the problem be in the swamp and the ex-slave village can't go anywhere for help, because "ex-slave". Really turns the desperation and isolation up to 11.
I agree with this. Playing a group of fugitives turns the desperation and isolation.
Add some slave hunters as road-blocks/trouble to keep the real problem from being solved and you have a scenario.
You could do this but it seems a bit too ... expected to me. I do like the idea of slave hunters a road-blocks (increasing isolation) preventing the players from escaping the Mythos location, but I don't like the idea of slave hunters as front and center antagonists. It's been done before.
How about this. The Rock and a Hard Place situation. Players are refugees seeking respite and freedom from slavery. In the back of the mind is the nebulous fear of being re enslaved.
However the slave village location they are fleeing to is just as unsavory because it has a monster/cultist problem. The players expect rest and a breather, this expectation is ripped from them, horror begins as they realize they are out of the frying pan and into the fire. Perhaps a fatigue mechanic would be useful here. First act is a fleeing/escape scene. Second act arrival at village/ investigation/ rising horror. Third act resolution or desperate flight out of swamp dodging cultists and then trying to dodge slavers waiting for them.
Or the party comes to the slave village and find it abandoned with signs of violence. And they have to stay the night there with a monster somewhere on the loose because slaving parties are looking for them outside the swamp. Then it turns into the classical "it's a rainy night and we can't go outside" haunted house.
Alternatively again, perhaps the party are new ex-slaves to the village. Since they are new (expendable) the "village elder" tasks them with investigating why slaves are disappearing from the village (it's a supernatural threat).
Lot of options here. Looking forwards to what you come up with!
Edit:
The Great Dismal Swamp, now reduced by draining and development, is managed as a federal wildlife refuge. The once-notorious panthers are gone, but bears, birds, deer and amphibians are still abundant. So are venomous snakes and biting insects. In the awful heat and humidity of summer, Sayers assures me, the swamp teems with water moccasins and rattlesnakes. The mosquitoes get so thick that they can blur the outlines of a person standing 12 feet away.
Oh damn. You need to come up with a mechanic for obscuring/blinding swarms in the swamp.
Also all those snakes. Voodoo/Pentecostal snake handlers gone bad? The party's only ally is a crazy one of these in a old isolated shack?
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Classic Lovecraft would be black cultist in the swamp. Not racist at all...
Having said that. You could do it as whities fighting the evil black cultist. You just have to humanise the black slaves / cultists.
Part of the horror is that the escape slaves were desperate enough to call anyone for assistance. And eventually someone really bad answered. Now the ex slaves are stuck in their swamp doing horrible things in the name of their saviour. They can't not do what the saviour says because he makes them able to live in the swamp (Protection from hunger, disease. insects?). Can't leave the swamp because then they get captured again.
The players are the whites sent into the swamp to stop the actions of the escape slave, then find out why they are doing what they are doing and have to deal with the mythos problem at the core of the swamp. If they just shoot the ex-slaves then the Mythos problem will just keep going and get worse. If they manage to get information from the ex-slaves then there is a glimmer of hope of stopping said bad thing in the swamp.
Doable?
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Yeah, the interesting thing is that we know exactly how Lovecraft himself would write this scenario: it's Chapter 2 of "The Call of Cthulhu," complete with sinister swamp mulattoes and everything. The fun of this scenario is going to lie mostly in subverting that form into a totally different type of horror.
You guys are thinking in the exact same direction I am. The PCs are going to be escaped slaves. I'm probably going to set this in the 1850's instead of during the Civil War proper. I think there won't be any white characters in the entire scenario, except some terrifying slave catchers and probably a few cultists -- nothing brings people together quite like Cthulhu!
Like most of the Civil War scenarios, I'm looking to design it as a one-shot, though the whole setting could easily be a campaign seed.
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An international, invite-only convention of people who solve physical puzzles for fun — who else is hearing secret society, possibly hackers in their down time or safe crackers on break?
http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/solving-the-mystery-of-the-secret-international-puzzle-party (http://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/solving-the-mystery-of-the-secret-international-puzzle-party)
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So in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp, there were apparently secret villages of free black people, mostly escaped slaves, living in almost total isolation from the outside world. For like 150 years.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist)
SECRET VILLAGES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES DEEP WITHIN THE SWAMP. Do I have my next Civil War Cthulhu scenario? Yes, yes I do.
There's a movie about a Brazilian community of freed slaves: Quilombo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091816/). It's about the quilombo of Palmares (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilombo#Palmares), a democratic community of nearly 30,000 people which survived for almost a century despite repeated attacks by the Dutch and Portuguese.
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That is awesome.
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So in Virginia's Great Dismal Swamp, there were apparently secret villages of free black people, mostly escaped slaves, living in almost total isolation from the outside world. For like 150 years.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/deep-swamps-archaeologists-fugitive-slaves-kept-freedom-180960122/?no-ist)
SECRET VILLAGES OF FUGITIVE SLAVES DEEP WITHIN THE SWAMP. Do I have my next Civil War Cthulhu scenario? Yes, yes I do.
There's a movie about a Brazilian community of freed slaves: Quilombo (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091816/). It's about the quilombo of Palmares (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quilombo#Palmares), a democratic community of nearly 30,000 people which survived for almost a century despite repeated attacks by the Dutch and Portuguese.
Wow, sweet! I've gotta check that out for inspiration. There's also a Harriet Beecher Stowe novel set in the swamp, titled Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp. It was her follow-up to Uncle Tom's Cabin and features a much more militant protagonist.
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Fodder for Ross' next Payday inspired game
"In 341 robberies, the Pink Panther gang have stolen jewels worth £276m. But who are they? Havana Marking meets them"
2013
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/22/pink-panthers-diamond-thieves-documentary (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2013/sep/22/pink-panthers-diamond-thieves-documentary)
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The Roman den of debauchery and licentiousness literally dropped into the sea
http://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/10/the-sunken-city-of-baiae.html (http://www.amusingplanet.com/2016/10/the-sunken-city-of-baiae.html)
albeit about 8 centuries later...
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So, does anyone want to see the FBI files on Nikola Tesla?
https://vault.fbi.gov/nikola-tesla (https://vault.fbi.gov/nikola-tesla)
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GOOD FIND :D
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Some floor plans for your Buffy/Stranger Things/what-have-you RPGs:
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/ArrestedDevelopment-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/BreakingBad-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/Buffy-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/GilmoreGirls-2-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/MrRobot-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/Philadelphia-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/Sherlock-full.jpg)
(https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2030101/floor%20plans/StrangerThings-full.jpg) (http://www.homes.com/blog/2016/10/8-home-floor-plans-cult-tv-shows/)
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Dutch WWII-Era Shipwrecks Have Mysteriously Disappeared (http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/11/16/502323557/dutch-wwii-era-shipwrecks-have-mysteriously-disappeared?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&utm_term=nprnews&utm_content=2043)
Delta Green would like to know -- what are they building down there?
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Celestial Mysteries: fast radio bursts from deep space.
http://www.nature.com/news/long-sought-signal-deepens-mystery-of-fast-radio-bursts-1.20993?WT.ec_id=NEWSDAILY-20161117 (http://www.nature.com/news/long-sought-signal-deepens-mystery-of-fast-radio-bursts-1.20993?WT.ec_id=NEWSDAILY-20161117)
Long-sought signal deepens mystery of fast radio bursts
A discovery that was supposed to help reveal how the bursts arise only thickens the plot.
Elizabeth Gibney
17 November 2016
What causes split-second blasts of radio waves that appear in the sky from billions of light years away is one of the most perplexing mysteries in astronomy. Now, for the first time, astronomers have seen a flash of high-energy γ-rays that looks as if it was emitted by the same event that produced a fast radio burst (FRB) — a correlation that was predicted to help whittle down the zoo of possible explanations for the origin of FRBs.
“If FRBs have γ-ray counterparts, it would be hugely constraining of models and extremely interesting,” says Victoria Kaspi, an astrophysicist at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
But as well as exciting astronomers, the nature of this particular finding offers no clear answers and deepens the FRB riddle. “The association, should it turn out to be true, is an entirely unexpected and astonishing development,” says Shri Kulkarni, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
Orbiting observation
The γ-ray signal, described in a paper published on 11 November in The Astrophysical Journal Letters1, turned up in data from a NASA orbiting γ-ray observatory called Swift. A team from Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) in University Park found that a γ-rays flare at around the same time and from the same direction as FRB 131104, a burst named for the date it was seen by the Parkes Observatory radio telescope in Australia, on 4 November 2013.
One puzzle is that the two signals portray different pictures of the underlying source, which seems to be as much as 10 billion light years (3.2 gigaparsecs) away. Whereas the radio burst lasted just a few milliseconds, the γ-ray signal lasted between two and six minutes, and it released much more energy in total than the radio burst. “We’ve pumped up the energy budget more than a billion times,” says study co-author Derek Fox, an astrophysicist at Penn State.
This has big implications for the FRB’s origin. One leading theory suggests that FRBs are flares from distant magnetars — neutron stars with enormous magnetic fields that could generate short, energetic blasts of energy, and do so repeatedly, as at least one FRB is known to do. Although magnetars are thought to produce γ-rays, they would not emit such high energy and over such a long time, says Fox. “This is a severe challenge for magnetar models,” he says.
Black-hole contender
Instead, the γ-ray signal resembles events that Swift has observed previously, which scientists identified as either a shock-wave blast from a supernova or a surge in radiation from a supermassive black hole as it swallowed a star, says Fox. The problem with both of these options is that neither is expected to produce radio bursts.
Another possibility is that both the γ-radiation and radio burst came from a collision between neutron stars. But if that is true, it would not offer an explanation for all FRBs: colliding neutron stars are thought to be relatively rare, whereas estimates suggest that FRBs are common, occurring around once every ten seconds somewhere in the sky. (Astronomers have so far detected only around 20 FRBs, largely because radio telescopes usually only look at small patches of sky). Fox notes that there are already hints that FRBs could be generated by more than one type of source.
Many astronomers also need convincing that the FRB and the γ-ray signal detected by Swift come from the same source. Statistically, the chance that the γ-ray burst would occur at the same time and from the same place as the FRB by pure chance, if there were no real association, is just 1 in 800, says Fox. And there is not any other known source in that direction that could produce the γ-ray burst, he adds.
Although such a result would usually pass the statistical threshold needed to conclude that the two signals are produced by the same source, Kaspi says that the finding is so unprecedented that more evidence is needed. “Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence,” she says.
More data needed
Kulkarni is also cautious. “The association could be due to chance coincidence of a blip in the γ-ray sky with a single FRB,” he says. “We would definitely need a few more such associations to take this hypothesis seriously.”
Fox hopes to find more. As new and existing telescopes begin to hunt for FRBs, the number of known bursts should rise from the current count of around 20 to more like 200. If that happens, Swift should be able to check more than a dozen of these locations for correlated γ-ray bursts using the centre of its field of view.
Detecting γ-ray signals centrally would produce more statistically significant results than for FRB 131104, which was picked up at the edge of the telescope’s field of view, where noise can more easily mimic signals. And this, in turn, would increase scientists’ certainty that a signal’s correlation with an FRB is not just due to chance. “Then the confidence level would be one in a billion,” says Fox.
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Re: Ruin, Carcosa or Spooky Apartment buildings.
/tg/ has had three good threads on the topic of horror in Apartment buildings, titled "Urban Unease".
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50129254/ (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50129254/)
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50159577/ (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50159577/)
http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50184198/ (http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/50184198/)
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This has all kinds of potential 'emergent properties' that could be used in a modern/sci-fi horror rpg:
Vespers: Series II (http://matter.media.mit.edu/environments/details/vespers-second-series#prettyPhoto)
(http://images.adsttc.com/media/images/5837/edb4/e58e/ce83/5000/011a/slideshow/28_Mask_4_close.jpg?1480060328)
2016
London Design Museum
Christoph Bader Dominik Kolb Rachel Smith Sunanda Sharma James Weaver Prof. Neri Oxman
A Collection of Death Masks By Neri Oxman & Members of the Mediated Matter Group
Masks created for The New Ancient Collection by Stratasys curated by Naomi Kaempfer
To debut in Fear and Love at The Design Museum, London, November 24th—April 23rd
Novel technologies for Additive Manufacturing are enabling design and production at nature’s scale. We can seamlessly vary the physical properties of materials at the resolution of a sperm cell, a muscle cell, or a nerve cell. Stiffness, color, hygroscopy, transparency, conductivity, even scent, can be individually tuned for each three-dimensional pixel within a physical object. The generation of products is therefore no longer limited to assemblages of discrete parts with homogeneous properties. Rather like organs, objects can be computationally ‘grown’ and 3D printed to form materially heterogeneous and multi-functional products.
Throughout history, technologies express the spirit of their age in design, and are embodied within the archetypes they create. Some archetypes—such as automobiles, airplanes, garments, prosthetic devices, and building skins—have evolved to improve the relationship between object, body, and environment. Others have become relics. The subject of Vespers, the next embodiment of the death mask, is a relic. The objects of Vespers are artifacts, which unite information architectures, manufacturing practices, and—at times—biological augmentation, to grow rather than assemble. Vespers’ death masks, however, are not intended to memorialize the dead. They are designed to reveal cultural heritage and speculate about the perpetuation of life, both culturally and biologically. By pushing the boundaries of cusp technologies—such as high-resolution material modeling, multi-material 3D printing, and synthetic biology—they express the death mask’s deeper meanings and possible future utility, thus bringing it back to life.
The custom of the death mask in the ancient world was believed to strengthen the spirit of the deceased and guard their soul from evil on the way to the afterworld. In this view, death is a conduit to a form of rebirth. The mythical notion that the soul can be guided from a state of death to a new state of life inspired the design of Vespers.
The Vespers collection comprises three series, each with five masks, that are related through time. Here, we unveil the second series. Modelled after Lazarus, this series—the present—explores the transition between life and death, illustrating the progression of the death mask from a symbolic cultural relic—as represented in the first series, past—to a functional biological interface—as revealed in the third series, future. It moves beyond the exterior surface and into the interior volume of the mask, employing a contemporaneous interpretation of the soul’s journey.
Using spatial mapping algorithms, the culturally coded surface colorations and truncated geometries in the first series are transformed into colored, internal strands within transparent, smoothly curved volumes in the second. The second series elucidates embryonic forms through complex internal geometries as it prepares to support the re-engineered life of the third series. In this series, it is the interplay of light that reveals the internal structures. Like spirits (from Latin spiritus, meaning “breath”), these structures reference the distribution of the martyr’s last breath.
The New Ancient collection produced by Stratasys, a 3D printing company, marries ancient crafts and designs of past civilizations with advanced technologies to reimagine design in and of the modern world. Created for this collection Vespers expresses the intertwining of Fear and Love through the continuity of death and life. Vespers ‘masks’ five imaginary martyrs. Each martyr is memorialized three times, through sequential interpretations at three different moments: the past, the present, and the future.
The New Ancient collection was curated by Naomi Kaempfer, Creative Director of Art Fashion Design at Stratasys. Neri Oxman and the Mediated Matter Group would like to thank our collaborators at Stratasys, including Naomi Kaempfer, Arita Mattsoff, Boris Belocon, Gal Begun, Yoav Bressler and Ori Moalem
And there's many more photos in the linked article.
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(http://68.media.tumblr.com/67c6b71f25925148f2d5af91116bd6e7/tumblr_oikaklV9gS1sndzdgo1_1280.jpg) (http://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/154811070551)
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(http://68.media.tumblr.com/8f68edc98ab566bced3219df83c49639/tumblr_myf4bu3yZp1sa82d6o1_1280.jpg) (http://artsytoad.tumblr.com/post/71202234417)
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Gormenghast
(http://68.media.tumblr.com/2bf47dd73d34d33361165e7f2191c02e/tumblr_n5atlprSl11qdkeiao1_1280.jpg)
(http://68.media.tumblr.com/20f5ee46fa5a5d122365af13de12d1f0/tumblr_n5atlprSl11qdkeiao2_1280.jpg)
(http://68.media.tumblr.com/7b3d6e7b962fb168081b63e2d58c2487/tumblr_n2fm6e5Q201tuo96eo1_1280.jpg)
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Wow, those Gormenghast images are incredible. Who are the artists, and where did you get them?
Gormenghast is my favorite fantasy series, by the way.
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Wow, those Gormenghast images are incredible. Who are the artists, and where did you get them?
Gormenghast is my favorite fantasy series, by the way.
The first two images are blow-ups of the same painting by Ian Miller (http://www.ian-miller.org/), an artist who did a lot of work for Games Workshop in the 80's. I first saw that piece in the book Realms of Fantasy (http://www.terrantradeauthority.com/other-books/realms-of-fantasy/). Miller illustrated the chapter on Gormenghast, and I fell in love with his illustrations before reading any of the books.
Here's a couple more of Miller's Gormenghast illustrations:
(http://68.media.tumblr.com/93203774a78ce68465791e2ee667a2d1/tumblr_oguy3pE4Z61vzzixyo1_1280.jpg)
(http://68.media.tumblr.com/a9d1b1fb3fdec6c4d5d66d211f4675e0/tumblr_od0j01DhIQ1rm2z7yo1_640.jpg)
The third image is a painting by Alan Lee, a fantasy artist who's done a lot of illustrations of Tolkien's works and wrote & illustrated Faeries (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/10961907-faeries) with Brian Froud.
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Thanks, that's phenomenal. I've seen some of Ian Miller's work elsewhere. And now that you say it, of course that other one is an Alan Lee piece.
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(http://68.media.tumblr.com/06dbc3115e5d35b767ac0624f74e2fe9/tumblr_oo1eg46Atv1qghmhao4_540.jpg) (http://thisnorthernboy.tumblr.com/post/159298303973/its-been-a-while-just-working-on-bringing-you)
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(http://68.media.tumblr.com/6c0bccbc2018826bb21b641e075ca552/tumblr_osc4r7edWd1ro2bqto1_1280.jpg) (http://oldschoolfrp.tumblr.com/post/162709434994/halt-intruder-from-ad-for-the-compleat)
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(https://68.media.tumblr.com/f80448365ea61c6b7a610120e340081f/tumblr_ouawom0fUY1s9y09io1_1280.jpg) (https://alchemichael.tumblr.com/post/163896458910/got-asked-to-do-a-pin-up-for-john-arcudi-and-james)
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(http://68.media.tumblr.com/27b2f86bd4310b2cfbefe34cd8c1fb4d/tumblr_mveb6j22rL1s7bt7zo1_640.jpg) (http://70sscifiart.tumblr.com/post/164014781273/didremcdeath-untitled-by-vincente-segrelles)
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For your AI/Algorithm meets Lovecraft desires: https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2 (https://medium.com/@jamesbridle/something-is-wrong-on-the-internet-c39c471271d2)
Regardless of whether or not you agree about the severity, implications, or how to respond, a lot of legwork went into researching and outlining some of the weird automation....