Interesting Wikipedia Links

[PlutonianEmpire]

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

Great thread

I remember reading about that. Pretty nifty indeed.

 

[ghostmaker650]

Scary, scary stuff!

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

Wow, pretty freaky! An interesting read too.

 

[Glassmage]

wow so scary!

 

[Mr. Dictator]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_UX

 

[Suraze]

The fact that this is an entire category on wikipedia scares me:

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

"This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it."

 

[mangxema]

The Emu War:

The Emu War, also known as the Great Emu War, was a nuisance wildlife management operation undertaken in Australia over the latter part of 1932 to address public concern over the number of emus said to be running amok in the Campion district of Western Australia. The attempts to curb the population of emus, a large flightless bird indigenous to Australia, employed soldiers armed with machine guns — leading the media to adopt the name "Emu War" when referring to the incident.

Fascinus:

In ancient Roman religion and magic, the fascinus or fascinum was the embodiment of the divine phallus. The word can refer to the deity himself (Fascinus), to phallus effigies and amulets, and to the spells used to invoke his divine protection. Pliny calls it a medicus invidiae, a "doctor" or remedy for envy (invidia, a "looking upon") or the evil eye.
...
A graphic representation of the power of the fascinus to ward off the evil eye is found on a Roman mosaic that depicts a phallus ejaculating into a disembodied eye. The motif is also known from multiple relief sculptures from Leptis Magna in present-day Libya. A 1st-century BC terracotta figurine shows "two little phallus-men sawing an eyeball in half."
...
The English word "fascinate" ultimately derives from Latin fascinum and the related verb fascinare, "to use the power of the fascinus," that is, "to practice magic" and hence "to enchant, bewitch."

 

[PlutonianEmpire]

The "Wow!" Signal

The Wow! signal was a strong narrowband radio signal detected by Dr. Jerry R. Ehman on August 15, 1977, while working on a SETI project at the Big Ear radio telescope of The Ohio State University then located at Ohio Wesleyan University's Perkins Observatory, Delaware, Ohio. The signal bore expected hallmarks of potential non-terrestrial and non-solar system origin. It lasted for the full 72-second duration that Big Ear observed it, but has not been detected again. The signal has been the subject of significant media attention.

Amazed at how closely the signal matched the expected signature of an interstellar signal in the antenna used, Ehman circled the signal on the computer printout and wrote the comment "Wow!" on its side. This comment became the name of the signal.

Cool stuff. Can't believe I forgot about it till now.

 

[choxorn]

There's one about a town in Austria I'd like to link to, but sadly, it contains an autocensorword in the title.

 

[Mr. Dictator]

Edit: stupid phone, that's obviously not an interesting link.

And it wont let me link. Anyways, the battle of Karensebes.

 

[madviking]

A small town in Florida was responsible for 2/3rds of the insurance claims for limb loss, but not a single one was convicted of insurance fraud.

 

[Bamspeedy]

A small town in Florida was responsible for 2/3rds of the insurance claims for limb loss, but not a single one was convicted of insurance fraud.

That is interesting, but I was wondering how many "2/3 of the insurance claims" actually were to see if this was perhaps a misleading stat (such as if there had only been 6 claims nationally and 4 happened in this town it could be just a coincidence or fluke).

But since this town had 50 claims ("from the late 60's to the early 70's"), so say over 10 years in a town of 7-800 people, that doesn't seem like a coincidence anymore.

My theory is one guy has a real accident, others hear about how he gets a million dollars or whatever from his insurance and that gives all these other people ideas. But I think there had to have been an individual or group encouraging this ("It won't hurt a bit if we get you drunk enough first, and just think of all the money you will have later")

 

[emzie]

That is interesting, but I was wondering how many "2/3 of the insurance claims" actually were to see if this was perhaps a misleading stat (such as if there had only been 6 claims nationally and 4 happened in this town it could be just a coincidence or fluke).

But since this town had 50 claims ("from the late 60's to the early 70's"), so say over 10 years in a town of 7-800 people, that doesn't seem like a coincidence anymore.

My theory is one guy has a real accident, others hear about how he gets a million dollars or whatever from his insurance and that gives all these other people ideas. But I think there had to have been an individual or group encouraging this ("It won't hurt a bit if we get you drunk enough first, and just think of all the money you will have later")

There were people who were paying more in insurance policies than they actually earned.

 

[Bamspeedy]

There were people who were paying more in insurance policies than they actually earned.

I can see that happening, but what one thinks he will earn and what he actually gets are two different things. Unless there was a major employer in a dangerous industry in this town I don't see how there could have been that many. I grew up in a town of 758 and nobody (or perhaps one I don't know about) lost a limb in the 15 years I lived there, how could this town have had 50 in less time?

Edit: Oh, you say they paid more than their income, I thought you meant they paid more than they got back in their settlement.

 

[madviking]

For any of your friends who go to Dartmouth...

 

[IAM]

War Plan Red

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

 

[ghostmaker650]

Bath School disaster

The Bath School disaster is the name given to three bombings in Bath Township, Michigan, on May 18, 1927, which killed 38 elementary school children, two teachers, four other adults and the bomber himself; at least 58 people were injured. Most of the victims were children in the second to sixth grades (7–14 years of age [1]) attending the Bath Consolidated School. Their deaths constitute the deadliest act of mass murder in a school in U.S. history.

The bomber was school board treasurer Andrew Kehoe, 55, who was ostensibly enraged about a property tax levied to fund the construction of the school building.

I... Just can't... Fathom...

 

[IAM]

Bath School disaster



I... Just can't... Fathom...

And it wasn't just that he woke up one morning and flipped out. Some of the explosives he had been planting for months.

 

[Deviate]

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

It is interesting to me how things begin and then get lost to the present.

 

[madviking]

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

 

[bombshoo]

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

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

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

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