Real-Life Weirdness

[Anaraxes]

Or Netflix's take, "Warrior Nun". Haven't actually seen it, but it shares that corps of teenage girls concept with Buffy S5. (Apparently they're mostly all dedicated warrior nuns -- hence the title -- except for the lead character, who's some sort of rebellious disbeliever with an attitude.)

[L.J.Steele]

This IS a plot seed....

So Tamworth Distilling Company in New Hampshire uses maple syrup as an ingredient in some of its whiskies. Tamworth master distiller Jamie Oakes was onsite at a local farm observing the tapping of maples trees early one spring, when a local man on the crew stopped the other men from tapping one of the oldest trees on the farm. All he would say was, “We don’t tap that one.”

Turns out that particular tree sat smack in the middle of a small plot of ten, very worn-down headstones. Out of curiosity, and due to its extremely old appearance, Oakes undertook research to try to find out who was buried in the small plot but came up pretty much empty-handed. None of the tattered headstones showed names or dates, but property records indicated the graves belonged to early settlers from around the mid-1700s.

Like the plot of any respectable horror movie, there’s always that one guy who just can’t leave well enough alone, and Jamie Oakes is that guy. It took him a few years to convince his colleagues at Tamworth that what they really needed to do was tap that tree. And in September 2019, Tamworth Distilling released its first small batch of Graverobber Unholy Rye, a whiskey flavored with maple syrup made from the tree growing amidst those graves.

https://www.blackgate.com/2020/10/22...er-unholy-rye/

[thorr-kan]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

This IS a plot seed....

So Tamworth Distilling Company in New Hampshire uses maple syrup as an ingredient in some of its whiskies. Tamworth master distiller Jamie Oakes was onsite at a local farm observing the tapping of maples trees early one spring, when a local man on the crew stopped the other men from tapping one of the oldest trees on the farm. All he would say was, “We don’t tap that one.”

Turns out that particular tree sat smack in the middle of a small plot of ten, very worn-down headstones. Out of curiosity, and due to its extremely old appearance, Oakes undertook research to try to find out who was buried in the small plot but came up pretty much empty-handed. None of the tattered headstones showed names or dates, but property records indicated the graves belonged to early settlers from around the mid-1700s.

Like the plot of any respectable horror movie, there’s always that one guy who just can’t leave well enough alone, and Jamie Oakes is that guy. It took him a few years to convince his colleagues at Tamworth that what they really needed to do was tap that tree. And in September 2019, Tamworth Distilling released its first small batch of Graverobber Unholy Rye, a whiskey flavored with maple syrup made from the tree growing amidst those graves.

https://www.blackgate.com/2020/10/22...er-unholy-rye/

That is AWESOME.

And terrifying.

[dcarson]

Originally Posted by thorr-kan

That is AWESOME.

And terrifying.

We should blame 2020 on him.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by dcarson

We should blame 2020 on him.

No, we should blame 2020 on the French Company that builds horrific robots that can cry, bleed and call for mommy.

Officially, they were designed to train nurses and medical students. Sure.

The article also states that they build a premature baby simulator (no photos, please) and realistic robots that simulate child birth - nope. Just nope.

Certainly a case for the society to prevent cruelty to robots.

As for gaming purposes: Oh come on, there should be limits.

But they could be used in very creepy, disturbing horror campaigns without supernatural beings. Imagine a hacker that modifies the software. What if this creepy doll starts to sing "ring around the roses" during an exam? Or worse, the premature baby starts so sing it?

Pleasant dreams.

[Anders]

Scientists also created a psychopathic AI called Norman, who sees death in everything. What could possibly go wrong?

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

Officially, they were designed to train nurses and medical students. Sure.

The article also states that they build a premature baby simulator.

As someone who had a child spend a month or two in the NICU, I applaud the robot effort. The fact that we have to train new medical personnel for life and death situations mostly on real people is terrifying. That the decrease in premature child mortality over the past few decades is driven by the ability to have automated alarms monitor the child 24/7 is sobering.

I wonder if you could make a game out of medical personnel in a sufficiently bizarre and experimental situation, where you have to figure stuff out, and every failure is a life.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by ericthered

As someone who had a child spend a month or two in the NICU, I applaud the robot effort. The fact that we have to train new medical personnel for life and death situations mostly on real people is terrifying. That the decrease in premature child mortality over the past few decades is driven by the ability to have automated alarms monitor the child 24/7 is sobering.

I absolutely agree.

Originally Posted by ericthered

I wonder if you could make a game out of medical personnel in a sufficiently bizarre and experimental situation, where you have to figure stuff out, and every failure is a life.

Gurps House, MD?

But it could be difficult to find players for such a campaign.

[ericthered]

Originally Posted by Dr. Beckenstein

Gurps House, MD?

But it could be difficult to find players for such a campaign.

I expect for a good game you need a fairly exotic setting, and one or more reoccurring threats that can be defeated over the course of several patients. Examples might be:

• A team of medical researchers during the early stages of a zombie outbreak.
• The quarantine team for for a stargate-like setting (infinity unlimited probably counts).
• A counter-biowarfare unit during an active biological war
• A hospital staff on for a colony on an alien planet (that has some especially exotic biology)

[WingedKagouti]

Not sure this counts as actually weird, but a company providing physical security for several banks, government agencies, airports, nuclear plants and other high profile locations was "hacked" into, blueprints were stolen and made public.

The kicker?

Someone used "password01" as their password.

https://krebsonsecurity.com/2020/10/...-firm-gunnebo/

To me the main point to take from this is that getting access to something that is supposedly highly secure isn't always going to be as difficult as it may seem at first glance.