Real-Life Weirdness

[Apollonian]

Ran across this story in my podcast feed the other day. In 1982, a fugitive at Crater Lake National Park blew himself up with a grenade. Sounds like someone rolling a crit fail - and a good seed to get PC investigators onto something weirder.

[Agemegos]

CNN reported that Centaurus is a faint constellation that can't be seen with the unaided eye.

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

CNN reported that Centaurus is a faint constellation that can't be seen with the unaided eye.

It's a cliché that reading a story in the media (broadly defined) about a subject you're familiar with will make you question why you believe anything they say.

I remember one many years ago in which it quickly became clear that reporter in question thought the Milky Way was a part of the Solar System.

[Celjabba]

Well, they are mostly correct. You can't see it in the Northern hemisphere, or during the day, or ...

Perhaps they wanted to say that Proxima isn't visible to the naked eye, which is true, but they botched a copy/paste ?

The whole article obviously wasn't proofreaded.

"The European Space Agency's Gaia mission, which is creating a 3D mission of our galaxy" ??

I do like "we do not know how many unknown features"...

[sjard]

<Moderator>A reminder that the news posted here must be game relatable, weird religious or political stuff that is simply weird should still be taken elsewhere.
Thank you.
</Moderator>

[L.J.Steele]

How not to get Murdered in a Quaint English Village

So, so many plot seeds...

https://crimereads.com/your-guide-to..._wsLoGCp9drIcA

[Anders]

Ancient Egyptian Mummy speaks again!

So scientists are researching ways to reproduce the way ancient people sounded. I'm sure that can't be used to summon entities that only answer to one voice...

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Originally Posted by L.J.Steele

How not to get Murdered in a Quaint English Village

From the source:

The thespian

They quote Shakespeare in public, to children.

Man, they just begged for it.

[Dr. Beckenstein]

Something like a "translation computer" exists since the early 2000s.

But it does not really translates. The user just chooses a phrase from a database, and the device plays a pre-recorded translation.
It is in use by US Forces (and the LAPD).

It seems to be useful in emergencies, but in every day life, it even hampers communication, as the users do not try to understand each other, they just scroll for phrases in the database. Which also is a comment on our modern society.

But it brings up some adventure possibilities. What if a saboteur tampers with the database, so that the wrong phrases are chosen?
"My hovercraft is full of eels" would only be the beginning.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phraselator

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by Anders

Ancient Egyptian Mummy speaks again!

So scientists are researching ways to reproduce the way ancient people sounded. I'm sure that can't be used to summon entities that only answer to one voice...

Or the only way to re-seal the tomb is with the voice of its builder.