Welcome to the Link Dump! Our host for this week is the very handsome mascot of HMS Barham!
The herbalist of Spitalfields.
The "Exposition Universelle" of Paris.
The King of Switzerland.
Cleopatra's mysterious death.
A shipwreck from WWI has just been discovered.
The real "Lord of the Flies" was nothing like the novel. Thankfully.
The laughter epidemic of 1962.
Ancient Roman nanotechnology.
The life of the "American Dwarf."
Private jets and the apocalypse.
French POWs in Britain.
A disappearing cat in 1894.
A Victorian tale of a mother's grave.
China's Cold Food Festival.
The still-mysterious Great Pearl Robbery.
The still-mysterious Min Min Lights.
A murder and a questionable "guilty" verdict.
The madcap theory that "ghosts" are just infrasound. Look, kids, my house is haunted, and I can assure you, it ain't infrasound.
A 19th century murder investigation.
That's it for this week! See you next week, when we'll look at the tragic--and mysterious--end to a honeymoon. In the meantime, here's Bob Seger:
Harvey Leach certainly made the most of what he had. Infrasound? It doesn't seem to be anything like hauntings... The origins of the Cold Food Festival are intriguing; like most legends, there is probably some truth to them. The Paris Exposition, like the Great Exhibition in London, must have been a true wonder to visit, something you need weeks to go through. And the story of the cast-away boys was fascinating. Good for them!
ReplyDeleteI don’t buy the idea of private jet movements as an apocalypse warning.
ReplyDeleteIf there was an imminent threat like incoming nuclear missiles, political leaders in the US and elsewhere would retreat into bunkers or evacuate by military helicopter. They wouldn’t use their own private transport, and would be too busy to warn their rich friends even if that wasn’t ruled out by national security concerns. But it would be obvious that something big was happening.
It’s also doubtful that the rich would have time to reach their private jets anyway. Flight time for an ICBM from Russia to the United States is only about 30 minutes. By time it’s been confirmed and warnings have been sent, a well-connected billionaire might only have 15-20 minutes to prepare the aircraft, take-off, and get clear. Unless that person is already very close to the airfield, he or she won’t make it.
If there was sufficient warning time to flee the danger zone but the threat wasn’t known to the public, then the people who knew wouldn’t all go by private jet and some would head for country homes that were part of their regular itineraries, so there wouldn’t be a clear pattern anyway.