Slashdot Mirror
Technology Spontaneously Combusts In Sicily
Zacronos writes "According to MSNBC, ever since mid-January, various electronic devices have been spontaneously combusting in the now evacuated town of Canneto di Caronia, Sicily; at this point, the fires are almost daily. The town has been disconnected from the larger electrical grid and was hooked to a generator, but that, too, caught fire. Even unplugged items have succumbed. Nothing seems to have burst into flame except where there is someone present to witness it, but the police no longer suspect a prankster -- after witnessing wires catch fire without cause. Scientists have yet to explain the phenomenon (although unproven theories abound), leading many people to look to supernatural causes."
Many many people will soon flock to Sicily to see the virgin Mary.
Sadly, in the news, a number of faithful Catholics have suddenly burst into flames today.
UID 1000000 is just around the corner.
Obviously, if they were running Linux this wouldn't be happening now would it?
"Shredded cabbage and mayo go good together." Cole's Law
From the article: "We're working in the dark. We don't have a single lead so far," said Pedro Spinnato, mayor of the trio of Caronia towns.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Bah - I'm from Sicily and this story is a complete load of **BZZZZZZZZTT*
NO CARRIER
...Colored markings on the street indicate the presence of volcano experts...
Sweet jumpin' Jesus! The volcano 'experts' must have burned up and left little *poof* marks where they stood.
You mean if any kind of EMP is the cause of you thinking?
OK, Can any sicilian slashdotter with a carrier pigeon or a battery powered CB radio confirm this?
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
I can do that.
:p
Fires are appearing randomly, what are the possible causes:
1. fire bugs
2. higher than normal voltage
3. emp devices being tested nearby
4. act of God 1 (natural causes)
5. act of God 2 (God's pissed - it is Easter, afterall)
6. aliens
we can rule out #1 due to witnesses. Ditto for #2 as fires have been happening in unplugged equipment.
We can also rule out #3 as the slashdot crowd says that can't be it.
There is nothing in nature that we know of that would cause #4. God promised after Noah's flood he wouldn't do this sort of thing again so we can rule out #5.
That just leaves #6.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."--Arthur C. Clarke
It really makes me sad when, if people don't understand something they assume it's advanced technology.
::Smiles at the idea of a carrier pigeon bursting into flame as soon as a message is attatched to its leg because it now falls under the 'technology' category::
-Colin
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from terrorism."--Not Arthur C. Clarke
Sure, blame me!
For the last time, it's the Illuminati!
-- taking over the world, we are.
I think religion is probably the greatest scam ever invented.
...
Behind Health Insurance, you mean
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
I thought this was a nerd site!
It's obvious what this is; the barrier between the normal world and faerie is coming down; look for reports of weird creatures in the nearby hills, similar things happening in various spots around the world as the local rules of physics change.
It's FULLY detailed in the Shadowrun or Dark Conspiracy sourcebooks.
Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
Bah
It's that giant subwoofer the one guy built...
SIG: HUP
At this point in the discussion I doubt this will be read by anyone, but I'm going to tell the story anyway.
At the tail end of a stint in the Marines (too short to deploy) I got shipped to a headquarters unit personnel office that had a bunch of computers networked to a couple of shared printers. Since I knew the most about computers (which isn't saying much) people often asked me to help them with small problems.
One of the corporals came to me once and said that her computer wouldn't print. I walked over, fiddled with everything I knew to fiddle with, and when that didn't help I turned to religion.
"Corporal," I said, "Papa Legba is the voodoo god of the crossroads; all communication falls into his domain and he is displeased. We must make a sacrifice. Do you have a floppy disk that you are not using?" She gave me a 3.5" disk, which I held in the air and then tore open. I used a ballpoint pen to mark some arcane-looking but utterly meaningless symbols on the disk's medium, then had her tape it to the side of her monitor. I told her to try it again.
Of course, when she tried again it printed with no problem. I have no idea what changed, but as I walked back to my desk she told me that I was the weirdest man she had ever met.
The "sacrifice" was still taped to the monitor when I rotated out three months later.
The Dalai Llama
...probably reading "Count Zero" at the time...
My sig could be your sig!
Knight 1: Maybe he spontaneously combusted before he could finish?
Knight 2: He wouldn't say **BZZZZZZZZTT*, he'd just say it!
Knight 1: Maybe he was dictating.