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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.
"Jesus!"
I feel sorry for any IT professionals walking around with a pager, NEXtel, and a PDA in their pockets/belts. Ouch!
Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, START
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Bah - I'm from Sicily and this story is a complete load of **BZZZZZZZZTT*
NO CARRIER
It was posted today! The fact that this news piece appears backdated in other websites proves there is something supernatural involved!!
*Jumps into Holy Water pool*
---- Take the Space Quiz!
...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.
Scientists have yet to explain the phenomenon ... leading many people to look to supernatural causes
It really makes me sad when, if people don't understand something they assume it's magic. Why is it that so many people refuse to take 'we don't know yet' as an acceptable answer?
Science: 0
Magic: 1
:/
-Colin
lol Interesting coverage
The Register's coverage
I have been a user for about 10 years. This ends Feb 2014. The site's been ruined. I'm off. Dice, FU
No, it is not an April Fools joke. For details, see http://www.ebicom.net/~rsf1/canneto.htm that has been covering events for 5 weeks already.
You mean if any kind of EMP is the cause of you thinking?
if the RIAA and Microsoft get all of their DRM technology in order.
Wow, the new Janet Jackson single... gimmee gimmee gimmee playing WOOOOOOOOOF! FLAMES!
I find this a good example of those phenomena that science can't yet explain. I'm often amused by science types that say something is impossible because it doesn't fit any current theory.
Seems to me any true scientist should always be watching for observations that don't fit the known theory, as they are indicators of a nedd for further refinement.
Sadly, scientists, like most people, are more interested in being right, and tend to look for confirming evidence, sometimes to the detriment of their conclusions.
Before you flame me as an anti-science zealot, let me confess that I'm a science guy as much as your average geek, and I think science is responsible for most of the good changes of the last few centuries. I just think that when we hold too tight to our theories, we leave the realm of skeptical science and enter the world of blind faith.
BTW, I have no plausible explanation for the spontaneous fires. But I am confident that someone will come up wih one that doesn't invole a tinfoil hat.
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
Here is an interesting and recent article that has some further details on the subject.
Phoenix
And strangely fitting:
" "....My God! Is that your kitchen on fire?"
"Err, no. It's Aurora Borealus."
"An Aurora Borealus?"
"Yes."
"At this time of the day, at this time of year, in this part of the country, localized entirely in your kitchen?!"
".....Yes."
"....Can I see it?"
".....No."
"Someone wrote to us saying the solution was to sacrifice a black goat and collect its blood. At some point, that's going to start looking like a good idea."
Wohoo! They took my advice!
Believe or not, similar incidents have occurred before.
o 1945 - A village a short distance from Almera in Spain (New York Time 5th July 1945).
o 1983 - A small coal town in West Virginia, Wharncliffe (Housten Post 16th June 1983 and Columbus Dispatch 24th July 1983)
o 1990 - San Gottardo in the Berici Hills of Italy
(UK Sunday Express 11th March 1990 and The Guardian 22nd March 1990)
I've given you references so you can check them out for yourself.
(posted anonymously to avoid Slashdotters you refuse to think about things which don't fit inside their predefined universe).
This has been in the news here in Italy on and off for a couple of months. I'd still want to see it with my own eyes though...
http://www.welton.it/davidw/
I'm italian and i followed the story with much interest. Unfortunately news lacked important details about phenomenons, when and how they happened and expecially which of them were true.
If it was an EMP so strong to burn power lines, why didn't it fry all the small electronics (including scientist's instruments) which are more susceptible to EM fields?
2. America is one of the few nations in the world where the power going out or setting firest makes the news, in most of the world it happens daily.
3. About a decade ago Italy ruled their version of the FCC incompetent and disbanded them. Though there are EU rules to deal with, it is a wild west of wireless where you can send photon-torpedo strength EMI around with no-one to slap you until the mobs find you.
The common thread in the fires is objects connected to wires, whether powered wires or not. Wires are after all antennas though the matching frequency depends on length. It's well known in RF engineering that under the right circumstances, RF energy can cause high temperatures at impedance boundaries. Quite possibly some high power RF source is causing the phenomena. One of my guesses is energy bouncing off the ionosphere and coming from far away, maybe the US military's HAARP, or something the Russians have. The fact that all the occurrences are in one tiny village midway between some railroad lines and the ocean is odd since nothing industrial or military is nearby. I'd say it's accidental and the result of military testing elsewhere.
Or some evil, sinister military/CIA project. Do a quick Google seach on HAARP and/or weather control and you'll see.
The owls are not what they seem
I have an unladen European Swallow...
Finally a practical use for IP over avian carriers! :)
Doesn't need to be EMP. A continous Tesla-style resonant earth antenna can create "hot zones" where ground... isn't...
Anyone else find it suspicious that Slashdot picks this up from MSNBC on the 8th of April, who ran this from Reuters on Monday the 5th. Reuters Italy then must have had it sometime around Friday the 2nd, which would put the first printing of the story on... Which day is that again?
The ______ Agenda
::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
I think they were testing BPL in this region....Natural resonances of power systems are a phenomena which is very little known in this sort of region.
Another big hint: they said the'd disconnected the town from the power system. If they still had a connection somewhere to the grid that they didn't know about, that would set them up for more problems. (Mixing grounds from different phases is a NONO... I've experienced really bad RF just trying to use a radio that was running on gen power and a computer on shore at the same time.)
-=fshalor
I'm a Sicilian (I live in Catania) and I can confirm that the news is real. At first the police thought of fraudulent actions from unknown people but after some weeks 3-4 policemans saw some electric cables (old cables, unconnected and resting on floor) that started spontaneously to combust. After that many scientists and technicians have done many tests without results. Those events are happening only in a very little town near the city of Messina.
This has been reported on since February at which time, Father Gabriel Amorth, the Vatican's chief expert on exorcism said demonic forces cannot be ruled out. Now, of course, he has a vested interest in maintaining job security, so his opinion needs to be taken with a half-a-grain of salt.
This is not the way to build a lasting empire.
First of all, this is pretty old news in Italy.
Here is CICAP entry on this phenomenon (in Italian sorry).
CICAP is a group of scientists who routinely investigate (and debunk) any so-called supernatural phenomenon in Italy (they cover anything: ESP, religious miracles, even omeopathy). Sort of a James Randi fan club.
I suppose most of Slashdot's reader cannot read Italian: the gist of it is that they suspect a prank. According to similar phenomena they investigated in the past, the first accidents are caused by natural causes (short-circuits, overload).
But then people start talking, and making hypotesis, and someone starts causing this as a prank or a way to get attention, media coverage etc. Then CICAP arrives, and start looking aroud, and everything goes back to normal.
CICAP sums this as follows: 100% of phenomena happen when controls are at 0% 0% of phenomena happen when controls are at 100%
Dude, you've got a seriously skewed view of religion.
I'm a network geek. I've completed my B.S. and M.S., both in technical fields. And I believe in God and Jesus. And:
You need to get out of that Middle Age's thinking about God. There's alot of us out here proclaiming the Good News and living our lives believing in God, educating ourselves, and working intelligently.
"We're sorry, but the website you're trying to reach has been disconnected."
I would suggest they start with several teams with fied strength meters looking for the guy doing Tesla tests...
my EE professor back in college demonstrated Nicolai Tesla's theories and designs by powering a electronic device from across the room and with no wires. he also warned all of us to NOT bring any electronic equipment and everyone in the Engineering building was also warned as well were PC's removed from the building.
he was generating a field strength that pegged a standard meter 500 feet from the building.
Tesla was going to generate much HIGHER atmosphereic voltages with his tower...
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Why do you think some of the most religious people are often absolute morons, and many intelligent, well-educated people often aren't highly religious? Idiots need an explanation for everything, intelligent people seek answers and do not believe in what they cannot prove to themselves.
You know, I used to think that, too. Then I realized that there are an awful lot of really smart people that are extremely religious, too. Albert Einstein, if I recall correctly, was a devout believer. Isaac Newton, when he was developing calculus and his theory of gravity, was trying to understand God.
It is the desire to understand God that has driven virtually all of scientific history, from Galileo to Planck, and only recently has science been transformed into only the desire to undersand our world. And even then, anyone with half a brain would see that we're really juyst trying to understand what God has given us, if you believe in God (see below). Of the viewpoint that I'm trying to expouse in this paragraph, I can't think of anything that can articulate it better the the end of the movie Contact.
I have come to the belief that religion is not about whether you can explain it or not, or even if it makes sense. If it had to make sense, there wouldn't be any Mormons or Scientologists. But all it really requires for belief in God is exactly that -- belief.
I for one do not actually believe. But I can see the draws to belief, and they are so strong that I sometimes have think twice about my reactions. Am I particularly bright? I don't think so. But neither do I think I'm really dumb.
So what's my point? Well, I guess it's that the part of your post I'm quoting was idiotic and immature, born of a sense of moral superiority for your beliefs and contempt for the viewpoints of others. I used to be the same way; only recently, I saw the errors of that way of thinking, and have become more tolerant and open-minded towards people who beilve in God, Allah, Krishna, Zeus, Ra, or whatever faith you believe in. The rest of your post, on it's own merits, I belive to be accurate; however, in light of the point you were trying to make, is wholly inaccurate and inadequate as to what religion actually provides a society.
After all, after everything is said and done, you can't DISPROVE God; absence of proof is not proof of absence. Since you can't disprove it, you have to take into account that God is possible. Belief in God is just as credible -- not more than, and not less than (and that's the key point) -- as my belief that God does not actually exist, and is in fact a creation of our own minds.
Although maybe one of these days I'll be proven wrong. I look forward to that day.
Responses are welcome; this is the biggest area that I spend idle moments thinking.
weylin
67.5% Slashdot Pure I guess I need to work on that....
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. --
Ultra low frequency EM radiation can have effects on objects that are normally insulators. This phenomina can be abserved during meteor storms. Most notably, with some shooting stars, you can "hear" them despite them being several miles above you effectively instantainiously. It is hypothisized that as the meteor disintigrates during entry, the resulting plasma stores the magnetic field lines of the planted. The plasma moves somewhat before it cools. As it cools the field lines snap back into place creating a low frequency EM-pulse that causes leaves and assorted other things on the ground to oscilate breifly.
However, I have never heard of it producing current high enough to set anything on fire. Oh, and anyway, furnature usually has metal nails, screws, and staples in it.
Any sufficiently advanced influence is indistinguishable from control.
One of the alarming things about slashdot is the way it really brings out the bigots in the community.
Story about a sicilian village? Sure, they must be a bunch of superstitious peasants with a mental age of 11. Story about women? Cue for side-splitting 'jokes' about how dumb they are with computers and or crude sexual innuendo. (and then the authors wonder why they can't get a girlfriend). Story about India? Racial stereotypes alive and well.
I'm not worried so much about the existence of these posts. The attraction of
The author of this post asserts his moral rights.
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.
Advertising with the name "firewire," this seems to give a whole new meaning to that.
Integrate Keynote and LaTeX
Bah
It's that giant subwoofer the one guy built...
So what is Weak Minded? It's this:
1. The inability to accept that other people have valid motivations, ideals or valuable knowledge that that are different from your own.
2. The inability to differentiate between what one person or one group do in the name of a cause, and the core purpose of that cause.
There are a lot of people who wrap themselves in religion who are weak minded. There are a lot more that are not. There are a lot of people who wrap themselves in science who are weak minded. There are a lot more who are not. There are a lot of people who live in many different countries, societies, cultures who are weak minded. There are a lot more who are not. And out of all of these, many among the weak minded also tend to be the most vocal, so that is a lot of what you hear from them.
Different people accept religion for different reasons. And different people abuse the name of religion for different reasons. David Koresh claimed to be Jesus. Few Christians believe or supported him. Osama claims to work in the name of Islam. Few Muslims believe or support him. Some Catholic priests have sexually assaulted children. Few Catholics support them. There have certainly been bad things done in the name of religion, but that does not mean the religion was the cause. Most often the cause was dangerious people doing bad things, and claiming religion as their cover.
As for why people believe what religion teaches them rather than "modern science". That is probably because modern science is not taught as widely as you would like. It takes money, knowledge, political support, lots of people power, and strong social support to spread new knowledge. Churches have been around for centuries. They already have the structures in place to teach their docterine. Church schools exist in almost every town and country around the world teaching religion. Modern educational institutes in remote places are few and far between. This is not the fault of the people who live there. They learn what is available to them. And for many centuries, that was from the local church.
Knowledge is relative. With all your great scientific knowledge, If you were dropped naked into the middle of the Amazon rain forest, you'd probably die of poison or starvation inside a week. All the while those stupid savages who worship their sun gods have been surviving there for generations just fine.
We all learn and accept what our society and parents teach us. If your parents and society teach you science, great for you. If you are too ignorant or weak minded to accept that other people have different educational backgrounds, different social and physical needs, or different ideas about the unknown, AND THAT THESE DIFFERENCES ARE NOT EVIL, STUPID OR WRONG, then that's too bad for you.
There is nothing so silly as other peoples traditions, and nothing so sacred as our own.
what makes you think my religion, the religion of the oldest know civilized people is not right?
Watch our for their dropped packets!
splat.
For some reason, I would think God's wrath is much more impressive than lighting up a few telephone wires in a city who's population is 39.
Kent Simon Multitheft Auto
Albert Einstein, if I recall correctly, was a devout believer.
If you mean devout believer as in Christian or Jewish belief, no, you do not recall correctly at all.
Einstein did not believe on the stupid "man-on-steroids" god of most religions, Einsteins belief was pantheistic, that universe itself is God, he believed in a "God who reveals himself in the harmony of all that exists, not in a God who concerns himself with the fate and actions of men".
After all, after everything is said and done, you can't DISPROVE God
I can't disprove the tooth fairy either. Is it just as likely to exist then, than not?
(Sort of like, "Why doesn't the Psychic Hotline lady call me?")
That's how it works in Soviet Russia...
I can attest to the fact many people turn to God to explain technology when they don't understand it. I was sitting in church when the question was asked of a small group of members: "How does TV work." The expected answer was that the TV station transmitted a signal the TV received... not looking for a technical answer here (and they were heading for an analogy, but that is beside the point). From the group, who had been so indoctrinated that they couldn't think for themselves anymore, the answer rose: "God's will".
It was the last time I attended church. Yes, some of those people were intelligent (the one asking the question had far higher hopes than that - he never got to apply his obvious analogy he was working towards), but it felt *wrong* to sit in a room knowing that these people didn't just have faith where faith was potentially appropriate: they had faith indiscriminately. To them, the light switch was powered by God, the microwave worked because God did not see it as evil, and TV was beamed from heaven direct (must not have *watched* too much TV recently, eh?).
After some years of thinking about this situation, I have come to a realization that you don't need a higher power to explain the organization of the universe. (Previously, I had my doubts about the complexity arising spontaniously, a common doubt of even scientifically minded people). Quantum mechanics says that until an event is observed, the outcome is a probability wave. Upon observation, that wave collapses. Taking this to the logical conclusion, after the creation of the universe (big bang or string colision or whatever) there was a huge, unobserved probability wave. Upon one part of that wave stumbling across the unlikely (but part of the probabilty wave) creation of an "observer", that observer would cause the wave to collapse locally, influencing the rest of the wave from that point forward. In other words, every outcome was equally likely until an observer becomes an outcome of the probability wave. Once that happens, the observer is no longer just a probability, but a fact. More simply: a quantum mechanical universe favors the creation of observers. Of course, this conclusion is simply the creation of my own brain: perhaps someone has a refutation?
Sig under construction since 1998.
> Dude, you've got a seriously skewed view of religion.
7 31&dict=CALD )
One might argue that it's atheists who have a less skewed view of religion as they're not part of it.
> And finally RELIGION != FAITH IN GOD
Religion = "the belief in and worship of a god or gods, or any such system of belief and worship:" (from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=66
Anyway, to many people who are not religious, the belief in a god, and particularly the common varieties that send their children to earth, seemingly arbitrarily bless or smite people etc. are as real as Father Christmas or Zaphod Beeblebrox.
The mere fact that a lot of people believe it is no convincing argument, especially when those people proclaim their belief being due to faith rather than any evidence. For 1000s of years everyone believed the earth was flat.
Even today, a lot of people believe summer is warmer than winter because the earth is closer to the sun then, or that the entire world is only 6000 years old because some religous nut tells them so, or any other number of demonstrably wrong things. The number of people believing something is not sufficient reason to assume it is true.
This is precisely the reason i trust science more than tradition or religion: Scientific dogma is subject to revision in the face of new evidence, religious dogma usually isn't. It's 2000 years out of date.
> If you're dumb enough to turn over your thinking to a religious
> Pope/Evangelist/whatever, that's your idiocy, not God's.
So who did you turn your thinking over to? What made you a "believer"? A charismatic person? An old book? Indoctrination from your community? Peer pressure? Anyway, i completely agree with your statement bar the last two words...
SIG: HUP
Wow, that's one of the best slashdot posts I've ever read! I'm tired of religion bashing on /. (I mean, obviously it's their right to do so, it's the moderators I'm more upset with). Atheistic humanism is as much of a religion as anything else, and to be honest I think the most logical (although boring) choice is to be agnostic.
I'm a Christian and I study physics, and people so often ask me how I can be a Christian and believe so much in Science... I think for some people science has become the new religion - it gives us all the answers, except to the most important questions (why are we here? what is right/wrong?). I work on the Mars Exploration Rovers mission and I was upset to see so many posts on slashdot saying that finding life on another planet would mean the end of religion... I don't get this! Many people working on the mission are Christians (or also some other faiths) and they are all very excited by the prospect, as am I! People assume too much about things they do not understand.
Thanks again for a great post!
Cheers,
Justin
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.
If he substituted "Buddha" and "Tao", would it make a difference?
You are condemning him as a "nut-job" just because he used two key-words specific to his religion. You sound Jesusphobic.