This is interesting, but then it doesn't really say how they found out how he really was and if he reconnected with family or with anyone he knew before memory loss.

Bizarre story, and a fun read. Really crazy how he was blind from cataracts, then when he had them removed he realized he was 20 years older than he had originally thought. Thanks for sharing, Perhaps.

Lot's more details on that story here.

2/3 through it and it's pretty fascinating. Thanks for the link. I feel really bad for the woman who was helping to find his identify and he just cut off all contact.

Wow this is ****ing crazy

Outstanding read. They need to replace the wiki page with this article.


It doesn't make sense though that he remembered his exact birth date but then when he got his cataracts out that his image showed that he was way older than he thought was.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C...oon_expedition- some explores tried using a hot air balloon to travel to the north pole. Predictably, it failed.

From that missing person article

Fitzpatrick said. “She’s not comfortable with her own accomplishments, so she has to steal mine.”

What a *****

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

One example of a cargo cult-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philip_Movement

Also leading to the "Reverse Cargo Cult" - a devastatingly effective propaganda strategy:

The power of the sneer. No one likes to be perceived as being on the naive side of an argument.

It turns out the Soviet/Russian airstrip wasn't made of straw.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...misconceptions common misconceptions.

Oh, wow, so many things in that article that's fundamentally irritating to me. Good read.

The "poor man's copyright" really gets me, especially among creative professionals. I'll grant that copyright law is a mofo, but the basics are easy enough that anyone can learn it in 10 minutes and stop spreading the disease of horrific copyright advice. It's literally (sorry) your job to know the basics of this stuff, you know?

Hendrix didn't play guitar with the strings upside down.

Beethoven wasn't deaf all his life. He was deaf later in life, but sheesh, people really believe he was born deaf. Common sense should take care of this myth.

Yesterday in an Indian Premier League cricket match a player was "run out" by the bowler stopping after his run up and hitting the wicket on that end catching the batsmen on that side having left the crease to get closer to the other end. This is a bit like a player being picked off by a pitcher in baseball. Cricket being cricket, there's controversy regarding whether the sporting thing to do is to first warn the batsman that he's leaving too early before actually trying to get him out via that method. This is called "Mankading" after an Indian bowler who controversially did this against Australia 70 years ago.

Anyhow, reading up on this led to me learning about the tragic history behind the necessity of the rule preventing batsmen from hitting the ball twice with the bat.

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

Saw this being shared by Kenji Lopez-Alt on the Twitbook:

Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato_paradox

Technically, you are allowed to hit the ball twice, but only in defense of the wicket. #nittery.


Running someone out at the bowlers end without a warning, confirmed not gentlemanly, gives me a fit of the vapours.

Very longtime cricket player here. The reason it has caused such a stir is most fans don't actually know how the rule is written, and in fact that rules held by the ICC (International Cricket Council) and the MCC (English that invented the game) are actually different. By being intepreted different ways, we can get different outcomes. I personally think that Mankading is fine, but how this one was done was dodgy. Perhaps we need rules for a balk like baseball does?

For those who want some more cricket related intrigue

Imagine a batter hitting at .800 for his entire career just echelons ahead of everyone else, and no idea how to stop him. How about aim at his head every time and almost cause a war between two allies.

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

Imagine not getting the TV rights for the NFL, so you decide to start your own series, with blackjack and hookers!!! But you actually manage to sign up pretty much the top 20 players in Australia in secret and cause a rift not fixed for a few years.

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

Just listened to a podcast about how they solved the Golden State Killer case, which was a cold case from the 70s solved in 2018.

Here is the wikipedia about the killer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_State_Killer

The Without Fail podcast was an interview about the guy who basically did all the legwork to find the killer.

https://www.gimletmedia.com/without-...n-state-killer

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assass..._of_Olof_Palme

I imagine most 2p2ers don't know the Swedish PM was assassinated in 1986 walking home from the movies with his wife by a single shot in central Stockholm.

Palme gets a shoutout at 2:05

Since you all seem to like WW2 articles, here is one on Fu-Go balloon bombs. The Japanese created the first intercontinental bombs by well.. putting bombs into balloons and sending them across the Pacific. It was a total failure.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fu-Go_balloon_bomb

I did.

https://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/s...postcount=4303

I remember it too, because we are old.

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

It's probably been posted itt - but Harold Holt, the Aussie PM in 1967 - waded into the sea and was never heard from again.

That the body was never found doesn't seem too shocking given all the sharks and crocs and stuff around there.

Nearest croc to there would be over 1,000 miles away as the crow flies.

You left out the best part (which Bryson does mention in his book) which is that the memorial dedicated to Holt is the Harold Holt Memorial Swimming Centre.