Fantastic novel loosely based on Kim Philby. It was also made into a great BBC miniseries in the late 70s. You can get the DVDs on Netflix.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near_death_experience

One bad ass objector:

Alvin Cullum York (December 13, 1887 – September 2, 1964) was an American soldier who is renowned as a World War I hero. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for leading an attack on a German machine gun nest, taking 32 machine guns, killing 28 German soldiers and capturing 132 others. This action took place during the U.S.-led portion of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in France, which was part of a broader Allied offensive masterminded by Marshal Ferdinand Foch to breach the Hindenburg line and ultimately force the opposing German forces to capitulate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_C._York

Resistance will soon be futile:

Nanomachines are largely in the research-and-development phase, but some primitive molecular machines have been tested. An example is a sensor having a switch approximately 1.5 nanometers across, capable of counting specific molecules in a chemical sample. The first useful applications of nanomachines, if such are ever built, might be in medical technology, where they might be used to identify cancer cells and destroy them. Another potential application is the detection of toxic chemicals, and the measurement of their concentrations, in the environment. Recently, Rice University has demonstrated a single-molecule car which is developed by a chemical process and includes buckyballs for wheels. It is actuated by controlling the environmental temperature and by positioning a scanning tunneling microscope tip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanites

Here's one:

1930: William Kogut, an inmate on death row at San Quentin, decided to commit suicide using only the rudimentary tools available to him in his prison cell. He began by tearing up several packs of playing cards, giving particular focus to obtaining pieces with red ink (at the time, the ink in red playing cards contained nitrocellulose, which is flammable and when wet can create an explosive mixture), and stuffed them into a pipe. He then plugged one end of the pipe firmly with a broom handle and poured water into the other end to soak the card pieces. He then placed the pipe on a kerosene heater next to his bed and placed the open end firmly against his head. The heater turned the water into steam and eventually enough pressure built up inside the pipe so that when it burst, the explosion shot out bits of playing cards with enough force to penetrate Kogut's skull, killing him. In a suicide note, Kogut stated that he and he alone should punish himself for his crimes.[55][56]

Thanks,

Jake

See, I kind of want to vanish into such a world never to return.

Plenty of DMT is my best bet, I guess?

Holy **** I went to college with one of the inmates.

There is another BBC miniseries in 2003 called Cambridge Spies which is very good about the Cambridge Four.

Bradford Bishop kills family, disappears

Tsar Bomba

The Tsar Bomba is the single most physically powerful device ever utilized by humanity. Its size and weight excluded a successful delivery in case of a real war.

lol.

got here from the tsar bomba article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Novaya_zemlya

wtg russia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_snow_white

Was just reading about that article on Op Snow White yesterday, crazy stuff.

Anyone read any good books about Scientology? I know they suppress and sue whenever they can but anything good ever get published?

Ironically, the Chicago fire started the same day.

There were 4 fires along the coast of Lake Michigan that same day, which is why it's believed the fires were caused by a meteor that broke up.

Great thread btw

I'm pretty sure multiple former members have wrote books, just check amazon.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Farrand

He is known for his Nitpicker's Guides, in which he nitpicks plot holes and continuity errors in the various Star Trek television programs and movies, and for the creation of Nitcentral, a website devoted to the same activity.[1]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Bellingham
was the assassin of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval. This murder was the only successful attempt on the life of a British Prime Minister.[1] It is believed after this the family changed its name to Bellingall as he brought shame to the family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Maine_(ACR-1)
Her sinking remains the subject of speculation, with various authors proposing that she sank due to the results of an undetected fire in one of her coal bunkers,[4] that she was the victim of a naval mine,[4] and that she was deliberately sunk for the purposes of driving the United States into a war with Spain.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorke%27s_Drift

cliffs: 139 englishmen vs 4-5k zulus no problem

I've spent at least five hours reading links from this thread (and links from those links and links from those links and...) over the last two days.

I never want to look at Wikipedia again.

You'll be back... They always come back...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Savitz

From as far back as 1975, he offered teenage boys money, concert tickets and football tickets for their soiled underwear, and various sexual acts including: oral and anal sex, slamming his penis in a door, penis sword fights, urinating on him, vomiting in his mouth and defecating in his mouth through a potty chair. Savitz reportedly kept the feces in pizza boxes in his apartment. He told the boys to eat cheese to make the feces taste better.

Wow, that should be in "not safe for brain" tags.

Thats the danger of wikipedia. There have been times where I've looked up something at work. Three hours later I'm still on with 20 tabs opened waiting to be read. It's never ending I tell you.

I've done this with cracked.com as it serves as my guide to links of interesting stories and entertaining literature. I try to limit myself to one article per day, but its easy now since I've basically read everything on the site.

Tunguska Event

Meteor/Comet Impact event in Russia in 1908

Although the cause of the explosion is the subject of debate, it is commonly believed to have been caused by the air burst of a large meteoroid or comet fragment at an altitude of 5–10 kilometres (3.1–6.2 mi) above the Earth's surface. The explosion knocked over an estimated 80 million trees over 2,150 square kilometres (830 sq mi). It is estimated that the shockwave from the blast would have measured 5.0 on the Richter scale. An explosion of this magnitude is capable of destroying a large metropolitan area.