Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

When masks conceal and terrify

A weird historical photograph invites our curiosity, along with our sense of the creepy.  The Maryland Historical Society Library republished this image, in order to (successfully) crowdsource an explanation for the unusual scene:

The ultimate explanation is pretty interesting.  But I'd like to draw the reader's attention to the sheer freakishness of those masked faces, like so:

Yes, they do look ridiculous.  But how disturbingly flat the upper masks, with their uniform eyes and blank expressions.  How unsettling the lower half.

(via Jesse Walker on Twitter)

Anti-gaming snarl of the year

It's early to announce Infocult's award for Best Fearsome Media Comment of 2013, but this is pretty awesome.  Ralph Nader snarls that video games are "electronic child molesters."

Here's the context:

"Video game violence? Unprecedented,” Nader said.

He added: “I’m not saying he [Obama] wants to censor this, I think he should sensitize people that they should protect their children family by family from these kinds of electronic child molesters.”

(thanks to Todd Bryant)

Video games trump guns for danger

What's more dangerous, guns or videogames?  Two-thirds of American Republicans see games as the greater threat, according to a recent poll.

Given the choice between the two, 67 percent of Republican voters said violent video games represent a bigger threat to safety than guns. Fourteen percent said guns are the bigger safety threat. 

The wonderful creeping baby robot

"A wonderful creeping baby" is how a 1882 toy catalog describes an early creepybot. Just look upon it, and read:

(thanks to Jesse "Not a Robot" Walker)