Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

A darkness in YouTube

Some YouTube videos aimed at children also include notes about suicide, according to the Washington Post. These edits include both exhortation and instruction.

One on YouTube shows a man pop into the frame. “Remember, kids,” he begins, holding what appears to be an imaginary blade to the inside of his arm. “Sideways for attention. Longways for results.”

It's not clear from the article how many of these videos exist or how many people have seen them.

(thanks to Jesse Walker)

The FDA cautions Elizabeth Báthory

Today's real-life Gothic headline comes from Ars Technica, who reports that

Blood of the young won’t spare rich old people from sadness and death, FDA says

That's referring to an FDA statement against people using plasma from young folks.  That use may approach Gothic conditions, in fact:

The FDA goes on to note that such infusions are known to pose a range of health risks in humans. These risks include spreading infectious disease, triggering allergic reactions, and causing lung injuries. In some people—particularly those with heart disease—the infusions can also overload the circulatory system, causing swelling and breathing trouble, the agency explains.

(thanks to Ted Major, Amanda Lee, and many more)

A mulch-ist proposal

"A Mulching Proposal" * is a fine bit of Gothic comedy.  It manages to connect and satirize big data, science, social attitudes towards the elderly, automation, and more in a few pages of shrieking horror.

Start with the subtitle: "Analysing and Improving an Algorithmic System for Turning the Elderly into High-Nutrient Slurry."  Yes.  After all, "Sometimes the problem is not how the sausage gets made, but that they’re making people into sausage."  Then proceed.

(via MetaFilter)

*The title is a play on "A Modest Proposal," a classic text and mandatory in the Infocult canon.

Gaea continues her sinkhole campaign against Trump

On Twitter one observer notices a disturbing pattern in sinkholes.

Nearly two years ago:

(Which we noted)

Almost one year ago:

Then a few weeks ago:

shauna (@goldengateblond) ponders: "how long are we expected to ignore this"?

Other Twitter folks have weighed in with a deep awareness of the Gothic nature of this event.  Ricky Davila:

2017: Sinkhole opens up at Mar-a-Lago.

2018: Sinkhole opens up on White House lawn.

2019: Today, a sinkhole opened up a block away from the White House.

Hell wants their demon back.

Jeff Yang:

As a second sinkhole opens up near the White House, Trump is desperately renegotiating with the netherworld for for two more years on the human plane

Gary Sarli:

WASHINGTON -- A spokesperson for Satan says Hell will be filing suit against sinkhole contractors, Abandon All Hope LLC, who failed to construct a high-priority portal to Hell within the residence of "a top client," as instructed.

From "God":

We at Infocult have been following Trump since the 2016 election.  We have also been following the sinkhole menace - a/k/a Gaea's war on humanity - for a while.

(thanks to Jesse "Not the Mole Man" Walker)