Infocult: Uncanny Informatics

More sinkholes gnawing at human civilization

Mother Earth continued her sinkhole campaign against the human race, this time by collapsing parts of Baltimore's rail line.

[I]n the early hours of the morning, a sinkhole at the corner of Howard and Pratt Streets had emerged and enveloped a wheelchair ramp and platform. Department of Public Works crews rushed to remove the platform and ramp but before they could succeed, they collapsed into the ground.

Ripple effects caused delays throughout the city.

Restaurant declared free of cannibalism

Today's Infocult headline comes from the venerable Washington Post:

Dairy Queen burgers are not made of human flesh, a county coroner is forced to confirm

Here's a screenshot:

The story behind this involves an FBI raid on a South Carolina Dairy Queen - not for long pig, but to bust up a money scheme.  The local DQ manager mentioned something to the press for reasons still unclear, and rumors took off.

Remember, kids: the world is always Gothic in the end.

Creepy dolls in Missouri

Dolls are appearing mysteriously in a Missouri town.

The city of Festus in Jefferson County, Missouri, has had multiple instances in the past week of eerie dolls popping up in random places without any explanation and residents haven't the faintest clue of who put them there.

One was spotted looking like it was crying against a pole, another was laid out on the ground without a head, and another one was found hanging from a light pole on a main road Tuesday. All of this with Halloween still months away.

As usual, the dolls sometimes cross the uncanny valley:

Chief of Police Tim Lewis told NBC affiliate KSDK that the department is investigating after multiple people reported being spooked by the dolls. He added that a person called out of concern that one of the dolls was a child on the side of the road.

Interestingly, the article concludes by referencing the fear of clowns.  Hmmm?

(thanks to Thomas Burkdall)

Today's fearsome headline

Now this is the kind of headline made for Infocult:

Amazon says its facial recognition can now identify fear

The actual article is less Gothic, as it describes ways Amazon claims it can use AI and facial recognition for a wide range of emotional analysis.

 

One video game fear just won't die

Despite years of research, one old video game fear still keeps throbbing along.  It's the idea that computer gaming causes players to act out offline violence.

And it appeared this weekend as an explanation for two mass shootings.

Reason has a good round-up.  Here's one sample:

[Fox News Channel Host Jon Scott] wonders if these guys "raised on a diet of violent video games—if they actually start pulling the trigger of a real weapon and they see real death and they find it's not as satisfying as it was when they're playing on a television screen." He wonders out loud if this is why the alleged shooter, Patrick Crusius, stopped shooting.

Another: "(As I'm writing this blog post, another talking head has come on Fox News Channel to blame it on Fortnite and bad parenting.)"

Have you seen any other examples?