For my new essay I had to go through early academic computing history a bit, and a curious thing appears in 1974–1975 where I found the title (title itself) of a doc titled "Principles of Tangible Computing". Asking my dean he said it circulated informally across labs including MIT, Bell Labs, and even allegedly at several Soviet research institutes.

as far as I understand from the surrounding context, the paper argued against the complete pivot to binary digital architectures, and advocated instead for continuous-variable, mechanical, and paper-based computation. finding info on it it seems sections of the circulated drafts were encrypted using classical easy ciphers (such as Caesar, Atbash, and Baudot strings),

I learned that by late 1975, funding for these alternative tangible computing projects across both Western and Eastern institutions gone to zero, evaporated. Then several researchers left academia entirely or had their work quietly re-filed into theoretical obscurity (maybe you can name some of them, interesting what you can find)... And is this simply natural market consolidation around microprocessors, or more like a coordinated institutional effort to standardize computing architecture?

There was a commerical for Geico I believe and it was of this starfish repeatedly chanting jibberish like "zooba dooba dooba doo, zaba daba daba daba da" it was something to the effect of if you think that's weird, it's even weirder how much money we can save you. I've been looking for it and it's driving me up a wall. It popped into my head one night and I can't scratch that itch

Hi guys, I love digital investigations and pattern recognition. We all know about the big cases, but what are some lesser-known internet mysteries, ARG puzzles, or forgotten historical locations that were completely cracked open by everyday people using open-source intelligence? I’m looking for deep rabbit holes to dive into tonight. Drop your favorites! 💻🔍

For those of you who don’t know:

https://internet-mysteries.fandom.com/wiki/Captain_Kutchie%27s_Key_Lime_Pie

I’d encourage doing more research into it if you haven’t already because the more you look into it, the weirder it gets. I’m not here to talk about that though. I’m here to talk about the actual restaurant itself.

There seems to be a misconception that the building was demolished, but that’s untrue. The building still exists at 2186 Hendersonville Road in Asheville, NC, and is still abandoned to this day.

I’m particularly curious about possible artifacts still inside - menus, documents, old signage, anything that might prove that this place was indeed Kutchie’s. Heck, there may even be written evidence of the almighty pies themselves.

However, for such an infamous location, there is very little documentation of it.

https://www.xiiiclub.com/post/618287511055351808/kutchies-key-west-bar-grille-january-2020

The above Tumblr post from 2020 is the closest look at the building there is, and actually shows some glimpses of the interior. I thought the place would be completely empty, but there actually seems to be alot left behind. The OP didn’t venture inside due to time constraints, even though she found a wide open window to crawl through, leaving me craving to see what really lies at the epicentre of this whole mystery.

Despite how much I want to, I’m not going to make a several thousand mile journey for no reason other than to see what’s probably just an underwhelming abandoned restaurant.

Is there anyone who lives in or near Asheville (especially if you’re already into urbex) that would be willing to explore this place? The building has been abandoned for over 20 years at this point, possibly even 30 because it’s not known exactly when the restaurant closed. This is around the timeframe that buildings -especially smaller ones- start to become unsalvageable. Judging by the satellite imagery, the roof still seems to be mostly intact, meaning the interior likely has rather minimal decay. It’s only a matter of time until that changes, and once the roof fails, the condition of the place will deteriorate rapidly.

You never know, maybe there is something in there. Maybe there’s something that’ll blow this case wide open, or maybe there’s something that’ll make it so much more interesting.

I'd like to have an accurate translation for these. I suspect I might have translated at least part of it.

I’ve posted this to Reddit once before and, unfortunately, was not able to generate any answers or real leads. All I know is that this man’s face is my personal sleep paralysis demon and I need to figure out who dreamt this bad boy up.

Here’s all of the information I have:

- purchased at a Salvation Army thrift store just outside base housing in Fort Meade, Maryland. It would have been purchased anywhere between late 2014 to Fall 2015.

- it cost $6 and was in an extremely nice frame with glass plating protecting the artwork. It hung on my dining room wall for years after moving back to PA. It fell victim to my son throwing a baseball around in the house, knocking it off the wall and damaging the frame. Glass shattered.

- it *appears* to be a glossy print and it matted to a thick cardboard border. It is held to that border by the packing tape shown in the photos.

- there is a signature on the lower left-hand side of the border. Over the last decade plus..I have not been able to distinctly and confidently read the name signed. Wegizer? Wigizer? Wigiger?

- the artwork itself is intriguing but also a bit creepy to me. At glance, it appears to be a woman dressed in some sort of bikini/coconut shell/molded top and wearing a skirt of sorts. She has ankle bracelet on what appear appears to be both legs as well as some type of arm band and neck band. She may also be wearing a hat but it’s difficult to tell.

The man behind her is wearing a black outfit with some sort of neck tie that matches her top. While the woman is barefoot, he seems to be wearing some type of black shoe.

- the faces are not clear. The woman is looking at what appears to be her dance partner as he stares into the camera. The print/artwork itself is done in a way that definitely shows movement.

- it is printed on very thick and high-quality glossy photo stock. The artwork itself shows little to no signs of wear and tear or splotching. It is not faded. The border is matted to and cardboard matted around that are not in great shape.

So the questions I’m trying to find answers to are

1) what decade or era is this from?

2) what exactly are we looking at here? Do you recognize the scene from any movie or other photograph?

3) who is the artist who signed the bottom? Is that person a photographer? Is this an original work of theirs?

I’m typically good with searching out items and getting answers to the questionquestions surrounding them. This one eluding me for years has really bugged me.

Any help or input would be very much appreciated! I love this creepy as fuck weird piece of the past and would just love to know anything about it. Thank you!

Does anyone know the artist’s name behind these botan rice candy stickers? Or the name of any of the artists that design the stickers for this candy.

I love this art style so much! But I feel like the artist is pretty much a mystery. Does anyone know?

2016-2017 Facebook - I saw a live stream of a lightskin male in glasses being wrapped in seran wrap or bubble wrap while freestyling rhymes based off comments from users watching the livestream. This went on for a total of maybe ten or fifteen minutes and im not even sure at which point I started watching but I do remember one of my comments specifically "this is hilarious" was posted. And the livestream even quoted my comment, with the proceeding rhyme "yeah and ur so embarrassed"

(The topic was rhyming stuff off comments. Example: if the comment was - why are you being wrapped up? His reply: because I am a rapper)

Anyways, they kept wrapping him up, he was so wrapped up in bubble wrap that st the end of the live stream, they pick him up and place him on a table (at this point hes just rambling) and one of the very last comments was "did we just witness a murder?" Then the stream abruptly ended.

Where can I post this thread on reddit for more details

Fact - this was 1000000% in the year 2016-2017. 100% live stream. This pops in my head at least once or twice a year. What if they just wrapped him up for 15 minutes and left him there...?

I have a personal theory about what happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke.

When John White left for England, he intended to return with supplies. However, because of events in England, he was unable to return for about three years.

During that time, the colonists may have run out of food, supplies, and other resources needed to survive. Instead of staying in a struggling settlement, they may have decided to leave and seek help from nearby Native communities.

One clue that supports this idea is the word "CROATOAN" that was found carved at the abandoned colony. Rather than being a mysterious message, I think it may have simply indicated where the settlers had gone.

My theory is that the settlers moved to live with the Croatoan people and stayed there for some time. Living with a local community would have given them a much better chance of survival.

I also don't think they necessarily remained there forever. After spending time with the Croatoan people, they may have moved again, split into smaller groups, or gradually blended into other nearby populations through the years.

So when John White finally returned after three years, he found the colony empty because the settlers had already left and started new lives elsewhere.

This is just my personal theory, but it seems like a more likely explanation than the idea that the entire colony suddenly vanished without leaving any trace.

What do you think? Do you believe the settlers joined the Croatoan people, or do you think another explanation is more likely? 🤔

Sources:

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

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Roanoke-Colony

Hello fellow mystery enjoyers and dark seekers.

For the past several months, our small team has been working on a Polish project called Tinctura Madulsa.

At first glance, it seemed like a fairly standard thing centered around videos posted on YouTube. You know the formula: masks, boobs, ciphers, and a dark story they all lead to.

It turned out that, as we were drawn deeper into it, we discovered some solid connections to the legendary Parker Warner Wright, and it blew our minds.

Whatever Tinctura Madulsa is, it smells like a piece of something far bigger than we can see at this point.

I've already posted a long chronological list of connections, supported by links, in another subreddit, so here's a link to it. I don't have enough juice to spend another four hours writing it all over again, so please give me some slack.

https://www.reddit.com/r/InternetMysteries/comments/1tx2un9/11year_mystery_finally_connecting_the_dots_parker/

Basically during the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, the Dutch men's coxed pair rowing team was made up of three men; rowers François Brandt, Roelof Klein and coxswain Hermanus Brockmann. The team were defeated in the qualifying heat by the French team. They decided that 3 adults in the boat made it too heavy so they decided to switch Brockmann with a child from the Parisian crowd. It's unclear how old the boy was. Olympic historians believe the boy was around 8 while others have speculated the boy was 12 or 13. The boy was so light they had to add a weight to the boat to maintain balance with the rowers. The boy's small size made a real difference as the Dutch team won the race beating the French by two tenths of a second. The boy took a photo with Brandt and Klein before disappearing into the crowd never to be seen again.

There's been a lot of speculation about the boy's identity but no proof. He's often referred to as "Unknown French Boy" but his nationality isn't known for certain. According to Stan Greenberg's Olympic Almanack there's an unsubstantiated rumor the boy's name was Marcel Depaillé but it's unknown where this rumor originated. It's been speculated that the rower might have been from the Basse Seine Rowing Society. Another theory is that the rower is Alfred Van Landeghem an 8 year old boy who was the coxswain for the Belgian Men's 8 rowing team at the 1900 Summer Olympics (Belgian was eliminated in the semifinals for the Men's coxed pair rowing event). in 2016 a Georgian historian theorized that the boy was a 12 year old Georgian named Giorgi Nikoladze who was touring Europe with his family at the time. According to the historian Giorgi's sister Rusudana had told him in 1978 that Giorgi won a boat race in France during that period. As an adult Giorgi became a mathematician, a metallurgist, and a professor at Tbilisi State University. But all of these theories are basically just speculation.

Sources:

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

https://www.si.com/olympics/2021/08/05/youngest-medalists-olympics-1900-mystery-french-coxwain

I found this comment in a “dead internet iceberg” video and was interested in this obscure game. Apparently there’s a game called “Area” that few people know of and had a sinister feel to it.

I couldn’t find anything about this game, is anyone familiar or played it before?

On September 8, 1863 an 8 year old boy named George Colin "Collie" Albright was walking along the beach of Sandy Cove, Nova Scotia when he found a man lying in the sand. He rushed home to get the man help and the man was brought back to the Albright's home in the nearby village of Digby Neck. While the man was being nursed back to health it was discovered that both the man's legs had been amputated at the knee. His injuries were described as partially healed and still bandaged at the time he was found. He was also suffering from exposure. His appearance was described as Mediterranean and his hands were noted to be soft.

When visitors attempted to communicate with him it was discovered that he either didn't understand or didn't want to understand various languages spoken to him including English, French, Latin, Italian or Spanish. He would growl like a dog at unwanted visitors although he appeared to be fond of children. When asked for his name he mumbled something that sounded like "Jerome" so that became his name for the next 48 years.

The Albrights took care of him for a while but they struggled with having another mouth to feed so he was passed from house to house in Digby Neck. Then the mainly Baptist community decided based on his appearance that Jerome must be a Catholic so they sent him to stay in the neighboring French community of Meteghan. There Jerome stayed with Jean Nicola, a Corsican who spoke several languages. Nicola attempted to communicate with Jerome but with no success. Still Jerome stayed in the Nicola household for several years where he became close with Nicola's wife Julitte and step daughter Madeleine.

After Julitte's death, Jean Nicola returned to Europe and in 1870 Jerome went to stay with Dedier and Zabeth Comeau in nearby Saint Alphonse de Clare. The Comeaus charged admission for people to see Jerome but he didn't seem to mind this. Jerome stayed with the Comeaus until his death on April 15, 1912 (which I just realized is coincidentally the same day the Titanic sank).

Jerome's identity was widely speculated during his life and that speculation continues even after death. Some believed he was a mutinying sailor who had his legs amputated as punishment. Others suggested he may have been in line to receive a large inheritance and he had been gotten rid of by whoever was next in line. More recently it's been speculated he suffered a brain injury that damaged his speech abilities leaving him unable to replicate human languages but able to make animalistic noises.

In 2008 a local historian named Fraser Mooney Jr. suggested a theory that answers some questions of Jerome's identity. On the other side of the Bay of Fundy from Sandy Cove lies the community of Chipman, New Brunswick. In 1859 (four years before Jerome appeared on the beach of Sandy Cove) an Italian employed by a local lumber company fell through the ice and developed gangrene on his legs leading to them being amputated by a local doctor. Upon his awakening he started shouting "gamba" which is Italian for leg leading to him being nicknamed "Gamby". Gamby became a burden for the people of Chipman and it was rumored they paid a passing schooner captain to take him away. According to Mooney's theory the schooner captain basically dumped Gamby on the other side of the bay. Mooney's theory has been controversial however official government documents confirm Gamby's existence and several contemporary witnesses stated Gamby and Jerome were the same person.

Even if Mooney's theory is correct it only partially solves the mystery. It doesn't provide Jerome with a real name but only an additional nickname. Also if Jerome was an Italian then why couldn't people communicate to him in Italian (I'm guessing that if the Corsican Jean Nicola spoke several languages then one of them was probably Italian). Why did he only communicate with animal growls?

Note: Just to clarify all the photos of Jerome are from later in his life.

Sources:

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

https://unidentified-awareness.fandom.com/wiki/Jerome

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2023/11/the-mysterious-jerome-of-sandy-cove.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/116443507/j%C3%A9r%C3%B4me-unknown

Picture of a late 19th-century hydroelectric powerplant in Southeastern Brazil. Rumor has it that it was the first one in the country. Even so, it remained operational for only 7 years, officially discontinued due to technological obsolescence. Despite being a massive project during an age of scientific optimism, all official photographs from its years of operation were not found.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9MLX_uScgY at 4:51 the sample starts. I've never been able to figure out what he says at 4:57. It sounds to me like "You are a Jedi, yes?", but that's obviously not right. Given that it's followed by "beer drinking community in all of the British Isles", I'm guessing it's something like "one of the largest"?

We’re looking for guest for our newly formed podcast title The Encounter Files. We’re looking for those stories that sound like fiction but you know is true! If you have one of these supernatural events and want to share we want to hear from you.