Anyone mention the Manhattan Project first atomic bomb test at Trinity when Edward Teller thought the test might ignite Earth’s atmosphere and destroy the planet?
Turns out that later on, they determined it was highly unlikely.
Enrico Fermi said “Now, let’s make a bet whether the atmosphere will be set on fire by this test.”
Here’s an article about it:
Bethe, Teller, Trinity and the End of Earth
I don’t know of any, either in the U.S. or other places like Australia and the U.K. where “satanic ritual abuse” was all the rage among conspiracy theorists and panicky parents for awhile.
There is however MS-13, though apparently most gang members don’t really believe in their Satanic rituals but like the aura of evil it gives them.
Lived in the 80’s, got the t-shirt. It was a thing.
I remember the dire predictions of doom that would be created by the Clinton era welfare reform laws, that generally didn’t come to pass.
I also remember the whole Peak Oil crissi, where the world would start to run out of oil and civilization as we know it would come to an end. Again, hasn’t come to pass, although there are still some True Believers out there.
Heavy metal, hard rock, or some other scary type of music has a beat timing which can actually damage your health. Your heart will start beating in this unnatural rhythm, and you could die.
Am I just making up that predicted disaster, or was this a thing some people actually espoused in the 70s and 80s? I think I heard about it on a Nickelodeon talk show, which a bit of research tells me was probably Livewire. Searching doesn’t turn up any examples of this threat to the children. Maybe I’m imagining the whole thing. Anyway, the fight against rock music moved on to Tipper Gore and the PMRC, and Satanic daycare centers and stranger danger became the biggest threat to kids.
I’ve been telling people for years that the Amber Alert system does more harm(*) than good. They look at me like I’m crazy.
(*) The vast majority of the alerts pertain to custody disputes. But the frequent alerts make parents fearful that stranger abductions are much more common than they really are. This raises anxiety, lots of wasted effort on unnecessary precautions to keep their kids safe from the baddies around any corner, overly sheltered kids, etc.
I get maybe 5 amber alerts a year on my phone. Usually missing teenage girls with a few custody battle ones sprinkled in. I see more silver alerts on the billboards as I head to/from work than I do Amber alerts.
Illinois put Amber Alerts out on the weather alert app, until they got enough complaints from irate people who were tired of being awakened for something that wasn’t even happening in their region.
You can certainly damage your hearing, however.
I concur.
Here ya go:
^^ I think Jackmannii was responding to the question “Did any of those cases ever turn out to be true?” and saying he didn’t think any had ever been found to be true, even in areas where people were most up in arms.
That was my interpretation, at least.
Yeah, I think you’re right.
Sorry, Jackmannii!
Yeah after re-reading, I think you’re right.
I originally read it as that he was trying to excise satanic cults as one of the accusations.
Also, sworn courtroom testimony was submitted that supposed satanists could fly and flush live people down toilets into secret rooms. From the Wikipedia article on the McMarrtin preschool trial:
Bizarre allegations
Some of the accusations were described as “bizarre”,[7] overlapping with accusations that mirrored the emerging satanic ritual abuse panic.[6][23] It was alleged that, in addition to having been sexually abused, they saw witches fly, traveled in a hot-air balloon, and were taken through tunnels.[6] When shown a series of photographs by Danny Davis (the McMartins’ lawyer), one child identified actor Chuck Norris as one of the abusers.[24]
Some of the abuse was alleged to have occurred in secret tunnels beneath the school. Several excavations turned up evidence of old buildings on the site and other debris from before the school was built, but no evidence of any secret chambers or tunnels was found.[6] There were claims of orgies at car washes and airports, and of children being flushed down toilets to secret rooms where they would be abused, then cleaned up and presented back to their parents. Some child interviewees talked of a game called “naked movie star” and suggested they were forcibly photographed nude.[2][6][25] During trial testimony, some children stated that the “naked movie star” game was actually a rhyming taunt used to tease other children – “What you say is what you are, you’re a naked movie star,” – and had nothing to do with having naked pictures taken.[6]
Johnson, who made the initial allegations, made bizarre and impossible statements about Raymond Buckey, including that he could fly.[2] Though the prosecution asserted Johnson’s mental illness was caused by the events of the trial, Johnson had admitted to them that she was mentally ill beforehand. Evidence of Johnson’s mental illness was withheld from the defense for three years and, when provided, was in the form of sanitized reports that excluded Johnson’s statements, at the order of the prosecution.[26] One of the original prosecutors, Glenn Stevens, left the case in protest and stated that other prosecutors had withheld evidence from the defense, including the information that Johnson’s son did not actually identify Ray Buckey in a series of photographs. Stevens also accused Robert Philibosian, the deputy district attorney on the case, of lying and withholding evidence from the court and defense lawyers in order to keep the Buckeys in jail and prevent access to exonerating evidence.[27]
The effect here* was almost instantaneous. Ordinary folks (non- and causal smokers) headed to restaurants right away. And were relieved that they could eat out and taste the food and see each other…
Look, if I read that last sentence, I’d dismiss it as hyperbole, but here’s the key fact: I’m writing from *the middle of Wisconsin.
We eat out at bars: brats and burgers and fish frys. And many of the best places for a classic Fish Fry were so full of smoke that the air was bluish-grey, your eyes would water, and you could see a dividing line with clearer air below, about four feet off the floor.
This was true of the best Fish Fry in the area, a roadhouse on Hwy. 41 that was great until mid-afternoon, when it got too full of smoke (so you could watch half a Packers game…).
Anyhow, our smoking ban went into effect (right after the Fourth) on a Monday, I headed back to the bar on Tuesday night for a Brewers game, wife joined me for beer-battered walleye on Friday. We saw a lot of neighbors who were back, too.
So, my cite is a bunch of anecdotes… oh, and one article.
My favourite Y2K error occurred somewhere in Britain where a particular local authority only represented birth dates using the last two letters. Subsequently they sent a letter to a one hundred and five year old gentleman - born in 1895 - wanting to know why why he hadn’t started school yet 
Wait, What? Who said that?
Dan
What about the hairy palms? They swore we we would get hairy palms. I want my hairy palms!
EVERY freakin’ day you can name comes and goes - how about letting us less clever types in on the joke?
Dan