# Odd or interesting little items you keep track of via the 'net **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 26, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402 "2026-09-26T17:06:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/1 "2026-09-26T17:06:00Z")
Are there any odd or interesting little items you keep track of? From time to time you look them up on the 'net to see if anything new has occured. Here are a few of mine: - TikTok videos of a crazy neighbor who thinks she owns the sidewalk and street in front of her home. She has set her sprinklers to spray water onto the sidewalk 24/7 and piles junk in the street next to the curb so no one can use these areas. The person who posts these videos says that this has gone on for years and the authorities have done almost nothing about it. - An evil stepmother who locked her stepson in an attic room for over 20 years and gave him very little to eat. The case has been slowly making its way through the courts and it looks like her trial will start early next year. - A body found in a barrel after Lake Mead dropped to its lowest level in years. The person was murdered and now, four years after his body was discovered, who he was is still a mystery. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/2 "2026-09-26T17:08:29Z")
Given Lake Mead’s proximity to Las Vegas, I’m surprised that dozens of such barrels haven’t been found. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/3 "2026-09-26T17:29:32Z")
Yet. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/4 "2026-09-26T20:05:10Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > - A body found in a barrel after Lake Mead dropped to its lowest level in years. **The person was murdere** d and now, four years after his body was discovered, who he was is still a mystery. Jumping to conclusions, are we? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/5 "2026-09-26T20:30:33Z")
More likely suicide. /s ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/6 "2026-09-26T21:00:22Z")
Speaking of Lake Mead, every few days I check on various global warming/climate signs, one of which is the water level of Lake Mead which is at an all time low and getting lower every day. The super el nino is supposed to bring a lot of rain to the southwest but it will have an uphill battle given how low the reservoir will be. Plus, if you get the rain to quickly that can also cause problems (like the recent Grand Canyon landslides.) [https://lakemead.water-data.com/](https://lakemead.water-data.com/) ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2026, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/7 "2026-09-26T21:18:54Z")
The reports said that there was a gunshot wound. If I remeber correctly there was a bullet hole in the skull. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/8 "2026-09-27T13:43:05Z")
> [@X.L.Lent](#): > > - TikTok videos of a crazy neighbor who thinks she owns the sidewalk and street > in front of her home. That sounds…interesting. Link? I can search but it seems pretty generic. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/9 "2026-09-27T14:07:57Z")
**[phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)** I sent you a PM with the info. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/10 "2026-09-27T16:30:37Z")
Lake Mead won’t be much improved by increased rainfall in the desert regions. It’ll need decades of much-increased snowfall in the high Rockies to make a real difference. While we’re at it, stopping all water extraction upstream would be a good idea too. Shame about all those cities with dry taps and farms not allowed to irrigate. But your larger point, that Lake Mead is a well-instrumented bellwether indicator of the ongoing slo-mo catastrophe of AGW + regional excess human development, is well founded for sure. Here’s my contribution … This US national drought map is updated every Thursday morning and often makes for grim reading. I don’t stop by every Thursday, but often enough. **[Current Map | U.S. Drought Monitor](https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/CurrentMap.aspx)**. ---
**Author:** ![Cachalot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@Cachalot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cachalot)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/11 "2026-09-27T22:00:34Z")
The grizzly bears at Katmai National Park during the salmon run. The Eagle Cam at Big Bear Valley. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2026, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/12 "2026-09-27T22:59:08Z")
Not really, because these hurricanes, etc. are not in the Lake Mead watershed. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/13 "2026-09-28T02:47:33Z")
Hurricane Polo will hit the Southeastern and other parts of Arizona which could see increased cloud cover and heavy rainfall or a risk of localized flash flooding as the tropical moisture moves into the region. But it will not refill the lake by any means, still six inches of rain will certainly help. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/CzkhMJrYxCI/maxresdefault.jpg "New First Alert Day coming for rain across Arizona") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzkhMJrYxCI) ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/14 "2026-09-28T11:40:02Z")
I live near an airport that serves business jets so I’ll often have [Flightradar24](https://www.flightradar24.com/JME605R/41df8038) open in a tab. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2026, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/15 "2026-09-28T23:57:53Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Lake Mead is a well-instrumented bellwether indicator of the ongoing slo-mo catastrophe of AGW AIUI, reservoirs may actually _contribute_ to AGW by the ways in which they restructure the local ecosystem. Aerobic lake residents increase in number and generate more CO2 per acre than the land around the river did before the dam was put in. It depresses me, because I live in an area that gets a large fraction of our juice from hydropower. We want to think it is “green”, but, maybe not so much. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/16 "2026-09-29T00:31:11Z")
Now that’s an interesting factor I’d never considered. There are a bunch of confounders though. What is the AGW impact (plus or minus) of the floods and dryouts avoided by the active management of streamflow downstream of the dam? What is the AGW impact (plus or minus) of the conventional fossil-fueled power generation avoided by the dam’s powerplant? As always in ecology, everything is connected to everything. But I suspect these three are the biggest direct impacts of a dam+reservoir. I have no clue what the net really is. And it varies by reservoir, stream, & powerplant configuration. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 29, 2026, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-or-interesting-little-items-you-keep-track-of-via-the-net/1033402/17 "2026-09-29T00:44:47Z")
Here’s a whole 700-post thread dedicated to monitoring an odd or interesting thing: > [@For volcano watchers - maybe you'll get lucky! {Kilauea may be erupting}](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/for-volcano-watchers-maybe-youll-get-lucky-kilauea-may-be-erupting/989665): > > Kīlauea Volcano is showing signs of unrest as I write this - the [daily update](https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/kilauea/volcano-updates) reads, on September 5, 2023: The seismic and tilt data indicate that Kīlauea’s summit is becoming increasingly pressurized. Similar episodes of earthquake and ground deformation activity occurred in November 2020 and August 2021, prior to eruptions in December 2020 and September 2021. The unrest is currently confined within Kīlauea’s summit region and—if it continues—could escalate to an eruption in the coming days, w… The US Geological Survey (USGS) maintains 3 cameras V1, V2, & V3, that watch the volcano continuously and stream to YouTube with a 12-hour lookback available. For the last couple of years you could see monster lava fountains 500-1000 feet high for 6, 8, even 10 hours at a time roughly every 2 weeks. Starting a couple weeks ago things are different with some new fissures releasing pressure. Nobody knows what’s next. We’ve had lots of little spews that last 20 minutes. Several per day most days. Still fun to watch when it’s busy: **[USGS - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/@usgs)**.