sounds very similar to a radio story i heard in 2014 ago about credit card debt. the debt got sold to a collection company and a couple received a court summons. they knew they had taken on debt, but they were confused about who this new company was and where specifically the number they were supposed to owe came from.
they show up in court and just ask the lawyer for the collection company: can you prove where this number comes from? Do you have a contract showing that you purchased our debt? probably luckily for them, a reporter researching a book on the topic showed up and asked the same questions.
10 minutes later they get in front of the judge and the collection company drops the whole case and theyre free to go. story is below, it has a transcript in the link too
Like now that I am awake I need to reiterate how huge this is. It was presumed harvested to extinction by the Romans. It was a favorite flavoring and according to historians one of the best contraceptives ever known. True or not it would be fantastic to study that but it being extinct made that impossible.
This is such a huge deal! I hope they get it figured how to grow it.
like a fool i have always forgiven the dc metro system every time it fucks me over because the stupid sexy 70s brutalist aesthetic is just too swag i am sorry
except you. you are a testament to american hubris and were never supposed to exist
I am so sorry to do this to you but I actually have to talk about it because it is a very specific and weird story. So pictured here is the longest escalator in the western hemisphere and it’s specifically western hemisphere because at the time of construction it was the cold war and usa government was in a dumb competition with ussr government to see who could build the longest fucking metro escalator which would prove….something, i guess. usa lost and the 3 longest escalators in the world are in St. Petersburg. so this and the st. petersburg one are all actually in fact freaky long escalators
the decrease in costuming quality over the last 20 years has been soooo precipitous & nauseating. i’m not even talking abt marvel’s cg supersuits or anything this time, look at the fabric quality, structure, layering, character, and craftsmanship of older costumes in 102 dalmations (2000) vs cruella (2021)
ever after (1998) vs cinderella (2021)
lord of the rings (2001-2003) vs the rings of power (2022)
this trend should upset you not just because it looks cheap, but because it suggests a strong anti-art and anti-labor movement in film and tv making. don’t forget costumers are unionized
This is it, I found it, the funniest post on this entire godsforsaken website
I will never get over how brilliant this comic is. The artist could have just drawn a single image in response, but instead we have this masterpiece. The world doesn’t deserve @iguanamouth.
In 2002, a flood in Prague caused some streets to collapse into a series of unknown underground tunnels.
And just like that, a legit 16th cent. alchemist laboratory was discovered.
10 years of discovery, repair, and restoration later, it’s now open for tours.
On the outside, only a house was visible and it was used as a pharmacy in its time. Alchemists were notoriously secretive, so none but those on the inside knew about the tunnel system below where potions were made.
A room dedicated to herb storage. Many of the herbs in the potions came from China and India. The house was conveniently located by major trade routes.
Notice an alligator (or croc/caiman) above the left side. There were lots of stuffed animals, bottles, and books. Since few people in Europe had ever seen alligators/crocodiles, they were said to be the bodies of dragons, and were thought to guard the alchemists.
The alchemists were so secretive, they did everything themselves, down to making the glassware for their elixirs.
A stone in the wall that covered a hidden vault in the underground tunnels. Historians uncovered that it held a single bottle of ‘The Elixir of Life’ and the recipes for it, and the elixirs of love and memory.
This bookcase is an exact replica of the original, which was too damaged to restore. A statue on the right side (in the dark area on the third shelf from the top) is the door knob/switch to a secret sliding door.
Monks now recreate the elixirs exactly as detailed in the instructions and each of the elixirs (and blends!) are for sale in their shop. The only change is that the Elixir of Life does not contain opium as is instructed, since it’s now illegal.
