Podcasts about Oil drum

sometimes i am exhausted by these three minutes

After a deep dive on Maryland football, we discuss the peculiar question asked to Matt Rhule during his time at the podium, then breakdown exactly how the roof at Lucas Oil Stadium opens and closes.

On this episode, Nate welcomes back journalist, inventor, and low-tech expert Kris De Decker to take a deeper dive into a more human-powered system on the backside of the carbon pulse. Through both historical and experiential lenses, Kris shares five creative alternatives to current high tech systems - from hot water bottles to electric buses and preventative-focused healthcare systems. Could a move towards communal services and human-power also shift our mindsets to think twice about how much energy is actually needed to thrive and still be comfortable? Will society willingly move from a resource intensive growth economy towards a lower energy, human powered economy?  About Kris De Decker: Kris De Decker shifted from a journalism career covering high tech to exploring low tech through formal and personal research and projects, including the Human Power Plant and the Solar Powered Website.   De Decker is creator and author of Low Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine, publications which explore low tech solutions to questions society assumes must be solved through high tech.   De Decker has contributed articles about science, technology, energy and the environment to Mother Earth News, Techniques et Culture, Design Magazine, The Oil Drum, Resilience, EOS, Molenecho's, "Knack", "De Tijd" and "De Standaard".  De Decker's books "Energie in 2030" advised the Dutch government on challenges related to science and technology and his book "Stralingswarmte: gezonde warmte met minder energie" provided a guide for how heat works.    For Show Notes and More visit: https://www.thegreatsimplification.com/episode/75-kris-de-decker  To watch this video episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4MYqRvm7vX4

In this episode Steve interviews retired NYPD Detective Vic Ferrari.  Vic was on NYPD from 1987 until 2007 and he has the stories to prove it! He is also an accomplished author with several titles under his belt.  Click the link below to check out his books. Link to Vic's Books https://t.co/M1dNxGDPeI Follow the show on instagram @thingspolicesee Support the show by joining the Patreon community today! https://www.patreon.com/user?u=27353055           -Video of the interviews           -Vinyl TPS logo sticker           -Patron Shoutout            -Exclusive posts and direct messaging to Steve Shop Merch / Subscribe / be a guest / Contact  www.thingspolicesee.com Join the FB community!  https://www.facebook.com/thingspolicesee/ Background consultation - Ken@policebackground.net

On this episode, we meet with inventor, researcher and author Kris De Decker to understand the concept of “low tech” and its relevance in a high tech society and growth-driven economy.  How does low tech differ from high tech and what does it feel like to live a low tech lifestyle? Why do we assume high tech will always be the solution, and could low tech be a feasible path for a sustainable and fulfilling future? De Decker shares his personal experiences as a low tech advocate and researcher in a high tech urban environment and how freedom from technology provides both challenges and unexpected benefits.   About Kris De Decker: Kris De Decker shifted from a journalism career covering high tech to exploring low tech through formal and personal research and projects, including the Human Power Plant and the Solar Powered Website.   De Decker is creator and author of Low Tech Magazine and No Tech Magazine, publications which explore low tech solutions to questions society assumes must be solved through high tech.   De Decker has contributed articles about science, technology, energy and the environment to Mother Earth News, Techniques et Culture, Design Magazine, The Oil Drum, Resilience, EOS, Molenecho's, "Knack", "De Tijd" and "De Standaard".  De Decker's books "Energie in 2030" advised the Dutch government on challenges related to science and technology and his book "Stralingswarmte: gezonde warmte met minder energie" provided a guide for how heat works.    De Decker was born in Antwerp, Belgium and lives in Barcelona, Spain. De Decker describes himself as “rather inactive” on Twitter and LinkedIn.

This is one of New England's most enduring mysteries. The Bear Brook murders, AKA the Allenstown four. In 1985, A woman and a little girl were found decomposing in an oil drum, by an avid hunter. It would be an agonizing journey to identify the victims and pursue the perpetrator. In 1985 the case quickly went cold, in 2000 a cold case investigator went back to the forest in Allenstown NH and expanded the search. Approximately 100 yards from the first crime scene, investigators discovered another oil drum, contains two more children. The pursuit of justice lead to transient serial killer Terry Rasmussen. He is strongly suspected in this massacre and would die in prison, before he could be brought to justice for the Allenstown NH atrocity. You don't want to miss this episode!WMUR Timeline-https://bit.ly/3zjUC1vDispatches from the middle-https://bit.ly/3zNWhxO

Squad Cars - SA 68-06-29 (1) Oil Drum Case

Nate explains how our culture is "energy blind" and the implications. The YouTube video, featuring charts and graphs, of this podcast is available now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVjhb8Nu1Sk 00:35 - Jason's info + book, Post Carbon Institute, Farmland LP, CSAs 02:57 - What is a CSA 04:39 - Biodiversity and geography of the Amazon rainforest and the Andes 05:14 - How will the Amazon and Andes change with climate change 06:17 - The Future is Rural 06:56 - Net energy positive 07:18 - Optimal foraging theory 08:46 - Chewing the cud and ruminant digestion 09:32 - Fiber, cellulose and human digestion 10:16 - NPK (Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium/Potash) 11:01 - Haber Bosch process 14:30 - The Law of Return 15:11 - What is soil? Is it different from dirt? 16:30 - Hydroponics 17:10 - What makes healthy soil? (structure, microbiome, nutrients) 17:24 - Malabon soil 19:49 - How many farms are managing for healthy soils 20:10 - At the current rate our topsoil will be gone in 60 years 20:54 - What percentage of the US labor force are farmers? (~1%) 21:22 - How has the labor force shifted from pre-industrial times? (70-90%) 22:35 - Modern agriculture is an energy sink 23:17 - Past food systems were energy positive (10:1-5:1) 23:35 - The Oil Drum essay (EROI on Nate's potatoes) 25:04 - It takes 10-14 calories to produce, process, and transport every 1 calorie of food we eat 26:50 - Over the last hundred years we have had more energy available every year 27:03 - Trophic pyramids 27:51 - Entropy 31:01 - Supply chain disruptions 31:55 - Fossil fuel depletion 33:48 - Conventional crops no longer have the genes to be grown in organic agriculture 37:16 - Heavy mechanization has led to heavy specialization and regionalization 39:27 - Smaller farms have higher energy returns and higher yields 44:27 - ½ a hectare is needed to feed one person (variation from 2/10th to a whole hectare) 47:46 - Dennis Meadows TGS Episode 51:33 - Potato Famine in Ireland 53:03 - Problems with modern industrial animal agriculture (CAFOs) 54:31 - Diets were tailored to fit the land they're based in 56:13 - In Minnesota there are more pigs than people 56:20 - Population numbers of our livestock 1:00:05 - Energy blindness 1:00:23 - Norman Borlaug and Paul Ehrlich 1:01:09 - Permaculture 1:07:34 - The world's amazing and diverse life 1:09:03 - Chuck Watson TGS Episode 1 and 2 on Nuclear Risk 1:10:20 - Nature is remarkably resilient 1:10:37 - Building back healthy soil

Season 4 Ep. 14Circus freaks/side shows "When you're born, you get a ticket to the freak show. When you're born in America, you get a front row seat." -- George Carlin    The “freak show,” or “sideshow,” rose to prominence in 16th century England. For centuries, cultures around the world had interpreted severe physical deformities as bad omens or evidence that evil spirits were present; by the late 1500s, these stigmas had translated into public curiosity.                   Businessmen scouted people with abnormalities, swooped them up, and shuttled them throughout Europe, charging small fees for viewings. One of the earliest recorded “freaks” of this era was Lazarus Colloredo, an “otherwise strapping” Italian whose brother, Joannes, protruded, upside down, from his chest. The conjoined twins “both fascinated and horrified the general public,” and the duo even made an appearance before King Charles I in the early 1640s. Castigated from society, people like Lazarus  capitalized on their unique conditions to make a little cash -- even if it meant being made into a public spectacle. Whether it was a person with dwarfism acting as a jester or clown for an individual monarch, or a person with a unique physical impairment displaying her body for the eyes of a curious and gawking public, freaking—exploiting the perceived peculiarities of your own body for an audience—was a means of support for some disabled people who might otherwise have died or struggled to survive. But until the 19th century, freak shows catered to relatively small crowds and didn’t yield particularly healthy profits for showmen or performers. It was in the mid nineteenth and early 20th centuries that freak shows had become a viable commercial enterprise in England and the U.S. alike. America and England both had men who would come into prominence by employing (or exploiting depending on whom you talk too)these types of folks for profit purposes. In England it was a man named Tom Norman. TOM NORMANTom Norman was born on 7 May 1860 in Dallington, Sussex and was the eldest of 17 children. His real name was Noakes and his father Thomas was a butcher who resided at the Manor House in Dallington. According to his autobiography he left home at the age of fourteen to seek fame and fortune on the road and before long he had found employment as a butcher’s assistant in London. Tom first became involved in showbusiness a year later when he went into partnership with a showman who had a penny gaff shop in Islington, exhibiting Mlle Electra(not a typo). However, as is often the case with Tom Norman, the facts are difficult to piece together from the legend and the first record we have for a showman called Norman from this time can be traced to the Agricultural Hall in Islington, the venue for The World’s Fair. Some of the showmen on view that day included the famous Tommy Dodd and his wife, "The smallest people in the world;" and a giant boy aged seventeen. Other showmen presenting attractions were Williams's Ghost Show; Chittock and Testo's dog and monkey circus and Mander’s Huge Collection of Wild Beasts. However, both The Era newspaper report and the handbill for the event note the presence of Norman's performing fishes, which reputedly could not only talk but also play the pianoforte; and Norman’s French Artillery Giant Horse. In his autobiography which was incomplete before his death in 1930, Norman states that he was fifteen when he first appeared at the World’s Fair. Therefore, the Norman mentioned could either have been a showman whose name Tom Noakes went on to use, or he was actually 13 years old when he first left home.By the 1870s the young aspiring showman had been involved in a number of careers including exhibiting Eliza Jenkins, the Skeleton Woman, a popular novelty show at the time, the Balloon Headed Baby and a whole range of freak show attractions as he stated in his autobiography:“But you could indeed exhibit anything in those days. Yes anything from a needle to an anchor, a flea to an elephant, a bloater you could exhibit as a whale. It was not the show, it was the tale that you told.”Perhaps one of the more gruesome shows he was involved with, was 'the woman who bit live rat heads off. 'In his autobiography Tom Norman describes the act a the most gruesome he had ever seen:“Dick Bakers wife, who used to be with me and gave I think now, the most repulsive performance, that I have ever had or seen, during the whole of my long career. it consisted of Mrs Baker, putting her naked hand into a cage, fetch out a live rat and proceed to bite its head off.”The effect on the audience was such wrote Tom that:“More than once, have I seen a member of either sex of the audience, fall forward in a faint during this extraordinary performance.”Tom Norman’s ability to tell the tale was the scene of one of his greatest compliments when in 1882 he was performing at the Royal Agricultural Hall. Unaware that the great showman P. T. Barnum(well get to him don't worry) was in the audience, Tom informed the crowd that none other than the greatest showman on earth had booked the show for its entire run. Upon meeting Tom Norman, Barnum pointed to the large silver Albert chain which he wore and said 'Silver King eh'. Despite being found out, Tom Norman took this as a compliment and from then on he became known as The Silver King.Throughout the 1880s his fame as a showman grew and by 1883 he had thirteen penny gaff shops throughout London including locations such as Whitechapel, Hammersmith, Croydon and Edgeware Road. He still continued to travel with his shows and Norman’s Grand Panorama was a highlight of the Christmas Fair for the 1883/84 season in Islington. It was at this time that Norman came into contact with Joseph Merrick through a showman called George Hitchcock who proposed that Norman took over the London management of the Elephant Man. This episode in Norman’s life is shrouded in controversy as Sir Frederick Treeves, the surgeon who reputedly rescued Joseph Merrick or John as he calls him, blackened the character of Norman in his autobiography published in 1923. There are differing accounts of the way Merrick was treated by Norman. Treeves maintains that he was treated poorly by Norman and simply exploited. There are others who claim that Norman treated Merrick extremely well and that Merrick was never healthier or happier than with Norman. The Elephant Man was managed by Tom for only a few months and after the London shop was closed by the police, Joseph Merrick was taken back by the consortium of Leicester businessmen and placed in the hands of Sam Roper, a travelling showman.Tom Norman’s career continued after the Elephant Man and over the next ten year he became involved with managing a troupe of midgets, exhibiting the famous Man in a Trance show at Nottingham Goose Fair, Mary Anne Bevan the World’s Ugliest Woman, John Chambers the Armless Carpenter and Leonine the Lion Faced Lady. In January 1893, the following advertisement appeared in The Era newspaper and seems to imply that Tom was thinking of leaving England for the Worlds’ Fair which was being held in Chicago. The advertisement appeared for the following weeks and although no details are available as to their final outcome they do give us a glimpse into the type of shows Tom Norman was exhibiting at the time. “Wanted, to Sell, 10ft Living Carriage, Light, One-horse Load, already Fitted for Road, £25, worth £35; also Novelty Booth, good as new, Size, 9ft by18ft, with Novelty and Four New Brass Lamps, with Filler and Oil Drum, by Mellor and Sons, £4; also Piano Organ, nearly New, scarcely soiled, TenTunes, by Capra, suit Waxworks or any Shop Exhibition, £7, worth £18; also Two Fat Paintings, Best on the Road, by Leach, Size 9ft by 10ft, ditto One, same size of Skeleton Girl, all good as new; also Two others of Fats, size 6ft by Thornhill, with large Case to carry the lot, £5, cost £20; also 9ft Square Booth for Performing Fleas, with Two Grand Oil Paintings for same, price £1; also Aerial Suspension for Child 15s; also the Largest Silver Albert in England, made expressly for me, £3, cost £6. The whole of the above to be sold together or separate. Can be seen any time. Reason, I am leaving for Chicago. Apply any Morning before 12.0 to TOM NORMAN, Silver King, Pearce's Temperance Hotel, Elephant and Castle, SE”.In 1896 Tom met and married Amy Rayner at the Royal Agricultural Hall and their marriage lasted until his death in 1930. At that time Tom was travelling his famous Midget show and the Ghost show he had bought from John Parker. Their first son Tom was born in 1899 and was soon followed by Hilda, Ralph, Jimmy, Nelly, Arthur, Amy, Jack, Daisy and George.Soon after the birth of his first son, Tom became an auctioneer and the first show he sold belonged to Fred and George Ginnett. His career as an auctioneer prospered and some of the most famous shows he sold included Lord George Sanger and Frank Bostock's.He advertised in both The Era and The Showman newspapers as the recognised Showman’s Auctioneer and Valuer throughout 1901 and early clients in 1902 included W. T. Kirkland who had concessions at Southport, Morecambe and New Brighton. He instituted the annual Showman and Travellers’ Auction Sales in London, Manchester and Liverpool from 1903 onwards and negotiated sales for showman such as Walter Payne, Edwin Lawrence and many others. His most famous sale to date place in 1905 when he organised the disposal of Lord George Sanger’s Zoo at Margate. This was followed by what Tom Norman described as the crowning point in my life as regards the auctioneering business, when he was called upon by Sanger to auction the whole of his travelling circus effects. The following tribute published in 1901 demonstrates the esteem in which he was held by the fairground fraternity:'Mr Norman believes in catering for modern tastes - brilliancy; brightness, cleanliness and order are Tom’s strong points'Tom Norman continued to travel with his shows and maintained his penny gaff shops in London while basing the auctioneering side of the business at his family home the Manor House Dallington. Although Tom did not reveal in his autobiography the reasons for changing his name, he obviously maintained links with his place of birth in order to base this part of his business activities there.In the period leading up the First World War, Tom was now the father of ten children, nine surviving and his sons Tom, Ralph, Jimmy, Arthur and George had inherited their father’s showmanship. Ralph Van became known as Hal Denver and travelled throughout Europe and America as a wild west performer, George and Arthur found fame as clowns in many of the world’s greatest circuses and Tom and Jim Norman remained on the fairground.By 1915 the family were firmly based in Croydon and Tom was starting to dispose of some of his business concerns when his eldest son Tom Jnr enlisted. The shops for sale included Tom Norman's New Exhibition with waxworks and novelty museum and the Croydon Central Auction Rooms. Tom slowly retired from the fairground business and although he maintained his auctioneering concerns, he mainly concentrated on buying and selling caravans and dealing in horses for circuses and pantomimes. After the end of the first World War, Tom became restless again and appeared at the Olympia Circus in 1919 with Phoebe the Strange Girl and exhibited at Birmingham and Dreamland, Margate in 1921. Tom also returned to the venue where he had first started, The Royal Agricultural Hall and worked there throughout the 1920s although he was living in semi-retirement at the family base in Beddington Lane, Croydon.Tom Norman left behind a comfortable professional birthright to become one of the leading travelling showmen of his day. The benevolence he showed to his fellow showmen, his association with the newly formed Van Dwelling’s Association and his role in the United Kingdom Temperance Association demonstrate the injustice done to his reputation by inaccurate accounts of The Elephant Man. He died in Croydon on 24 August 1930, while according to his son George Van Norman, making plans to travel to a large auction show around the country.The following tribute was published in the World’s Fair.'There are very few showmen who have not met the famous showman’s auctioneer, “The Silver King”, He has been a conspicuous and charismatic figure in our business for the past half a century and has conducted more showman’ sales than any other auctioneer in the country... During his fifty years with us, he has endeared himself to all section from the humblest to the highest. He was a charming personality with a commanding appearance that left a lifetime impression upon anyone that he met. All his life he has been a showman and as such he died.'So that's England's great showman, the man who really helped bring freak shows to prominence ther. But as i mentioned earlier, the U.S. had one as well. He was brought up earlier and I'm sure you all know who it is.. Good old Phineas Taylor Barnum, better known as P.T. Now, now i'm sure most of you know at least a little about him, or have at some point as a kid been to a circus with his name somewhere in the title. Some of you younger listeners may have missed out on the joys of the circus. Were gonna take a loom at his life and how he rose to prominence.P.T. BARNUMBarnum was born in Bethel, Connecticut, the son of innkeeper, tailor, and store-keeper Philo Barnum (1778–1826) and his second wife Irene Taylor. His maternal grandfather Phineas Taylor was a Whig, legislator, landowner, justice of the peace, and lottery schemer who had a great influence on him.Barnum was 15 years old when his father died, and the support of his mother and his five sisters and brothers fell largely upon his shoulders. After holding a variety of jobs, he became publisher of a Danbury, Connecticut, weekly newspaper, Herald of Freedom. Arrested three times for libel, he enjoyed his first taste of notoriety.In 1829, at age 19, Barnum married a 21-year-old Bethel woman, Charity Hallett, who was to bear him four daughters. In 1834 he moved to New York City, where he found his vocation as a showman. He began his career as a showman in 1835 when he was 25 with the purchase and exhibition of a blind and almost completely paralyzed slave woman named Joice Heth, whom an acquaintance was trumpeting around Philadelphia as George Washington's former nurse and 161 years old. Slavery was already outlawed in New York, but he exploited a loophole which allowed him to lease her for a year for $1,000, borrowing $500 to complete the sale. Heth died in February 1836, at no more than 80 years old. Barnum had worked her for 10 to 12 hours a day, and he hosted a live autopsy of her body in a New York saloon where spectators paid 50 cents to see the dead woman cut up, as he revealed that she was likely half her purported age. It was very common for Barnum's acts to be schemes and not altogether true. Barnum was fully aware of the improper ethics behind his business as he said, "I don't believe in duping the public, but I believe in first attracting and then pleasing them." During the 1840s Barnum began his museum, which had a constantly rotating acts schedule, which included The Fat Lady, midgets, giants, and other people deemed to be freaks. The museum drew in about 400,000 visitors a year.THE AMERICAN MUSEUM During the 1840s Barnum began his museum, which had a constantly rotating acts schedule, which included The Fat Lady, midgets, giants, and other people deemed to be freaks. The museum drew in about 400,000 visitors a year.[14]P.T. Barnum's American Museum was one of the most popular museums in New York City to exhibit freaks. In 1841 Barnum purchased The American Museum, which made freaks the major attraction, following mainstream America in the mid-19th century. Barnum was known to advertise aggressively and make up outlandish stories about his exhibits. The façade of the museum was decorated with bright banners showcasing his attractions and included a band that performed outside. Barnum's American Museum also offered multiple attractions that not only entertained but tried to educate and uplift its working-class visitors. Barnum offered one ticket that guaranteed admission to his lectures, theatrical performances, an animal menagerie, and a glimpse at curiosities both living and dead.One of Barnum's exhibits centered around Charles Sherwood Stratton, the dwarf billed as "General Tom Thumb" who was then 4 years of age but was stated to be 11. Charles had stopped growing after the first 6 months of his life, at which point he was 25 inches (64 cm) tall and weighed 15 pounds (6.8 kg). With heavy coaching and natural talent, the boy was taught to imitate people from Hercules to Napoleon. By 5, he was drinking wine, and by 7 smoking cigars for the public's amusement. During 1844–45, Barnum toured with Tom Thumb in Europe and met Queen Victoria, who was amused and saddened by the little man, and the event was a publicity coup. Barnum paid Stratton handsomely - about $150.00 a week. When Stratton retired, he lived in the most esteemed neighborhood of New York, he owned a yacht, and dressed in the nicest clothing he could buy.In 1860, The American Museum had listed and archived thirteen human curiosities in the museum, including an albino family, The Living Aztecs, three dwarfs, a black mother with two albino children, The Swiss Bearded Lady, The Highland Fat Boys, and What Is It? (Henry Johnson, a mentally disabled black man). Barnum introduced the "man-monkey" William Henry Johnson, a microcephalic black dwarf who spoke a mysterious language created by Barnum and was known as Zip the Pinhead . In 1862, he discovered the giantess Anna Swan and Commodore Nutt, a new Tom Thumb, with whom Barnum visited President Abraham Lincoln at the White House. During the Civil War, Barnum's museum drew large audiences seeking diversion from the conflict.Barnum's most popular and highest grossing act was the Tattooed Man, George Contentenus. He claimed to be a Greek-Albanian prince raised in a Turkish harem. He had 338 tattoos covering his body. Each one was ornate and told a story. His story was that he was on a military expedition but was captured by native people, who gave him the choice of either being chopped up into little pieces or receive full body tattoos. This process supposedly took three months and Contentenus was the only hostage who survived. He produced a 23-page book, which detailed every aspect of his experience and drew a large crowd. When Contentenus partnered with Barnum, he began to earn more than $1,000 a week($31,000 in 2020). His wealth became so staggering that the New York Times wrote, "He wears very handsome diamond rings and other jewelry, valued altogether at about $3,000 [roughly $93,000 in 2020 dollars] and usually goes armed to protect himself from persons who might attempt to rob him." Though Contentenus was very fortunate, other freaks were not. Upon his death in 1891, he donated about half of his life earnings to other freaks who Barnum retired in 1865 when his museum burnt to the ground. Though Barnum was and still is criticized for exploitation, he paid the performers fairly handsome sums of money. Some of the acts made the equivalent of what some sports stars make today. Between 1842, when he took over the American Museum, and 1868, when he gave it up after fires twice had all but destroyed it, Barnum’s gaudy showmanship enticed 82 million visitors—among them Henry and William James, Charles Dickens, and Edward VII, then prince of Wales—into his halls and to his other enterprises.  Barnum did not enter the circus business until he was 60 years old. He established "P. T. Barnum's Grand Traveling Museum, Menagerie, Caravan & Hippodrome" in Delavan, Wisconsin, in 1870 with William Cameron Coup; it was a traveling circus, menagerie, and museum of "freaks". It went through various names: "P. T. Barnum's Travelling World's Fair, Great Roman Hippodrome and Greatest Show on Earth", and "P. T. Barnum's Greatest Show on Earth, And The Great London Circus, Sanger's Royal British Menagerie and The Grand International Allied Shows United" after an 1881 merger with James Bailey and James L. Hutchinson, soon shortened to "Barnum & Bailey's". This entertainment phenomenon was the first circus to display three rings.[25] The show's first primary attraction was Jumbo, an African elephant that Barnum purchased in 1882 from the London Zoo. The Barnum and Bailey Circus still contained acts similar to his Traveling Menagerie, including acrobats, freak shows, and General Tom Thumb. Barnum persisted in growing the circus in spite of more fires, train disasters, and other setbacks, and he was aided by circus professionals who ran the daily operations. He and Bailey split up in 1885, but they came back together in 1888 with the "Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show On Earth", later "Barnum & Bailey Circus" which toured the world.Barnum was one of the first circus owners to move his circus by train, on the suggestion of Bailey and other business partners, and probably the first to own his own train. Given the lack of paved highways in America at that time, this turned out to be a shrewd decision that vastly expanded Barnum's geographical reach. In this new industry, Barnum leaned more on the advice of his partners, most of whom were young enough to be his sons.Barnum became known as the "Shakespeare of Advertising" due to his innovative and impressive ideas.     Barnum went on to write his autobiography and do something interesting, more interested in publicity than profits, he made his biography public domain. This meant that anyone who wanted to publish his biography could do so without having to secure rights for it. In his 81st year, Barnum fell gravely ill. At his request, a New York newspaper published his obituary in advance so that he might enjoy it. Two weeks later, after inquiring about the box office receipts of the circus, Barnum died in his Connecticut mansion. The Times of London echoed the world press in its final tribute: “He created the métier of showman on a grandiose scale.…He early realized that essential feature of a modern democracy, its readiness to be led to what will amuse and instruct it.…His name is a proverb already, and a proverb it will continueThose are the stories, for the most part of two of the major players in the freakshow game. There were more, and maybe we will revisit the rest of the stories and the other folks involved at a later date but for now we are going to move on to what you all want…some of the coolest  freaks there were!!!LAZARUS COLLOREDOWe mentioned this fellow a bit earlier and it was time to bring him back. Born in 1617 in Genoa, Italy, Colloredo would exhibit himself all across Europe during his lifetime. Colloredo is among the earliest—and most extraordinary—recorded cases of parasitic twins. We found this description of Lazarus by Danish anatomist Thomas Bartholinus, as detailed in the 19th-century book, Kirby’s Wonderful and Eccentric Museum: “I saw, saith Bartholinus, Lazarus Colloredo, the Genoese, first at Copenhagen, after at Basil, when he was twenty-eight years of age, but in both places with amazement. This Lazarus had a little brother growing out at his breast, who was in that posture born with him. If I mistake not, the bone, called xyphoideus, in both of them grew together; his left foot along hung downwards; he had two arms but only three fingers upon each hand: some appearance there was of the secret parts: he moved his hands ears and lips, and had a little beating in the breast. This little brother voids no excrements but by the mouth, nose, and ears, and is nourished by that which the greater takes: he has distinct animal and vital parts from the greater, since he sleeps, sweats, and moves when the other wakes, rests and sweats not. Both received their names at the font; the greater that of Lazarus, and the other that of Johannes Baptista. The natural bowels, as the liver, spleen, &c. are the same in both. Johannes Baptista hath his eyes for the most part shut: his breath small, so that holding a feather at his mouth it scarcely moves, but holding the hand there we find a small and warm breath. His mouth is usually open, and wet with spittle; his head is bigger than that of Lazarus, but deformed; his hair hanging down while his face is in an upright posture. Both have beards; that of Baptista is neglected, but that of Lazarus very neat. Lazarus is of a just stature, a decent body, courteous deportment, and gallantly attired: he covers the body of his brother with his cloak, nor would you think a monster lay within at your first discourse with him. He seemed always of a constant mind, unless that now and then he was solicitous as to his end, for he feared the death of his brother, presaging that when it came to pass, he should also expire with the stench and putrefaction of his body; and therefore he took greater care of his brother than himself.”Well then! That sounds like a fucking insane thing to see!!TARRAREThe walking manifestation of one of the seven deadly sins prowled the cobbled streets of 18th-century Paris, seeking only to indulge his endless hunger. Earlier in life, his dietary needs started out robustly, but were otherwise innocuous. However, things would soon take a sinister turn so far as this overzealous diner was concerned. According to contemporary accounts and existent medical records, his quenchless appetite continued growing to the point that his legendarily gluttonous gorging caused this ravenous Frenchman to ingest live animals and maraud morgues for sustenance. He was once even suspected of kidnapping and devouring a toddler.The crack team at Ripleys.com was able to speak with a doctor who specializes in science-based nutrition in search of a possible diagnosis, but first, let’s chew the fat on the life of this legendary cannibal and his strange circumstances of existence. Be warned, this is not for the weak of heart—but if you think you can stomach it, then strap in! PARIS, CIRCA 1788With a large, lip-less mouth stretched wide beyond human regularity and filled with stained teeth, he ate corks, stones, entire baskets of apples—one at a time in quick succession—and live animals (his favorite was snake) for the morbid amusement of repulsed onlookers that were challenged to satiate his seemingly interminable appetite.Like most modern competitive binge-eaters, Tarrare was diminutive in stature, weighing no more than one hundred pounds—prior to eating, at least. Despite all of his daily intake, he never seemed to keep any of the weight on. When empty, his stomach was loosely distended to the point that he could wrap it around his waist as if it were a belt made of his own, still-attached flesh. When full, it was inflated like a balloon—not unlike a pregnant woman in her final trimester. His hair was fair and soft, while his cheeks, when not engaged at capacity—allegedly able to hold so much as a dozen eggs—were wrinkled and hung slack to create premature jowls.Prior to life as a successful street performer, the individual is known only by his stage name, Tarrare, lived in destitution as part of a traveling caravan of criminal misfits. Born in the rural countryside surrounding the epicenter of the booming silk-weaving trade in Lyon, France in approximately 1772, his rapacious appetite was readily apparent from an early age. As the legend goes, a young Tarrare was capable of eating his own bodyweight in cow meat within a 24-hour period. Sadly, this boundless craving forced him out of his family’s home as a teenager, as they could no longer afford to feed him.After several years of touring the country as a vagabond begging for food, for a time Tarrare became the opener for a snake-oil peddling mountebank before taking off to Paris to perform as a solo act. With success came risk. Tarrare once collapsed mid-performance with what was later discovered to be an intestinal obstruction, requiring his audience to carry him to the nearby Hôtel-Dieu hospital. After being treated with laxatives, a grateful Tarrare offered to demonstrate his talents by eating the surgeon’s pocket watch. The surgeon agreed, but only under the condition that he be allowed to cut Tarrare open to retrieve it. Wisely, Tarrare declined.It was during the French War of the First Coalition when respected military surgeon Dr. Pierre-François Percy first made the acquaintance of the inexplicable Tarrare, now a soldier for the French Revolutionary Army. Barely twenty years old, this peculiar patient proved to be quite extraordinary. Unable to subsist off of military rations alone, Tarrare began doing odd jobs around the base for other soldiers in exchange for their rations and, when that proved to be insufficient, foraged for food scraps in dunghills. Despite all of his scrounging, Tarrare succumbed to exhaustion and was admitted to a military hospital under the care of Dr. Percy.There, even being granted quadruple rations failed to satiate his hunger. Tarrare began to eat out of the garbage, steal the food of other patients, and even chow down on the hospital’s bandage supply. Psychological testing found Tarrare to be apathetic, but otherwise sane.Percy’s report described Tarrare as having bloodshot eyes and constantly being overheated and sweating, with a body odor so rancid that he could be smelled from twenty feet away—and that’s by 18th-century French military surgeon standards. Woof. The smell only got worse after eating. Percy described it as being so bad he literally had visible stink lines.After eating, Tarrare would succumb to the itis and pass out. Percy observed this after preparing a meal made for fifteen to test Tarrare’s limits, which he predictably porked down. Percy continued this experiment by feeding Tarrare live animals: a cat—which he drank the blood of and after consuming, like an owl, he only regurgitated its fur—lizards, snakes, puppies, and an entire eel.Months of experimentation passed before the military discovered a way to put Tarrare’s unique ability to use: Tarrare was commissioned as a spy for the French Army of the Rhine. His first mission was to secretly courier a document across enemy lines in a place that it could not easily be detected if caught: his digestive tract. After being paid with a wheelbarrow full of thirty pounds of raw bull viscera—which he ate immediately upon presentation directly in front of what we can only imagine to be the incredibly revolted generals and other commanding officers—Tarrare swallowed a wooden box containing a document that could pass through his system completely in-tact and be delivered to a high-ranking prisoner of war in Prussia. As one might expect, an individual who smells like a foot and compulsively eats from the garbage would likely attract attention—not exactly the ideal, hallmark makings of a spy.Compound this with the fact that Tarrare did not speak any German and he was quickly caught, beaten, imprisoned, and forced to undergo the psychological torment of a mock execution before being returned to France.Again under the care of Dr. Percy, the trauma Tarrare endured left him incapable of continuing his military service and desperate to find a cure for his condition. Laudanum opiates, wine vinegar, tobacco pills, and a diet of soft-boiled eggs were all employed, but Tarrare was still forced to walk the streets fighting stray dogs for discarded slaughterhouse cuisine, drink the blood of patients who were being treated with bloodletting, and was even caught consuming cadavers from the hospital morgue multiple times. Eventually, a toddler went missing from the hospital and Tarrare, the suspected culprit, was chased from the premises before disappearing into the city.Dr. Percy is contacted by a physician of Versailles hospital at the behest of a patient on their deathbed. Sure enough, it was Tarrare, now brought to death’s door by what he professed to be a golden fork he had swallowed two years previously and was now lodged inside of him. It had been four years since Percy had last seen Tarrare, who hoped he could save his life by removing the fork. Unfortunately for Tarrare, it was not a fork that was killing him, but end-stage tuberculosis. Within a month, he passed.A curious colleague intended to inspect Tarrare’s corpse. However, fellow surgeons refused to partake and it quickly became a race against the clock as the body began to rot rapidly. Findings from the autopsy revealed that Tarrare possessed a shockingly-wide esophagus which allowed spectators to look directly from his open mouth into his stomach, which was unfathomably large and lined with ulcers. His body was full of pus, his liver and gallbladder abnormally large, and the fork was never recovered. So, what was the cause of Tarrare’s insatiable hunger? In short, we don’t know for sure. When contemporary medical procedures of the time included drinking raw mercury to clear out head demons (probably), should it come as a surprise that Tarrare received no suitable diagnosis or treatment in his own lifetime?However, some interesting theories have been suggested over the years. Ripleys.com was able to speak to Dr. Don Moore, a chiropractor certified in science-based nutrition and owner and operator of Synergy Pro Wellness, to get his take on things.Now, granted, there is a possibility that Dr. Percy’s personal documentation in the years following Tarrare’s death were exaggerated or falsified, but they were considered credible enough at the time of their publication to be featured in reputable medical texts such as The Study of Medicine, Popular Physiology, and London Medical and Physical Journal. Plus, Dr. Percy is considered the father of military surgeons, was Chief Surgeon to the French Army, a university professor, inventor of important battlefield medical implements, and is considered an all-around highly reputable guy. So, given we accept the above tale as an accurate representation of Tarrare’s symptoms, what does Dr. Moore have to say about it?“It can be broken down by category: He didn’t suffer from psychosis, so he was completely aware and cognitive. But that doesn’t rule out hyperactivity of hormones and dysfunction of components of the brain. His sensor that would let him know he was full was damaged. If he underwent a brain study, he would have probably been identified as having had an enlarged hypothalamus.” The hypothalamus regulates the body’s temperature and is responsible for causing the sensation of hunger. Given Tarrare was constantly overheated and in dire search of food, it’s a perfect fit. Dr. Moore also suspects a possible case of pica, which causes the eating of non-edible objects.As for why Tarrare never weighed more than one hundred pounds, Dr. Moore adroitly theorizes, based on his habitually eating raw meat: “He most likely had a parasite as well. The fact that he was of normal size means something else is being nourished, and the fact that he was constantly hungry leans towards him feeding a secondary organism. A parasite like a hookworm or roundworm, perhaps.”  FANNIE MILLSThis next one...i had to put in for obvious reasons! As far as freak shows go, Fanny Mills was one of the most unusual performers to ever step foot inside the sideshow tent. Known as the “Ohio BigFoot Girl,” Fanny seemed normal in every respect…except for her massive feet. Fanny was born in Sussex, England in 1860, and then immigrated with her family to Sandusky, Ohio. The condition that brought her notoriety was Milroy Disease, a rare disorder that causes lymphedema, in which the lower legs and feet swell with lymph fluid. Neither of Fanny’s sisters were born with the disease.Fanny was a petite woman who only weighed 115 pounds. Her feet, however, were 19 inches long and 7 inches wide. She wore a size 30 shoe made of three goatskins.Fanny started touring the country in 1885 as “that girl from Ohio” with the “biggest feet on Earth.” She traveled with a nurse named Mary Brown, who helped her get around. Her promoters advertised her to unwed men as “a boon for poor bachelors,” offering $5,000 and a well-stocked farm to any respectable man who would marry her.“Don’t permit two big feet to stand between you and wedlock tinged with fortune,” the ad read. Fanny eventually married William Brown, Mary’s brother, in 1886.She retired from show business in 1891 because of an illness, and died later that yearGRADY STILES JR.This guy is another famous guy. But you may not know his whole, incredibly crazy story! He’s the mutha fuckin lobster boy!!! The Stiles family was suffering from a peculiar physical condition known as Ectrodactyly, which is a rare congenital deformity that makes the hand look like lobster claws as the middle fingers are either missing or seemingly fused to the thumb or pinky finger.The family has been afflicted for over a century with ectrodactyly, a condition commonly known as the Lobster claw. It is an uncommon inherent distortion of the hand where the center digit is missing and the hand is parted where the metacarpal of the finger ought to be.This split regularly gives the hands the presence of lobster hooks in spite of the fact that cases run in seriousness. Frequently this condition happens in both the hands and the feet and, while it is an acquired condition, it can skirt an age. While the term ectrodactyly sounds medicinally clean when contrasted with ‘Lobster Claw Syndrome’.While many have viewed Ectrodactyly as a handicap, for the Stiles family it came with an opportunity. The physical condition stayed within the family and any newcomer to the family came out with unusual hands and feet.But one member from the family, Grady stiles Jr., would give the Stiles’ family a different reputation when he became a serial abuser and murderer.The home of Gardy Stiles, or popularly known as the lobster boy was an unpleasant place to be. During the carnival season in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, Grady was one of the many sideshow performers who people came to gawk at some time in wonder and sometimes out of rudeness.Grady never concerned himself too much with the opinions of onlookers, he was only there to put on a show, his audience was impressed or not. Grady was born with a severe deformity that gave him the name, The Lobster Boy.GRADY STILES JR. A.K.A THE LOBSTER BOY (CREDIT: YOUTUBE)Lobster Boy was born in Pittsburgh in 1937, at that point his father was already part of the “freak show” circuit, adding his kids with the peculiar physical condition to the act.Because of the deformity Grady couldn’t walk and was confined to a wheelchair, his legs were almost flipper-like and unable to bear weight this resulted in him using his upper body to maneuver around usually in a wheelchair.All of the locomotion provided by his arms turned Grady into a rather strong man despite his downfalls but he didn’t only utilize his to make his life easier for himself but also to make other’s life harder.For most of his life, Gary primarily used a wheelchair — but also learned to use his power to use his upper body to pull himself across the floor with impressive strength.As Grady grew up he would become immensely strong, something which will cost his family later in life.At age 19 Mary ran off to join the carnival, escaping her old life, oddly enough she felt she belonged best there. Despite the fact that she was surrounded by people with shocking abilities and deformities but for her this was normal.Mary Theresa wasn’t there for the same reasons the performers were but the carnival always needed staff to keep the shows running. It was here that she met Grady Stiles.Mary Theresa didn’t see the monster in Grady as others had, she quickly fell in love with Grady and the two were married within no time. Together they had two children and, like his father before him, introduced the children with ectrodactyly to the family business.Grady added his children into his sideshow with him traveling as an act known as the Lobster Family, of the many issues that were in the family, money wasn’t one of them. The family would make $50,000-$80,000 per season and Grady was considered the major star of the show.There were no gimmicks with the lobster family no tricks or illusions, What the crowd saw is what the crowd got.Once the winter set in the show’s closed down and many of their performers including the Stiles family resided in Florida until the new season came around.Despite the pleasant weather and more free time, Grady still didn’t hesitate to inflict physical and emotional pain on his family.If Many only would have known when she was younger what she knew after marrying Grady perhaps it would have made a difference.Mary recollected that Grady was the best anybody could be, a genuinely honorable man however as soon he poured the liquor in his body, something in his brain changed and he would abandon a nobleman to a harsh spouse and father. He turned into a much more alarming man, a genuine beast, more noteworthy than the one others considered him to be. He was a real nightmare come to life.Marry was impacted in ways that she would never forget. She remembered that her husband was a great guy when he woke up in the morning by 8:00 am and started drinking by 10 and would be miserable for the rest of the day.In 1973, Grady-Mary’s marriage hit its first end when Mary decided that she couldn’t take the abuse any longer after Grday launched himself at her, took her to the floor, ripped her pantyhose, reached his clawed hand and ripped out the intrauterine device, a device used to prevent pregnancy, and used her hands to choke her – something they were seemingly designed to do well.Mary was so disgusted, horrified, and emotionally wounded that she wisely left him.The worst was yet to come after Mary was gone, Grady started drinking even more and when her teenage daughter, Donna fell in love with a young man that he didn’t approve of, he didn’t take the decision very well.Donna and Jack Lane were in loved and wanted to marry but Grady forbade the marriage threatening to kill Jack numerous times. Donna was unhappy with her drunk and abusive father and wanted an escape.Donna told Grady that if he didn’t approve the underage marriage, she would live with Jack anyway. This further enraged Grady who prided himself in the way he dominated his family and controlled them.Grady was home when Jack came home to see him on the night before Jack and Donna were to be married, thinking that maybe Grady has changed his mind and is now happy with our marriage.Instead of agreeing, Stiles picked up his shotgun and murdered his daughter’s fiance in cold blood. HE sat there while his daughter came and said ‘I told you I would kill him.’Grady went to trial where the defense attempted to get the jury to pity Grady and his condition. The defense played heavily into the fact that Grady had an unfortunate life driven to drinking and violence by the incessant struggles he faced.Grady even managed to shed some tears in the courtroom, his daughter Donna took the stand and told him that “she would see him at his grave.”The jury took three hours in deciding that Grady was guilty of third-degree-murder, Grady received a sentence of 15 years but not in prison but 15 years of probation.The state believed that their prison system even in their handicap accessible facilities weren’t equipped to handle the specific need for Grady Stiles: no prison could deal with his handicap and to restrict him to jail would be merciless and irregular discipline. He additionally, at this point, had procured liver cirrhosis from drinking and had emphysema from long stretches of cigarette smoking.So Grady got to serve his sentence from home where he continued to drink heavily and beat his children.For reasons that no one — either in the Stiles family or outside of it — has been able to understand, his first wife agreed to remarry him in 1989.Mary who left Grady earlier came back in his life again in 1989 and surprisingly enough forgave the monster for all his wrongdoings.As earlier Grady was decent for a while but after some time the monster in him came back to haunt the lives of Mary and her children. The violence surged back to the surface as did copious amounts of sexual assault.A couple of years after she remarried Stiles, she paid her 17-year-old neighbor, Chris Wyant, $1,500 to murder him. Mary Teresa’s child from another marriage, Glenn, helped her imagine the thought and complete the arrangement.One night, Wyant took a .32 Colt Automatic he had a companion buy for him. He went into Stiles’ trailer, Grady was watching television in his underwear, Wyant put 2 round in the back of his head at the point-clear range, killing him instantly.Freedom But with A CostPolice arrested Mary, her son Harry and the killer Wyant. The jury convicted Wyant of second-degree murder and sentenced him to 27 years in prison.Not one of them denied that they had intended to kill Grady Stiles. During the trial, his wife spoke at length of his abusive history. “My husband was going to kill my family,” she told the court, “I believe that from the bottom of my heart.”Unfortunately for Mary’s child Glenn, self-defense isn’t applicable when hiring a hitman and Glenn was convicted of first-degree murder and was given life-sentence without the possibility of parole for 25 years.At least one of their children, Cathy, testified against him as well.Mary was also charged with first-degree murder and her conviction was reduced to manslaughter and she was sentenced to 12 years behind bars.She unsuccessfully appealed her conviction and began to serve her sentence in February of 1997. She had tried to get Glenn to take a plea bargain but he refused. The court sentenced him to life in prison.Just as a significant portion of his living family was being tried for his murder, Grady Stiles’ body was put to rest. Or unrest, as it were: Lobster Boy was so disliked, not just in his family but within the community, that the funeral home could not find anyone willing to be pallbearers.That's a story that most people don't know about the Lobster Boy!!ELLA HARPERMost sources indicate that Ella Harper was born in Hendersonville, Tennessee around 1870 – although there are some conflicting reports. It has also been revealed that Ella had a twin brother, who died quite early. What is not argued, however, is the fact that Ella was born with an unusual orthopedic condition resulting in knees that bent backwards.  The nature of this unusual affliction is exceedingly rare and relatively unknown, however most modern medical types would classify her condition and a very advanced form of congenital genu recurvatum – also known as ‘back knee deformity’. Her unusually bent knees, coupled with her preference of walking on all fours resulted in her moniker of ‘The Camel Girl’.In 1886, Ella was the star of W. H. Harris’s Nickel Plate Circus, often appearing accompanied by a camel when presented to audiences and she was a feature in the newspapers of every town the circus visited. Those newspapers touted Ella as ‘the most wonderful freak of nature since the creation of the world’ and that her ‘counterpart never did exist’.The back of Ella’s 1886 pitch card is far more modest in its information: I am called the camel girl because my knees turn backward. I can walk best on my hands and feet as you see me in the picture. I have traveled considerably in the show business for the past four years and now, this is 1886 and I intend to quit the show business and go to school and fit myself for another occupation. It appears that Ella did indeed move on to other ventures, and her $200 a week salary likely opened many doors for her. For quite some time no further information was available on Ella following 1886, but recently a genealogist managed to not only trace Ella’s family tree, but also provide some information regarding her life after sideshow.On 28 June 1905 Ella Harper married a man named Robert L. Savely. Savely was a school teacher and later a bookkeeper for a photo supplies company.  A 1910 Census shows Ella and her husband living in Nashville, Tennessee with Ella’s mother and it also revealed that Ella and her husband had adopted a 3 month old child, but that the child passed away only 18 days later.We also now know that Ella died of colon cancer on 19 December 1921 in Nashville, Tennessee and that she was buried at Spring Hill Cemetery in Nashville. A simple gravestone marks her plot, but she is surrounded by family.LEONARD TRASK THE WONDERFUL INVALIDSome human marvels are made, not born. Often their manufacture is accidental and painful, such is the case of Leonard Trask. Born on June 30, 1805 in Hartford, Maine Trask suffered a major neck injury in his 20’s when he was thrown from his horse. The story was that a pig ran under the hooves of his horse and, after being thrown from the back of his steed, Trask spent several days crawling back home. Despite the serious injury, Trask continued to work as a farm hand until his spine began to bow.Soon, Trask’s chin was pressed into his chest permanently, and subsequent injuries only exasperated his misery. In 1840 he took a nasty fall and in 1853 he was thrown from his wagon and broke 4 ribs and his collarbone. On May 24, 1858 Trask was involved in a high-speed coach accident, in which he and several passengers where thrown to the ground. In the accident, Trask struck his head and opened ‘a gash in his head five inches long’. The injury was severe, and he was not expected to survive, but he did and was even more disabled and miserable as a result of the injury.Through much of his adult life, his wife took care of him, and despite his physical limitations he fathered seven children with her. Unable to work, Trask was eventually able to spin his status as a medical curiosity into small career as a human oddity attraction to the general public. As “The Wonderful Invalid”, Trask was able to capture a small measure of fame. His 1860 self-published story A Brief Historical Sketch of the Life and Sufferings of Leonard Trask, the Wonderful Invalid, which included accounts of his activities like ‘Mr. Trask at the Circus’ and ‘Mr.Trask Going to Drink’ that were both amusing and sad.At the time of his death on April 13, 1861 Trask’s condition was still not officially diagnosed despite seeing more than 22 doctors during his lifetime. Today Trask would be diagnosed with Ankylosing spondylitis, a condition that affect less than 0.2% of the general populationJOSEPHINE MYRTLE COARBINFor all intents and purposes, Josephine Myrtle Corbin was a normal girl. Her birth was not marked by anything out of the ordinary, and her mother claimed to have had a typical labor and delivery, apart from the baby being momentarily in the breech position.The doctors who examined the baby after birth reported her to be strong and healthy, adding that she was growing at a good rate. A year later she was found to be nursing “healthily” and “thriving well.”Overall, Myrtle Corbin was a perfectly healthy, active, and thriving baby girl. All in spite of having four legs.Perfectly Ordinary (Almost)After being born with four legs, two normal sized ones on either side of a pair of diminutive ones, the doctor who delivered Myrtle Corbin felt it necessary to point out the factors they felt could have resulted in her deformity. First, the baby’s parents, the doctors said, were about 10 years apart in age. William H. Corbin was 25, and his wife Nancy was 34. Second, the doctors noted that the couple bore a striking resemblance to each other. Both of them were redheads, with blue eyes and very fair complexions. They actually looked so similar that the doctors felt it necessary to explicitly point out that the two were not “blood kin” in their medical reports.Despite the two factors the doctors listed, it seemed that the young girl was simply an oddity – her parents had had seven other children, all of whom were perfectly ordinary.Later, it would be determined that she was born with dipygus and her condition was likely the result of her body’s axis splitting as it developed. As a result, she was born with two pelvises side by side.With each pelvis, she had two sets of legs, one normal sized, and one small. The two small legs were side by side, flanked on either side by two normal legs, though one with a clubbed foot.According to medical journals written by the physicians that studied Myrtle Corbin throughout her life, she was able to move her smaller inner legs, though they weren’t strong enough for her to be able to walk on. Which, of course, didn’t really matter, as they were not long enough to touch the ground.In 1881 at age 13, Myrtle Corbin joined the sideshow circuit under the moniker “The Four-Legged Girl From Texas.” After showing her to curious neighbors and charging them a dime each, her father realized her potential for publicity and for cash. He had promotional pamphlets made up and began placing ads in newspapers for people to come see her.The promotional pamphlets described her as a girl with “as gentle of disposition as the summer sunshine and as happy as the day is long.” And, indeed, that appeared to be true.Throughout her time as a sideshow attraction, she became wildly popular. Eventually, rather than bringing the curious onlookers to her she began traveling. By visiting small towns and cities and performing for the public, she ended up earning up to $450 a week.Eventually, famed showman P.T. Barnum heard about her and hired her for his show.For four years, she continued to work for Barnum and even inspired several other showmen to produce fake four-legged humans for their own shows when they couldn’t get her. At 18 years old, Myrtle Corbin retired from the sideshow business. She’d met a doctor named Clinton Bicknell and fallen in love. At 19, the two were married.About a year later in the spring of 1887, Myrtle Corbin discovered she was pregnant. She’d gone to a doctor in Blountsville, Ala., complaining of pain in her left side, fever, headache, and a decreased appetite. Despite her unique anatomy (she had two sets of internal and external reproductive anatomies), doctors did not believe there was a reason she couldn’t carry to term. Though she became gravely ill during the first three months of her pregnancy, resulting in her doctor performing an abortion, she ended up giving birth to four more healthy children in her life.After performing in the sideshow and giving birth to her children, Myrtle Corbin’s life was rather normal. Though her case continued to pop up in medical journals around the country, she maintained a quiet existence in her Texas home with her husband and children.Eventually in 1928, she died as the result of a streptococcal skin infection. Though antibiotics make the condition easily treatable today, in the 1920s there was no such treatment available.SEALOStanislaus Berent  was an American freak who performed at many freak shows, including the World Circus Sideshow in 1941 under the stage name of Sealo the Seal Boy (often stylized to just Sealo). He was known for his seal-like arms, which were caused by a congenital medical condition known as phocomelia. In 2001, Mat Fraser's play inspired by Sealo called Sealboy: Freak debuted. Berent was born November 24, 1901 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  He was brought up as a Polish Catholic and suffered from an extremely rare congenital disorder known as phocomelia, which caused his "seal arms".  He had no arms; his hands grew from his shoulders. Sealo started off his career as a newspaper seller, then was discovered by freak scouters.He  was a regular feature at Coney Island's freak show from circa 1920 to 1970[4] and was exaggerated as a human with a seal body on some promotional sideshow posters. Despite his genetic disability, Sealo was still able to carry out feats like sawing a crate in half and shaving with a straight razor on his own, as well as moulding animal figurines out of clay. His partner on-stage was Toby, a chimpanzee. Sealo had trouble getting up and down the performance stage due to his weak legs. He would spend the time in which he was not performing on stage selling pitch cards. After performing, he preferred resting at hotels to sleeping at the fairground. He performed at the World Circus Sideshow in 1941. He also toured around the world and performed at many other freak shows.Sealo's freak show career lasted for thirty-five years; he retired in 1976 and moved to Showmen's Retirement Village in Gibsonton, Florida. He returned to his hometown of Pittsburgh afterwards when his health started to decline.  He spent his final days at a Catholic hospital and died in 1980.GEORGE AND WILLIE MUSEThe Muse brothers had an incredible career. The story of the two black albino brothers from Roanoke, Virginia is unique even in the bizarre world of freaks and sideshows. They were initially exploited and then later hailed for their unintentional role in civil rights.Born in the 1890’s the pair were scouted by sideshow agents and kidnapped in 1899 by bounty hunters working in the employ of an unknown sideshow promoter. Black albinos, being extremely rare, would have been an extremely lucrative attraction. They were falsely told that their mother was dead, and that they would never be returning home.The brothers began to tour. To accentuate their already unusual appearance, their handler had the brothers grow out their hair into long white dreadlocks. In 1922 showman Al G. Barnes began showcasing the brothers in his circus as White Ecuadorian cannibals Eko and Iko. When that gimmick failed to attract crowds the brothers were rechristened the ‘Sheep-Headed Men’ and later, in 1923, the ‘Ambassadors from Mars’.As the ‘Men from Mars’ the two traveled extensively with the Barnes circus. Unfortunately, while they were being fed, housed and trained in playing the mandolin, they were not being paid.In the mid 1920’s the Muse brothers toured with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In 1927, while visiting their hometown, their mother finally tracked them down. She fought to free her sons, some 20 years after their disappearance. She threatened to sue and the Muse brothers were freed.The brothers filed a lawsuit for the wages they earned but were never paid. They initially demanded a lump-sum payment of 100,000. However, as time passed the Muse brothers missed the crowds, the attention and the opportunities sideshow provided. Their lawyer got them a smaller lump-sum payment and a substantial contract with a flat monthly wage. The pair returned to show business in 1928.During their first season back they played Madison Square Garden and drew over 10,000 spectators during each of their performances. They made spectacular money as their new contract allowed them to sell their own merchandise and keep all the profits for themselves. In the 1930’s they toured Europe, Asia and Australia. They performed for royals and dignitaries including the Queen of England. In 1937 they returned to Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus for several years and finally ended their career in 1961 with the Clyde Beatty Circus.The brothers returned to their hometown and lived together in a house they originally purchased for their mother. Neither brother married, though they were well known for their many extravagant courtships.George Muse died in 1971 and many expected Willie to quickly follow his brother. Those people were wrong as Willie continued to play his mandolin and enjoy the company friends and family until his death on Good Friday of 2001.He was 108 years old.These are just a few of the many many many circus freaks throughout history. We purposefully did not cover guys like The Elephant Man and other more popular ones as we wanted to bring you some interesting ones you may not know about, except maybe the lobster boy but that shit is crazy! There are some more interesting stories and Coney Island deserves its own discussion...can you say….BONUS episode!!!              

Squad Cars - SA 68-06-29 (1) Oil Drum Case

FIRE DRILL FREESTYLE: QUARANTINE EDITION KNOCK ABOUT RIDDIM Viking Ding Dong – Inside (PSA) Mical Teja – Birthday Sekon Sta – Waste Man Farmer Nappy – Hookin Meh (FG live rmx) POP'S GUITAR RIDDIM Patrice Roberts – Carry On Problem Child – Feel It Machel Montano – Play Harder 4D RIDDIM Machel Montano – Make Yuh Rock Kes – Stress Away Popcaan – Only Man She Want (FG RMX) Lead Pipe x Jus Jay – Sometime Precious – Ooh La La La (FG RMX) Machel Montano & Afro B – Slow Wine Omarion – Slow Wine From A Distance (FG RMX) Kes – Boss Lady TOATIN' RIDDIM Nadia Batson – Kiss Lyrikal – No Scene Nessa Preppy & Motto – Toat No Feelings Fimba – Funky Business (FG RMX) BIG RIDE RIDDIM Gage – Gal Fi Get Tings (FG RMX) Motto ft Blackboy & Ezra – Big Ride Blackboy – Touch Pon Di Floor Machel Montano – Gih Dem Demarco – Backaz (FG RMX) Cooyah ft Noah Powa – Bumper Police Nessa Preppy – Bounce It Bunji Garlin – Looking For China DJ Cheem – Ba Ba Ben Crocodile – Jook Jook Freezy – Back It Up Gal FREE UP RIDDIM Machel Montano & Salty – Boss Wine Nailah Blackman – Oil Drum Teejay – Ride (Movay Tuh) DO THIS RIDDIM Teejay – Up Top Boss (SMJ RMX) Salty - Work Sekon Sta & Trinidad Ghost - Boom Charly Black – Party Animal (FG RMX) Vybz Kartel – Fever (FG RMX) Nessa Preppy – Issa Snack Burna Boy ft Zlatan – Killin Dem DMW ft Zlatan – Bum Bum Davido & Chris Brown – Blow My Mind Afro B ft T-Pain – Condo Joeboy – Baby Rema – Dumebi Emex – Follow DJ Neptune ft Joeboy & Mr Eazi – Nobody 5Star Akil – Nobody Personal (FG RMX) Partynextdoor ft Drake – Loyal Young T & Bugsey ft Headie One – Don't Rush Chronic Law – Don't Rush Freestyle Skepta & Wizkid – Energy (Stay Far) Burna Boy ft Serani – Secret Popcaan – Promise Konshens & Afro B – Vibrate COLORS RIDDIM Potential Kidd – Dance Angels Mr Renzo – Stick Out Yuh Tongue Skem - Siddung Konshens, Xyclone & Epik Jones – Meck It Clap (FG RMX) Elephant Man – Booty Clap (FG RMX) Melick – Colors (SMJ RMX) ZESSER RIDDIM Potential Kidd – Jump On Jus D – Manager (FG RMX) Trinidad Killa – Gunman (RMX) Trinidad Ghost – More Zessing CHICKEN & DUMPLIN RIDDIM Bunji Garlin – Chicken & Dumplin Rane Son – Back Fi Ben Skinny Fabulous – Bubble DROP DRAWS RIDDIM King Bubba FM – Bubbaling (FG RMX) Elephant Man – Bring It Come Leftside & Esco – Tek Off Yuh Clothes Mr Vegas – Nuh Fight Ova Man Vybz Kartel – Come Home (FG RMX) Jamesy P – Flash Daggering dubplate Vybz Kartel – Yardman Style Likkle Vybz & Likkle Addi – Skinny Jeans rmx Vybz Kartel – Drone Dem Stylo G – Bamm Bamm Skinny Fabulous – No Dilemma Freestyle Stylo G - Dumplin Skillibeng – Brik Pon Brik Vybz Kartel – Money Pon Mi Brain (FG RMX) RAW RAW RIDDIM Chronic Law – Government (FG RMX) Intence – Go Hard (FG RMX) I Waata – Cut Off Jean (FG RMX) Kemar Highcon – A Nuh Luck I-Octane ft Gage – Raw Raw LEAN BACK RIDDIM Ding Dong – World A Dance (FG RMX) Ding Dong – Badman Pull Up (FG RMX) Busy Signal – Step Out (FG RMX) Ding Dong - Inside

Richard Heinberg is A Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s experts on our shift away from reliance on fossil fuels.  His writings focus on the repercussions of a fossil fuel based world economy on food and transportation, and the need to transition away from fossil fuels and create a more sustainable future. Richard appears in the new documentary Planet of the Humans that is raising some important controversies and was featured in Leonardo DiCaprio’s film “The Eleventh Hour.” His articles appear in many media sources including Nature, YES!, Counterpunch, Oil Drum, Public Policy Review, Resilience.org and Project Censored. He has authored over ten books on oil depletion, energy economics, climate change and ecological issues.  His latest book is “Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path to One Hundred Percent Clean Energy”.  His websites are RichardHeinberg.com  AND   PostCarbon.org

Richard Heinberg is A Senior Fellow at the Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world's experts on our shift away from reliance on fossil fuels.  His writings focus on the repercussions of a fossil fuel based world economy on food and transportation, and the need to transition away from fossil fuels and create a more sustainable future. Richard appears in the new documentary Planet of the Humans that is raising some important controversies and was featured in Leonardo DiCaprio's film “The Eleventh Hour.” His articles appear in many media sources including Nature, YES!, Counterpunch, Oil Drum, Public Policy Review, Resilience.org and Project Censored. He has authored over ten books on oil depletion, energy economics, climate change and ecological issues.  His latest book is “Our Renewable Future: Laying the Path to One Hundred Percent Clean Energy”.  His websites are RichardHeinberg.com  AND   PostCarbon.org

Pete is back from his latest overseas sojourn and, let's be fair, he's walked right into the middle of an absolute shitshow. Soho is deserted, save for a few blokes wandering around taking photos of the deserted streets, and poor old Luke doesn't know when he's going to get to see his pal again next!But, nevertheless, we press on regardless. Today, there's chat about online dates, a listener in Japan has found money on the floor, and a drunken couple have taken a bath in some beer. There's loads more besides, including Naked Gun, video games and stupid things we've done to impress girls.To get involved: hello@lukeandpeteshow.com***Please take the time to rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your pods. It means a great deal to the show and will make it easier for other potential listeners to find us. Thanks!*** See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Joined once again by superstar Kate Votaw, the One Stage pod discusses Oil Drum Alley from Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo! A remarkably difficult level, it also holds some surprising secrets and secrets in secrets! They also continue to discuss the economic situation of Kongo Island and who really runs the show: The Kremlings or the Kongs? Are the Kremlings subjugated workers or are they sinister usurpers? And did Bluster Kong have an "unfortunate accident?" All this and more in this cold steel episode of One Stage at a Time! www.onestageatatime.com intro music: "8-bit Eighties" by injury (ocremix.org) twitter: @onestageatatime Andy: @primmtropolis Aaron: @aaronindatwits email: onestagepod@gmail.com FB: facebook.com/onestagepod insta: @onestageatatime --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/one-stage-at-a-time/message

1. Stage Gone Bad – Kes & Iwer George 2. Conch Shell – Skinny Fabulous x Machel Montano x Iwer George 3. Nasty Up – Problem Child 4. Rukshun – Lyrikal 5. Break a Branch – Motto & Bunji Garlin 6. Block Away – Bunji Garlin 7. Everytime – Machel Montano 8. Soca Trend – Skinny Fabulous 9. Diagnosis – Runi Jay 10. Dive – Fay Ann Lyons 11. One Minute Xtra – Bunji Garlin 12. Soca Storm – Mr. Killa 13. Screwdriver (Mr. Fix it) – Mr. Killa 14. Bun Up – Shal Marshall 15. Is We – Patrice Roberts 16. Fete Ram – Shal Marshall 17. Run Up & Down – Ding Dong & Mr. Killa 18. Brace – Machel Montano 19. Ramp Up – Machel Montano & Kerwin Du Bois 20. Pick A Side – Erphaan Alves & Kes 21. King of the Party – Major Lazer & Mr. Killa 22. Dear Promoter – Voice & Kes 23. Feel the Love – Freetown Collective 24. Reason to Love – Kes & Private Ryan 25. Feeling It – Swappi & Ultimate Rejects 26. Jumbie Head -Swappi & Ultimate Rejects 27. Power in Soca – Trindad Killa 28. The Struggle – Bunji Garlin 29. Bottle Over Head – Wetty Beatz & Triniboi joocie 30. Wrong Again – Skinny Banton 31. Fattt – Nadia Batson 32. Do Like That – Lyrikal 33. Up & Up – Skinny Fabulous 34. Yuh Bad (No Stressing) – Preedy 35. Take Jam – Imani Ray 36. Stink Face – Kerwin Du Bois 37. Stink Behavior – Machel Montano & Teddy Rhymez 38. No Standing Up – Preedy & Private Ryan 39. Happy Song – College Boy Jesse 40. Slow Wine – Machel Montano & Afro B 41. Movay – Blackboy & Lu City 42. Canboulay – Blaxx 43. Woman & Party – Turner 44. Captain – Hey Choppi 45. Super Soca – Vybz Kartel & Machel Montano 46. Who Pay (Big Bumper) – Sekon Sta & Salty 47. Fire Blaze – Sekon Sta 48. Tambourine – GBM Nutron 49. I Love my Rum – King Bubba 50. Shots (One For Di Road) – Motto 51. Naked – Skinny Fabulous 52. Boss Lady (Sign Me Up) – Kes 53. #ItAintMe – Lil Rick 54. We Outside – Viking Ding Dong 55. Play Harder – Machel Montano 56. Carry On – Patrice Roberts 57. Feel it – Problem Child 58. Middle – Angela Hunte 59. X Games – Teddyson John 60. Sometime – Leadpipe & Jus Jay 61. No Tomorrow – Kerwin Du Bois & Adana Roberts 62. Ms. Carnival – Voice & Keone 63. Honest Dollar - Voice 64. I Love You – Machel Montano 65. Thanks for the Love – Kerwin Du Bois 66. Love & Hate – Lyrikal 67. Soca Feeling (Push Back) – Christo 68. Looking for China – Bunji Garlin 69. Boss Wine – Machel Montano & Salty 70. Oil Drum – Nailah Blackman 71. Toat No Feelings – Motto & Nessa Preppy 72. Kiss – Nadia Batson 73. Hot Gyal Soca – Shal Marshall 74. Showtime – Nailah Blackman & Sekon Sta 75. Dushi (Juicy) – Kes 76. More Sokah – Nailah Blackman 77. Fete Wid Meh Dahlin’ – Farmer Nappy

Nathan Hagens is a former hedge fund manager who studies fossil energy depletion and founded the website The Oil Drum. He talks with Eric about the turn of events that shifted his career and attention away from the finance sector and to the study and social context of energy, people’s resistance to stories about reduced consumption, fossil fuel depletion, human beings as a superorganism, and adaptive cycles, among other things. Listeners can find transcripts, show notes, and other premium content at patreon.com/ericgarza.

FIRE DRILL: 2020 SOCA FIX-UP THE FIZZLE PROJECT Teddyson John – X Games (Acoustic Intro) Angela Hunte – Middle Sekon Sta – Sauce BEAST riddim Mr Killa – Beast Skinny Fabulous – Direct Shot V'ghn – Take Time AFTER LIFE riddim 5Star Akil – Love Potion Christo & Stig Da Artist – Hotter Than Them Machel Montano – Talking That Talk BITTERSWEET riddim Nessa Preppy - Honeypot Melly Jo, Praiz & Skinny Fabulous - Gemini Niniola – Pocket Nailah Blackman & Konshens – Slow Wine Afro B & Busy Signal – Go Dance (FG live rmx) Machel Montano & Afro B – Slow Wine JoJo – Stay POP'S GUITAR riddim Patrice Roberts – Carry On Problem Child – Feel It Machel Montano – Play Harder SOUL CHASE riddim Voice – Honest Dollar Skinny Fabulous & Konshens – We Doh Beg Skinny Fabulous – Rock This Place Machel Montano – I Love You VORTEX riddim Kerwin DuBois – Thanks For The Love Nailah Blackman – Genuine Kes – Jamdong SUPA SOCA riddim Konshens – Feel Good Machel Montano & Vybz Kartel – Supa Soca KNOCK ABOUT riddim Mical Teja – Birthday Sekon Sta – Waste Man Viking Ding Dong – We Outside PROJECT 2020 riddim Viking Ding Dong – Go Dung Nailah Blackman & Sekon Sta - Showtime Kes – Dushi (Juicy) JusWata & StickyWow – Whinin' Alone rmx Voice ft Styles & Complete – Potential Olatunji – Jiggle It Dynamite – Soca Rock Bunji Garlin – The Sound (FG intro) Olatunji & Nailah Blackman – Woi Ya BAILA riddim Marzville – Midsection Skinny Fabulous – Naked Kes – Boss Lady (Sign Me Up) Motto – Shots (One For Di Road) TOATIN' riddim Nessa Preppy & Motto – Toat No Feelings Lyrikal – No Scene Nadia Batson – Kiss Shal Marshall – Hot Gyal Soca Dev – Woman Company BIG RIDE riddim Nessa Preppy & Salty – Pull Up Machel Montano – Gih Dem Mr Legz – I Have A Problem Gage – Gal Fi Get Tings (FG RMX) Motto ft Blackboy & Ezra – Big Ride BABY BELLS riddim Sekon Sta & Salty – Who Pay (Big Bumper) GBM Nutron – Tambourine King Bubba FM – I Love My Rum Sekon Sta - Fire CARIBE ROSE riddim Skinny Fabulous – Bend Yuh Back Jus D – Hot Gyal Patrice Roberts & Nessa Preppy – Splash FREE UP riddim Konshens – Hot Gyal Section Nailah Blackman – Oil Drum Machel Montano & Salty – Boss Wine FENDER BENDER riddim Shal Marshall – Two Knee Fadda Fox – Show Me Problem Child – Back Seat Ride Adam O x AkaiiUsweet – Warming Up Melick – Roll Bamba Trinidad Killa – Jook It STREET VICE riddim Problem Child & Safaree – Flavah Skinny Fabulous – Different Person Shal Marshall & Busy Signal – We Out Deh Dynamite x The Wixard – Soca Worldwide Destra – Rum & Soca DJ Private Ryan & Kes – Reason To Love KOOL IT riddim Nigel Lewis & Kerwin DuBois – Own It M1 – Doh Beat Up Nigel Lewis & Nessa Preppy – Kool It CANDY riddim Fay-Ann Lyons – It's Candy Revelation – Soca Jaiga TC – The Best Bunji Garlin – Bad Bam Bam Bunji Garlin & Fay-Ann Lyons – Bus-A-Wine Hey Choppi - Captain

In this wide-ranging interview, Nate highlights the vital, and oft-overlooked, role that a systems synthesis plays in our understanding of the human predicament. Integrating human behavior, energy, money, economy, ecology into the story that brought humans to this point – is the only way we can make sense of future paths, according to Hagens. He paints a picture of a society deeply dependent upon the massive productivity of fossil carbon and hydrocarbons rich energy sources- “in some ways capitalism is the natural biological response of a social species finding a huge bank account of fossil carbon and hydrocarbons”– but, interestingly, he argues we are not only carbon constrained but behaviorally growth constrained and will kick any cans -debt, rule changes, etc to keep global economies growing. Nate also talks about the implications of this – that we are soon approaching a ‘Great Simplification' and what this means for communities and young people, living differently and preparing. Nate Hagens is a well-known speaker on the big picture issues facing human society and currently teaches a systems synthesis Honors seminar at the University of Minnesota ‘Reality 101 – A Survey of the Human Predicament'   Nate is on the Boards of Post Carbon Institute, Bottleneck Foundation, IIER and Institute for the Study of Energy and the Future.  Previously, he was lead editor of The Oil Drum, one of the most popular and respected websites for analysis and discussion of global energy supplies and the future implications of the upcoming energy transition. Read his recent publication for more: Economics for the future – Beyond the superorganism The post Episode 83: Interview with Nate Hagens on energy and sustainability appeared first on The Sustainability Agenda.

Stacey regales us with an account of the mysterious death of a beloved VA nurse, Deborah Ann Wolfe, and infuriating investigation which follows. Erin treats us all to another dramatic reading while recounting the tragic murder/suicide of Zach Bowen and Addie Hall which took place above a Voodoo Spiritual Temple Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/ISGDpodcast)

Arthur Berman has been an independent oil analyst for 17 years after an earlier 20 years with the Amoco Oil Company. He’s a regular commentator at NBC, CNN, CBC, BNN, OilPrice.com, Bloomberg, Platt’s, Financial Times, and The New York Times. He is a Director of ASPO-USA (Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas USA). He was a Managing Director and  frequent contributor at The Oil Drum, and is an associate editor of the AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) Bulletin. He was past Editor of the Houston Geological Society Bulletin (2004-2005) and past Vice-President of the Society (2008-2009). He has published more than 100 articles on geology, technology, and the petroleum industry during the past 5 years. His blog commentary  can be found at http://www.artberman.com/blog/.  

Wall St for Main St welcome Gail Tverberg, who is an oil market analyst and the author of Our Finite World. Gail has covered the oil market for over a decade and her work can be found on The Oil Drum web site, Peak and Prosperity and other publications.In this podcast, we asked Gail on thoughts on why low oil prices does not stimulate the economy, how the public and private oil companies is handling the low oil prices environment. We also discussed her outlook for 2016 and why we think we are at the tipping point in the global economy due to high debt. Plus much more!

Filmmaker and activist Josh Fox has just released his new film on the U.S. natural gas fracking industry, Gasland 2. As expected, environmental activists are holding it up as gospel and the natural gas industry is frantically trying to discredit Fox’s claims. And we’re all left wondering who to believe. We'll review the film and talk about what we do and don't know about natural gas. The Gang will also discuss the debate around peak oil. The popular website the Oil Drum recently closed down, and we'll ask what it means about the peak oil discussion. Finally, we'll talk about the prospects for a major energy efficiency bill moving through Congress. The Energy Gang is produced by Greentechmedia.com. The show features engaging discussion between energy futurist Jigar Shah, energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton and Greentech Editor Stephen Lacey.

Yes, yes I have been MIA for almost a year now. To tell the truth I had lost a little  of the passion for writing about games and game news. But since Rising finally came out and the constant requests from my friend Jordan Wyatt from Invercargill New Zealand; I decided to give it a shot.On to the review!I have to say that I saw this game as an opportunity for  Mr. Kojima to expand the  Metal Gear universe. Yes we all know about the awesome feats of Solid Snake, Big Boss, and even Raiden. But we don't have the point of view of the "Ninjas" that appear in the series. So for me Rising was an opportunity to peek into what a Cyborg ninja was capable in the Kojima universe.There are several armors and skins available to unlock.The game is ridiculous in a good way, it has some things that amazed me so much. For example; the amount of gushing blood you see during the first couple of cutscenes  Or the fact that you can take on a Metal Gear Ray without much problem. But this is just at the very beginning of the game. As explained in a codec call these Metal Gear Ray units are not only weaker than the ones we all fought in the Solid saga; but they also are no match for advanced Cyborgs like Raiden.MGS4 RayMGR(Desperado) RayIn my opinion one of the best features of this game is the Music, every time you trigger an alert that Heavy Metal sound starts pumping through the speakers and you find yourself hacking foes into pieces with lightning fast speed. Of course the game offers the "stealthy" approach as well. In this game you have two options of stealthy takedowns; it's called "Ninja Kill". You can choose to kill your enemy from behind; or you can bring death from above by jumping down from a high place impaling your enemy through the chest. The only thing I felt the game lacked was the always present option of flattening yourself against a wall, which would have been helpful for me. Too many times have I made the mistake of thinking I was out of the line of sight of an enemy; only to be spotted and immediately attacked. Not fun when you are going for the stealth approach. The famous Cardboard Box makes an appearance in this game, as well as the Oil Drum. Both items help a lot when trying to hide from enemies, just don't stand in the middle of their path...One of the features that they sold this game from the start was the "Blade Mode". The Ability of cutting your enemies every which angle you want, and it delivers! You even get rewarded for cutting enemies in several pieces, such as Gekko's and . There is a side quest in the game worth an achievement or trophy, where if you collect certain officers left arms you are rewarded the title of "Big Fan Of Lefties". Most parts of the environment are "sliceable" like trees, cars, light posts, and even bridges. I have to say "Blade Mode" has become my best friend during the whole game, specially when trying to score points for upgrades."Ninja Run" is also a cool feature of the game, running to deflect bullets is very useful. It's great if you are trying to get "S" ranks on your game and if you are good at it you can combine it with slides to do Zandatsu from the ground(One of my favorite techniques).Other weapons include rocket launchers, grenades and even holographic frames to distract guards since the old school magazines don't work on cyborgs. Most of these weapons are just for support. I found myself not using them often during the game. However they are useful if you really want to try the stealthy approach or if you want to avoid damage.The story is short, but there is a sizable amount of codec calls. I have to admit that I haven't listened to all of them. Every cutscene is about 5 minutes long or so it seems. They aren't the long cinematic scenes form your typical MGS game; but then again this is not an MGS game. This is Rising so if you want to keep true to the "Lightening Bolt Action" under title then you've got to keep them short. However in some cases it felt like a little more "reel" would have been nice. Of course it wouldn't be a "Metal Gear" kind of game without some easter eggs!Watamelans! Motha Fuka!!!Sunny all grown up!I've got to admit that the ending(I'm not going to include spoilers) got me choked up; chocked up in a way that I really haven't been playing a game since MGS4. The premise of the game has you believe this "darkside" of Raiden that he is a bad ass. In a way this is true, but pay close attention to the final cutscenes, there is a statement made about the true Raiden. The Raiden I know... The Raiden you know...Jack The Ripper modeGood ol' Raiden Mode

This weeks guest is Ugo Bardi, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Florence. He specialises in resource depletion, system dynamics modeling, climate science and renewable energy. He is also a member of the scientific committee of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, or ASPO, is the president ASPO Italy, and a contributor to the Oil Drum, the best energy blog on the web. He is the author of several books, including "The Limits to Growth Revisited”, his upcoming book "Plundering The Planet", and even finds time to write his own excellent blog, Cassandra’s Legacy. Our discussion covers the role of volcano's, Georg Bauer, the father of mining, space aliens, and climate change. You can find his blogging work here: http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.co.uk/ http://theoildrum.com http://peakoil.net And here is where you can get a hold of his books: http://www.amazon.com/Limits-Growth-Revisited-SpringerBriefs-Analysis/dp/1441994157/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360432828&sr=1-1&keywords=limits+to+growth+revisited Also, a few weeks ago, I was interviewed for a recent episode of Doug Lains dietsoap podcast, where we talk of Marx, Keynes, and money. You can find the show here: http://douglaslain.net/diet-soap-podcast-170-money/ Enjoy....

James Howard Kunstler speaks by phone with Arthur E. Berman, who is a petroleum geologist and consultant to the energy sector; editorial board member of The Oil Drum; associate editor of the AAPG Bulletin; director of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil. Berman has published more than 100 articles on petroleum geology and technology and has made more than 50 presentations in the last year to professional societies, investment conferences and companies. He speaks to Jim tonight about the history of shale gas "fracking" and a lot of the "magical thinking" surrounding the prospects of America becoming "energy dependent" through fracking.

It’s another episode of Science It Up! Atmospheric pressure is very strong! But how can we see just how strong it is? Let’s crush all kinds of things, just with air pressure! Marshmallows, soda cans, paint thinner cans, and to cap it all off, we’ll even crush a 55-gallon oil drum. Don’t miss it!

October 12, 2010: In today’s episode, Jane Van Ryan interviews Dave Murphy, energy blogger for The Oil Drum about peak oil and the importance of affordable energy for economic growth.

October 12, 2010: In today’s episode, Jane Van Ryan interviews Dave Murphy, energy blogger for The Oil Drum about peak oil and the importance of affordable energy for economic growth.

So now that we've seen how pressure works, how much BIGGER can we go? How about a big, empty oil drum? Recall that the air pressure outside the drum and inside are currently matched. But what will happen when the air (and thus the air pressure) INSIDE the drum is sucked out??

February is Global Population Speak Out Month! John Feeney, Ph.D., writes about the fundamental drivers and historical underpinnings of the global ecological crisis. His work has appeared in publications including the BBC's Green Room, The Guardian, PeopleAndPlanet.net, and The Oil Drum. Informed by a deep ecology perspective, John explores such topics as human overpopulation and the root causes of today's environmental problems. Worthy of headlines, such topics are instead underreported in the media. John works to help change that. His current project is the Global Population Speak Out, a grassroots effort to bring new, respected voices to the problem of overpopulation, helping to weaken the taboo currently suppressing discussion of this crucial issue.For more information go to: http://gpso.wordpress.com/

February is Global Population Speak Out Month! John Feeney, Ph.D., writes about the fundamental drivers and historical underpinnings of the global ecological crisis. His work has appeared in publications including the BBC's Green Room, The Guardian, PeopleAndPlanet.net, and The Oil Drum. Informed by a deep ecology perspective, John explores such topics as human overpopulation and the root causes of today's environmental problems. Worthy of headlines, such topics are instead underreported in the media. John works to help change that. His current project is the Global Population Speak Out, a grassroots effort to bring new, respected voices to the problem of overpopulation, helping to weaken the taboo currently suppressing discussion of this crucial issue.For more information go to: http://gpso.wordpress.com/

Robert Rapier from the Oil Drum and the R-Squared Energy Blog talks about the future of oil. A fascinating look at a momentous topic. Robert's blog. The OilDrum Interview by Rod.