FOLIO OLIO: TUESDAY #3504

One Of My Very Own

EMAIL: ralph.henry.at.folio.olio@gmail.com

THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW

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10 FORBIDDEN LOCATIONS

Kofuns

Kofuns are giant Japanese gravemounds which are usually shaped like keyholes. Their size can vary from a few meters to the Daisen Kofun which is the biggest grave in the world covering an area of 460,000m². Many of these date back to the 3rd century, but with few exceptions, the government doesn’t allow excavation. These are mostly off limits because no one wants to accept that the Japanese imperial family probably came from Korea in the 3rd through 6th centuries CE. The Japanese government actually has people in little guardhouses by the biggest Kofun all day, just to make sure no one climbs them.

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Pluto's Gate

Pluto's Gate is an archeological site in southwestern Turkey that was discovered in 2013. The site was a temple that was dedicated to the god of the underworld. It was built on top of a cave which emits toxic gases. Deadly vapors still waft out of this “gate to hell” and it still claims the lives of unfortunate birds that get too close. Ritual animal sacrifices were common at the site. Tourists are forbidden to get too close to this site.

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Bolton Strid

River Wharf in Yorkshire, England is 30-feet across with frothing currents and waves, but downstream at around Bolton Abbey it suddenly turns into a rather calm creek just a few feet wide. Water doesn’t disappear anywhere but the whole river changes orientation. Waters begin to flow vertically in the tight shaft created by the natural rock. The stream hosts multiple underwater cave systems and dangerous currents below the surface. No person who has fallen into the Strid has ever come out of it alive and its underwater geology is still unexplored.

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Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di's Tomb

Entry into the tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huang Di is forbidden. Although his Terracotta Warriors have been excavated, no one has ever entered his tomb. He was the most tyrannical and violent leader in Chinese history, so there is a lot of superstition about evil spirits around his tomb. Ancient historians wrote that the tomb contains rivers of mercury mechanically operated to flow like real rivers. Modern tests have reported mercury levels in the soil over 100 times what occurs naturally, so it could prove dangerous to open it. The Chinese government does not allow the tomb to be opened and restricts people from access to the land surrounding the tomb.

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Black Mountain

The Black Mountain in Queensland, Australia is pretty much just a giant pile of granite boulders, some the size of a house. The absence of soil between the boulders and rocks create a maze of gaps and passages, which can be used to penetrate inside the mountain. There are massive internal caves systems that change over time due to collapses and therefore the mountain hasn’t been mapped yet. The mountain whistles and moans in the wind and locals don’t get TV or radio signals. Visitors are forbidden to climb or even approach the mountain. Few people have ever explored the caves and come out alive.

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Red Zones

There is a chain of non-contiguous areas throughout France called the Red Zones which the French government isolated after the World War 1 and access to these areas is still forbidden. These areas are saturated with unexploded shells (including gas shells), grenades and rusty ammo. The soil is still heavily polluted by lead, mercury, chlorine, arsenic, various dangerous gases, acids, and human and animal remains that the government considers it impossible to clean and human life is still impossible in the zone. In some of these places, 99% of plant life still dies and agriculture is considered impossible 100 years later.

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Monkey Island

Morgan Island a.k.a the Monkey Island is a 4,500-acre sea island off the coast of South Carolina. The island is uninhabited and is home to a breeding colony of approximately 3,500 rhesus monkeys, who are naturally infected with Herpes B, which is deadly to humans. The island has become a Primate Research Center. Only researchers are allowed on the island and their first rule on the island is not to get peed upon by the monkeys. Tourists aren’t allowed on the island.

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Snake Island

Ilha da Queimada Grande (a.k.a. Snake Island) is located 93 miles from São Paulo and is untouched by human developers because the island is densely populated with venomous snakes. Researchers estimate between one and five snakes live per square meter on the island. The Brazilian Navy has it quarantined and one biologist quoted “you are never more than 3 feet from death” on the island. The government of Brazil has banned anyone, except researchers, from landing there.

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Darien Gap

The Darien Gap is a 100-mile gap in the Pan-America Highway, covering terrain that includes Panama and Columbia, but is effectively governed by neither. Most of it is marshland and with virtually no infrastructure it is a wet cesspool of tropical disease and, historically, paramilitary groups. People do live in it, in certain regions, and migrants traverse its more worn paths out of desperation, but it's virtually guaranteed to claim the lives of the careless. There is nothing of civilization or man's law there.

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Bottomless Lakes

Bottomless lakes in New Mexico are what they sound like. Some of the small lakes have “no bottom” and feed underground rivers and streams stretching hundreds and possibly thousands of miles. Trackers that have been tossed in have been found days later in the Gulf of Mexico. They have claimed many lives of careless swimmers and some of the lakes are now sealed off.

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Pastor: Discipline your children as God disciplines his.

Me: So kick them out for eating an apple?

Pastor: No.

Me: Rain down frogs?

Pastor: What the?

Me: Plague them with locusts?

Pastor: NO

Me: I gotta say, Padre, it kinda feels like I’m running out of options here. DROWN THEM?!

PEOPLE BEHAVING BADLY

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Race means nothing.

Learning to work with other races is one reason I am in favor of a requirement for each young American to do a couple of years of national service. Not just military, but working in parks, schools, etc.

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Chinese iPhones crash when users try to type Taiwanese flag characters.

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The 82-year-old Indian man told Sky News he started growing out his nails when he was 14. It all began with a grudge. After Chillal accidentally broke a teacher’s nail while he was getting rowdy with a friend, the teacher told him he could not possibly understand the care needed to grow out long nails. He set out to prove that teacher wrong.

Growing your nails as a retirement plan - just might work.

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Walking around in your underwear has its disadvantages...

That's what bouncers are for, Missy.

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This insanity must end.

I think it's time to call this endangerment a crime, punishable by the loss of custody.

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How pissed off were the women on the Titanic who skipped dessert?

ASSORTED BLOG FODDER

I guess it's a matter of what juice means.

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Wichita, Tallahassee, Columbus, and Little Rock... Zombieland 2 is happening.

The first one made me laugh out loud.
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These are stills from a clip that wouldn't upload.

The monkey jumps around to get everyone's attention, then slings his shit.

This is the results.

Direct hit. And the last thing I would do is open my mouth wide.

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You have to use that when painting portraits.

Notice the orange under the chin.
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I know I'm over-critical of people surviving in the wilderness for months and still have pristine fingernails. Well, these two patients have been kept in a germ-free lab for weeks.