Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

calvertjournal.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 103 posts

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#81

Post by renjimen »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #44
version_five wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks for that, anything in particular by Lem that you recommend getting started with? I find we get very little exposure to Russian / slavic authors in North America, and when I do occasionally get to read one (including the classics but also some paperbacks) I suspect how much we must be missing by not having more of them readily available and marketed.

I mean… Solaris is amazing and was made into a film at least twice. The book is about the difficulties communicating with an alien in the vein of Arrival, but it predates Arrival by many years and is a better book, in my humble opinion. The book is much more detailed than the films. For example, in the book they go down to the “surface” of the alien and visit it… more than once as I recall. That’s not in the films.

The great thing about this book is that it's as much about the difficulty of trying to contact an alien as it is about the problems with the scientific process and academia.

Really a fantastic read with so many angles to interpret it from.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#82

Post by ashtonkem »

Zababa wrote: post #76
ashtonkem wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pripyat is mostly safe to visit, unless if you happen upon one of the unmarked spots where they dumped irradiated equipment or spent fuel. The area is just littered with extremely dangerous bulldozers that they just kind of buried in unmarked spots. So it’s safe … until it isn’t.

We had geiger counters at all time on us. The most radioactive areas were a buried village, the sand under the douga that was used to wash it, and a can filled with garbage in Pripyat (which was by far the most radioactive things). Probably some kind of trap? Or a form of sculpture?

Yeah, you can definitely do it safely with the right gear and some planning. It’s both less risky on average and more tricky than most people think. Wouldn’t recommend drinking the water if you can avoid it though.

As far as the garbage. Hell if I know.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#83

Post by hirsin »

usrusr wrote: post #29
pwnmonkey wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I like the movie but it’s also the ultimate nap movie.

Tarkowski with 30 minutes nap still beats most other movies by a large margin. I used to hate myself for the nap, but I wonder if I should stop doing that: the sequences work just so well in the nearly dreaming state.

Thank you for alleviating my guilt about also napping during my recent watch of Stalker. It certainly didn't hurt, and I'd agree it helped in an odd way.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#84

Post by melomal »

warent wrote: post #79

I can only believe that people who enter highly radioactive areas illegally just have no idea what radioactivity is really like. It's invisible, so it's easy to imagine that nothing is really happening. In my mind, the first image I get at the thought of radioactivity is how a cloud chamber is affected by it [1]. Imagine that, except everything around you, all the time, much more violently. Yeah, no thanks. 1: https:…

I would say the same feeling is had with global warming and climate change. You can't really see it, you can't really connect rainfall + sunlight directly to anything to do with the climate because it really is all just invisible.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#85

Post by lmm »

Zababa wrote: post #30
jl6 wrote: post #13

See, some people think our current culture/civilization/capitalism will not survive climate change, but clearly there is no wasteland too blasted and dangerous for it to eventually become a money-making tourist attraction. Our culture will live on in its perversity. I fully expect people to be huffing recreational Covid in 30 years’ time.

I'm curious, why do you see this as a money-making tourist attraction and not as another way of visiting a museum?

What's the line you're drawing? Most museums are tourist attractions to at least some extent.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#86

Post by antman »

I see in the photo that the guy wears a tshirt, but only long sleeves and trousers are allowed. In fact I visited Chornohbyl in a heatwave and I would give my life to the gods of radiation to be allowed a tshirt.

Jokes aside went near the red forrest and all geiger meters freaked out at a wind change. So I guess being on foot, away from the north side should be ok for a hiking.

The forrests where are very "unclean" to walk through them. Suppposedly no one picked dropped branches for firewood and hiking in the open steppe looking area not that interesting.

Also you are not allowed anymore inside the buildings but the guides cannot really control that.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#87

Post by roywashere »

spoonjim wrote: post #65
ethbr0 wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And I'd assume they're called "X ring" binders, as opposed to just binders, because "binder" is a fairly generic term. As for the number of rings: first mover advantage and network effects. Paper is produced with three rings. Teachers buy three ring hole punches. Soon binder manufacturers target the most common standard. All other standards die off. I have seen and used four ring binders in America. But three ring wa…

The highest form of the art is found in Japan with 20 and 26 ring binders.

In The Netherlands, in schools 23-ring-binders are quite heavily used. In office environments it is mostly 2- or 4. The nice thing is that they are compatible: if you have 23-ring-paper or 4-ring it will fit in 2 or 4 ring binders. This does not work the other way around for obvious reasons.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#88

Post by mattmanser »

pugworthy wrote: post #24
res0nat0r wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder still if much of the popularity of said stalking above is directly related to this game.

As a US resident, both the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games and the Metro 2033 game series have fascinated me in their different style of storytelling than most "traditional" FPS games. I have to put them in the same group as the Half Life series in terms of replay enjoy-ability for the story and engagement.

They led me to go read the books, the metro series of books is great if you like post-apoc. And if you enjoy them, try the Night Watch/World of Watches series. It's supernatural, focused on a quasi-governmental department that keeps the peace between the light and the dark magic communities, very gritty. The Nightwatch/Daywatch films are really good too, such a shame they never made the third.

There's a certain mind set in all of the Russian literature I've read that I find extremely appealing. I haven't read that much, but found that same mindset even in the older stuff like War and Peace, or Master and Margarita.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#89

Post by playing_colours »

renjimen wrote: post #81
TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean… Solaris is amazing and was made into a film at least twice. The book is about the difficulties communicating with an alien in the vein of Arrival, but it predates Arrival by many years and is a better book, in my humble opinion. The book is much more detailed than the films. For example, in the book they go down to the “surface” of the alien and visit it… more than once as I recall. That’s not in the films.

The great thing about this book is that it's as much about the difficulty of trying to contact an alien as it is about the problems with the scientific process and academia. Really a fantastic read with so many angles to interpret it from.

I would say Solaris is as much about dealing with regrets, a dull pain from deep wounds that follows us through our lives as it is about the things you mentioned.

I read it more than ten years ago, but still remember the emotional experience it brought.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#90

Post by ioseph »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #8

This is now just another tourist trap. If you’d gone in 20 years ago or more, things were different.

How so? I imagine it's difficulty of access in a country not particularly popular with western or Asian tourists would mean only those with a genuine interest would be making the trip.
Post reply on HN