Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture • Hacker News Board

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#91

Post by f1refly » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:13 AM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #48

bookofjoe wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concur. My all-time favorite sci-fi novel. And that's reading it in the English translation. It must be sublime in Russian.

Did you read Metro 2033? It’s been compared to Roadside Picnic and has spawned a sub-culture, too (exploring abandoned Soviet subways lines and stations)

Metro is to roadside picnick what mcdonalds is to your local high end steakhouse. You can enjoy both, but in different ways. Besides, the st. petersburg trilogy set in the same universe as metro but written by Andrey Dyakov is, in my opinion, far superior to the original series in almost any way (the second book is way too slow). You should give it a shot if you enjoyed the original novels.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#92

Post by watwut » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 8:53 AM UTC

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:…

Some people remained living in the zone after disaster. Not really legal and very lonely life. Remember reading account of old woman who was like that.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#93

Post by RalfWausE » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 9:13 AM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #8

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

You can go anywhere on this planet and you will find someone who will say to you "Pah... nowadays this is just for tourists, if you had visited $place 20 years ago than you would have seen it in its authentic form!"

$place = Hanoi, New York, Munich, Chernobyl, Mare Tranquillitatis...

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#94

Post by trinix912 » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 11:31 AM UTC

watwut wrote: post #92

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:…

Some people remained living in the zone after disaster. Not really legal and very lonely life. Remember reading account of old woman who was like that.

I'm wondering where did she get groceries and water from and how she dealt with the loneliness.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#95

Post by Loeffelmann » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 11:35 AM UTC

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:…

Wow that video made radioactivity 100 times scarier for me.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#96

Post by bookofjoe » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 12:54 PM UTC

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #48

bookofjoe wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Concur. My all-time favorite sci-fi novel. And that's reading it in the English translation. It must be sublime in Russian.

Did you read Metro 2033? It’s been compared to Roadside Picnic and has spawned a sub-culture, too (exploring abandoned Soviet subways lines and stations)

Related: "Kontroll" (2003) is the first feature film by Nimrod Antal, born of Hungarian parents, raised in Los Angeles, returning to Budapest for this haunting film shot entirely in the Budapest subway during the five hours every night when it shuts down.

"Kontroll" trailer: https://youtu.be/LMkkJbRJdiA

Also related: Ghost Stations of the Paris Metro:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghost_stations_of_the_Paris_M%...

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x418gva

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#97

Post by Zababa » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

ashtonkem wrote: post #82

Zababa wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I was with an organized tour so it was relatively safe. I wouldn't go alone without proper training and equipment though. For the water, we drunk some "local" water at the inn. I think/hope that it's treated properly. Most of the food we ate was also bought by us before the trip.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#98

Post by ASalazarMX » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:51 PM UTC

spoonjim wrote: post #68

ethbr0 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41sow2N%2Bi... The mind boggles. 3 rings: provides redundancy over 2 ring 4 ring: additional stability and redundancy ... 26 ring? At that point, you almost have more hole than paper. Is there a reason?

You have to try it. It is such a joy. The pages turn like butter and never tear out. You can lift the entire binder by a single page. The paper size feels much more human-scale. I exclusively use J-Binders for my notes.

I'd love to try one of those. Three-ring binders are a chore because the holes are so easy to tear with daily use. Sure, they sell stickers that you put over the teared holes to repair them, but why not redesign the binders in the first place?

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#99

Post by ASalazarMX » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 5:52 PM UTC

thaumasiotes wrote: post #61

cjsawyer wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a “3 ring binder” or just “binder”

While I agree that the item is ordinarily called a "three-ring binder", and that it always has three rings, I would not call one with a strange number of rings a "three-ring binder". The name hasn't become that opaque.

And a "ring binder" sounds like something else.

Re: Chernobyl's 'stalker' subculture

#100

Post by Zababa » Mon, Jul 19, 2021, 9:27 PM UTC

lmm wrote: post #85

Zababa wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

The line would be "considered good/considered bad" I think. It's fuzzy, but saying something is "a money-making tourist attraction" is usually passing a different value judgement compared to "a museum".