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Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

thebodyintl.com

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Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#101

Post by MauranKilom »

nefitty wrote: post #38
sho_hn wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe for the same reasons the German Wikipedia is so large. I'm not sure what they are, but I suspect: It's a large language sphere, speakers enjoy relative wealth and the luxury of time, there is a cultural tradition of cultivating and archiving information. All of them may make it more probable someone would submit translations. In addition, here specifically, the online community was well-developed in the late 90…

I love that you synthesized that comment on the fly then actually took the time write and share it. In the back of my mind I have a maybe-never project brewing that would entail finding Wikipedia pages that only exist in one language. English would of course have many unique pages. I wonder how many non-English page translations would be rejected on notability grounds, just due to sheer cultural differences.

I think you'll find that, in practice, there are many pages that fit "between" other pages in other languages. As random example, say English Wikipedia has "Matrix multiplication", "Strassen Algorithm" and "Coppersmith-Winegrad Algorithm" pages, whereas the German Wikipedia might have a "Matrix Multiplication Algorithms" page (this is not the current reality, but it could be).

This makes sense, because if one wiki has, say, 60% of the content (and depth) of some other wiki, it will break it down into pages differently.

Being able to speak both languages, I often find it instructive to browse the pages on a subject on both English and German Wikipedia, as the structure and depth of the material will often vary either way. It's sometimes unfortunate, but other times also possibly warranted that these wikis cover subjects to a different degree.

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#102

Post by MauranKilom »

jrimbault wrote: post #69
microtherion wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In France/Switzerland, there is the Order of the Solar Temple, which seems to be somewhat unique among suicide cults for being repeat offenders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Solar_Temple

A cult of repeat group suicide sounds like something out of Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

...or Monty Python.

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#103

Post by caddemon »

theden wrote: post #28

An interesting detail is on the bottom of the webpage ( https://www.heavensgate.com/ ) they have this hidden text (perhaps an old SEO hack?): >Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate Heaven's Gate ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo ufo space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space alien space ali…

"Yoda" seems a little out of place lol

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#104

Post by dylan604 »

microtherion wrote: post #65
grishka wrote: post #13

The article makes it look like the existence of this cult is an extremely widely-known fact and thus it doesn't need much introduction. But I only learned about it after clicking this link. It weirds me out that some people are so amenable to this kind of thing, enough to kill themselves.

In France/Switzerland, there is the Order of the Solar Temple, which seems to be somewhat unique among suicide cults for being repeat offenders: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Solar_Temple

repeat offenders or repeat offendings?

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#105

Post by dylan604 »

sekh60 wrote: post #54
Hnrobert42 wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You may have heard the expression “drank the koolaid” to mean someone has fully embraced an outlandish ideology, or even just fully committed to a cause. At Jonestown, many cult members committed suicide by drinking cyanide-laced koolaid. Koolaid is a sugary, flavored drink powder that is mixed with water. It was a staple for many kids in the 80’s and 90’s.

It apparently was flavoraid.

And how many times have you heard someone say "drank the flavoraid"?

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#106

Post by scoot »

fckthisguy wrote: post #61

Subject matter aside, the author of the article uses the term URL a few times but doesn't seem to know what it means. Curious for an "internet historian".

> the author of the article uses the term URL a few times

Just once, in reference to the domain name, which does in turn link to a URL.

> Curious for an "internet historian".

Where do the authors claim to be internet historians?

More striking for me was the idea that the webpage was in any way advanced for its time. That's certainly not the case. Their Higher Source home page had a much stronger design aesthetic, albeit now incredible dated looking, but even then I can think of far more sophisticated examples from that period.

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#107

Post by dylan604 »

MandieD wrote: post #64
booleandilemma wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also read about Waco, if you’re into this sort of thing: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege

Pedantic Central Texan: the cult compound and subsequent siege weren’t actually in Waco - that’s the nearest city with television stations and an airport. If you’re not Southern Baptist, feel free to make a joke about the real cult in Waco being headquartered at the Truett Seminary (Baylor). If you grew up Southern Baptist (like myself), giggle even more about the Vatican on the Brazos. I learned once I got to colleg…

We also made a joke about kids in Waco only having two options on what to do for the weekend: North or South. Dallas or Austin.

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#108

Post by caddemon »

pessimizer wrote: post #60
asimpletune wrote: post #43

From their website, under the section "Our Position Against Suicide" https://www.heavensgate.com/misc/letter.htm

A more accurate title would be "Our Position Against Suicide At This Time"

Even at the time it's not a super convincing statement. They talk like the 'Next Level' is coming soon and say at the end: "The true meaning of 'suicide' is to turn against the Next Level when it is being offered."

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#109

Post by nefitty »

MauranKilom wrote: post #101
nefitty wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love that you synthesized that comment on the fly then actually took the time write and share it. In the back of my mind I have a maybe-never project brewing that would entail finding Wikipedia pages that only exist in one language. English would of course have many unique pages. I wonder how many non-English page translations would be rejected on notability grounds, just due to sheer cultural differences.

I think you'll find that, in practice, there are many pages that fit "between" other pages in other languages. As random example, say English Wikipedia has "Matrix multiplication", "Strassen Algorithm" and "Coppersmith-Winegrad Algorithm" pages, whereas the German Wikipedia might have a "Matrix Multiplication Algorithms" page (this is not the current reality, but it could be). This makes sense, because if one wiki ha…

Oh that's an awesome idea! I'm fluent in Spanish so this technique will probably make my Spanish and English brains way smarter.

Re: Left Alive And Unchanged: The Heaven’s Gate Website

#110

Post by datavirtue »

genewitch wrote: post #24
grishka wrote: post #13

The article makes it look like the existence of this cult is an extremely widely-known fact and thus it doesn't need much introduction. But I only learned about it after clicking this link. It weirds me out that some people are so amenable to this kind of thing, enough to kill themselves.

If you were a teen or older when it happened, and lived in the US, it was pretty big news. I can still reach my cousin-in-law on an AOL email named after the comet mixed with his last name. Yes, it was cathartic to type this out and hit post.

I was 19 and watched absolutely zero cable or network news in 1997. I have been learning of events from that time that I had no idea occurred or where on the news. I had a life, and therefore no time to watch anything. Sort of like these days. I watch PBS News Hour a few times a week to keep up. Even that's a chore.
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