Favorite long-term nuclear waste warning message

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per wikipedia: A 1993 report from Sandia National Laboratories aimed to communicate a series of messages non-linguistically to any future visitors to a waste site. It gave the following wording as an example of what those messages should evoke:

Poll Results

OptionVotes
This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here. 23
Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture. 3
What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger. 3
The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left un 3
This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it! 2
The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particu 2
The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours. 1
The danger is to the body, and it can kill. 0
The form of the danger is an emanation of energy. 0


brimstead, Saturday, 26 July 2025 20:43 (three months ago)

Ah truncation

This place is a message... and part of a system of messages... pay attention to it!

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

This place is not a place of honor... no highly esteemed deed is commemorated here... nothing valued is here.

What is here was dangerous and repulsive to us. This message is a warning about danger.

The danger is in a particular location... it increases towards a center... the center of danger is here... of a particular size and shape, and below us.

The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours.

The danger is to the body, and it can kill.

The form of the danger is an emanation of energy.

The danger is unleashed only if you substantially disturb this place physically. This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

brimstead, Saturday, 26 July 2025 20:44 (three months ago)

landslide

unfortunately

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:28 (three months ago)

This place is not a place of honour.

I have seriously thought about getting a tattoo of this.

emil.y, Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:40 (three months ago)

otm

iconic

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:41 (three months ago)

I also once thought about doing a concept album of the names of the landscape features: 'Landscape of Thorns', 'Menacing Earthworks' etc. Just a whole bunch of great names.

emil.y, Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:44 (three months ago)

Did y’all hear about the alternate suggestion of creating a religion around shunning the waste site? Like nuclear monks or something would guard the site.

Black Sabaoth (Boring, Maryland), Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:51 (three months ago)

I remember other ideas included writing folk songs about the nuclear waste and breeding cats to change colour when they encountered radiation

Proust Ian Rush (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Saturday, 26 July 2025 21:55 (three months ago)

I just shooed one of my dogs out of a closet by telling her “this is not a place of honor”.

brimstead, Thursday, 31 July 2025 15:01 (three months ago)

something so elegantly brief about "we considered ourselves to be a powerful culture."

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Thursday, 31 July 2025 15:39 (three months ago)

the reminds me of the Sagan-inspired phonograph record on the Voyager probe.. are we assuming the aliens have a sweet Technics turntable?

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 31 July 2025 15:44 (three months ago)

I love the repeated evocation of the danger.

jmm, Thursday, 31 July 2025 15:57 (three months ago)

This is not a dream. We are using your brain as a receiver. We are unable to transmit through conscious neural interference.

peace, man, Thursday, 31 July 2025 15:57 (three months ago)

are we assuming the aliens have a sweet Technics turntable?

Vinyl is actually a really good choice for this! It's fairly clear that information is encoded on it (to any civilisation that has language and data capacities, they'd be able to work this out v fast), and you don't need much specialised equipment: just any bit of metal should work, and maybe something to make a funnel so the sound is audible.

emil.y, Thursday, 31 July 2025 16:06 (three months ago)

I love "The danger is still present in your time, as it was in ours." Sounds like some shit that Gandalf would say. Possibly gasses up the encroaching party for danger-flouting heroics too well to work.

You're supposed to go to Heaven, ideally not Las Vegas (bernard snowy), Thursday, 31 July 2025 16:40 (three months ago)

Not a place of honor is all time, obv

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Thursday, 31 July 2025 16:43 (three months ago)

I want this whole list carved in stone and mounted on my apartment door.

Hideous Lump, Thursday, 31 July 2025 17:26 (three months ago)

This place is best shunned and left uninhabited.

Follow-up poll to determine which US state should adopt this as its new motto.

Instead of create and send out, it pull back and consume (unperson), Thursday, 31 July 2025 18:33 (three months ago)

lovecraftian, that one

Andy the Grasshopper, Thursday, 31 July 2025 18:35 (three months ago)

Someone in 10,000 years time: "The ancestors sure wanted us to stay away from here. It must be where they kept all their cool shit. Let's dig!"

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Thursday, 31 July 2025 19:00 (three months ago)

I like the pathos of "Sending this message was important to us." That's my vote.

jmm, Thursday, 31 July 2025 19:54 (three months ago)

gotta get someone to record these to use as interstitial for rap albums

gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Thursday, 31 July 2025 20:02 (three months ago)

*interstitials

gestures broadly at...everything (voodoo chili), Thursday, 31 July 2025 20:02 (three months ago)

What if the memeification of these messages is all part of the atomic priesthood's plan?

jmm, Thursday, 31 July 2025 20:13 (three months ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

System, Friday, 1 August 2025 00:01 (three months ago)

This place is not a place of honour... is so poetically chilling. It sounds Arthurian, like something written at the entrance of an ancient cave happened upon by a Knight errant. Very hard not to love. You would think they'd make it a little less intriguing: Of course you're going to want to know what's in the forbidden place

Floyd 'The Oyd' Lloyd (dog latin), Friday, 1 August 2025 00:07 (three months ago)

Also makes me think of the "No serviceable parts inside" sticker you would get on the back of household appliances and stereo systems

Floyd 'The Oyd' Lloyd (dog latin), Friday, 1 August 2025 00:11 (three months ago)

i should clarify that these aren't specific messages but rather descriptions of what the message should convey. they do just come across like beautiful stanzas of something, tho

brimstead, Friday, 1 August 2025 00:50 (three months ago)

how 'bout: You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here

Andy the Grasshopper, Friday, 1 August 2025 00:53 (three months ago)

Sending this message was important to us. We considered ourselves to be a powerful culture.

i love seeing these two statements next to each other, all this loneliness and hubris captured in a few words.

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Friday, 1 August 2025 01:05 (three months ago)

^^^
The finality of a lesson learned too late.

il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 1 August 2025 01:26 (three months ago)

i highly esteem the use of 'highly esteemed deed' and also that they (correctly) did not hyphenate it

mookieproof, Friday, 1 August 2025 01:39 (three months ago)

highly esteemed dude

m0stly clean (Slowsquatch), Friday, 1 August 2025 02:19 (three months ago)

I agree with snoball - if we would find something like this from an ancient civilization (especially the threatening landscape features in the wikipedia article), that is 100% the first place we would dig.

StanM, Friday, 1 August 2025 02:26 (three months ago)

It's such a fascinating project. In particular, how do you convey without words "trust us, we're not trying to hide treasure, there's bad stuff here"?

The idea of paving the desert waste site with miles of heat-absorbing black rock, not flat but at random odd angles--you're not prevented from reaching the location, but they make it uneasy, uncomfortable, unfarmable and unlivable.

Hideous Lump, Friday, 1 August 2025 06:23 (three months ago)

What if the memeification of these messages is all part of the atomic priesthood's plan?

What is here does NOT beat a Jet2 holiday. Digging here will NOT save you £50 per person, nor £200 off for a family of four. Sending this message was important to us.

kinder, Friday, 1 August 2025 08:20 (three months ago)

Write-in: "this is the last gasp of a dying scene, nobody under the age of 30 has any interest in this shit"

kinder, Friday, 1 August 2025 08:21 (three months ago)

This ain't a scene, it's a goddamn arms race.

peace, man, Friday, 1 August 2025 11:51 (three months ago)

Can't believe no one's said "Turn back you poxy fule" yet

Floyd 'The Oyd' Lloyd (dog latin), Friday, 1 August 2025 13:44 (three months ago)

That wiki article is wild. One of the ideas for warning future generations was to breed “ray cats” that changed colors as a living radiation detector.

that's not my post, Friday, 1 August 2025 16:48 (three months ago)

Ray cat strut
I'm a ladies' cat
Nuclear waste site in South Carolina

Floyd 'The Oyd' Lloyd (dog latin), Friday, 1 August 2025 18:17 (three months ago)

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

System, Saturday, 2 August 2025 00:01 (three months ago)

emanation of energy deserved a vote

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Saturday, 2 August 2025 00:06 (three months ago)

I regret my Place of No Honor tramp stamp on a regular basis.

Lady Sovereign (Citizen) (milo z), Saturday, 2 August 2025 00:20 (three months ago)

pics or it didn't happen

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Saturday, 2 August 2025 00:26 (three months ago)

I can imagine the Log Lady from Twin Peaks saying these.

blatherskite, Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:02 (three months ago)

Maybe they need to try reverse psychology.

"You should definitely dig this up, there's nothing to fear from the past here. This will not be a decision you regret or are blamed for, forever."

LocalGarda, Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:41 (three months ago)

"Dig straight down to sign up for monday.com"

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:50 (three months ago)

haha. "free box of huel buried here"

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:55 (three months ago)

"receive a monthly box of nuts to your home"

lol xpost

LocalGarda, Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:55 (three months ago)

maybe if shit gets relatively really bad it'll be:

"this site is not affiliated with monday.com. no huel is buried here. A monthly box of nuts will not be delivered to your home"

LocalGarda, Saturday, 2 August 2025 19:56 (three months ago)

Or maybe decorate the site with that Top War aesthetic?
https://play-lh.googleusercontent.com/94fNXf8K4j56A1BEFfkXf7q50SvZoHwdyyr2uGULjOrvAN_LqaRZuMPhVCMMlP3xdA=w526-h296-rw

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Saturday, 2 August 2025 20:11 (three months ago)

make entry to the site coin operated only

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Saturday, 2 August 2025 20:18 (three months ago)

this site is brought to you by Dr Pepper - What's the Worst That Could Happen?

baka mitai guy (Noodle Vague), Saturday, 2 August 2025 20:51 (three months ago)

At Innocent Smoothie, we like to give everyone a name and a job. The materials in this site were buried by Jasper. He likes beanie hats and his favourite band is Pulp.

LocalGarda, Saturday, 2 August 2025 21:05 (three months ago)

Surely we'll find a way to use this nuclear waste by the time the oil runs out and this whole thought experiment may not be necessary anymore?

StanM, Saturday, 2 August 2025 21:20 (three months ago)

since when does humanity reuse waste at the expense of some epic brand collabs

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Saturday, 2 August 2025 21:24 (three months ago)

lets ideate on a possible cuddly rebrand, 'nuclear slop' is aha toxic

tuah dé danann (darraghmac), Saturday, 2 August 2025 21:41 (three months ago)

spartan race to the site sponsored by north face with a joe rogan pregame, just spitballing some ideas here, is it too idiocracy?

five six seven, eight nine ten, begin (map), Saturday, 2 August 2025 21:45 (three months ago)

three weeks pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1oITXzqyg

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Friday, 29 August 2025 16:52 (two months ago)

one month passes...

A giant statue of this guy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvJRgMwVPk

you gotta roll with the pączki to get to what's real (snoball), Sunday, 12 October 2025 12:03 (one month ago)


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