Eiffel Tower Gets Spruced Up, Catches Fire
The 114-year-old Eiffel Tower celebrated nine months of electrical and cosmetic renovations last month by flashing its 20,000 newly replaced lights -- an act it will repeat every evening for ten minutes per hour. The famed tower, originally adorned with gaslights when it was erected in 1889, was converted to electric light in 1900. The tower's lighting system, which had not been updated in decades, required more than $5 million to rewire, replace, and repair. Additionally, the tower underwent a lengthy, year-and-a-half long paint job, which Tuesday resulted in the top of the famed structure bursting into flames.
CUE Website Hacked, Throws In Towel
Chicago Urban Exploration took down their website, chicagourbanexploration.com, in May of this year after numerous malicious attacks were made on it by hackers seeking to render the site useless. CUE site administrator Shy-X was erroneously charged with more than $22,000 in domain name registration fees and both the CUE site and another site related to the Manteno asylum were victimized. The attacks came a little more than a year after CUE was linked to convicted felon and subway-dwelling-would-be-terrorist Daniel Joseph Konopka, who had gone exploring with the group during his stay in Chicago.
New York Subway Cars Find Last Resting Place
As reported in this column previously, New York City went ahead last month with a decision to retire 50 decommissioned "Redbird" subway cars off the coast of New Jersey, where they will become an undersea playground for fish. The cars, which carry on a long tradition of throwing big metal things into the sea to create artificial reefs, are considered by the state of New Jersey to pose no significant environmental threat to marine conditions.
Nebraska Deer Loves Planes
Doing little to disguise himself as a pilot, a deer strolled nonchalantly through the revolving doors of Omaha's Eppley Airfield this past May. The deer headed straight for the baggage claim, but had the good sense not to attract attention by riding around on the conveyor belt. Area deer are notorious for wandering too close to the airfield's runways, but this is the first time one has come inside looking for the Starbucks.
Iraqi Man Hid In House For 22 Years
Jawad Amer Sayed emerged from his home June 18 after more than 22 years of self-imposed house exile while hiding from Saddam Hussein's armies. Sayed, who was believed to be dead by villagers, lived contained within a false wall built within two rooms of his home. Sayed's mother and family, who knew he was alive, fed fruits and vegetables through a small trap door that Sayed had built into the chamber.
Scotland's Hellfire Caves Reopened to Public
Manmade caves carved out by an Edinburgh blacksmith in the 18th century are to be reopened soon after centuries of abandonment. The caves, known as the "Hellfire Caves" from their association with similar caves in High Wycombe, were used as a place for smugglers to consort and drink out of the light of day in the early 1700s. Edinburgh plans to open the chambers to tourists and add a state of the art visitor's centre. There is no word yet as to whether the visitor's centre will have a bar.
Golden Torch Awards
The Cave Clan held its fifth annual Golden Torch Awards this past June on the Malabar Headlands. Awards were handed out for Best Drain (Fortress), best Newbie (Infectoid) and Most Hardcore (Siologen). The Golden Torch Award itself was awarded to Trioxide, for feats above and below the call of adventure.
Jinx Book Released
Jinx magazine editors Lefty Lebowitz and L.B. Deyo have released their new book "Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins and Rooftops of Hidden New York". The book, which came out this week on the Three Rivers Press imprint, recounts various tales of the Jinx squad's adventures -- covert and otherwise -- from before the group declared a post-9/11 moratorium on urban exploration within the city of New York. The book is available from Amazon and the usual retailers.
Call for Zine Submissions
Infiltration is encouraging submissions for our upcoming Stadia and Caught! Stories 3 issues. If you've got any good letters or tales relating to infiltrating a stadium or arena of some sort, or about being caught doing anything explorey, please email them to ninj@infiltration.org and/or liz@infiltration.org. Thank you!
Infiltration #20, the "Twin Cities Spectacular", is the most recent issue of the print version of Infiltration. The issue features articles from the depths of Minneapolis-St. Paul by trailblazing locals such as Danarchy, Jim Hollison, Max Action and Greg Brick and includes numerous photographs and firsthand accounts the discovery of two of the world's most luscious underground sites, the St. Paul Labyrinth and the Old Bank Cave. You can get a copy by sending $3 (US/CDN) cash to PO Box 13, Station E, Toronto, ON M6H 4E1, Canada.
Pre-orders for Infiltration #21, which will be about University of Toronto and will be released in September, can be sent to the same address.
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