Artifacting

Putting I Between Art And Facts

crime

Sheboygan Scanner

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Sheboygan is a small city of approximately 50,000 residents – a population that seems to provide an endless stream of dumb criminals and weird, small-town crime. Maintained by an anonymous user since February of 2009, the @sheboyganscan twitter account has tirelessly transcribed entertaining communications that come through the Sheboygan, Wisconsin police scanner. Here are a few gems I’ve cherry picked for you:

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Video Of The 2013 Gävle Goat Going Up In Smoke

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I am a little late to the show this year but on December 21st the infamously fiery Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat) was once again burnt to smithereens. As per tradition I scraped a live webcam of the blaze and set it to some holiday music for your viewing enjoyment/horror.

Video Of The 2012 Gävle Goat Going Down In Flames

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Well it looks like my prediction was wrong. Last night, just before midnight, the Gävle Goat went down in flames. Much like last year’s video, I scraped a live webcam of the blaze and set it to some holiday music for your viewing enjoyment/horror.

NYMag has a great interview with Eje Berglund, the representative and chairman of the committee that oversees the Gävle Goat.

Historic Vice Maps Of Chicago

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The vice maps below were created by Levee historian Bryan Lloyd. They depict all of the bars, dives, brothels, saloons, pool halls and gambling houses in the Levee and Little Cheyenne Districts of Chicago between 1870 and 1923.

Some of my favorite place names include:

  • Rose Lovejoys
  • Bed Bug Row 10¢ Cribs
  • The Badlands
  • Suicide Hall
  • The Morgue
  • Ike The Jew
  • Blubber Bob Gray’s “The California”
  • Dreamland
  • Bucket Of Blood

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The Gävle Goat Survives (For Now)

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I Love The Gävle Goat

The 2012 Gävle Goat was almost knocked down before it even got up. According to Swedish newspaper The Local, private security guards are keeping an eye on this years Gävle Goat after arsonists nearly burnt it down on Saturday, before it was even inaugurated. The goat’s leg was ignited briefly before being extinguished by a heroic passer-by. “The front hoof smells of petrol,” event organiser Eje Berglund told the crowd that assembled on Sunday for the official inauguration. Last years blaze was a sight to behold.

Four University students have taken it upon themselves to try to stem the tide of arson by creating an “I Love the Goat” campaign. There is a live webcam of the Gävle Goat if you’d like to keep tabs on whether it will continue with its fiery history.

The Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat) Has Once Again Gone Up In Flames

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If you’re looking for the 2012 video of the burning Gävlebocken (Gävle Goat) go here.

This season’s Gävlebocken or Gävle Goat has already burnt to the ground.

The Gävle Goat is a giant version of a traditional Swedish Yule Goat figure made of straw. It is erected each year over a period of two days by a local association called the Southern Merchants in time for the start of advent. The goats have become the subject of a ‘tradition’ of regularly being torched by vandals.

The 13-meter (42+ feet) tall, straw, Christmas goat was set ablaze by arsonists at 2:54 a.m. this morning in Gävle, Sweden. Despite emergency services arriving on the scene within a few minutes nothing remains of the goat but its scorched frame. Currently the Gävlebocken only has a 39% survival rate.

Below is time-lapse video taken from a webcam of this years goat. The webcam is still live if you are interested in having a look at it’s charred remains.