Two schoolgirls in China have committed suicide in an attempt to travel back in time.
The girls decided to end their lives after one of them lost a remote control to a door, China Daily reports, via People's Daily.
Xiao Hua told her best friend and fellow classmate, Xiao Mei, that she
was worried about coming clean to her parents. The names are reportedly
pseudonyms.
In an effort to avoid potential consequences, the girls allegedly
took inspiration from a popular television show and committed suicide to
travel back in time.
They left notes explaining their decision before jumping -- and subsequently drowning -- in a pool.
In a note obtained by the Shanghaiist.com, one of the girls explained her reasoning for her rash decision by writing:
"In my life, I have two secret wishes. One is to time-travel back to
Qing Dynasty and shoot a film with the emperor, and the other is to
travel to outer space," the Christian Post reports.
The chain of events has raised concerns about the influence of media
on young children, and the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television has placed restrictions on airing certain shows between 7
p.m. and 9 p.m., according to People's Daily.
But some aren't too sure about the story.
Anna North, a writer for Jezebel, observes
that the article seems to highlight the apparent dangers of time
travel-centered shows. She wonders whether the government had an
influence on the direction of the article.
China Daily is a state-owned paper, described by the
Committee to Protect Journalists as "straitlaced." People's Daily Online
is the website of People's Daily, which until recently described itself
as "the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China" — it now
offers a more circumspect description: "one of the world's top ten
newspapers." It's possible that Huang and China Daily were under
pressure from the government to paint the girls' suicide as a direct
result of the evil influence of time travel.
PHOENIX -- A large, fleeting flash of light that appeared in the
darkened skies over the northwestern edge of metropolitan Phoenix
remains a mystery.
The ball of light that looked like an explosion was captured by a
traffic camera on Interstate 17 around 4:45 a.m. Thursday and happened
to be broadcast by KSAZ-TV when the station showed footage of the
roadway during a report on the morning's commute.
The two electric utilities that serve metro Phoenix say they
didn't have any reports of electric transformer explosions that might
explain the flash.
Damon Gross, a spokesman for Arizona Public Service, says a blown
fuse on a transformer can produce a flash, but he said the utility had
no such report Thursday morning.
"It's a mystery to us as well. I can't even offer a guess," said Doug
Nintzel, a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Transportation.
Charlotte Dewey, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in
Phoenix, says there was no weather activity that might explain the
flash.
Messages left for officials at nearby Luke Air Force Base weren't immediately returned Friday afternoon.
KSAZ is asking viewers to come forward if they have any information about the mysterious flash.
In 1997, dozens of people saw lights in a V-formation over Phoenix, a
mystery that was captured on videotape and spurred calls for a
government investigation.
