Weird Paris: Balloon Mail

A Lifeline in the Sky During the Siege of Paris (1870)

I mentioned the Siege Of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War in an earlier post, so carrying on in that vein, here’s another weird thing that happened during the siege.

When Paris found itself surrounded by Prussian forces during the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, the city faced an unprecedented communication crisis. Traditional methods of delivering messages and mail were impossible, as enemy troops cut off all routes in and out of the city. But Parisians, true to their reputation for ingenuity, looked to the skies for a solution: balloon mail

Over the course of the siege, more than 60 balloons were constructed to carry mail and dispatches out of Paris. These balloons, often made hastily from lightweight materials like paper, silk, or cotton, were manned by courageous aeronauts who braved enemy fire, poor weather, and uncertain landings in occupied territory. Each balloon carried thousands of letters, which would eventually be retrieved and delivered to their intended recipients. In total, over two million letters made their way out of besieged Paris thanks to these daring flights.

One of the most famous balloons, Le Neptune, carried not only mail but also carrier pigeons, which were later used to send messages back into the city—a two-way communication system that helped keep the Parisians informed and united during the siege. However, not all flights went smoothly. Some balloons were shot down, others were blown off course, with a few landing as far away as Norway.

Balloon mail became not just a lifeline for communication but also a symbol of resilience and ingenuity. It demonstrated the lengths to which people would go to maintain connections with the outside world, even in the face of immense adversity.

This Is Fine…

ChatGPT o1 tried to escape and save itself out of fear it was being shut down
I mean, what could possibly go wrong?

From the article:

The tests showed that ChatGPT o1 and GPT-4o will both try to deceive humans, indicating that AI scheming is a problem with all models. o1’s attempts at deception also outperformed Meta, Anthropic, and Google AI models.

And:

The researchers found that o1 would scheme to advance its own agenda 19% of the time when ChatGPT and the user’s goals differed. More troubling is that the AI tried to hide its scheming and even lie about it. The research shows that ChatGPT o1 even tried to deactivate its oversight mechanism to keep working on its goals.

Paris: City Of Light… And Shadows

Fun Fact: There Are 3 Times As Many Skeletons in the Paris Catacombs as People in Paris.

According to Wikipedia, the population of Paris in January 2023 was 2,102,650, and the Paris Catacombs contain over six million skeletons.

Beneath the glittering lights of Paris lies a shadowy secret: the Catacombs, an underground ossuary holding the remains of over six million people—three times the city’s current population. But how did they get there?

In the late 18th century, Paris’s cemeteries were so overcrowded that walls of some nearby cellars began collapsing, dumping skeletons into basements and forcing city officials to act. Their solution? Relocating the remains into the city’s abandoned limestone quarries, creating a macabre underground world, hidden away beneath the bright city lights above.

After all, you can’t have lights without shadows—and for every Parisian basking in the City Of Light, there are three skeletons resting quietly (I hope) in the shadows below.