In 1941, Stalin ordered Soviet scientists to exhume the remains of Tamerlane — the 14th-century conqueror responsible for 17 million deaths. Two days later, Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa, the largest land invasion in history. Stalin reportedly re-entombed Tamerlane around the time the tide turned at Stalingrad.
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At 19:45 · chapter starts 8:50
The story of Atuk begins innocuously enough: a witty Canadian satirical novel gets optioned, Americanized, and passed around Hollywood for years. Then the deaths begin. John Belushi fell in love with the script in 1982 and died of a drug overdose before production could start. Sam Kinison signed on in 1988, got 8 days into filming before imploding in a lawsuit with the studio, and died in a car crash in 1992. John Candy and screenwriter Michael O'Donoghue both died in 1994, the same year they teamed up on the project [1] "Five of comedy's biggest names — John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman — all died after separately being at…" 08:50 . Chris Farley took it on in 1997 with his pal Phil Hartman, and both of them died within the following year. Josh and Chuck note that other killer scripts, like A Confederacy of Dunces, share some of the same names — which complicates the Atuk-specific theory, but doesn't entirely defuse the eeriness.
Five of comedy's biggest names — John Belushi, Sam Kinison, John Candy, Chris Farley, and Phil Hartman — all died after separately being attached to the unproduced Hollywood script 'Atuk.' The movie still hasn't been made. No other unproduced script has a body count like this.
The satirical Canadian novel 'The Incomparable Atuk' by Mordecai Richler, the basis for the cursed Hollywood script, was published in 1963.
John Belushi was attached to Atuk in 1982 and died of a drug overdose at 33 before filming began. Sam Kinison took over in 1988, actually got 8 days into filming before a lawsuit halted production, then died in a car crash at 38. Two stars, two deaths, zero movies.
Five entertainers — Belushi, Kinison, Candy, Farley, and Hartman — died after being attached to the unproduced Hollywood script 'Atuk,' spanning from 1982 to 1998.
Before becoming a comedian, Sam Kinison worked as a fire-and-brimstone itinerant preacher — a fact that surprised even the hosts.
In 1994, screenwriter Michael O'Donoghue recruited John Candy for Atuk. Both men died that same year — Candy at 43 from a heart attack, O'Donoghue from a cerebral hemorrhage at 58. Two men. One script. One year. Zero movie.
Factories that replaced coal engines with electric ones in the early 1900s got only 6% efficiency gains. Those that redesigned their entire factory around electricity got a 3x productivity improvement. Swapping AI tools into your existing structure will give you 6%. Rebuilding around AI will give you 10x.
Lebanese terrorists backed by Iran were holding American hostages throughout the Reagan presidency. Reagan had loudly campaigned against negotiating with terrorists — putting him in an impossible position that his team quietly decided to ignore.
During the Iran-Iraq War, the US openly supplied Iraq with weapons, training, and intelligence. At the same time, Oliver North was secretly funneling missiles to Iran. The US was playing both sides of a shooting war.
Oliver North traveled to Iran under the alias 'William P. Goode' with a fake passport. CIA Director William Casey allegedly gave him cyanide pills so he could kill himself rather than be tortured if captured. He returned safely and the deal moved forward.
The Pentagon sold missiles to the CIA for $3,700 each. The CIA sold them to Richard Secord at cost. Secord sold them to Iranian middleman Ghorbanifar for $10,000 each. Ghorbanifar charged Iran even more. The profit — including $3 million in interest in one Swiss account — was diverted directly to fund the Nicaraguan Contras.
America secretly transferred 2,000 missiles and missile parts to Iran in 8 shipments over more than a year. Only 3 of 7 hostages were released. Three more were taken. The net result was zero freed hostages and a full-blown constitutional scandal.
On October 5, 1986, a CIA Contra supply plane flew a weapons drop at 2,500 feet in broad daylight. A Sandinista soldier shot it down. The only survivor, Eugene Hasenfuss, had borrowed a parachute from his skydiving brother. He was captured, paraded in front of cameras, and told the Sandinistas everything he knew.
The CIA supply operation used a front company called Southern Air Transport, widely known to be a CIA cover. Crew members of the downed plane carried their Southern Air Transport employee IDs in their wallets. One also had a business card directly linking him to Oliver North's office in Washington.
When the scandal broke, Oliver North and his secretary Fawn Hall conducted what became known as a 'shredding party,' destroying a day's worth of documents. The full truth of Iran-Contra may never be known because of what was fed through that shredder.
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