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Comment by synaesthesisx | Hacker News Reader

In the early 2000s, there was a massive DEA bust involving a decomissioned missile silo turned into an LSD lab (which was apparently responsible for manufacturing 90% of the LSD on the market at the time). Other levels of the facility were turned into a massive party/tripping space - it's a fascinating story.

The man responsible (William Pickard) served quite some time in federal prison but was finally released sometime last year.

I'm sure there's no shortage of creative uses for a property like this.

https://historydaily.org/skinner-pickard-1990s-lsd-lab-built...

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/2-Bay-Area-Men-Busted...

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Pre-COVID there was a couple in Connecticut who transformed their entire house into a sex dungeon and were getting $1500 a night renting it on Airbnb. I bet you could do at least ten times that with a missile silo of sin. No worries about cops or nosey neighbors. Cleanup would be really icky though (shudder).

Expensive 10 minutes

For those who aren’t aware, the national demand for lysergic acid diethylamide in pure form would comfortably fit in the bottom third of a standard test tube. It has a ridiculously low titer. Few drugs have active doses measured in micrograms.

I saw a really good video documentary about this but forgot how to find it. The Wikipedia is fascinating enough in itself:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Leonard_Pickard

Edit: My mistake, it was about another duo who also made LSD. I'm pretty sure the silo is mentioned in passing.

The Sunshine Makers Official Trailer 1 (2017) - Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsvElED0-O0

In Germany a formwr bunker was used to host a illegal data center which run a significant part of the dark net. In the end, however, the police raided it and they forgot to lock the place and they had a excel list with all the passwords.

I really dislike the term "illegal data center", which was coined by Germany's yellow press. The data center was perfectly legal (as in: they were allowed to operate a business involving hosting of servers there, and everyone knew they did). What was illegal was some of the business done on its servers - and the fact that the operator did not cooperate with law enforcement.

Maybe it was not an illegal (data center), it was an (illegal data) center.

Time for a (criminal lawyer)

What does “yellow press” mean in this context? I know the usage of the word “yellow” means “cowardly,” but I suspect there is some other connotation/well-known phrase

> Yellow journalism and yellow press are American terms for journalism and associated newspapers that present little or no legitimate, well-researched news while instead using eye-catching headlines for increased sales. Techniques may include exaggerations of news events, scandal-mongering, or sensationalism. By extension, the term yellow journalism is used today as a pejorative to decry any journalism that treats news in an unprofessional or unethical fashion.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_journalism

Yes you are right with that. Until they knew what was on the servers and helped their users continuing doing it. At moment I think it became criminal.

There's a great New Yorker article on this for those interested. It's a pretty fascinating read -- doubtless been posted here a bunch before.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/08/03/the-cold-war-b...

Hamilton's Pharmacopeia (a docuseries featuring a pharmacologist) has an episode where Hamilton visits and interviews a women who was involved there.

12 minute clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7qliVpGEk0&vl=en

I think this was also touched on in the show Hamiltons Pharmacopeia

IIRC, there was a murder, torture and kidnapping involved as well…

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