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Third Monolith Reappears, Fourth and Fifth Monoliths Discovered (insider.com) 103

Posted by EditorDavid from the many-monoliths dept.
"People taking a stroll on Sunday morning stumbled upon another mysterious monolith," reports Insider.com. "This one was found in a northern province of the Netherlands." The monolith was covered in ice and surrounded by a small pool of water, according to local reports. The hikers told the Dutch paper Algemeen Dagblad that they're not sure how the monolith got there. They said they found no footprints around it that would indicate someone placed it there intentionally.
And that monolith that disappeared in Atascadero, California has not-so-mysteriously re-appeared, as a group of three local artists takes credit for both creating the original and for successfully retrieving it to restore it to its former glory. "After learning of the second monolith, Travis Kenney had a thought," writes the relationship site Your Tango. "There were three monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Why not build the third themselves and make the triad complete...?"

"It was meant to be something fun, a change of pace from the kind of conversations 2020 has been plagued with — so much negativity and separation among the people in our country."
All the thanks these men really needed was delivered in the positive energy that quickly took hold of their home town. The presence of this now internationally followed mysterious object brought with it an uplifting local pride, as well as a sense of childlike wonder... The monolith's creators quietly made the hike back up to observe people's reactions throughout the day. When they arrived at the top each time, they found themselves soaking in the glow of the many smiles they encountered on faces of visitors. some of whom drove for hours to see the shining obelisk for themselves...

While you may think of these monoliths as another square on your 2020 bingo card, it's worth noting that the purpose of the monoliths in 2001: A Space Odyssey was to further the advancement of intelligent life. Cynics can say that sounds cheesy, but for the sake of full disclosure, I know McKenzie personally and can affirm without doubt or irony that they wanted nothing more than to offer their fellow humans some joyful light in these dark times.

"There was no esoteric agenda," said McKenzie.

"Our topline," added Jared Riddle, "Let's get outside and laugh."
70 miles away yet-another monolith "was discovered by campers on Saturday in San Luis Obispo County in Los Padres National Forest," reports a California newspaper. "We were super happy that someone/group went to all that work," Matt Carver wrote in a Facebook message to The Tribune. "It really did make our day to find it! I think we had huge smiles on our faces for the rest of the ride home."

The second monolith resembles the monolith in Atascadero, but the structure's top features "CAUTION" written in red and a picture of a UFO beaming in a human.
But wait! Insider.com reports that another mysterious monolith has appeared in Pittsburgh — "intentionally placed outside a candy shop by an owner who was trying to attract attention to his small business." Christopher Beers, owner of Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, asked a friend to make the 10-foot-tall structure and placed it outside his store as a marketing ploy.

Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop shared the news using a 30-minute video on Facebook. In a Facebook post on Friday, the shop said: "Come see the Monolith before it mysteriously disappears!"
Within one day someone did in fact steal the monolith, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. But Grandpa Joe's owner Beers whipped up another one to replace it. "This one is much heavier and bolted into the ground. That's not a challenge. That's just a statement." Beers said he didn't report the theft to police because they have more important things to deal with... "That's not the story," Beers said of the theft. "The story is I built something fun and made people laugh and we put Pittsburgh on the map. I'm not worried about whoever took it."

Beers said the new monolith will stay up for a couple a days before "it'll mysteriously disappear just like all the others."
Business Insider reports that monolith jokes have now also appeared in tweets from a wide variety of brands, including Walmart, Southwest Airlines, Ocean Spray, McDonald's, Steak-umm, and MoonPie.

And meanwhile, the headline at one Denver news site reports that "Monolith mania comes to Colorado as local businesses report structures 'appearing' outside shops," citing the arrival of a monolith outside McDevitt Taco Supply and on the patio of Morrison Holiday Bar.
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Third Monolith Reappears, Fourth and Fifth Monoliths Discovered More

Third Monolith Reappears, Fourth and Fifth Monoliths Discovered

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  • Or maybe Red Bull... They're still around, right?

  • meme \MEEM\ noun. 1 : an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.

    Thanks Dr Dawkins

    • Since I've renamed my domino product to monoliths sales are going through the roof! Thinking of going into chocolate.

  • Some artist is thumbing their nose at the world and everybody goes along with it? Fascinating.

  • The aliens have landed (Score:4, Funny)

    by Tony Isaac ( 1301187 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @08:42PM (#60801412) Homepage

    I've been trying to tell you they're here! Those monoliths are really alien eggs. Soon we'll find a bunch of cracked monolith shells, and the aliens will come out, only to be felled by the one thing they didn't anticipate...coronavirus!

    • I've been trying to tell you they're here! Those monoliths are really alien eggs. Soon we'll find a bunch of cracked monolith shells, and the aliens will come out, only to be felled by the one thing they didn't anticipate...coronavirus!

      Meh. Call me when they begin multiplying like tribbles.

  • Hmmm (Score:2)

    by jasnw ( 1913892 )
    Greg Bear's "Forge of God" starts out kinda like this, and does not end at all well.

  • Haha (Score:4, Funny)

    by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @08:59PM (#60801430)

    “We put Pittsburgh on the map.”

    It’s true that this small rural town was previously unknown to the vast majority of humans.

  • Details, details (Score:4, Informative)

    by dpilot ( 134227 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @09:00PM (#60801440) Homepage Journal

    I have not read anything yet saying that the sides of the monoliths are of the correct 1:4:9 ratios. Enquiring minds want to know.

  • by Toblerone to kill chocolate Santa.

  • Read The Chronoliths (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Camembert ( 2891457 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @09:23PM (#60801478)
    The Chronoliths by Robert Charles Wilson is an excellent, character-driven SF novel where monoliths (though much larger than these in the news) from the future start appearing all over the globe, containing the inscription of "Kuin" and a date, as if military victories happened there. Worth reading, I thought. It was my introduction to this excellent writer who later on won the Hugo for Spin, which may well be his best novel.

  • Is there a chance the metal could bend? (Score:4, Funny)

    by istartedi ( 132515 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @09:34PM (#60801504) Journal

    Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

    Monolith, monolith, MONOLITH!

    But Main Street's still all cracked and broken.

    Sorry Marge, the mob has spoken.

    Monolith, Monolith, MONOLITH, MONOLITH!

  • Ok then (Score:3)

    by burtosis ( 1124179 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @09:50PM (#60801518)
    So it looks like these monoliths are being placed by artists all over as landscape art. It’s no surprise someone monet ized it already.

    • It’s no surprise someone monet ized it already.

      [Citation Required] Where does the implication that an artist was involved lead to the conclusion that it has been monetized?

      • [Citation Required] Where does the implication that an artist was involved lead to the conclusion that it has been monetized?

        It’s slashdot, so I’ll link the relevant [slashdot.org] citation. The store owner did monetize the meme already and most slashdot readers probably don’t know who monet was.

  • ...We could moderate or downvotes stories like this. Who even allowed this to be posted on Slashdot?

  • Monoliths... (Score:3)

    by SpankiMonki ( 3493987 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @10:16PM (#60801570)
    They're the new crop circles.

  • it's like literally EVERYONE knows the things are fake .. yet the story persists. Arthur C Clarke managed to capture people's imagination so well that people became stupid.

    • Here's a potential revelation for you: know how cats love to chase the RED DOT from a laser pointer? They know it comes from the laser pointer in your hand, but they don't care, it's just a fun game for them to play with us humans. Get it?
  • What would it take to create a monolith that would fool most observers? IMHO Construction with rivets are a give away. Does it need to be fastened to the ground such that it's hard to remove? So far, I guess, you need to do the insulation when nobody is around. Personally, I would like some sound effects, and maybe a beam of light. These are very poor monoliths. There must be some Slashdot readers with superior pranking abilities that can step up, no?

    • Re:What would it take? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by phantomfive ( 622387 ) on Sunday December 06, 2020 @11:27PM (#60801712) Journal
      I don't think you could construct a monolith that would convince most people that it was built by aliens.

      • I don't think you could construct a monolith that would convince most people that it was built by aliens.

        I may have agreed with you a few years ago, but I'm not so sure anymore.

        We've got people who believe in (a) God(s); the earth is flat; that 5G radio waves cause Covid-19; vaccines are dangerous; Coronavirus is a hoax or is no more dangerous than the common flu; the Democrats are running a child sex trafficking ring out of a pizza parlor; the U.S. election was rigged;...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by CODiNE ( 27417 )

        Just make it out of solid gold or platinum, polished and accurate within some insane tolerances.

        Rough estimate a 2001 sized monolith would contain approx $2.6B dollars worth of gold.

        • That would be really cool but it wouldn't trick you into thinking it was aliens. You would have to invent some kind of new math and an exotic language.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

        Well, there are the pyramids, which aren't really monoliths but they are big piles of rocks that people thing were built by aliens. Bit ambitious though.

        Stonehenge would be more reasonable. You could put up some of those reasonably easily.

        If you really want to go the lazy route, some short boards, a bit of rope and some bored teenagers gets you crop circles. Not a monolith, but it does show that the bar is pretty low.

        • Most people don't think any of those were built by aliens, though

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

            Some do. Surprisingly many.

            If I wanted to get into UFO lore, or on one of those history channel shows, I'd build a monolith, or some UFO wreckage, or both, and paint everything with something like vantablack. Things that black look wrong, especially in bright sunlight. You can also cast silicone on a diffraction grating to give it a weird holographic surface. Aerogel looks like something that shouldn't exist too, and you can make it in your garage if you're sufficiently motivated. Perhaps you could cast aer

  • Rock? (Score:4, Informative)

    by John.Banister ( 1291556 ) * on Sunday December 06, 2020 @11:24PM (#60801708) Homepage
    So, monolith - that means "one piece of rock," doesn't it? Are any of these things even made from rock?

    • No, they're misusing the term. If they were made of one piece of metal it would be Mono-something but not "lith". Monolic? Monometa? I'm not sure, not my area of expertise. Anyway, you're correct that even the "mono" part is wrong.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ecuador ( 740021 )

        We have the word "monobloc" for something that comes from a single cast - so that would apply if they were making metal triangular prisms out of a single cast instead of just sheets as they are doing so far. So we've only had plain plywood triangular prisms covered with rectangular sheets of metal. Yeah, definitely not monoliths...

    • The rock can be implied. The word monolith is frequently used in context to describe something *similar* to an immense immovable rock standing on its own.

      Buildings, people, all sorts of things have been described as monoliths.

  • There's one in my back yard [wikipedia.org]

  • Google Shopping isn't offering one yet.

  • Monoliths for sale! (Score:4, Funny)

    by k6mfw ( 1182893 ) on Monday December 07, 2020 @02:42AM (#60801942)

    For those with the big bucks, 10 foot tall extruded triangle 3 feet on each side, made of 7 gauge 304 stainless steel, and includes 7 foot attachable ground mounting rods with 1/2 inch toggles, these can be used by the installer to mount the sculpture in firm soil, solid rock, concrete or suspended in concrete. $10,000
    https://www.etsy.com/listing/9... [etsy.com]

    Cheaper models like this one on ebay,
    https://www.ebay.com/i/1329906... [ebay.com]
    I read in a forum someone bought one of these, next day the cat started writing software and the crikets were becoming quite aggressive.

    • For those with the big bucks

      What do large deer have to do with this? I always connected monoliths with apes.

    • Triangle?

    • "Extruded" means its been formed by being pushed through a die. Like play dough noodles or regular noodles. This appears to be sheet metal welded on to a frame. Or rather it would be if someone buys it since the seller doesn't seem to have made one yet.

  • Another has appeared on the Isle of Wight in the UK, at Compton Bay. See this report https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-... [bbc.co.uk]

  • ... the CowboyNealolith.

  • Perhaps these are more examples of crazy "artwork" by Gelitin [gelitin.net]

  • Jeezus fucking christ this shit is so low effort.

  • But wait! Insider.com reports that another mysterious monolith has appeared in Pittsburgh â" "intentionally placed outside a candy shop by an owner who was trying to attract attention to his small business."

    He has failed to grasp the meaning of the monolith. He shall be punished.

  • I want someone to make a forged 1'x3'x9' solid steel, anodized black monolith. If they could mix the steel so it weighs precisely 493.8271604 lbs/cubic food instead of 489 that would be nice too so it could be a nice 13,333.3333 lbs would be a bonus.

    Place that somewhere with a heavy lift helicopter and then see if anyone tries to move it!

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