More oddities spotted in the news

[Norgarth]

Asian bears do tend to the small end of the bear spectrum and who says the robot wolves are merely life-sized?

even more, this is on the Japanese islands, so figure Black bear sized at most, there simply isn't enough territory to support a breeding population of large bears.

[DHBirr]

A helicopter crew found something odd in a remote area of Utah.  I have to criticize the reporting, however, for describing an object of silvery-colored metal as a "monolith," given that the "-lith" part means "stone."

The crew say it reminded them of 2001, and they made jokes about running away if anyone suddenly vanished.  Of course the truth is, it's one of the altars at which some hideous cult worships primeval (and prime-evil) gods; these men will be mysteriously murdered for profaning it.

Edit:  I said the thing was "silvery-colored," based on how it looked to me in a bit of video included in the linked article.  Another article I've since seen, though, claims it was black or dark gray.  I guess I can't trust my eyes....

[hazard]

A reflective enough surface will seem silvery under specific angles of illumination relative to the viewer...

[Bob Schroeck]

I saw a different article about it just about 4 PM (and came to post it here only find DHBirr had beaten me to it). It had (or had links to) several different clips and photos, and in all of them it appeared to be made of stainless steel, regardless of angle (horizontal and vertical). <goes back to Google News> Ah, here it is. Multiple shots and angles in which it is always shiny grey, including a closeup. And the embedded video from Andrew Adams specifically calls it metal.

[robkelk]

Tokyo Gagukei University has a professor specializing in Cute Studies.

And here's his Cute Studies website - in English.

[DHBirr]

I saw a different article about it just about 4 PM (and came to post it here only find DHBirr had beaten me to it).  It had (or had links to) several different clips and photos, and in all of them it appeared to be made of stainless steel, regardless of angle (horizontal and vertical).  <goes back to Google News>  Ah, here it is.  Multiple shots and angles in which it is always shiny grey, including a closeup.  And the embedded video from Andrew Adams specifically calls it metal.

One article about it, from HuffPost, begins with the clever lines:

It definitely wasn’t planted in a remote Utah canyon by aliens.
Probably.
After all, this is 2020 we’re talking about.

-----
“We’ve had our differences, but he’s seen the light … and I made sure he moved toward it, instead of coming back.”

[DHBirr]

A rare deer in Wisconsin is off-limits to hunters.  But think of that trophy! /sarcasm

The Vilas County Sheriff’s Office posted a photo last week of what it said was an “albino buck,” calling it an “incredible sight” and a “majestic creature.”

[classicdrogn]

IIRC there's some notable folklore about the white hart, and how seeing one is fine but setting out to kill it leads to unexpected difficultiesat best...

[Labster]

As long as they haven't found the red heifer, I think we're safe.

You know, on second thought, maybe the Second Coming doesn't sound so bad right about now.

(Oh man, I just got the pun in this prophecy -- first you get the alef, then you get the omega! (It is not coincidence that the letter A looks like a bull's head.))

[robkelk]

Remember when Alanis Morissette was a pop star, opening for Vanilla Ice?

CBC remembers...

Warning: '80s hair.

[Bob Schroeck]

The Utah monolith has vanished.

(Oh, and the embedded Instagram video shows that it was indeed shiny metal, not grey with glare.)

[Labster]

The monolith has reappeared in Romania

This story is getting more and more 2020.

[Bob Schroeck]

Now it's in California.

[robkelk]

And it's promptly been vandalized.

[robkelk]

There's been at least three more.

Sorry, four:

one was raised then razed in Romania too

[Bob Schroeck]

After more than 50 years, the Zodiac Killer's cypher has been cracked.

[robkelk]

5 of the most swoon-worthy cars, from 007’s hallowed hardtop to a moonshot sedan

A feature/ad for a documentary that's available online in Canada (there's a link in the article)... but, yeah, Cool Cars, four of which weren't on the All The Tropes page for Cool Cars until I just added them now.

[DHBirr]

Happy Birthday to the very oldest military still operating in the United States:  the National Guard is officially considered to have a lineage going back more than a hundred forty years before the U.S.A. existed.

[DHBirr]

I was tempted to put this under "Feel-Good Stories," but I figured that'd get me accused of being a "war monkey."  (That last word wasn't an error on my part, but a salute to ancient Bloom County.)

The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps has acquired a nifty albeit low-tech new piece of equipment:  a towed snow sled, for expeditions to invade and conquer Scandinavia defend Norway against potential Russian aggression.  Among other loads, this sled can be armed with an M240 7.62mm machine gun.  "Rosebud... open fire."

[Star Ranger4]

... But from reading the story as written voice commands seem to be... not enabled.

And that is only one possible function of the unit. All the rest really do fall more under the Defend Norway umbrella than the Invade and conquer Sweden bit you initially postulated.

[Norgarth]

DC comics closing; Jim Lee leaving says Ethan Van Sciver
https://cosmicbook.news/dc-comics-closin...red%20down
the article indicates that DC will be reducing to a dozen or less titles, mainly ones with Multimedia presence like Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman/etc, and those will be primarily digital content.

[robkelk]

DC comics closing; Jim Lee leaving says Ethan Van Sciver
https://cosmicbook.news/dc-comics-closin...red%20down
the article indicates that DC will be reducing to a dozen or less titles, mainly ones with Multimedia presence like Batman/Superman/Wonder Woman/etc, and those will be primarily digital content.

Uh-huh.

Let's see...

"Doesn't mean it's a good thing, doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but on the other hand, comic books have been converged by SJWs. They are now 100% gate-kept by radical leftists and they aren't producing work that really anybody wants and maybe it's time for a great big housecleaning," says Van Sciver.

I'll take the rest of that article with as much flat-out derision as that particular statement deserves.

[LynnInDenver]

"Doesn't mean it's a good thing, doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but on the other hand, comic books have been converged by SJWs. They are now 100% gate-kept by radical leftists and they aren't producing work that really anybody wants and maybe it's time for a great big housecleaning," says Van Sciver.

I'll take the rest of that article with as much flat-out derision as that particular statement deserves.

I agree with Rob on that score. The second stuff like SJW and leftist gatekeeping comes out of someone's mouth/keyboard, I lose any ability to take their arguments seriously. Especially when the source is a straight white cis male, because that's tended to be code for "I don't even like stuff to pretend to be centrist, because it no longer caters to me and I'm too used to everything catering to me and mine".

[Bob Schroeck]

I also don't trust any journalist who doesn't know the difference between "pare" and "pair".

[Labster]

It’s probably a legit observation about DC, if entirely the wrong conclusion. DC is now owned by Warner Bros. which is owned by AT&T. The amount of backlash against Warners in the past month has been pretty incredible, particularly from the creative class.

The main thing brewing here is the decision to put all 2020 and 2021 movies directly onto HBO Max. People fear lost revenue, which is both real and imagined: most movies are not money makers, but streaming is even more opportunity for Hollywood accounting. “I went to bed working for the world’s best studio and woke up working for the worst streaming service.” Twenty million cable subscribers get HBO Max for free, yet they have only six million accounts.

Next, AT&T’s risk aversion is slowly upsetting the studio model. Which may not be a bad thing, but the summary dismissal of Johnny Depp from playing Grindelwald felt pretty SJW. Except, um, he lost that libel case to The Sun hard. The English judge ruled that the allegations of wife-beating were factual; he’s continuing to self-own by suing Amber Heard for libel in the US. Even if he’s a big money maker, AT&T does not have patience for this kind of drama.